Two teams of researchers, from the Radboud University of Nijmegen (Netherlands) and the University of Technology in Sydney (Australia) have joined forces to investigate a simple way to influence creativity and that is, listen to music . That’s how it is; experts found that listening to positive music can enhance our ability to be creative.
Does progress make us less creative?
In a world of increasing complexity, some researchers believe that, as a society, we are becoming less creative as the years go by. If this were so, it could represent an obstacle for future generations.
To investigate the influence of music on creativity, the experts involved 155 people who completed a questionnaire to assess their current state of mind. Then, they divided the volunteers into 5 groups: 4 of them with different musical pieces and the last one as a control group in which there was only silence.
The musical pieces selected from least to greatest activity / rhythm were:
-Carnival of the Animals: XIII. The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns (Calm)
-The 4 seasons, Opus 8, Number 1, RV 269, Spring – Movement 1. Allegro by Antonio Vivaldi (Happy / Cheerful)
-Adagio for Strings, Opus 11 by Samuel Barber (Sad)
-The Planets: Mars, Bringer of War by Gustav Holst (Anxious)
“This project is unique in that, to our knowledge, it is the first to experimentally test whether listening to specific types of music facilitates creative cognition,” the authors explain.
Once the music had started , the participants were asked to complete a series of cognitive tasks testing convergent levels of creative thinking (logical thinking and that offers the best answer to a problem) and divergent (making unexpected thought combinations, transforming information in an unusual way … in short: be creative).
Individuals who came up with the most innovative and useful solutions were ranked highest on divergent creativity, while those who came close to the best possible solution scored top marks for convergent creativity.
Conclusions
The experts found that listening to upbeat music, compared to silence, increased divergent creativity (that is, creative thinking), but not convergent creativity ; perhaps because upbeat music may enhance mental flexibility and thus creativity.
The study has some limitations. For example, volume levels and musical genres could play an important role and was not examined in the study. Because music is so accessible, even financially, these findings could have considerable ramifications for education, science, and business alike.
The results will have to be repeated in larger rehearsals, but it is interesting to consider that someone’s creative musical display may enhance the ability of another creative being to listen to their music. It is undeniable that the presence of music has been present in practically all the cultures of our planet and it is possible that it has helped humanity to overcome many puzzles over the millennia.
Referencia: Simone M. Ritter , Sam Ferguson . Happy creativity: Listening to happy music facilitates divergent thinking. 2017. PloS One. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182210
