The effectiveness of creative activity is linked to temperament. It is useful to consider that people with different temperaments manifest the following qualities differently:
1. ability to hear and understand the task; 2. predictive abilities; 3. ability to tolerate uncertainty; 4. ability to generate ideas (“power of the fountain of ideas”; its efficiency and degree of novelty); 5. skill in overcoming difficulties arising on the path to a solution; 6. desire and ability to work in a creative team.
Conditions for sanguine creativity.
When presenting a task to a sanguine person, one must consider that they have a tendency to interrupt the interlocutor in order to steer the conversation away from an unpleasant topic. Therefore, first and foremost, one must ensure the continuity of their attention until the task is finally set.
The mobility of the sanguine psyche can fail them, causing a decrease in concentration, which leads to haste and superficial decisions. Therefore, a large task requiring prolonged effort is morally difficult for them and is resolved significantly more successfully when presented as several separate successes and achievements. These qualities make it useful to break the entire problem into parts and periodically set new, preferably interesting tasks before the sanguine person, each requiring concentration and tension for a time acceptable to them. In this, it is necessary to systematically encourage their efforts. Otherwise, they become bored and will switch to something else. Moreover, to avoid such premature switching, it is desirable to periodically emphasize the prospects opening up for them after the successful resolution of this task, convincing them of a quick and grand victory. When considering the predictive capabilities of sanguines, we must not overlook that they excel in both tactics and strategy, but they are still better tacticians. The collapse of a sanguine’s career is most often caused by an inability to foresee the distant consequences of their actions, excessively rosy hopes, indiscriminateness in the choice of means, and a propensity for adventure. However, in the face of failure, the sanguine does not fall into despair but seeks a new field for the application of their energy.
The sanguine tolerates uncertainty fairly easily because they know how to switch to other tasks or other spheres of activity. They are distinguished by a diversity of interests, so they are bored within the confines of a narrow problem. If a goal is difficult to achieve, they re-evaluate it. Then a new value is placed at the top of the hierarchy. This quality of the sanguine — the possibility of changing direction at any moment — allows them to tolerate uncertainty longer.
Generating ideas, the sanguine is not very concerned with their reliability and feasibility. They prefer the process of using imagination rather than their knowledge, and their own role in this event rather than its effectiveness. Therefore, they are free and relaxed, and their proposals contain many superficial ideas. Such a position, even without bringing personal fruits, favorably influences the well-being and productivity of other colleagues. When the sanguine is convinced that the goal is personally significant to them, they can be given very complex and energy-intensive tasks, since a peculiarity of the sanguine is the ability to concentrate on the main goal. When the goal is clear, they appear as an energetic person, a strong personality, and an excellent leader.
The ability to work in a team is one of the sanguine’s strong points, so they often act as a leader. In this capacity, they have sufficient knowledge to perceive the problem and sufficient self-confidence to transmit a state of confidence to others. Working in a group, the sanguine prefers a cooperation strategy, since on the one hand they have an energy resource and a need for intense work, and on the other — lowered emotional thresholds and an internal locus of control with a positive attitude toward self and others.
It is important that they are not only ambitious and pragmatic but also know how to present the significance of their own work and the work of their subordinates to higher management.
Conditions for choleric creativity.
Listening to the task, the choleric, like the sanguine, often interrupts the interlocutor, but not because they want to divert from an unpleasant continuation. They simply worry that they will forget the ideas that have come to mind and rush to express them. Therefore, the strategy for presenting the task to a choleric is different: one must pause as many times as necessary, and at the end, lay it all out once more from the very beginning. When considering a task for a choleric, one must bear in mind that monotonous types of activity requiring patience and sedentariness are contraindicated for them as a very mobile person. Therefore, the task must be calculated for a long term. And if this is necessary, the entire volume must be broken into small pieces, each presented as a separate task and a report required for each, evaluating the achieved results comprehensively.
The choleric is more of a tactician than a strategist. They are an impetuous person always directed forward; the past interests them little, and they forcibly switch their attention to what has passed. This weakens their ability to analyze the results obtained by them. Facing uncertainty, the choleric strives to get rid of it quickly. But spending little time surveying the situation and trusting themselves completely, with increasing uncertainty (increase in the number of tasks or parameters) they do not change strategy. As a result, the number of errors in them quickly accumulates.
The choleric likes combining absolutely different, dissimilar ideas and creating something new and original on their basis. When an interesting thought appears in them, they are ready to tell it to the whole world. They are an indefatigable preacher of their ideas and therefore capable of captivating many with them. In this, it is important to remember that in the process of generating ideas, the choleric does not perceive criticism.
When performing tasks, the choleric is more tolerant of stress generated by creativity than representatives of other temperaments, is not afraid of workloads, and therefore wins when it is necessary to work with large arrays of information. Cholerics strive to solve tasks exceeding average difficulty and often cope with them successfully. Since the choleric is incapable of waiting long, they limit themselves to starting a business, then leave it or sell it, losing time or money in the process. Similarly, they often invent but are incapable of extracting anything from their invention. Bearing these traits in mind, it is useful to place them at the forefront of a breakthrough. A team must follow behind them to “consolidate” and formalize the results.
Since the choleric’s subjective confidence in their results is substantially higher than that of phlegmatics and melancholics (with a tendency to make quick decisions without thorough analysis), control and evaluation must be entrusted to another person. At the same time, checks must be organized quite tactfully, since the choleric poorly tolerates disciplinary restrictions, regulations, and control. Control is better exercised through written materials, outside of contact with the performer, taking into account the choleric’s irritability and conflict-proneness. The choleric’s communication with the team has a specificity: unlike representatives of other temperaments, a situation of rivalry not only does not irritate but even stimulates them. They have a tendency to pass judgment too quickly, immediately rejecting ideas that are quite perfect.
Conditions for phlegmatic creativity.
In the process of perceiving a task, a phlegmatic attempts to classify information and fit it into their scheme, accepting only what fits, even if that means leaving out part of the explanation. They think long about what they have heard and often give an incomplete answer, followed by a supplement after a long pause. Therefore, at the end of the conversation it is advisable to ask them to formulate the task as they understood it. Listening to their own retelling, the phlegmatic fills in gaps with clarifying questions. When preparing a task for a phlegmatic, one must consider that they need a substantial task for a long period. They are convinced that nothing significant can be done in a hurry. They must be gradually engaged with the task, as they take a long time to get involved and poorly handle switching to other tasks. Therefore, when necessary, a new task can be imagined as a continuation or development of an old one. A phlegmatic’s predictive talents are linked to their interest in the past, allowing them to account well for the variety of developmental lines over long future intervals. The goal of their assumptions is to reduce the unpredictable, lower uncertainty. Thus they are much more strategists than tacticians. A scientist-phlegmatic points out strategic directions of activity and often devotes their entire life to one topic. If the topic is promising, they achieve outstanding success.
A phlegmatic can handle highly complex tasks even when they are highly uncertain. Because they switch poorly and slowly and take a long time to get used to a new task, more time should be allocated to the first stage of work. A phlegmatic spends a lot of time gathering information and evaluating their starting data. However, later they will not have to change the direction of work and return to the beginning. For efficient work, it is desirable that the new task follows the line of previous ones.
The main strategy for overcoming a phlegmatic’s difficulties is methodicalness. They are a hardworking, diligent person who needs to see a started task through to the end. Perseverance and patience make them a professional in their field. They like a permanent order: everything must be in its place and happen at its time. The phlegmatic ideal is a planned, predictable life; they do not like “surprises” or changes in the usual flow of events. The advantage of a phlegmatic is that as the number of analyzed hypotheses and tasks increases, the number of wrong decisions does not practically increase. On the other hand, they can conduct a fairly thorough control of their results.
When discussing the phlegmatic’s position in a group, remember that they are more likely to succeed in solo projects. In this they are a reliable group member, because they do not like changing either place or the nature of work. However, in joint work with them one must be careful; they may, without fully understanding, agree with a mistaken opinion of others and not defend their own correct one, simply because they are too lazy to get involved in the discussion. But if they get involved, they will no longer listen to anyone’s opinions. Others may still debate, while they act on their own.
Conditions of creativity for the melancholic.
When setting a task for a melancholic, remember that they are often so immersed in themselves and their feelings that they almost do not hear or perceive the interlocutor. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to ensure that the melancholic is involved in the situation. Successful inclusion of the melancholic in work allows one to take advantage of their maximum sensitivity to new trends. They have heightened intuitive perception, first feeling new trends in all fields of science and technology, “catching the wind in the sails.” In this sense the melancholic appears as a seismic instrument for measuring weak oscillations. However, even after catching these oscillations, they often do not trust themselves and do not inspire trust in others. Therefore it is so important to listen carefully to even their timid recommendations and not demand a deep justification and independent implementation, assigning these duties to others. At the same time, when preparing a task for them, remember that the main thing is not to scare them and to emphasize in every way that the task is simple enough and has every chance of being handled.
Melancholics avoid forecasting and planning because they fear disappointment. But when a melancholic dares to see their future, they gain strength to achieve results. The melancholic’s predictive abilities depend largely on the magnitude of the perceived threat, which generates uncertainty. When this tension exceeds a certain threshold, the melancholic’s goal-directed behavior breaks down and a desire to use spontaneous, random strategies begins to rise (if they do not hide, they throw themselves).
Any life task the melancholic considers very important, believing it will require incredible strength from them. At the same time they are already certain that they will lack both physical and mental energy to solve it. Then the question arises: “How to protect oneself from excessive load?” With favorable development of events, the melancholic essentially will not allow situations they cannot handle. Outside extreme situations they can well organize various approaches and methods of solving a task and execute the planned program carefully and economically. They are much less likely than sanguine and choleric to find themselves in a time crunch, because they prepare for work in the most meticulous way, considering the possibility of an unfavorable situation and planning their behavior. In conflict, melancholics prefer avoidance strategy. This is related to their heightened emotional sensitivity. In addition, they prefer tasks with a higher hope of success. In general, melancholics differ by a huge correspondence between the level of their aspirations and the level of tasks they actually accomplish, i.e., their aspirations are more realistic than those of sanguine and choleric, who are characterized by unrealistic, often inflated levels of aspiration.
G. R. M., 2004
