Does Creativity Decline as You Age? — PILGRIM SOUL

Creativity is signaled by divergent thinking, a thought process in which the mind’s typical thought process is opened in all directions allowing for a wide range of newly possible ideas. This sort of originality and efficacy is like a muscle. As children, the creative muscle is continuously flexed — imaginary friends, playing pretend, creating new languages. Children are forever expressing their creativity. However, as adults, people’s experience at being able to tap into that childlike creative mindset is less and less available. But do people actually become less creative with age? Although life can get more structured with age, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a person’s creative capabilities have dwindled.

The Age-Old Question

Research surrounding creativity’s decline with age was done as early as 1835. Since then, research conducted by psychologist Dean Keith Simonton indicates that increased creativity is associated with a heightened output in your mid-20s, which peaks between a person’s late 30s and early 40s, slowly declining from thereon. However, this is only true depending upon the type of creativity. Creators, like poets and mathematicians, tend to peak early and bottom-out relatively quickly after that. Other disciplines, such as historians or philosophers, have a more gradual trajectory. They reach their peak later…