Science's understanding of the creative process is much more thorough than people might believe. This is the full version of of lecture on how the creative process is currently modeled and told through a series of stupid pictures.

1. The Science of Creativity.
(minus all the math)
Eric Schulze, PhD
@SciencEric

2. be utterly fascinating

4. Eric schulze, pHD
Creative director & chief nerd

5. what is

6. Thirst Is a social experiment
That changes the
way you learn.

7. science of
creativity

8. The Science of Creativity.
(minus all the math)
Eric Schulze, PhD
@SciencEric

9. create.
Gain a practical use for Science.
Turn complex Math into stupid pictures.

10. Creativity.

11. motivation to do
something that has not
been done before…
in thought, action, or belief
And must meet some criteria of usefulness

13. There is little evidence that the
‘toiling genius’ model works.

17. I could give you all the
sciencey terms and jargon…

18. but I hate
doing
that.
Instead…

19. Creativity is,
to a very large
extent,
Scientific.

20. Random is not what you think it is.

25. “Truth is
stranger than
fiction, but it is
because Fiction
is obliged to
stick to
possibilities;
Truth isn’t.”

26. Yay
nerds!

27. Yay
nerds!
Telling
the truth
is hard!

28. anecdote is not science.
The plural of anecdote is not
scientific evidence.

29. So, I’m a scientist.

30. I went from this…

31. . . . to this

32. . . . to this

33. everyone needs to
re-learn how to
learn.

34. Science.
Photos courtesy of Tony Hitchcock

35. Why science?

36. &%#!

37. ✔
approved messaging

38. because science is
rigorous, reliable,
& directive.

40. Why would you
want to engineer
a Nobel Prize-
winning idea?

41. Because each
represents the
most creative,
insightful glimpses
into the natural
world.

42. Does Creativity
Have a Logic?

43. Science is the
rational investigation
into the creative.

46. Science = art =
music = literature

47. A
B
C
42

48. This process argues that creativity
is a truly random, environmental +
(epi)genetic process.

49. A
Z

50. A
Z

51. This argues for a strictly logical,
nearly algorithmic creative process.

52. What are agreed-
upon creative
traits?

53. Independent
Nonconformist
Unconventional
Many Interests
High Openness
High Boldness
Cognitive Flexibility

54. psychopathology.

56. idea combinations.

57. How do you measure quality?
This is tough.
Not gonna lie, even within science
it’s hard to agree

58. 10 years
or
10,000 hours

59. ✔
approved messaging

61. 15
40

63. Does creativity
have a logic?

64. Does creativity
have a logic?
Why do I care?

65. terrible.

66. Creativity is a stochastic,
constrained behavior.
#HellYesScience

67. unconstrained creativity

68. constrained creativity

69. Adding carefully selected
restrictions increases the
likelihood of creative ideas

70. Independently replicating others’
results is a significant sign of
improving creativity.
(IOW Don’t be discouraged.)

71. Why does
[restriction]
work?

72. Why does
[restriction]
work?

73. grouped, logical events can
produce behavior that appears
devoid of logic.

74. #DarwinIsTheShit

77. internal vs external validity
do we want scientifically controlled
studies…
or results that mirror the real
world?

78. internal vs external validity
“IRL” meta-analysis, playa!

79. Successful Creativity is
allowing restricted chance
give way to new
knowledge.

80. exposure to
analogy
distant
formation
information
exposure to effective critical
serendipity evaluation skills

86. “early talent”
&
sustained productivity ?

88. H= cT2

89. Read Voraciously & Widely
Allow Ideas to Incubate aka “Prime”

90. @carylannataylor

92. √
Price law
distribution of productivity

93. Be the person (or community) others
feel compelled to tell their ideas.

94. Your Creativity is Largely
Community-Determined

95. Experts & Creators are
necessary for successful
creative communities.

96. the Paris-Kim hypothesis

98. 10%
Output determines serendipity

99. 57x

100. hang around
really smart
people.

104. Know thy audience.

105. Know thy audience.
this is bullshit.

106. Know thy message.

107. Increase the nerdery in your
community.

108. create the
community
for the ideas
you want.

109. create. nerds.

110. thank you.
@SciencEric

111. be utterly fascinating