Yesterday I posted this image….
…and asked you how easy you find it to flip between the two animals. Some new research suggests that your answer is related to the degree to which you are a creative thinker.
In the first of two recent studies, I asked over 600 people to rate how easy they found it to flip between the two animals and then they were asked to rate their creativity. 79% of people who said that they were creative reported being able to easily flip between the two animals, compared to just 3% of those who struggled to see the two animals. A second study examined people’s actual creative thinking. A hundred people were asked to rate how easily they found it to flip between the two animals, and were then given a standard creativity test in which they had to come up with as many unusual uses as possible for a brick and a paperclip. Those who could easily see both the rabbit and duck produced double the number of ideas compared to those who said they found such flipping problematic.
For 10 top tips on creativity, see the 59 Seconds site here.
Do the results match whether you think you are a creative problem solver?
April 21, 2010 at 6:30 am |
Ce n’est pas un canard… ou lapin
April 21, 2010 at 6:39 am
Alors, qu’est-ce que c’est?
April 21, 2010 at 6:42 am
I was reffering to
http://www.library.yale.edu/librarynews/ceci-n-est-pas-une-pipe.jpg
– basically it is neither a rabbit or duck, but pixels.
April 21, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Then everything is just photons, or better yet electric impulses in your retina and brain!
April 21, 2010 at 7:01 am |
I see to me able to switch perception of the image as either animal at will and think of myself as creative – however, I find it hard to imagine people not considering themselves creative and that image I believe is particularly easy to switch perception of. So despite the assurances in the article that this has been tested, I remain sceptical of it’s veracity as a benchmark for creativity without further evidence.
April 21, 2010 at 7:52 am
it’s -> its
April 21, 2010 at 9:44 am
Here here.
May 17, 2010 at 2:10 am
actually, I don’t think I am creative and although I can see the rabbit, I really have to force myself to see it – it keeps switching back to a duck for me. And, I couldn’t see the rabbit at all until I read that it was supposed to be one.
April 21, 2010 at 7:32 am |
That’s odd. I’m in the group which is able to flip back and forth at will but I don’t consider myself particularly creative.
Or perhaps I am and I just haven’t found my creativity’s outlet…
April 21, 2010 at 7:38 am |
It’s still a seagull, not a duck.
April 21, 2010 at 7:59 am
I can see a seagull out of the window. The top half of their beak has a razor attachment, and is slightly larger than the bottom. This is clearly a duck as both parts of the beak are similar.
April 21, 2010 at 8:15 am
It’s a seagull, or at least a sea bird-shaped beak. Ducks have flat bills, for sifting. Seagulls, Albatrosses, Petrels, Skuas etc have more robust, pointed bills for omnivorous feeding.
April 21, 2010 at 7:42 am |
In the original post I saw the Rabbit first, but I think that’s because your questioning listed it first (maybe I was therefore expecting a Rabbit).
When I came back again today I saw the duck first.
I wonder if being left or right handed influences this?
April 21, 2010 at 7:45 am
Probably just as much as your star sign.
April 22, 2010 at 2:49 am
excuse me for jumping in but could it be in part due to reading left to right and some it is the custom to read their text from right to left?
April 21, 2010 at 8:14 am |
I saw a duck first (probably because I was directed to this page by a tweet that said, “87% of people see a duck”), but then was easily able to see the rabbit, too, and to switch back and forth. Yes, I consider myself creative. But I’ve always thought that being able to easily switch back and forth was related to my not being strongly handed. I easily get confused between right and left orientations. If they’re symmetrical they look the same to me.
April 21, 2010 at 9:51 am |
I’m extremely uncreative and couldn’t see the bloody rabbit for hours.
April 21, 2010 at 12:09 pm |
I asked myself “is it a duck or a decorated shed?”
April 21, 2010 at 12:17 pm |
One commenter yesterday pointed out they see it differently depending on which way they “approach” the image with their eyes.
I wonder if those who read left to right tend to see one more readily while others who read languages written in different directions might see the alternate?
I also agree the blog post listing the options with rabbit first predisposes the results here. It would have been better to say “people commonly see two different animals in the image below” imo…
April 22, 2010 at 3:01 am
Hi, that was most likely me and just posted it again above, before seeing your post…lol….and I agree it would have been better to not have said what two animals….that was what I thought when I was reading it and felt a little disappointed that he had listed them…. I would have liked to see for myself…. may be he will do an other and not tell us what they are until later……
April 23, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I see a jellyfish with a huge mole on it!
April 23, 2010 at 2:35 pm
oops wrong reply box!
April 21, 2010 at 1:48 pm |
I couldn’t see the rabbit until I was told there was a rabbit. I saw the duck right away, I also saw a bear sitting by a lake or river. I can see all three now.
April 21, 2010 at 2:17 pm |
It is very easy for me to flip between the two animals, or even see them both at the same time. I don’t consider myself artistic in any way, but I guess I am sort of creative.
I can see faces in so many things. Trees, buildings, carpet patterns, etc. I wonder if this is related. I’ve only met one other person who does this to the extent that I do. I know it’s a type of pareidolia, but mine goes really far.
April 22, 2010 at 8:22 am
I’m pretty much the same. Faces, full bodies and all sorts in wallpapers, wood grain, flames, clouds, trees, gravel, material patterns, lino etc. etc. etc.
Used to have a floral wallpaper in our bathroom when I was wee that had a whole host of pixies, fairies, wizened old men and witches in it – to mum and dad it was just flowery wallpaper.
April 21, 2010 at 3:36 pm |
Easy to flip, and I consider myself pretty creative. I find it hard to imagine how one could NOT flip the image easily
April 21, 2010 at 7:02 pm |
Very easy to flip.
It remind me of that spinning woman gif.
Took me so long time to learn how to change the rotation side, and I just can hold for a short time.
April 21, 2010 at 8:25 pm |
Use the paper clip to chisel away at the brick to make a life sized replica of President Sarkozy?
April 21, 2010 at 8:42 pm |
Is it possible that after being able to flip easily between the images, people felt more confident in themselves, and therefore produced more ideas and shared more? Maybe creativity doesn’t make you see the animals better, but accomplishing an out of the ordinary task fuels confidence or creativity in general.
April 22, 2010 at 6:37 am |
Does anyone else see a squid?
April 23, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I see a jellyfish with a huge mole on it! XP
April 22, 2010 at 10:54 am |
I don’t know about a squid Michael BUT I do think that it is the missing link…… yes now I know where the connection between the Easter Bunny and birds {eggs} came from…..it’s a picture of a bird, no a bunny, no a bird….no it’s the first Easter Bunny!! A bunny that can lay eggs!!
April 22, 2010 at 11:27 am |
I don’t see a duck nor rabbit but a half duck half rabbit mutant. I wonder what the rest of the body looks like…
April 22, 2010 at 3:01 pm |
[...] for you? When British psychologist Richard Wiseman tried this experiment with a group of people, he found that: 79 percent of people who said that they were creative reported being able to easily flip between [...]
April 22, 2010 at 5:05 pm |
[...] Assess your creativity in seconds… « Richard Wiseman's Blog [...]
April 22, 2010 at 6:47 pm |
Aren’t most people going to say they’re creative, though? And aren’t most people going to claim it is easy for them? I think when you ask people about themselves they’re way more likely to assign an attribute they feel is positive than one they feel is negative, and “creative” sounds positive, especially when the alternative is presented as “not creative” rather than, say, “logical.”
Nevertheless, I am very creative and this was very easy for me.
April 22, 2010 at 9:26 pm |
if one were to conclude about creative thinking from the above example,you have no idea about creativity.
April 23, 2010 at 12:20 am |
[...] Assess your creativity in seconds… Yesterday I posted this image…. …and asked you how easy you find it to flip between the two animals. Some [...] [...]
April 23, 2010 at 12:52 am |
Funny, I saw the image switch back and forth between a brick and a paperclip. On the up side, I have some brilliant ideas for unusual uses for a rabbit, and a duck. Let’s not tell PETA.
May 3, 2010 at 10:31 pm |
Hell, I’m not that creative, and I have to agree, it took a few more than a minute to find that rabbit, I was trying to find another kind of animal in the white areas of the picture
.
After that, it’s really easy to switch back and forth.