A New Index Illuminates The Creative Life(中英文翻译全文).doc

A New Index Illuminates The Creative Life新的索引闪亮的创意生活THE propensity for inventive flair is the subject of new studies by psychologists who are investigating the role of creativity in the everyday lives of ordinary people.心理学家们对创造性在人们日常生活中作用进行了调查，现在他们又把创造性天赋倾向的研究作为了新主题。The studies seek to take the study of creativity out of the laboratory and to focus not just on brilliant achievements in the arts and sciences but also on creative acts in all realms of life, from gardening to running a business. Some of the studies are using a newly developed index of creativity to evaluate how inventive people are both at work and at leisure.该研究寻求从实验室中走出来，也不在将研究重点局限于艺术和科学上的辉煌成就，更着眼于真实的生活，研究领域也扩展到园艺，管理业务等各个领域方面的创造性行为。一些研究使用了新开发的创意指数去评价无论是工作还是休闲时，那些具有创造性天赋的人的行为。One goal of the new research is to better understand just what allows a persons inventiveness in certain areas to blossom at some points in life, and to identify factors that stifle or encourage inventiveness.这项新研究的目标之一是要更好地了解：到底是什么激发了某些领域的人们创造性在他们人生的某些时刻大放异彩，又是什么扼杀或者鼓励了他们的创造性。Creativity is a fragile phenomenon, easily crushed, said Teresa Amabile, a psychologist at Brandeis University, who is studying the social circumstances that tend to enhance or inhibit creativity. But if you understand what inhibits it, then you also know how to create the situations where it can flourish.布兰迪斯大学心理学家Teresa Amabile说“创造力是一种脆弱的现象，很容易碎”。她现在正在研究社会环境对创造力增强或抑制的作用。如果你明白什么抑制它，然后你也知道如何创建条件去激发创造性。In the new studies, researchers see creativity in the use of new or unusual elements in a way that is meaningful to others, rather than completely idiosyncratic. This broad view of creativity allows its recognition in, say, teaching or the deal-making of a financier, as well as in those endeavors traditionally regarded as creative, such as writing or painting.在新研究中，研究者运用新的不常规的原理对创造性进行研究，将创造性看做是对他人有意义的，而不是像传统研究那样将他归为完全与众不同的。这种宽泛的概念定义创造性就可以将说话，教学，做交易的金融家等他们在各种方面的创新也归为像传统方面的如书写，绘画方面的创新了。Scientists using the index to study creative acts in life have found a new twist in the popular belief that madness goes hand in hand with creativity. They have found that, while a propensity for an exalted state of elation often does spur creative acts, it is usually not those with manic-depressive disease who are the most highly creative. Instead, it tends more often to be family members who have no overt symptoms of the disorder.科学家使用这项指标来研究生活中的创造性行为，被广泛地认为创造性与疯狂联系在一起有了新的改变。他们已发现，同时倾向常常得意洋洋的崇高的状态不会刺激创造性行为，因为它通常不是那些有躁狂抑郁症疾病最是有非常创造力。而是他们的家庭成员中没有明显这些疾病症状的人才最具有创造性。Studies by Dr. Amabile and other psychologists are pinpointing how to overcome blocks to creativity and how to free the creative impulse to find its fullest expression. They find that being watched while working, for instance, or having to produce on demand tend to stifle creativity.阿玛比尔博士和其他心理学家的研究报告针对如何克服对创造力的阻碍，如何释放创意的冲动，使其充分地表达。例如，他们发现在监控下工作，或者听从指令的生产都会扼杀创造力。The new index, developed at Harvard Medical School by Ruth Richards, a psychiatrist, and Dennis Kinney, a psychologist, is applied by using a structured interview to evaluate peoples lives for two aspects of creativity.在哈佛大学医学院，制定的精神病学家露丝 理查兹，心理学家丹尼斯 凯莉，共同制定了一项新的指标。通过使用结构化的面试评估的两个方面的创造力在人们的生活应用。Peak creativity assesses the major enterprise of a persons lifetime that is most outstandingly innovative; it is seen as reflecting a persons innate capacity for creativity when circumstances are most favorable. A second scale evaluates the breadth of innovation in all areas of a persons life over time, which is seen as reflecting the motivation or propensity for creativity.第一个标尺，最出色的革新：峰值创造力评估，在人的一生中主要的事业。它反映了再环境最有利的情况下，一个人内在的创造力。第二个标尺，评估了一个人一生中不同方面的创新，它反映了人潜在的动态的创造力。Based on a study of lifetime creativity in 461 men and women, fewer than 1 percent of people have exceptional creativity, while about 10 percent are high in creativity, Dr. Kinney said. About 60 percent of people fall in the categories of moderate to some creativity. 基于461人的终身创造性研究，博士凯莉发现：少于 1%的人有异常的创造力，而大约 10%有较高的创造力，大约 60%的人属于创造力一般。The evaluations for the Lifetime Creativity Scale developed by Dr. Richards and Dr. Kinney are based on a scoring system that scrutinizes interviews about a persons life for signs of innovativeness in both leisure and work.理查兹博士和博士 Kinney 指定的终身创造力评价指标是基于通过对个人无论是工作还是娱乐的访谈调查评估系统。While virtually everyone values creativity, the picture of the exceptionally creative person shows that at its highest levels, creativity involves important sacrifices. For people at the most exceptional level, creativity is a pervasive, almost compulsive preoccupation; innovative activities dominate their lives, often to the detriment of other aspects of living. One example was an entrepreneur who spent long hours - including many weekends - at work developing a new product, often skipping meals, sometimes not getting home at night, for several years.虽然几乎人人都重视创造力，但是那就十足的具有创造力的人在很大程度上，创造力会付出很大的重要牺牲。具有异常创造力的人，创造力是普遍，几乎是情不自禁的关注 ；创新活动主宰自己的生活，经常对生活的其他方面的不利。一个例子是一名企业家，他们花了长时间的包括许多周末在开发新产品，常常不吃正餐，有时在夜间不回家，这样持续好几年。A high involvement with creativity is indicated by having strong, but not so all-consuming commitments to innovative efforts - for instance, a woman who invested much of her spare time teaching handicapped children to use a special device that helps them with movement and coordination, which she originally developed for her own child.创造力的高度介入表示过强，但不是那么所有消费承诺努力创新-例如，一个利用业余时间投入的教学残障的儿童要使用一个特殊的装置事业的女人，帮助他们最初为她自己的孩子开发的协调。Those with moderate levels of creativity display occasional imaginative flair, but in the course of their routine work or leisure activities. A chef who came up with unusual menus at a series of restaurants displayed this level of creativity, as did an amateur dance enthusiast who won several competitions.那些具有中等级别的创造力想象力在日常工作或休闲活动中偶尔显示天赋。厨师都出了在一系列的食谱后才创新出不寻常菜单，业余舞蹈爱好者赢得了几个比赛一样。Those people with some creative involvement, as measured by the scale, display innovations that are quite usual, such as hobbies of knitting or photography, or a baker who occasionally came up with a new recipe.这些人与一些创造性普通的人，以该标尺衡量显示看来很正常，针织或摄影、 兴趣爱好等偶尔出了新的配方。And those with minor creativity, or virtually none, spent most of their lives following routines at work and as passive spectators - of television or sports, for instance - at home. Mood Disorders and Creativity和那些少有创造力，或几乎没有的人，他们人生大部分的时间花费在工作上和作为被动的旁观者-就像是电视或体育运动的观众那样，例如-在家里的生活。心境障碍和创造力Using the new scale, Dr. Richards and Dr. Kinney have discovered that there is an unexpected connection between manic depression and creativity, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Contrary to conclusions based on earlier research by other scientists, it is not those who have extreme manic depression who tend to be the most creative, but rather their near relatives, many of whom have very mild signs of the disorder, or who exhibit no symptoms at all, For instance, a study of eminent writers who were instructors at the Iowa Writers Workshop had found that far more of them suffered from manic depression than was true for the population as a whole. The study, by Nancy Andreasen, a psychiatrist at the University of Iowa, is one of several that have found a strong association between outstanding creativity in the arts and manic depression.使用新的比例，理查兹博士和博士凯莉已经发现有躁狂抑郁与创造力有关，根据本月在变态心理学杂志发表的一项研究。与基于较早研究的其他科学家的结论不同，这不是那些极端的躁狂抑郁症那些倾向于最具创意，而是及其近亲属，其中许多人有非常轻度的迹象的紊乱，或着那些人没有症状，例如，那些在爱荷华州作家讲习班教员的杰出作家的研究已经发现，远不及他们比真正的人口患躁狂抑郁症作为一个整体。南希 Andreasen，在爱荷华大学的精神病学家的研究，是一个的几种已经发现强的优秀创意的艺术创作和躁狂抑郁症之间的关联。Dr. Andreasons study, typical of many in the past, focused only on people who had made an outstanding contribution to the arts. She did not study the relatives of the artists or with less obvious forms of creativity. But by using the new scale, Dr. Richards and Dr. Kinney were able to evaluate the degree of creativity exhibited in the lives of a group of ordinary people being treated for manic-depression, their relatives, and a comparison group who had no symptoms of the disorder and no family history of it.安德烈亚松博士的研究，是典型的在过去式的研究，只集中了艺术的杰出贡献的人。她没有研究艺术家的亲属或创造性不明显的艺术家。但是，通过使用新的比例，理查兹博士和博士 Kinney 人能够评估中生活的一群平凡的人正在接受治疗躁狂抑郁症、 他们的亲属和一个对照组有无症状的紊乱和无家族史的它展出的创造力的程度。While those being treated for manic-depression showed significantly greater levels of creativity than did those in the comparison group, the highest levels of creativity were found in their relatives who were prone to mild mood swings or who showed no signs of the tendency at all. 与对照组相比这些治疗躁狂抑郁症显示显著更高水平的创意，那些易发生轻度情绪波动或谁没有迹象的倾向的亲属中发现了更高水平的创意比那些比较组创造力的最高水平。The link between creativity and mood disorders is not limited to a handful of eminent people, or to a few fields such as the fine arts, but can be seen at lesser levels in millions of others, Dr. Kinney said. It is found not just in the 1 percent or so of people who get full-blown manic-depressive illness, but extends to the much larger number of their relatives.创造力与心境障碍之间的联系不是只限于一小撮杰出的人或一部分领域如美术，但可以在数以百万计的其他人看到，博士凯莉说。 它不只是在 1%左右的人获取全面爆发的狂躁病，它也但延伸到更多的亲人 。If your mood is so elevated that you become manic, you become too restless and overwhelmed by your ideas to be effective, Dr. Kinney said. But a mild manic feeling, what we call hypomania, gives people an increased energy and self-confidence along with fuller access to unusual ideas. They are more able than usual to come up with ideas that challenge the status quo, to take risks, and those are vital ingredients of a creative life.是否你的心情是如此提升你成为躁狂，你成为太不安分，被淹没了你的想法要有效，如果你的心情变的高亢，就会变的狂躁，你变的不安分，你被你的想法有效地淹没，博士凯莉说。但轻度躁狂的感觉，我们称之为 躁，给人民增加的能源和自信更充分地挑战不同寻常的想法。他们是更能比往常来挑战现状，承担风险的想法，那些是重要成分的创意生活.In related research, Kay Jamison, a psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, interviewed several dozen eminent artists and writers and found that their most creative periods occurred when they were in just such an elated mood. And Dr. Andreasen found that the creative writers she studied were most productive during those periods when they were not suffering the more intense symptoms of manic depression. 在相关的研究，Kay Jamison，在洛杉矶，加利福尼亚大学的心理学家采访了几个几十个杰出的艺术家和作家，发现其最有创意的期间发生时他们都只是这种兴高采烈的心情。Andreasen 博士发现在这些时期内，当他们不遭受激烈的躁狂抑郁症症状创造性的作家，在这段时间她学习是最有效。Mild mood swings might facilitate creativity, Dr. Kinney said, because a person is more imaginative during the elated phase, but can then evaluate and criticize those ideas when feeling more sober. That combination of the fluid generation of novel ideas and a critical judgment makes for successful creative efforts.轻度情绪波动可能促进创造力、 博士凯莉说，因为人在兴高采烈的阶段中，更有想象力，然后可以在他清醒的时候进行评估判断那些想法。两个阶段的新思想和批判性的判断，结合，使成功的创造性努力。Many people inhibit their creativity because they judge their ideas too critically, said Dr. Richards. You need to suspend self-judgments for a time.理查兹博士说： 因为他们太关键的是，判断他们的想法，很多人都抑制他们的创造力 。您需要暂停一段时间的自我判断。 But it is not enough just to have sound creative ideas; Dr. Kinney notes that the most creative people also have the drive and ability to execute their ideas. An elated mood helps there, too.You see that kind of unusual drive in those people who get little sleep, but always seem to have lots of energy - the tireless executive or politician, for instance, Dr. Kinney said.但不是有足够创新想法就可以了；Kinney 博士指出最有创意的人也需要有的驱动力和能力来执行他们的想法。兴高采烈的情绪帮助了他们释放想法，他们需要驱动力，他们睡的很少，但似乎总是有很多的能量-例如那些不懈的行政家或政治家，博士凯莉说。To be sure, there are many routes to creativity; many among the most creative people are not prone to manic depression and are not related to people with the disorder. Many psychologists are studying the conditions that can enhance a persons creativity.当然，有许多路通往创造力 ；最有创意的人当中不是躁狂抑郁的倾向，有障碍的人无关。许多心理学家正在研究可以提高一个人的创造力的条件。One of these is exposure to novel circumstances, such as travel t