Is Your Creativity In Your DNA?

Have you ever wondered how certain families are just artistically talented? Or maybe you’ve had a friend that was so good at painting or composing music and discovered that their parent is a painter or musician? Maybe the answer is in the creative thinking genes. Well, recent studies can explain the connection.

It always has seemed that there has been a connection between children and their parents in terms of creativity. It was unknown if the connection was due to developmental and environmental factors or genetic variables. We always assumed it was a mix of both but didn’t know how much each factor contributed. Personality disorders were formerly assumed to be caused by the surroundings or trauma. However, new evidence indicates that heredity has a significant impact on disorders.

According to research published in the Journal of Personality, although genetics and environment have a role in the relationship between normal and disordered personality characteristics, genetics seems to have a more noticeable impact overall. The results suggest that, although the environment –– such as being exposed to music as a youngster –– may undoubtedly impact a personality inclined to creativity. It is more closely tied to the blood that travels through one’s veins. That implies that, although you may have admired your father’s narrative ability, you may not have pursued a career as a novelist if creativity had not already been ingrained in your DNA. Therefore, DNA testing could be the next step to unlocking your abilities and talents if you have creative or talented relatives. It could also be something to check out if you have a knack for creativity.

Genetic testing offers many different benefits and unlocks a whole other world to understanding your body and gathering information about where you might shine, other than also screening for your health and making sure you live a long healthy, maybe even creative, life.

What is creative thinking, and how does it link to your DNA

The act of bringing fresh and inventive ideas to life is known as creativity. The capacity to view the environment in new ways, identify hidden patterns, establish connections between apparently unrelated occurrences, and produce solutions are all characteristics of creativity.

Thinking and then creating are two steps in the creative process. It’s crucial to understand that you might be imaginative but not creative if you have ideas but don’t act on them.

Divergent thinking is merely one aspect of creativity; it also entails the creation of infinite connections. Recent research suggests that the answer resides in our DNA. “The connection of large-scale brain networks is linked to creativity,” says one researcher.

Is there such a thing as “creative thinking genes”?

What do Beethoven and the violinist who performs for a few dollars in tips on the metro have in common? What do Vincent Van Gogh and the spray can-wielding graffiti artists who paint your city’s walls with their vivid artwork have in common? Creativity? Yes, but the parallels are more profound. Scientists and psychologists believe that these artists share a set or two of “creativity” genes. Creative people are wired differently than those who aren’t.

There are differences in the presence or lack of specific genes and the anatomical properties of their brains. Scientists have been experimenting with the hypothesis that genes may have a role in developing creative talents in people for decades. The findings were part of a study of 300,000 persons with mental diseases conducted by specialists at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.

According to the findings of this research, persons with severe neuropsychiatric diseases such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia had higher levels of creativity than mentally healthy people. A large number of the mentally ill people in this research worked in the creative and artistic fields. According to the research, their first-degree healthy relatives were also more likely to work in creative fields. Although parents may not pass mental illness down the generations, this shows that creative DNA may.

So, how detrimental is your genetic makeup related to your creative thinking?

Mark Roeling and colleagues have researched at Oxford and Vrije universities where they used data from the Netherlands Twin Register, which included roughly 1800 monozygotic (identical) twins that carry the very same genes and 1600 dizygotic or non-identical twins that match just 50% of their DNA, similar to non-twin siblings. The twins’ occupations were classed as creative if they fitted into the fields of dance, cinema, music, theatre, visual arts, or writing.

This was the case for 233 of the people on the list. Roeling and his colleagues wanted to know how probable it is for a person to have an artistic job if their twin had one as well. If the result is the same for monozygotic and dizygotic pairings, then it means genes have no bearing on the chance of pursuing an artistic job — it’s all about nurture.

The more remarkable creative similarity between identical twins, on the other hand, would imply that nature plays a more significant influence. The researchers discovered that identical twins’ jobs were far more comparable than non-identical twins. If one identical twin had a creative job, their sibling had a .68% chance of doing so as well, compared to a likelihood of just .4 for a creative non-identical twin. This disparity among identical and non-identical twins shows that genes have a significant role in whether or not you pursue a creative career. The scientists approximated the heritability of being in a creative profession to be 0.7 upon adapting the outcomes using statistics from non-twin siblings.

In other words, in trying to understand why some people in the sample wound up in creative careers. In contrast, others didn’t. The researchers believe that genetic influences account for 70% of the disparity.

How is creativity fueled?

Recent studies have discovered that creativity is fueled in people with higher dopamine production; the research takes a more comprehensive approach to creativity. The researchers looked at participants’ “divergent thinking,” or their capacity to develop new, acceptable solutions to a problem, which is a frequent predictor of creativity. The researchers discovered a link between creativity and genes involved in dopamine production.

Greater dopamine, a chemical linked to attention and pleasure, equals more creativity. These results are also relevant to research that links creativity to mental illness (a genetic component). Bipolar illness, which has affected a lot of creative personalities, may be linked to high dopamine levels.

How to recognize if you’re genetically gifted in creativity?

Creativity has long been a dispute between nature and nurture, but it is most likely a mix of both; as said in the previous study, 70 per cent of it is hereditary. With that in mind, it’s critical to recognize your talents and work toward them. Many individuals squander their creativity and skill because they lack self-confidence. Many individuals desire to go to acting school but are doubtful whether they have the natural skill for it, just as they are unsure if they have the natural talent for dance, painting, singing, etc.

Genetic testing is beneficial for various things, such as cancer screening and detecting disorders, but it could also help identify specific genes that are responsible for positive aspects. For example, studies discovered that Asians were more likely to have absolute pitch through genetic testing! This was eventually explained as a result of their DNA including tonal language.

The good news is that DNA testing has been around for a long time and is gaining popularity all around the globe. In Asia, for example, test kits are always coming, whether it’s for DNA testing in Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, or elsewhere in the world. When you understand your Creative DNA, or the blueprint you were born with, and can fully embrace your most intrinsic skills, opportunities will present themselves more readily, and you will be able to produce excellent work and get the acclaim you deserve.