Creative Thinking and Stress

Distinguish among analytic, creative and practical thinking and give an example of each. Explain how culture can influence the extent to which these different types of thinking are valued.

Analytic thinking refers to the ability of a person to take a complex problem and break it down into constituent parts, to find solutions or identify the root causes. However, analytic thinking does not just refer to one's ability to solve problems. Analytic thinking can help a person study and understand music, art, or literature. Creative thinking applies to many different scenarios, too, and can also be used for solving problems. The essence of creative thinking is freedom, allowing the mind to come up with an abundance of ideas without self-censorship, adopting a new schema, paradigm, or worldview. Although creative thinking is typically associated with the arts, it is just as evidence in science and other fields that depend on fresh ideas and unique insight into existing problems -- or the creativity to identify problems that might not have been identified yet by others. For example, one of the creative solutions that was recently offered to tackle global wealth inequity and gender inequity at the same time was the concept of microlending in economics. Practical thinking entails what most people would call common sense or realism. Someone who thinks practically is able to make decisions that are sensible and do-able, responding to the situational variables instead of basing a decision on idealism or emotions. Practical thinking can be especially helpful during a crisis, when the mobilization of existing resources in a tight period of time is necessary.

3. Explain how both individual traits (e.g., personality) and societal factors can influence resilience to stress and overall health.

Individual personality traits like neuroticism adversely affects a person's ability to cope with stress, whereas a person who scores low on neuroticism and who tends to be calm and resilient will have an innate ability to not get worked up or panic under pressure. However, there are also societal factors that can influence resilience to stress and overall health. Social learning might be a factor, as people learn from their parents and peers what coping mechanisms to use in stressful situations. A person might learn to remain calm by watching calm people, or was taught resilience and coping from a young age through parental discipline or social learning. Other societal factors include things like poverty or racism, which are structural inequalities that can create stress in an individual and lead to downturns in health.

4. What are some characteristics that most centenarians share in common?

Centenarians do come from different backgrounds generally, but they share several features in common that contribute to their old age. Centenarians tend to be free from the diseases that affect other elders, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and dementia (Davis, n.d.; Goodman, 2015). Most did not smoke or abuse alcohol throughout their lives, and few are obese, continuing their healthy habits until old age. Goodman (2015) notes that most centenarians have been tall. Other features they share in common seems to be spirituality or religiosity, which could also be a generational socialization factor. Most live communally due to circumstances like having lost most of their natural caregivers, even though most also lived independently well into their 90s (Davis, n.d.). Centenarians tend to be physically active, also contributing to their overall health, and similarly, a quality they seem to share in common is their resilience and ability to cope with stress. Finally, most centenarians can name at least one other family member who also lived a long time, suggesting that genetics do play a role.