{"id":128346,"date":"2024-08-10T11:08:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T15:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=128346"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:29:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:29:57","slug":"sensitivity-and-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sensitivity-and-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Sensitivity and Creativity: How Art and Emotions Are Linked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How are sensitivity and creativity linked? Can over-sensitivity be a negative thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, being sensitive is a characteristic of creativity. In their book <em>Wired to Create, <\/em>the authors explain why sensitivity can be both a good and a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn why artists tend to be sensitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/society-culture\/arts\/creativity-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shortform\u2019s guide to creativity<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-artists-are-sensitive\">Why Artists Are Sensitive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors of <em>Wired to Create <\/em>assert that sensitivity and creativity go hand-in-hand. <strong>Sensitive people experience intense emotions and often are more in tune with and impacted by their surroundings<\/strong>. For example, a sensitive person may be more likely to notice the subtle nuanced brush strokes in a painting, or they may be better equipped to pick up on others\u2019 emotions. They\u2019re also more likely to be strongly emotionally impacted by their experiences\u2014both positively and negatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The authors explain that sensitivity is linked to creativity for a few reasons. <\/strong>First, sensitive people have more intense emotional experiences, and emotions are often the inspiration for creative expression. Further, sensitive people tend to pick up on things that most people don\u2019t. This provides them with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-understand-anything-deeply\/\">deeper understanding<\/a> of the world, which sparks creative insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Experiences of Highly Sensitive People<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-highly-sensitive-person\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Highly Sensitive Person<\/em><\/a>, Elaine Aron provides a more comprehensive definition of what it means to be highly sensitive. According to Aron, <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-highly-sensitive-person#what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-highly-sensitive-person\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">highly sensitive people, or HSPs, have four major characteristics that set them apart from the typical person:<\/a> <br><br>1) the ability to process information deeply <br>2) the heightened ability to discern subtleties <br>3) heightened empathy and emotional experiences <br>4) the tendency to become overstimulated<br><br>While Aron agrees that HSPs can often <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-become-more-creative\/\">be more creative<\/a> than non HSPs due to their heightened understanding of themselves and the world, <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-highly-sensitive-person#the-drawback-of-being-a-highly-sensitive-person-overarousal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they also experience symptoms that can be inhibiting<\/a>. For example, the tendency to become overstimulated can lead to a state called <em>transmarginal inhibition<\/em> in which they shut down because they\u2019re unable to handle the stimulation they\u2019re experiencing.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How are sensitivity and creativity linked? Can over-sensitivity be a negative thing? According to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, being sensitive is a characteristic of creativity. In their book Wired to Create, the authors explain why sensitivity can be both a good and a bad thing. Continue reading to learn why artists tend to be sensitive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":128503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[1569],"class_list":["post-128346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-psychology","tag-wired-to-create","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sensitivity and Creativity: How Art and Emotions Are Linked - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to the book Wired to Create, sensitivity and creativity are linked. This can be both a positive and a negative thing. 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