Would you like to solve problems more effectively? Or just come up with more creative ideas on demand?
Research on how body movements affect the mind can show you how physical actions can make you much more creative.
In one study published in 2002 by Friedman and Forster, researchers asked participants to complete various creativity tasks. One group was asked to put their right hand under the table and pull it towards them gently. The other group was asked to place their right hand on top of the table and push down.
The group that was asked to pull the table towards them did much better on the creativity tasks as scored by independent reviewers than the “push” group.
Why?
Because the mind interprets pulling actions as meaning that a situation is safe and safety triggers creative thinking processes. Pushing actions signal that a situation is not safe and triggers analytic processes.
This result has been validated in many other experiments over the last 15 years.
So how can you use this idea to help yourself?
The next time you need to produce creative ideas, try taking one hand and pulling your desk towards you for a few moments. And when you want to think more analytically try pushing things away from you.
These simple actions have been shown over and over again to affect how you think.
So when will you apply this information? Leave a comment below telling when, where and how you will experiment with the idea above.
Reference to study above:
The influence of approach and avoidance motor actions on creativity.
7 replies to "How A Simple Arm Movement Can Increase Your Creativity In Just 10 Seconds"
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Hi Rodney:
This is very interesting. In addition to giving our suggestions a whirl,
I think I’ll try an experiment with some dance and exercise full body movements. For example, I’ll try doing pull ups on my pull up bar or dancing with all pulling motions for creativity. For the analytical, I’ll try plain ol’ push ups and experimenting with dance by try to use only pushing motions… Creating dance with only one direction will be quite interesting. It’s good thing it only needs to be 10 seconds 🙂
Sounds like a fun experiment.
Thanks for the info.
Patty Rose
Patty,
Thanks for your comment. Let me know how your experiment goes. Also, can you make a video of the exercises you create. It might be interesting for others to see who want to try the same thing.
Rodney
Hi Rodney:
I’ve started doing a bit of experimenting and it’s been quite fun. No video yet (love the idea by the way). But, I did write about it on my blog and mentioned this post as well. You can check it out here. Roller Skate Dance! (part 2) http://ht.ly/1ZWWC
Patty Rose
Patty,
Thanks for referencing my post. I’m glad you tried the idea of pulling and pushing with your skating.
It sounds like you had a lot of fun.
Rodney
This is a really interesting idea! I love it, and am definitely going to give it a shot. Thanks! 🙂
Angela,
Glad to hear you’ll be trying this idea. Let me know how well it works for you.
Rodney