mundos lejanos y creatividad

Un estudio con resultados interesantes sobre la creatividad, de investigadores en la Universidad de Indiana(*). Creo que tiene mucho que ver con porqué escribimos y leemos ciencia ficción.

Del artículo en la Scientific American:

"Why does psychological distance increase creativity? According to the construal level theory (CLT), psychological distance affects the way we mentally represent things, so that distant things are represented in a relatively abstract way while psychologically near things seem more concrete."(...)

Lo que hicieron los investigadores fué presentar una serie de escenarios con problemas a resolver a diferentes grupos. Un grupo tendría un escenario cercano (en tiempo o lugar) y otro uno lejano (otro país, o una universidad a 2000 km de distancia). Los grupos que recibieron los escenarios lejanos tuvieron un ratio más alto de resolución en los problemas presentados.

"This research has important practical implications. It suggests that there are several simple steps we can all take to increase creativity, such as traveling to faraway places (or even just thinking about such places), thinking about the distant future, communicating with people who are dissimilar to us, and considering unlikely alternatives to reality. Perhaps the modern environment, with its increased access to people, sights, music, and food from faraway places, helps us become more creative not only by exposing us to a variety of styles and ideas, but also by allowing us to think more abstractly. So the next time you’re stuck on a problem that seems impossible don’t give up. Instead, try to gain a little psychological distance, and pretend the problem came from somewhere very far away."

Según el abstract del paper:

"(...) we demonstrate that when the creative task is portrayed as originating from a far rather than close location, participants provide more creative responses (Study 1) and perform better on a problem solving task that requires creative insight (Study 2)."

Viajar a lugares lejanos (o pensar en) aumentará la creatividad, pero cansa un poquito, así que disculpen la fiaca para traducir estos parrafillos.

¿Quieres saber más?:
Nota en Scientific American (inglés): An Easy Way to Increase Creativity
El paper (link pago): Lessons from a Faraway land: The effect of spatial distance on creative cognition
Update: Investigación sobre la relación entre locura y creatividad, vía Mind Hacks.


(*) ...y nunca te perdonaré que no le hayas pedido el libro autografiado a Hofstadter! =;)