3 ms·

Scientists confirm there is an inherited element to creativity

5 points by 001sky 14y ago

Millennium 14y ago
So the new question is, why? Is it genetic? Epigenetic? Memetic? This really doesn't tell us all that much: many things run in families, including things that cannot possibly be genetic in nature.
tokenadult 14y ago
Another crap press release on another crap preliminary correlational study. The method of operatinalizing "creativity" in this small-n study is highly debatable, and hardly likely to be generalizable to, say, creativity in software engineering. See Peter Norvig's online article "Warning Signs in Experimental Design and Interpretation" http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html for a checklist of signs of faulty procedure or reasoning to look for in any report about a research study, and see the writings of Eric Turkheimer http://people.virginia.edu/~ent3c/vita1_turkheimer.htm http://people.virginia.edu/~ent3c/vita1_turkheimer.htm or Lars Penke http://www.larspenke.eu/en/publications.html http://www.larspenke.eu/en/publications.html for thoughtful discussions of genetically sensitive designs in the study of human behavior.
- 001sky 14y ago
  Another crap press release on another crap preliminary correlational study. -- This should have made the mock-HN humor thread =] Original is behind a paywall, though. [1,2,3,4] _______ Notes _______ [1] HN humor > http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731 [2] Original | (paywall) > http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608012001276 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608012... (paywall) [3] This can't be as bad the Organic food one, though? [4] Abstract: The etiology of creative writing has been overlooked thus far in studies of skill acquisition. Here we attempt to make a start by examining the familiality and heritability of indicators of creative writing in a sample of 511 Russian-speaking children, and their 489 mothers and 326 fathers. The contributions of cognitive ability (fluid and crystallized intelligence) and family environment were also taken into account. Results show modest but statistically significant familiality and heritability of creative writing in this sample, even when other cognitive and environmental factors are added to the model.
opminion 14y ago
Journalist's list of latest articles confirms link between correlation and causation. http://www.independent.co.uk/search/simple.do?destinationSectionUniqueName=search&publicationName=ind&pageLength=5&startDay=1&startMonth=1&startYear=2010&useSectionFilter=true&useHideArticle=true&searchString=byline_text:(%22Roger%20Dobson%22)&displaySearchString=Roger%20Dobson http://www.independent.co.uk/search/simple.do?destinationSec...

5 points by 001sky 14y ago

So the new question is, why? Is it genetic? Epigenetic? Memetic? This really doesn't tell us all that much: many things run in families, including things that cannot possibly be genetic in nature.

tokenadult 14y ago

Another crap press release on another crap preliminary correlational study. The method of operatinalizing "creativity" in this small-n study is highly debatable, and hardly likely to be generalizable to, say, creativity in software engineering. See Peter Norvig's online article "Warning Signs in Experimental Design and Interpretation" http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html for a checklist of signs of faulty procedure or reasoning to look for in any report about a research study, and see the writings of Eric Turkheimer http://people.virginia.edu/~ent3c/vita1_turkheimer.htm http://people.virginia.edu/~ent3c/vita1_turkheimer.htm or Lars Penke http://www.larspenke.eu/en/publications.html http://www.larspenke.eu/en/publications.html for thoughtful discussions of genetically sensitive designs in the study of human behavior.

001sky 14y ago
Another crap press release on another crap preliminary correlational study. -- This should have made the mock-HN humor thread =] Original is behind a paywall, though. [1,2,3,4] _______ Notes _______ [1] HN humor > http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731 [2] Original | (paywall) > http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608012001276 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608012... (paywall) [3] This can't be as bad the Organic food one, though? [4] Abstract: The etiology of creative writing has been overlooked thus far in studies of skill acquisition. Here we attempt to make a start by examining the familiality and heritability of indicators of creative writing in a sample of 511 Russian-speaking children, and their 489 mothers and 326 fathers. The contributions of cognitive ability (fluid and crystallized intelligence) and family environment were also taken into account. Results show modest but statistically significant familiality and heritability of creative writing in this sample, even when other cognitive and environmental factors are added to the model.

opminion 14y ago

Journalist's list of latest articles confirms link between correlation and causation. http://www.independent.co.uk/search/simple.do?destinationSectionUniqueName=search&publicationName=ind&pageLength=5&startDay=1&startMonth=1&startYear=2010&useSectionFilter=true&useHideArticle=true&searchString=byline_text:(%22Roger%20Dobson%22)&displaySearchString=Roger%20Dobson http://www.independent.co.uk/search/simple.do?destinationSec...