UNDERSTANDING CREATIVITY (original) (raw)
Related papers
1999
Although the modern definition of creativity has moved away from esthetics and discovery towards emphasis on meeting competition, the idea of novelty is central (although not necessarily sufficient). Also necessary are relevance and effectiveness, as well as ethicality. Novelty is understood in different ways, and this leads to a distinction between creativity in the sublime and in the everyday sense. Although both creativity and intelligence require knowledge and effort, they can be distinguished from each other, and much the same can be said about creativity and problem solving. Creativity can also be defined as a social phenomenon that is facilitated by some social factors, inhibited by others. One important social setting is the place of work, where an interaction between the person and the environment affects the process of innovation. Focusing on the individual person, creativity is defined as an aspect of thinking, as a personality constellation, and as an interaction between thinking, personal properties and motivation. This interaction involves a number of paradoxes, in that apparently contradictory elements have to coexist for creativity to emerge.
The Elusive Definition of Creativity
The Journal of Creative Behavior, 1992
The concept of creativity has always intrigued humans. The Egyptians, for example, recorded their fervor for art in sophisticated hieroglyphs, on mummy cases and as massive monuments. The Greek philosophers-most notably Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle-contemplated the nature of creation and the character of the creator. When Plato called the poet a light winged and holy thinker who was never able to compose until he becomes inspired, the image of the artist posed by the muse was born (Nagy, 1988). Creativity has also fascinated historians, scientists, and educators, but western societies have generally been ambivalent about and occasionally opposed to identifying and nurturing creative talents-despite the pattern established by patrons and sponsors in the Golden Ages of creative achievement in Italy, Greece, and France (Torrance, 1984, p. 153). Meanwhile, like such other terms in the social sciences and psychological professions as "intelligence" and "achievement," the concept of "creativity" remains elusive, but such elusiveness has finally begun to gain the attention of professionals from diverse disciplines. In general, however, these theorists and social scientists tend to focus on the creativity demonstrated in the dominant culture. Few investigations, definitions, theories, or identification procedures apply specifically to culturally diverse children who either manifest creativity or are potentially creative. The premise of this discussion is that creativity among culturally diverse students is currently identified inadequately and is, therefore, undemurtured-and may remain so unless educators and other professionals more actively encourage and foster it This article begins with an overview of the current definitions of "creativity." A discussion of various theories of creativity follows. Third, some procedures for identifying creativity are examined, followed by a delineation of processes of creativity. Next, the article cites some forces that hinder creativity. Finally, the authors offer recommendations for educators seeking to enhance the creative potential and ability of all students, especially the culturally diverse. Young (1985) described creativity as a "honorific" term (p. 77) because of the difficulty associated with finding a universallyaccepted definition. The initial problem in defining creativity reflects the fact that our society respects creativity less than intelligence and academic ability, a bias particularly evident in our schools. Even standardized tests tend to ignore creativity (Ford, Harris, & Winborne, 1990). Traditionally, society has provided a hazy yet rigidly defined impression of creativity (Mar'I, 1976), and Torrance (1984) stated that creativity itself suffers in cultures or societies that do not appreciate creative people. At both the social and culturallevel, ... 186 Volume 26 Number 3 17IJrd QuaIter 1992 Joumal of Creatfve BehavIor then, creative children receive stepchild treatment Although Young did not specifically define creativity per se, he provided the following description: Creativity is those attitudes by which we fulfill ourselves ... Creativity is the actualizing of our potential ... It is the integration of our logical side with our intuitive side ... Creativity is more than spontaneity, it is deliberation as well. It is divergent thinking for it converges on some solution: It not only generates possibilities, but also chooses among them. It is more than originality which may only express the bizarre ... Creativity is an advance and change as well as an expression of continuity with the past (Young, 1985, p. 78). In 1986, Renzulli proposed a definition of both "gifted" and"creativity" that appears appropriate for use with culturally diverse students because it acknowledges that giftedness has many manifestations, one of which is creativity: Giftedness consists of an interaction among three basic dusters of human traits-the clusters being above-average general abilities, high levels of task commitment, and high levels of creativity. Gifted and talented children are those possessing or capable of developing this composite set of traits and applying them to any potentiallyvaluable area ofhuman performance ... (p. 73).
Creativity is explained in the different perspectives of psychology as a mental and social process. The different dimensions of creativity from available theories were based on influences, description of the task, ability, and characteristics of individuals who experience it. In the present article, creativity is explained in five major themes: (1) attributes of creativity, (2) forms and outlets, (3) factors that stimulate it, (4) situations where it is facilitated, and (5) situations that hinder it. There is a connection between how one conceptualizes creativity and the process involved in stimulating and facilitating it. The connection is explained in some common clusters that come out for each major theme. Creativity is generally explained to have multiple attributes. Creativity is stimulated and facilitated based on one's belief. The self and social factors can hinder creativity.
Journal of Gifted Education and Creativity, 2015
Both creativity and intuition are traits that have led to humanity's greatest innovations. Creativity is a form of problem solving that can be found in all areas of human endeavor. There are certain personal traits that highly creative people seem to possess; however, there are also creative dispositions that can be developed in order to enhance people's creativity. Creativity relies on a knowledge based and involves four types of thinking: fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality. Creativity is a process not an event. This process can be represented by the Wallas Four-Stage Model of Creativity. Intuition is a sudden knowing or insight glean apart from logic or knowledge. Three levels or types of intuition are identified here: rational intuition, predictive intuition, and transformational intuition. There are a variety of things that can be used to enhance the intuitive process such as quieting the mind, focused attention, developing an attitude of receptiveness, validating images and impressions, and free writes. Finally, intuition can be a valuable resource to use in problem solving and decision making. Keywords creativity, intuition, education Jhonson Creativity Creativity is a trait that has helped to produce the most important innovations in human history and solve some of our most complex and compelling problems. So what is it? Creativity is a type of thinking that enables people to generate ideas, invent new ideas, improve old ideas, and recombine existing ideas in a novel fashion (Gallagher & Gallagher, 1994). Creativity is an encounter of the interestedly conscious human being with his or her world; the process of bringing something new into being (May, 1975). Behaviorally, creativity can be defined as the ability to produce work that is novel, high in quality, and appropriate (Feldman, Csikszentmihalyi, & Gardner, 1994; Sternberg & Lubart, 1999). Novel here means that the work is original or unique, something nobody has thought of or done before. Appropriate in this context means that the work is of some aesthetic or pragmatic value (Starko, 2005; Swartz & Perkins, 1990). Torrance describes creativity as "the process of sensing difficulties, problems, gaps in information, missing elements, something askew; making guesses and formulating hypotheses about these deficiencies; evaluating and testing these guess and hypothesis; possibly revising and retesting them; and last, communicating the results" (1993, p 233). Creativity as Problem Solving Creativity is essentially a type of problem solving (Gardner, 1994). Problems can be found in all areas including the arts, business, and science, the military, and even education. Examples: How can we design a car to run on electricity? How can this feeling or idea be expressed through movement, dance, music, or visual art in a way that entertains? What kind of a play will enable our team to score a touchdown? How can I make this relationship work? How can this concept be explained so that people understand it? How can this skill be taught? How can I keep my 7 th hour social studies class actively engaged? How can I write a book so that undergraduates can easily understand important concepts in educational psychology? These are all problems that require creative thinking for their ultimate solution. When looking at creativity as problem solving you will note that this definition sounds similar to Gardner's and Sternberg's description of intelligence. Indeed, the line between intelligence and creativity becomes blurred when both cognitive traits are seen as having equal importance in solving problems and creating products (Sternberg & Lubart, 1991). A creative person is going to be better able to solve problems because the process of generating ideas provides more alternatives from which to evaluate and ultimately choose. But if you are not aware of a problem in the first place how are you going to be able to solve it? You are not. Thus, being able to perceive problems is also an important part of creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1994). A problem is a difference between the current and ideal state. Creative individuals are able to sense this difference (between what is and what could be). Examples of problem perception can be seen in Figure 1.
Cognitive Views of Creativity: Creative Teaching for Creative Learning
What is creativity and how can we foster it in our students? According to cognitive views of creativity, creative problem solving can be defined as producing a novel method of solving a new problem. Creative teaching occurs when a teacher teaches subject matter in ways that help students to transfer what they have learned to creative problem solving. Three examples involving science, mathematics, and computing problems are presented to show how teaching with analogical models can lead to improvements in students' creativity. Creative learning occurs when students use active learning strategies for mentally representing new material in ways that lead to problem solving transfer. Three examples involving science, mathematics, and computing problems are presented to demonstrate how learning strategies for forming mental representations can lead to improvements in students' creativity. New developments in cognitive theories of transfer, mental models, and learning strategies are likely to contribute to our understanding of how to foster creativity in our students.
Roeper Review, 2016
With creativity now being emphasized in schools, it is important for teachers to understand what it is and how it is measured. This review of the literature is an attempt to make sense of the many definitions and measures of creativity. As a result, this comprehensive review shows that most definitions agree that there are at least two criteria to judge whether a person or a product is creative or not, originality and usefulness. Organized according to Rhodes's 3 P conceptualization of creativity-person, process, product, and press-more than 40 assessments used in creativity research were reviewed. Familiarity with the definitions, views of, and measurement of creativity can help teachers recognize and foster creativity in their students.
Seminare. Poszukiwania naukowe
Creativity is a positive word in a society that constantly aspires to innovation and progress 1. Conveying an image of dynamism, the concept of creativity arouses an ever-growing interest. As J. Piirto 2 (2007) stated, the term was used in over 16,500 references to titles of scholarly books and articles by late 2003. This result will multiply many times if the same inquiry is updated in 2015. Many topics referred to creativity in business, creativity in psychology, creativity for parents, creativity and spirituality, creativity and teaching, creativity and aging, creativity and the arts, creativity and the sciences, creativity and mathematics, creativity and problem finding, creativity and problem solving. Actually, what is creativity? Exploring the review of literature, we realize that this question, very simple in formulation and in appearance, is very difficult to answer. Nevertheless, it represents the obliged gate we have to cross before going any further in our study of the concept of creativity. Concepts are important in research and theory. Clear conceptual understanding leads to well-designed research with clear operational definitions of variables and well-developed theories with clear theoretical definitions of concepts 3. 1 See DGEC (Directorate-General for Education and Culture), The impact of culture on creativity.
Creative Mind (Creativity): Explaining its Role in the Process of Learning Outcomes for Students
Iranian Journal of Positive Psychology, 2018
This research examines the role of the creative mind (creativity) in the process of learning outcomes and academic achievement of fifth-grade students. The present study is correlational. The correlation research, which is itself a subset of descriptive (non-experimental) research, is aimed at demonstrating the relationship between variables. The statistical population of the study consisted of all female elementary school students in the fifth grade of the district of Bandar Abbas (Iran) in the academic year of 2017-2018, whose number is 1,368. The results of this study indicate that according to (R 2 = 0.331) and (β = 0.776), and with regard to the significant level (P <0.01), it can be said that having creative minds is significantly have an impact on the learning outcomes (t = 13.59).