Indexed

Just an observation: The axes are not mislabelled?

The way I read it, in periods of great stress, one either has no creativity or lots of creativity.

If creativity was on the Y-axis and stress on the X, it would read that great creativity comes in times of either little stress or lots of stress.

I agree, it would make much more sense if the axis labels were switched.

the independent variable here is creativity, so it should be read as “when creativity is low, stress is high. When creativity is medium/normal, stress is low, and when creativity is really high stress is high. Makes perfect sense in the context of deadlines as the title indicates.

A perfect model of any Food Network Challenge.

Boring Cake = loser
Awesome Cake Art = loser via (a serious chance) of having no finished cake at all

Sooooooo true.

This one reflects my reality perfectly. Dammit.

[...] Indexed.  Tags: creativity | Posted by Marci on 04/13/2009 Comments | Trackback | Permalink | [...]

I don’t think the axes are mislabeled either. If a person is too creative, they create stress in a boring society. If no one is creative, society doesn’t grow or improve.

I guess the axes can go either way; I just usually think of my stress levels influencing my creativity more than my creativity influences my stress levels.

I think that the line could represent one of two things:
either amount of time spent or amount of money available
and I’m totally feeling the time aspect right now

Axis Label Controversy ‘09!!

I could see it working both ways, depending on the kind of person you are. If you work in a medium where an excess of creativity can be a liability, like a syndicated newspaper comic or a Michael Bay movie, then it can be stressful to have your thoughts entirely occupied by the sort of thing that isn’t marketable to the masses.

But personally, I would not only swap them, I’d also add an extra downcurve at the extreme right: I do rediscover my brilliance as deadlines loom, but if it gets too close, or something else is piled on top of the original request, or some other calamitous event comes down the pipe, I tend to freak out and go catatonic.

So if the axes are interdependent, does that mean the chart should be drawn at a 45-degree angle?

At the height of stress you either only write bare minimum (no creativity) or make it all up (lots and lots of creativity).

Very funny, I can totally relate

“mediocrity is the key to happiness.”

I think I’ve found my new philosophy in life.

Oh, yeah, and to Rafi and DocDer–depends on your definition (happiness or mediocrity).

To Jamie–sounds too much like actually doing math, don’t forget the premise of this site.

Unless otherwise indicated, y is a function of x in these types of graphs. As x changes, y changes in response, with any value of x only having one corresponding y value (though not necessarily vice-versa).

The way I see it, the labels should be switched. Creativity (y) is a function of stress level (x).

Low stress = high creativity
Medium stress = low creativity
High stress = high creativity

Even though the labels are reversed, I still understood it intuitively.

The way it’s labeled now, stress (x) is a function of creativity:

Low creativity = very stressful
Medium creativity = not stressful
High creativity = very stressful

With the current labels, I would draw a graph that indicates an inverse proportion (i.e. the more creative I am, the less stressed out I am).

I prefer the former interpretation. If Jessica is indicating that stress level influences creativity, I am correct.

Keep up the good work, Jessica!

I would tend to agree with this.

everyone needs a little pressure but sometimes I think deadlines really put a damper on a project.