If You’re Easily Annoyed By This One Thing, Science Says You’re Basically A Creative Genius
If you can't function with too much background noise, you might be smarter than you think.
PeopleImages / Shutterstock When you're working, does having music playing bother you? Or hearing people talking? If so, you might just chalk it up to being easily distracted, but you could be wrong.
Science says these could be signs that you're actually a genius. Who knew your hatred for overcrowded and loud coffee shops could be the sign you were waiting for that you're actually incredibly intelligent? Finally, your parents can be proud of you, and you can update your LinkedIn with this science-based fact.
A study found evidence that people who get easily distracted may have higher levels of creativity.
A 2015 study from Northwestern University found evidence that the inability to block out multiple sensory information is also present in those who are creatively talented. Notorious geniuses like Charles Darwin, Anton Chekhov, and the novelist Marcel Proust all wore earplugs because of their high sensitivity to noise. Really, who would want to listen to all the noise of society when I can zone out and listen to my own thoughts instead?
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The study included 100 participants who answered questions about their creative endeavors in the visual arts, creative writing, scientific discovery, culinary arts, and more via a questionnaire, along with a timed test of creative cognition. Researchers were able to gather two creativity scores: both real-world creative achievement and laboratory-measured divergent thinking.
The results showed that people who had the most creative answers and achievements also reported being very sensitive to background noise while working. Darya Zabelina, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at Northwestern and the lead study author, said, "If funneled in the right direction, these sensitivities can make life more rich and meaningful, giving experiences more subtlety."
This research suggests that some people may just have 'leakier' sensory filters.
Writing a paper in a crowded cafe with a screaming baby across the room and a businessman at the next table over listening to a Zoom meeting at full volume is much harder for some people because they simply struggle to process the overload of sensory information.
While being a creative genius sounds like a great thing, having a decreased ability to filter out sensory information has both costs and benefits. Let's face it, when you were studying for a test in the dorms, you were probably not that much fun to be around.
"Noise and other environmental stimuli can serve as distractors for creative people, leading them to make errors on some tasks, as well as generally making their life less comfortable," Zabelina explained. That doesn't bode well if you are at work and happen to be seated near the copy machine or break room.
"At the same time," she pointed out, "leaky attention may help people integrate ideas that are outside the focus of attention into their current information processing, leading to creative thinking."
There may also be a link between leaky sensory gating and psychopathology.
Zabelina said that these results were particularly interesting because they could signify a vulnerability to psychopathology, particularly schizophrenia. This builds off existing debates that creativity and psychopathology might possibly be related.
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She added, "Thus it is possible that some risk factors that are associated with elevated psychopathology, such as leaky sensory gating, might also, in combination with other factors, be a risk factor for increased creative achievement, as previously suggested."
So the next time someone is distracting you by being loud, just tell him or her to be quiet because a genius is at work! If they were also geniuses, they would understand, and if they don't, then that means they just weren't smart enough to be talking to you to begin with. They might not like you afterward, but, according to science, it's true!
Nicole Weaver is a senior writer for Showbiz Cheat Sheet whose work has been featured in New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, and more.
