User talk:Nrpm/sandbox

There have been many studies on the correlation between mood and creativity with very different results. Some studies seem to show a positive correlation between negative mood and heightened creativity (1). Other studies show that negative moods seem to be correlated with heightened creativity, one such research paper concludes “Negative moods signal that the status quo is problematic and that additional effort needs to be exerted to come up with new and useful ideas” (2). The debate is not binary with some studies saying that both positive and negative emotions play a role in creativity “the data support a positive-mood-enhances creativity generalization. Although other components of the creative process suggest a role for negative mood…”(3). What is clear is that the connection between mood and creativity is rarely direct, rather, it's that being in certain moods forces or fosters people into certain actions that make them more creative at the moment. For instance, negative emotions have been shown to increase the amount a person will reflect and ruminate which then can cause a person to be more creative (4) (5). Even studying creativity has its challenges because creativity doesn't necessarily involve action, which is a necessary component for proper research. The thing that is actually being studied is, more appropriately called, "creative drive" which would be people's motivation to do things such as speaking, writing, problem-solving, etc.(6). Ultimately, this topic requires more research to make any definitive statement on how much negative or positive emotion affects one's creative drive. This reflects a statement made in a 2008 meta-analysis on mood creativity research that said "Herein lie important avenues for future research, which eventually will tell us when and why angry young men, happy campers, and sad loners create and innovate."(7)