Psychology of Creativity and Innovation - Topic 1: An Introduction PDF

Course Psychology of Creativity and Innovation Instructor Professor/ Gamal Shehata Course Code: ELC 307 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 1 Introduction *  To...

Course Psychology of Creativity and Innovation Instructor Professor/ Gamal Shehata Course Code: ELC 307 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 1 Introduction *  Topic 1 Introduction Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 2 Introduction *  -:Chapter outline By reading this chapter, you will be able to understand:- 1)Creativity: An overview 2)The Importance of Creativity 3)Researching Creativity 4)Why do we need to explain creativity? 5)The Definition of Creativity: individualist vs. socio-cultural perspectives 6)The other related definition of creativity 7)The four P framework 8)Western major beliefs about creativity Psychology of Creativity & Innovation 3 Topic 1: An Introduction *  Creativity: An Overview ⚫Words such as genius, invention, talent, and, of course, creativity describe the highest levels of human performance. ⚫When we’re engaged in the act of being creative, we feel we are performing at the peak of our abilities. Creative works give us 4 insight Psychologyand enrich of Creativity & Innovationour Topic 1: lives. An * Introduction  increase in importance, due to several broad societal and economic trends: 1. Increasingly globalized markets result in greater competitiveness, even for industries that historically had been protected from significant challenge. 2. Increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies result in shorter product development cycles. 3. Jobs that don’t require creativity are increasingly being automated, or are moving to extremely low-wage countries. 4. Increasing wealth and leisure time in advanced countries (and beyond) have increased the demand for the products of the creative industries. As of 2007, the creative industries represented over 11 % of U.S. GDP (Gantchev, 2007 ). 5 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  What is already known about ?creativity ⚫ First, innovation is vital to economic growth and national competitiveness. ⚫ Second, even the organizations which do prioritize innovation must nonetheless cater for the ongoing operational demands of today as well as the transformative demands of tomorrow. ⚫ Third, coping with the management of innovation entails engagement across a broad front. It is not just about technology strategy and R&D. It requires, among other things, simultaneous attention to markets, design, operations, supply chains and interorganizational networks. ⚫ Fourth, to some degree or other, innovation is influenced and shaped by prior experience. In other words, it is path-dependent. Innovative potential is enhanced or 6 stymied by the learning which has preceded it. *  Manager must focus on creativity for :reasons ⚫Managers set the priorities and strategies for organizations ⚫Managers control resources ⚫Managers filter ideas, information and theories deriving from external sources such as academic research results, government and consultants ⚫Managers’ sense-making sets the tone for much of the discussion and action in organizations. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation 7 Topic 1: An Introduction *  Researching Creativity ⚫ Despite its increasing importance, creativity hasn’t received much attention from scientists. Until very recently, only a few researchers had studied creativity. ⚫ Most psychologists instead study what they believe are more fundamental mental properties — such as memory, logical reasoning, and attention. ⚫ But in recent years psychologists — along with increasing numbers of sociologists, anthropologists, biologists, and computer scientists-have increasingly turned Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An their * 8 attention to creativity. Introduction  Modern Creativity ⚫Modern creativity research began in the 1950s and 1960s. This first wave of creativity research was focused on studying the personalities of exceptional creators. ⚫In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers shifted their attention to the cognitive approach , a second wave based in cognitive psychology and focused on the internal mental processes that occur while people are engaged in creative behavior. ⚫In the 1980s and 1990s, the cognitive 9 approach Psychology was of Creativity Introduction complemented & Innovation Topic 1: An by the * emergence of a third wave , the  Why do we need to ?explain creativity ⚫ The scientific study of creativity makes some people nervous. ⚫ For instance, Some artists worry that if they become too analytic, it could interfere with their muse. ⚫ Other people are skeptical about corporations harnessing individual creativity for greater profit. ⚫ However, we argue that creativity should be explained for a number of reasons. 10 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  Reason no. 1 ⚫Explaining creativity can help us identify and realize every person’s unique creative talents. Without explaining creativity, it’s easy to fail to recognize and nurture individuals with important creative abilities. If we hope to solve all of the pressing problems facing our Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An society and 11 our world,Introduction we must take advantage*  Reason no. 2 ⚫ Explaining creativity can help our leaders to respond better to the challenges facing modern society. ⚫ Researchers have discovered that creativity is an essential skill for effective leadership. ⚫ Creative leaders have much more impact because they can motivate their teams more effectively. ⚫ Creative leaders are especially effective at handling novel challenges that force them to go outside the typical routines 12 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  Reason no. 3 ⚫Explaining creativity can help us all to be better problem solvers. ⚫We each face problems in our everyday lives that require creative responses. Our society faces challenges like pollution, poverty, and terrorism. ⚫Some of these problems can be solved simply by a single individual having a good idea, but most of them will require groups of people working together. 13 * Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction  Reason no. 4 ⚫Explaining creativity helps us realize the importance of positive, peak experiences to mental health. ⚫During peak experiences known as flow, people are at their most creative. Researchers studying positive psychology have discovered that flow and creativity contribute to a happy, fulfilling life. ⚫A better explanation of creativity can help people to achieve these positive, healthy 14 experiences. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  Reason no. 5 ⚫ Explaining creativity can help educators teach more effectively. Educational psychologists are increasingly discovering the role that creativity plays in development and learning. ⚫ In recent decades, psychologists have identified the step-by-step creative processes that underpin learning. ⚫ Creativity is important not only to classroom learning but also to the critical informal learning that occurs in the preschool years — how to speak a first language, how to behave at the dinner table, how to make friends and engage in group play. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 15 Introduction *  Reason no. 6 ⚫Explaining creativity provides more than intellectual satisfaction; it will lead to a more creative society, and will enhance the creative potential of our families, our workplaces, and our institutions. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 16 Introduction *  research toward the fine arts is a little out of keeping with the times. ⚫ To explain creativity, we have to consider a broad range of creative behaviors, not only the high arts of Western, European cultures. ⚫ In addition to fine art painting, symphonic performance of the European classical collection, and dramatic performance of scripted plays, a complete explanation of creativity must also explain comic strips, animated cartoons, movies, music videos, mathematical theory, experimental laboratory science, the improvised performances of jazz and rock music, and the broad range of performance genres (types) found in the world’s cultures. ⚫ Thus we need to examine creativity in non-Western cultures, and the creativity associated with the most influential contemporary developments in media and art — movies, television, computer soft ware, music videos, multimedia, videogames, performance, and installation art. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 17 Introduction *  TWO DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY ⚫Creativity researchers can be grouped into two major traditions of research: an individualist approach and a sociocultural approach. ⚫Each of them has its own distinctive analytic focus, and each of them defines creativity slightly differently. 18 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  INDIVIDUALIST DEFINITION ⚫ The individualist approach studies a single person while that person is engaged in creative thought or behavior. ⚫ This is the approach associated with first-wave personality psychology- which studies the traits of creative people-and second-wave experimental cognitive psychology-the branch of psychology that studies how people think, perceive, learn, and remember. ⚫ Because individualists focus on single individuals, the individualist definition of creativity refers only to structures and processes that are associated with a single person. ⚫ Individualist definition Creativity is a new mental combination that is expressed in the world. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 19 Introduction *  Features of the individualist definition ⚫Creativity is new. The most basic requirement of a creative thought or action is that it must be novel or original. ⚫Thus, repeating a previously mastered sequence of behaviors isn’t creative; repeating a sentence verbatim isn’t creative; speaking from memory isn’t creative. 20 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  Features of the individualist definition con’t ⚫Creativity is a combination. All thoughts and concepts are combinations of existing thoughts and concepts. ⚫Creativity involves a combination of two or more thoughts or concepts that have never been combined before by that individual. ⚫However, the mind is an immense web of symbolic material; most of it has been previously mastered, and simply recalling from memory isn’t creative. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 21 Introduction *  Features of the individualist definition con’t ⚫Creativity is expressed in the world. Creativity researchers can’t study what they can’t see. This is why the scientific definition of creativity has to exclude ideas that stay in a person’s head and are never expressed, and ideas that no one else can see or understand. ⚫Under this definition, your nightly dreams aren’t creative; ideas that you have but never write down or communicate to anyone else aren’t creative. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 22 Introduction *  SOCIOCULTURAL DEFINITION ⚫ The third-wave sociocultural approach studies creative people working together in social and cultural systems. Socioculturalists study how groups collectively generate innovation, and the structures and processes of social, cultural, and organizational systems that are creative. ⚫ For example, A hit videogame or a computer- animated movie typically has 200 different creative people participating in its creation. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 23 Introduction *  Sociocultural definition ⚫Sociocultural definition: Creativity is the generation of a product that is judged to be novel and also to be appropriate, useful, or valuable by a suitably knowledgeable social group. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 24 Introduction *  Features of Sociocultural definition ⚫ The sociocultural definition of creativity requires that some socially valuable product be generated before the act or the person is called “creative.” Only solutions to extremely difficult problems, or significant works of genius, are recognized as creative. ⚫ This is sometimes called “big C” Creativity. ⚫ All creations that satisfy this definition will by default also satisfy the individual or “little c” definition because any product that is novel to a social group must also be novel to each individual within that social group. 25 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  Features of Sociocultural definition con’t ⚫ The sociocultural definition is quite similar to definitions of innovation in organizations; which defined innovation as “the successful implementation of creative ideas within an Organization”. ⚫ Sociocultural novelty can be judged only by a social group, who can collectively determine whether an individual creation really is new. ⚫ In addition, to satisfy the sociocultural definition, novelty isn’t sufficient; the creation must also be appropriate , recognized as socially valuable in some way to some community. Appropriateness, like novelty, can be judged only by a social Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 26 group. Introduction *  Related Definitions ⚫ Taylor (1959 ) identified five types of creativity: 1.Expressive : Independent expression, where the quality and originality of the product are not important, such as the drawings of children. 2.Productive : Artistic or scientific products that restrict and control free play and develop techniques for producing finished products 3.Inventive: Inventors, explorers, discoverers; ingenuity is displayed with materials, methods, and techniques 4.Innovative: Improvement through modification involving conceptualizing skills 5.Emergentive: An entirely new principle or assumption around which new schools flourish Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 27 Introduction *  Kaufman and Beghetto ( 2009 ) argued for two levels of creativity in addition to Big-C and little-c: ⚫ mini-c : The creativity inherent in the learning process, when children discover something for the first time ⚫ Pro-c : Professional expertise in a creative domain that does not attain the level of transforming the domain. ⚫ Feldman ( 2003 ) proposed a three-part definition, using the metaphor of a piano keyboard. High C is equivalent to Big C creativity; low C is equivalent to little c creativity; and middle C is roughly equivalent 28 toPsychology Pro-c of asCreativity proposed by & Innovation Introduction Kaufman Topic 1: An and Beghetto *  THE FOUR P FRAMEWORK ⚫ Many creativity researchers have been influenced by a four-part division of creativity research proposed by Mel Rhodes back in 1961, the four P framework: ❑ Product: Research that focuses on the products judged to be novel and appropriate by the relevant social group. Product creativity is almost always defined and evaluated using a sociocultural definition. ❑ Person: Research that studies the personality traits or personality types associated with creativity. Creative people are those identified with an individualist definition, or they are identified indirectly, as those people who have generated creative products. ❑ Process: Research that studies the processes involved during creative work or creative thought. ❑ Press: Research that focuses on the external forces or “pressures” acting on the creative person or process, such as the social and cultural context. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 29 Introduction *  THE WESTERN CULTURAL MODEL OF CREATIVITY: CREATIVITY BELIEFS People in western societies share a set of common and implicit assumptions about creativity Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 30 Introduction *  BELIEF 1. THE ESSENCE OF CREATIVITY IS THE MOMENT OF INSIGHT ⚫Creative people get their great idea in a flash of insight. After that, all they have to do is execute it. They could even delegate its execution to someone else, because execution generally doesn’t require creativity. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 31 Introduction *  BELIEF 2. CREATIVE IDEAS EMERGE MYSTERIOUSLY FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS ⚫Creative people have radical new ideas that come out of nowhere and that can’t be explained by their prior experience. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 32 Introduction *  BELIEF 3. CREATIVITY IS MORE LIKELY WHEN YOU REJECT CONVENTION ⚫Creative people blindly ignore convention; convention is the enemy of creativity, because it blocks the pure inspiration welling up from the creative spirit. ⚫Defend status quo vs. challenge status quo Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 33 Introduction *  BELIEF 4. CREATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS ARE MORE LIKELY TO COME FROM AN OUTSIDER THAN AN EXPERT ⚫Sometimes the most creative people know the least about the domain. The leading people in any field are so bound up in the old way of doing things that they never have the great new ideas. ⚫It takes someone from the outside to see things in a new way; it’s better if the outsider doesn’t learn those old ways of doing things. 34 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  BELIEF 5. PEOPLE ARE MORE CREATIVE WHEN THEY ARE ALONE ⚫Other people interfere with creativity; it’s best to just go away by yourself. If you can, get yourself a cabin in the woods. Whatever you do, don’t stay in the city center, where you’re surrounded by people. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 35 Introduction *  BELIEF 6. CREATIVE IDEAS ARE AHEAD OF THEIR TIME ⚫Creative people are far ahead of their time, and their brilliance is not acknowledged during their lifetime. They’re recognized only after death, when everyone else moves along to catch up with their vision. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 36 Introduction *  BELIEF 7. CREATIVITY IS A PERSONALITY TRAIT ⚫Creativity is a general personality trait, like IQ. If you’re a more creative person, you’ll be more creative at everything that you do. People who don’t have much of this personality trait have very little hope of being creative. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 37 Introduction *  BELIEF 8. CREATIVITY IS BASED IN THE RIGHT BRAIN ⚫Creativity is in the right brain, and creative people display a “right- brained” pattern of behavior and thought. 38 Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *  BELIEF 9. CREATIVITY AND MENTAL ILLNESS ARE CONNECTED ⚫Creative people are more likely to be mentally ill, and mental illness has a silver lining — it brings increased creativity. The inner turmoil associated with mental illness is the source of ideas and inspiration, so that when mental illness is treated, people become less creative. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An 39 Introduction *  BELIEF 10. CREATIVITY IS A HEALING, LIFE-AFFIRMING ACTIVITY ⚫Creative activities are the fullest realization of human experience. They express the inner being of the person, and result in great personal fulfillment. ⚫Creative activities contribute to psychological health; this is why art therapy and music therapy are 40 effective. Psychology of Creativity & Innovation Topic 1: An Introduction *