Research Essay
Ninety-eight percent of four- and five-year old’s score at the “creative genius” level in a longitudinal test of creative potential, while years later as adults, only two percent score at that same level (Venkatraman). If creativity is valued and desired, why are so many people reluctant to engage in it? What is killing the creativity? Fears like uncertainty, failure, and social rejection prevent people from being creative. It is important to recognize the fears that hold individuals back so they can explore ways to overcome those fears and generate innovation.
Human beings like stability and consistency. Creativity, innovation and change produce uncertainty about the future, leading humans to feel anxious or stressed, unconsciously producing fear. People dislike uncertainty, so they work hard to reduce whatever uncertainty they can, often by making habitual and practical choices that protect the status quo. High uncertainty emotions, such as fear, can cause biases against creativity, and ultimately lead to the depreciation of creative ideas (Lee). Being creative is inherently a risky behavior and individuals who experience fear will perceive more uncertainty and will be less tolerant with the possibility of uncertainty and risk, thereby developing strong biases against creative ideas.
Everyone is afraid of failure, but the people who are most successful are even more afraid of failing to try. When one acts out of fear of failure it actually leads to an increased probability of failure. It is safer and easier for those who fear failure to continue doing things like they had always done in the past by maintaining social norms. The first idea is never the best idea, but if an individual takes the time to brainstorm and try new ideas, he is bound to find a few good ideas amongst the bad ones. Without perseverance and the acceptance of not being perfect, the fear of failure could lead to lack of self-confidence, which also shows some correlation to lack of creativity.
“Creativity is a natural state of mind for all humans, and self-doubt is a tether that will keep one’s creativity down,” says Brendan Patrick Blowers, a creative consultant and theater director (Kang). One must believe in their own ability to create change in the world around them. American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, also shows evidence of necessary self-confidence in his Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow theorized that the needs closer to the bottom of the hierarchy pyramid must be satisfied before individuals can attend to their needs that are higher up. Therefore, in order for people to feel the need of self-actualization, the need to express themselves creatively, they need to fulfil the need of feeling accomplished and gain self-confidence.
In fear of being judged and in an effort to keep a high self-esteem, humans keep face, the positive social image that one wants to maintain in the presence of others. This face can get in the way of creativity because the fear of being ridiculed or rejected prevents us from trying new things and generating innovation. Individuals will be hesitant to come up with original ideas if they fear losing face and damaging their social image (Miron-Spektor). One may also fear being wrong, and therefore being embarrassed, keeping them from speaking out about their thoughts and ideas.
When kids are young, they do not have a problem asking silly questions or suggesting new and exciting ideas. Kids do not take it personally and are not ashamed if their ideas are not accepted, they simply move on to the next idea. Children are good at experimenting with new ideas and creativity, but this experimentation sadly diminishes as they grow up. They begin to fear making mistakes and the consequence is a decrease in their creativity. Kids do not fear authority, abide by social norms, care about political correctness, and they definitely do not hold back jumping in to correct someone. As they get older, they begin to fear being vulnerable in front of others. They worry what others think and want to avoid being judged.
Not only are kids’ self-esteem affected when they go to school and are constantly comparing themselves to their peers around them, but after school they go home only to see a fabricated reality on social media. As kids begin to want to fit in, that desire interferes with their willingness and ability to think outside of the box to be creative. Many people say education is draining children’s creativity. According to Konnikova, teachers have been found to dislike students who show curiosity and creative thought on multiple occasions, even though creativity is thought to be an important goal of education (Konnikova).
These fears do not stop affecting one’s creativity after their school years though, fear is generated in the workplace between leaders and employees and is constantly holding people back from producing creativity. The pressure to develop creativity and innovation within organizations creates stress from three different perspectives: the psychological pressure to produce creative ideas, the fear of the effects if the innovation is not as productive as expected, and the anxiety of prior success with expectations of future success (Campbell 2). The added stress of demanding creativity restrains those specific cognitive processes in the brain, and the anxiety of success and failure in creating change and innovation in the workplace causes our survival mechanisms to appear. Therefore, fear becomes the unintended consequence of creativity, innovation, and change.
The work of the employee is determined by the context created by their leaders. When supervisors use severe, unethical, and hostile verbal and nonverbal attack, pressure, or embarrassment to bully employees, employee creativity ends up getting killed. They hold back creativity and originality for severe self-doubt and fear of rocking the boat. If employees are working in constant fear, they may become reluctant to take risks which hinders their intuition, fast thinking, and creativity. Creating an ethical, safe, and secure work environment may greatly excite creativity and help organizations improve performance, competitiveness, and corporate financial success (Jiang).
The idea that abusive supervision influences its followers’ attitudes and behaviors is applicable no matter what environment they are in. Whether it is employees in the workplace, children being bullied at school, or someone experiencing abuse at home, this fear of negative power hinders one’s creativity. If stimulants to creativity decrease and obstacles increase, innovation will suffer.
All of these fears, including social rejection, uncertainty and failure affect people in every stage of life, in school, the workplace, and more. For individuals to be the most successful they can be, it is important to combat the main fears that hold them back to generate innovation and creativity. It is often said that kids are more creative than adults, but one must not forget that he was a kid once too and can recover some of that creativity.
Works Cited
Campbell, Kenneth D. “Fear Becomes the Unintended Consequence of Creativity/Innovation.” Journal of Leadership Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, Fall 2015, pp. 60–61. Business Source Ultimate, doi:10.1002/jls.21407.
Jiang, Wan, et al. “Do Victims of Supervisor Bullying Suffer from Poor Creativity? Social Cognitive and Social Comparison Perspectives.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 157, no. 3, July 2019, pp. 865–884. Business Source Ultimate, doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3660-x.
Kang, Hyo Jin, and Boyeun Kim. “Research on Correlation of Self-Confidence and Creativity.” Journal of Digital Convergence, vol. 17, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 381–388. Business Source Ultimate, doi:10.14400/JDC.2019.17.6.381.
Konnikova, Maria. “Why Are We So Afraid of Creativity?” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 26 Feb. 2012, blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/why-are-we-so-afraid-of-creativity/.
Lee, Young Soo, et al. “Why Reject Creative Ideas? Fear as a Driver of Implicit Bias Against Creativity.” Creativity Research Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, Jul-Sep 2017, pp. 225–235. Academic Search Premier, doi:10.1080/10400419.2017.1360061.
Miron-Spektor, Ella, et al. “To Create without Losing Face: The Effects of Face Cultural Logic and Social-Image Affirmation on Creativity.” Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 36, no. 7, Oct. 2015, pp. 919–943. Business Source Ultimate, doi:10.1002/job.2029.
Solomon, Yoram. “3 Reasons Children Lose Creativity As They Grow Up.” Inc.com, Inc., 30 Jan. 2018, www.inc.com/yoram-solomon/3-reasons-children-are-more-creative-than-adults.html.
Venkatraman, Rohini. “You're 96 Percent Less Creative Than You Were as a Child. Here's How to Reverse That.” Inc.com, Inc., 18 Jan. 2018, www.inc.com/rohini-venkatraman/4-ways-to-get-back-creativity-you-had-as-a-kid.html.
Wang, Hongli. “What Stops Creative Employees to Implement Ideas? Individual Culture Value Orientation Perspective.” Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 30, no. 6, 2017, pp. 872–887. Emerald Insight, doi: 10.1108/JOCM-10-2016-0199.