openness, which measures cognitive flexibility and the willingness to entertain novel ideas, has emerged as a lifelong protective factor. The linchpin seems to be the creativity associated with the personality trait%u2014creative thinking reduces stress and keeps the brain healthy.

People who had been exposed to inaccurate descriptions came up with associations that were far more original. Instead of saying that “blue” reminded them of “sky” they came up with “jazz” and “cherry pie”

In the early nineteen-sixties, two psychologists, David Palermo and James Jenkins, began amassing a huge table of word associations, the first thoughts that come to mind when people are asked to reflect on a particular word. (They interviewed more than forty-five hundred subjects.) Palermo and Jenkins soon discovered that the vast majority of these associations were utterly predictable. For instance, when people are asked to free-associate about the word %u201Cblue,%u201D the most likely first answer is %u201Cgreen,%u201D followed by %u201Csky%u201D and %u201Cocean.%u201D When asked to free-associate about %u201Cgreen,%u201D nearly everyone says %u201Cgrass.%u201D %u201CEven the most creative people are still going to come up with many mundane associations,%u201D Nemeth says.

and “debate” approaches produce more.