However, emerging research suggests that the positive vs. negative emotions distinction may not be the most important contrast for understanding attentional focus.

The long-standing view in psychology is that positive emotions are conducive to creativity because they broaden the mind, whereas negative emotions are detrimental to creativity because they narrow one’s focus.

It’s true that attentional focus does have important effects on creative thinking

research conducted by psychologist Eddie Harmon-Jones and his colleagues suggests that the critical variable influencing one’s scope of attention is not emotional valence (positive vs. negative emotions) but motivational intensity, or how strongly you feel compelled to either approach or avoid something.

low motivational states facilitate the search for new goals to pursue, whereas high motivational states focus us on completing a specific goal.

Positive emotions low motivational intensity- e.g pleasant broadened the mind (measured by subjects making more holistic matches to a target stimulus)

high motivational intensity- e.g desire narrowed subjects’ scope of attention (subjects made more detail-oriented matches to a target stimulus)

negative emotions low motivational intensity- e.g sadness broadened attentional focus

high motivational intensity- e.g disgust a state of high motivational intensity for avoidance) narrowed focus.

If you want to keep an open mind and see the big picture, it’s probably best if you’re just in a pleasant (or even sad) mood.

If, however, you really need to buckle down and focus on making a new idea practical, high motivational intensity can be just the ticket.

Psychologists studying creativity have discovered that it is based on cognitive processes we all share. Creativity is not the result of some magic brain region that some people have and others don't.

creativity isn't limited to left-leaning designers, artists, and architects alone. Ideas and inspiration can (and should) come from everyone, regardless of their background.

Follow these steps and you'll find creativity can be achieved in just about any context.

Insights: defining the problem First, start by defining the problem at hand. Keep reframing the problem until it's clear to you and the others working on it. The problem and the path to resolution should be rooted in research and user-validation.

Saturation: getting in the mindset Immerse yourself in whatever information is available, then dig deeper for more.

Incubation: letting it all sink in "thinking aside", as you're essentially putting your brain on the shelf and stepping away. By turning off your mind this way, you're allowing the information to set in and that subsequent spark of creativity the necessary room to ignite.

Illumination: the notable 'aha!' moment We know this as the "Aha!" moment that hits when we least expect it. Whether in the shower or in line at the grocery store, it's the unforeseen moment during which that thousand watt light bulb suddenly turns on and the solution seems clear.

Verification: remove any biasOnce you've hooked that brilliant idea, it's time to reel it in and conduct a close-up examination.

You can't have virtue without sin. What I'm after is having my characters' virtues defined by how they operate in a very sinful environment. That's how you test people.

My books are about losers, about people who've lost their way and are engaged in a search.

Twitter should ban my mother.

An ideal society should be mobile, should be full of channels for conveying a change taking place in one part to other parts. In an ideal society, there should be many interests consciously communicated and shared.

Acting is the ability to dream on cue.

N.W.A were the audio-documentarians of their time. They were trying to shock people with the violence of their language and the subjects they were talking about. The fact that they dressed in guerilla outfits like the Black Panthers made them shocking by their appearance as well.

Most startups actually start down and only go up if they catch the winds of market demand.

Where do these arms come from, these Saturday night specials that constitute the instrument of threats in bank robberies, or the hand grenades used by terrorists? How can their sales and their import be permitted?

God has been pleased to save us during the years of war that have already passed. We pray that He may be pleased to save us to the end. But we must do our part.

Go where you are celebrated — not tolerated. If they can't see the real value of you, it's time for a new start.

Then somebody suggested I should write about the war, and I said I didn't know anything about the war. I did not understand anything about it. I didn't see how I could write it.

I make the best eggplant parmigiana. Except maybe my mother. The way she makes it is delicious. If I told you how, I'd have to kill you.

There are things about growing up in a small town that you can't necessarily quantify.

The last movie I did, I was very lucky: I got to work with probably the best actor of our era, Billy Bob Thornton. He's just incredible. I was like a sponge: I soaked up everything he had to say.

My team and I have reunited two elements that coexist with difficulty: respect and affection, because when they love you they don't respect you and when they respect you they don't love you.

I don't believe we need any more taxes. We need to curtail the size of government. That seems to be a common thread among a majority of Americans out there that understand that we have to limit the size and scope of our government.

I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. When I give my heart, I give myself totally.

I like to shop, but I don't like to go out to dances.

All my work shares a kind of balance between black comedy and sad and despairing melancholy.

Read obituaries. They are just like biographies, only shorter. They remind us that interesting, successful people rarely lead orderly, linear lives.

My folks still live in my childhood home, and so when I'm home with them, I usually feel the best.

I know I've done good things, I know I've done bad things.

In acting, there's a type of courage you're recognized for all the time. You lose 100 pounds and play a guy with AIDS, and you get rewarded. But, in life, doing what is courageous is quiet, and no one knows about it. Courage is someone making sacrifices for their family or making selfless decisions for what they hope or feel.

There's just something beautiful about walking in snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you're special.