Box Breaker | ADHD Superpower

Sounds like you?

You read the instructions, then build something they never mentioned.
You hear ’that’s not how we do it here’ about once a week.
You take a toy apart to see what else it can become.

Why it’s a power

Shown an example, lots of people stay close to it. You ask what else this could be. Psychologists call it conceptual expansion: taking a familiar thing and stretching its edges until it turns into something new.

In one study, 26 students with ADHD and 26 without invented drawings and product names. Judges who did not know who was who rated the ADHD group’s work as more original, and less tied to the examples they had just seen.^{Source 1}

In a second study of 60 students, the ADHD group preferred generating ideas to refining them.^{Source 2} The start of a thing is where you live, and the tidy-up costs you.

Early evidence

Two small studies of students, with judges who did not know the groups. Good sign, tiny samples.

Where it shines

Building it your own way
Fixing things with spare parts
Redesigning the school fair

The flip side

Sometimes the rule is there for a good reason and the new way is only new. Ideas also need finishing, not just starting.

Power-up: try this today

Take one rule you follow without thinking and ask why, then try a different way once.

Say it to a kid

Some kids color inside the lines. You turn the paper over and draw your own. Sometimes your picture is better.

Where this comes from

White, H. A. (2020). Thinking "Outside the Box": Unconstrained Creative Generation in Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Creative Behavior, 54(2), 472-483. Read it
White, H. A., & Shah, P. (2011). Creative style and achievement in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 673-677. Read it