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Communication can inhibit mental capacity
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
Intensive social contact does not necessarily benefit intelligence. According to psychologists, communication can suppress it in some people.
Not very good news for fans of brainstorming and other types of collective creative physical exercise. According to researchers from Johns Hopkins University (USA), social isolation is only beneficial to creative abilities. However, psychologists make an important clarification: it is beneficial only for those people whose self-esteem and general view of the world do not depend on the opinions of others.
For such people, refusing social contacts confirms their inner freedom and independence, and if they are allowed to calmly be apart from society, they see this as confirmation of their own right to exist. They can be considered arrogant, but the fact is that the creative abilities of such individuals really improve. And vice versa - those whose self-esteem and ideas about the world depend on the opinions of others will feel extremely uncomfortable outside society: they will lose their point of support, and with it - their creative abilities.
The psychologists published the results of their research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
The authors of the work emphasize that their results do not really fit in with the current general social network mood for a “new creative collectivity” (or “new collective creativity”). If a person avoids communication, from intensive participation in the life of the community, it does not at all follow that he needs to be corrected, pointed out to shortcomings and dragged into society so that his creativity can blossom. Obviously, it must be recognized that there are people whose talent manifests itself without your (and your society’s) direct participation. It would be especially useful for various managers to learn this in order to distinguish sociable employees from unsociable ones in time and not drag the latter to corporate parties and collective brainstorming sessions, where they will not be of any use anyway.
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