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Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis

It is increasingly argued that polymathy—vocational and avocational pursuits in multiple domains—is deeply associated with creativity and innovation, and that its development enables the creation of important bridges between otherwise fragmented, dispersed sets of knowledge. Nevertheless, the domina...

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Autores principales: Araki, Michael Espindola, Cotellessa, Angela J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33384646
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601508
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author Araki, Michael Espindola
Cotellessa, Angela J.
author_facet Araki, Michael Espindola
Cotellessa, Angela J.
author_sort Araki, Michael Espindola
collection PubMed
description It is increasingly argued that polymathy—vocational and avocational pursuits in multiple domains—is deeply associated with creativity and innovation, and that its development enables the creation of important bridges between otherwise fragmented, dispersed sets of knowledge. Nevertheless, the dominant culture in both industry and academia is still that of narrow specialization. In this paper, we argue that in the context of COVID-19 crisis, with its wicked and transdisciplinary nature, the disciplinary approach of specialization is ill-suited to solve our increasingly complex problems, and that polymathic thinking can be a crucial asset in this regard. Drawing on different literature strands, we first examine the interplay between polymathy and other well-developed constructs in personality and temperament research. We then advance theoretical predictions regarding the relationship between trait polymathy and resilience in the COVID-19 crisis. After that, we discuss learnable strategies that can be used in complex, uncertain and adverse situations, which are associated with development of a more polymathic (broader, deeper and more integrated) set of knowledge. Later, we discuss how it may be possible to better capitalize on the key features of polymathic thinking at the societal level. Finally, we conclude with a reflection on the adequacy of our current institutions for dealing with complex problems, and we underscore the crucial role of polymathic thinking in an increasingly complex and interrelated world.
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spelling pubmed-77697662020-12-30 Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis Araki, Michael Espindola Cotellessa, Angela J. Front Psychol Psychology It is increasingly argued that polymathy—vocational and avocational pursuits in multiple domains—is deeply associated with creativity and innovation, and that its development enables the creation of important bridges between otherwise fragmented, dispersed sets of knowledge. Nevertheless, the dominant culture in both industry and academia is still that of narrow specialization. In this paper, we argue that in the context of COVID-19 crisis, with its wicked and transdisciplinary nature, the disciplinary approach of specialization is ill-suited to solve our increasingly complex problems, and that polymathic thinking can be a crucial asset in this regard. Drawing on different literature strands, we first examine the interplay between polymathy and other well-developed constructs in personality and temperament research. We then advance theoretical predictions regarding the relationship between trait polymathy and resilience in the COVID-19 crisis. After that, we discuss learnable strategies that can be used in complex, uncertain and adverse situations, which are associated with development of a more polymathic (broader, deeper and more integrated) set of knowledge. Later, we discuss how it may be possible to better capitalize on the key features of polymathic thinking at the societal level. Finally, we conclude with a reflection on the adequacy of our current institutions for dealing with complex problems, and we underscore the crucial role of polymathic thinking in an increasingly complex and interrelated world. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-12-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7769766/ /pubmed/33384646 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601508 Text en Copyright © 2020 Araki and Cotellessa. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Araki, Michael Espindola
Cotellessa, Angela J.
Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis
title Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis
title_full Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis
title_fullStr Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis
title_full_unstemmed Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis
title_short Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis
title_sort creative polymathy and the covid-19 crisis
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33384646
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601508
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