Question: What causes imagination? Why do some people have better imaginations than others?

Sam Geen answered on 21 Jun 2013:

Imagination is the ability to think of things that don’t yet exist. It’s useful because it enables us to invent new things, to describe new ideas, to develop new ways of living. I don’t think anyone really knows why humans developed creativity and imagination, but it means that we have developed far more than any other species. Some animals show some signs of imagination – crows can make tools to solve simple problems, for example. But the combination of imagination, language to describe ideas to other people, and hands to make tools means that people have planes and cities and philosophy and art when no other animal does.

Why do some people have better imagination than others? Sometimes it’s just the person – some people are better at some things than others. Sometimes it’s the way you were brought up – if you had very strict parents and teachers, or if you never had books or paints or toys, you would have a bad imagination when you grew up. Or perhaps it’s both. Scientists need a good imagination because we’re discovering new things, and we need to imagine ways that the universe works so we can develop new theories and test them.