Aprire la mente attraverso il corpo: gli effetti della postura sui processi creativi

[Autom. eng. transl.] INTRODUCTION In the field of embodied cognition it is believed that the mind is not an isolated system but a reality to be investigated in its relations with the body and the environment in which the organism is situated. In this perspective, many studies show how the body experience has an effect on cognitive processes (Casasanto, 2011; Goldin-Meadow & Beilock, 2010; Thomas & Lleras, 2009). Only recently has incarnation cognition been investigated in relation to creative thinking. Slepian and Ambady (2012) report that the fluid movement of the body favors the creative generation of ideas and Leung et al. (2012) describe better performances in creative tests following movements that metaphorically suggest looking at things from different sides and coming out of rigid mental patterns. The present experiment aims to verify if not only the execution of bodily acts, but also the posture influences the creative processes of thought. METHOD Fifty university students carried out two tests of creativity taken from the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1974) in which they asked, respectively, to imagine the consequences of an unusual fact and to devise how to improve a toy. The tests were carried out assuming either an open posture (sitting with arms and legs spread apart) or closed (sitting curled up with folded arms). The tests and postures were balanced between the subjects. RESULTS The fluidity, flexibility and originality scores in the creativity tests were significantly higher in the group with open posture compared to the one with closed posture (respectively, F = 23.28; 8.02; 17.97). CONCLUSIONS The data collected suggest that the posture with which one faces a task that requires creativity influences performance. Like the movements carried out, even the open disposition of the body leads the subject to let his thoughts wander freely so as to find multiple and unusual ideas.