Psychology Of Creativity & Innovation - Topic 4 PDF

* Topic 4 A REVIEW OF CREATIVITY THEORIES WHAT QUESTIONS ARE WE TRYING TO ANSWER? 1 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CHAPTER OUT...

* Topic 4 A REVIEW OF CREATIVITY THEORIES WHAT QUESTIONS ARE WE TRYING TO ANSWER? 1 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CHAPTER OUTLINE:- 1. Overview 2. Category one of Theories: What Is the Underlying Structure of Creativity? 3. Category two of Theories: What Is Needed to Be Creative? 4. Category three of Theories: What Drives People to Be Creative? 5. Category four of Theories: How Do We Create? 6. Category five of Theories: How Do We Create Together? 7. What Makes Creative Work Last? 8. Conclusion 2 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * OVERVIEW ❑ There is reasonable consensus regarding the definition of creativity, which is that it is something both new and task-appropriate (Barron, 1955; Hennessey & Amabile, 2010; Simonton, 2012). ❑ There are many possible additional components to this definition, such as high quality (Sternberg, 1999a), surprise (Boden, 2004; Bruner, 1962; Simonton, 2012), aesthetics, authenticity (Kharkhurin, 2014) and the creation of a product (Plucker, Beghetto, & Dow, 2004). 3 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * OVERVIEW Going beyond a basic definition, however, it gets more complicated. Creativity can mean so many different things that simply cataloguing the most cited theories would be as coherent as learning modern cinema by seeing a minute-long clip of every Oscar-winning movie. We will therefore err on the side of covering fewer theories but trying to outline some of the key questions that are being asked. 4 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * OVERVIEW ❑ The absence of a dominant theory does not mean a field is barren. Similarly, there are many theories that exist as a way of explaining how creativity relates to another construct. ❑ In most cases, these theories are covered in detail in the relevant chapters, such as the Shared Vulnerabilities Model (Carson, Chapter 14, this volume), the Creative Self-Regulation Model (Ivcevic & Hoffmann, Chapter 13, this volume), and the Mood Activation Model (Baas, Chapter 12, this volume). 5 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * OVERVIEW With these caveats, here are our interpretations of how creativity theories answer different core questions, from the underlying structure of creativity, its prerequisites and drivers, to how we create alone and together, and what makes creative works last. 6 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CATEGORY ONE: WHAT IS THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF CREATIVITY? Some theories aim to uncover the underlying structure of creativity. Even within these parameters, there are diverse approaches. Is it how creativity is studied or conceptualized? Perhaps it is how creativity evolves within a person or how the domains of creativity align together. 7 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE FOUR P FRAMEWORK ❑ One of the foundations of creativity research is the Four P framework proposed by Rhodes (1961), who reviewed the existing literature to see how creativity was being studied. He synthesized everything into four primary categories, which are known as the Four P’s: Person, Product, Process, and Press (i.e., environment). ❑ The Four P’s represent four possible questions: What type of person is creative? What is considered to be creative? How do we create? How does the environment shape creativity? 8 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE FIVE A FRAMEWORK ❑ More recently, Glăveanu (2013) updated this basic vocabulary by proposing a Five A framework including Actors, Audiences, Actions, Artifacts, and Affordances. ❑ This framework not only recognizes the “double” nature of the environment (both social and material) but raises new questions about the interrelation between different elements of creativity: How do actors relate to their audiences in creativity? How does creative action make use of sociocultural and material affordances? And do creative actors use existing artifacts in producing new ones? 9 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * NOTE If the Four P’s and the Five A’s are theories that explore the underlying structure of how creativity is operationalized, the Four C’s are more focused on the individual. The Four C theory is an expansion of the distinction between little-c (everyday creativity) and Big-C (eminent creativity). 10 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE FOUR C THEORY ❑ It is a developmental trajectory that begins with mini-c (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2007), which occurs when someone has an insight that is personally meaningful and new to that person. It is consistent with the recent theory of Creative Learning (Beghetto, 2016; Chapter 27, this volume), which suggests that creativity and learning can be interdependent. ❑ Mini-c can evolve into little-c with appropriate feedback and guidance, to the point that something is recognized as being creative by other people. Years of deliberate practice can improve one’s creativity to the point that she or he is considered a true creative professional or expert; this stage is called Pro-c (Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009). Finally, if someone’s creativity is so genius that it continues to be a legacy for years after his or her death, then it can be considered Big-C. 11 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * GARDNER’S (1993, 1999) CONCEPT OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES. ❑ Finally, a variety of theories consider how creativity can manifest itself across many domains. Although not specifically focused on creativity, the most well-known theory of this nature is Gardner’s (1993, 1999) concept of Multiple Intelligences. ❑ The different intelligences he suggests are interpersonal (interacting with others), intrapersonal (self-insight), visual-spatial, naturalistic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily kinesthetic (movement), and musical. He has also debated adding existential intelligence (Gardner, 2006). These intelligences can be considered as being potential domains of creativity. 12 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE AMUSEMENT PARK THEORETICAL (APT) MODEL OF CREATIVITY ❑ A theory specifically focused on creative domains (and how they relate to a more generalist perspective of creativity) is the Amusement Park Theoretical (APT) model of creativity (Baer & Kaufman, 2005, 2017; Kaufman & Baer, 2004; see also Plucker, 2005; Plucker & Beghetto, 2004). ❑ The APT model uses the metaphor of choosing an amusement park to how people might narrow down their creative expressions. ❑ Starting at the top, there are initial requirements that must be in place before anything else can happen. These initial requirements for going to an amusement park might be access to transportation, an admission ticket, and spending money. For creativity, they might include a specific level of intelligence and motivation, as well as a supportive environment. 13 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * NOTE ❑ The structural models presented in this section map up the field and encompass many of its core issues. ❑ They offer useful lenses through which to study concrete acts of creativity. However, if the Four P’s/Five A’s or the Four C’s can be applied to any situation, we still need to reflect on what is required for creative action to actually take place. 14 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CATEGORY TWO: WHAT IS NEEDED TO BE CREATIVE? Another category of theories thus focuses on the ingredients necessary for creativity. What attributes, abilities, and circumstances must unite for creativity to emerge? 15 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE COMPONENTIAL MODEL OF CREATIVITY ❑ In the original model, Amabile proposed that three interconnected variables were the key to individual creativity (and organizational creativity; Amabile, 1988). ❑ The first is domain-relevant skills, which are technical skills and talents and specific knowledge. Creativity-relevant processes are broader, such as being tolerant of ambiguity and willing to take appropriate risks. Finally, she included intrinsic motivation, taking part in an activity because it is enjoyable or meaningful. Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, is when someone is driven by an external reason, such as money, grades, or praise 16 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE REVISED COMPONENTIAL MODEL OF CREATIVITY ❑ Four additional pieces have been added for the revised model (Amabile & Pratt, 2016). Intrinsic motivation is now paired with synergistic extrinsic motivation, which occurs when external motivators are present yet either add to or are consistent with a person’s knowledge, competence, values, and engagement (Deci & Ryan, 1985). ❑ Work orientation (which can include, among others, seeing work as a job, a career, a calling, or a passion; Pratt, Pradies, & Lepisto, 2013) can impact one’s motivation. Affect (specifically positive affect) plays a role as a creativity-related process and can enhance motivation, and finding meaning in one’s work can increase both motivation and affect. 17 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE INVESTMENT THEORY OF CREATIVITY ❑ Also noteworthy is the Investment Theory of Creativity (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995), which uses a central analogy of a creative person being comparable to a financial investor. To be creative, one may buy low and sell high in the world of ideas – so the successful creator can recognize undervalued ideas, convince others of their worth, and then move on to the next project. ❑ They propose six different components that need to be consistent with creative values: motivation, intelligence, knowledge, personality, thinking styles, and environment. ❑ So, for example, an ideal pattern for a creative person might be someone who is intrinsically motivated, has relevant cognitive strengths and appropriate domain knowledge, is open to experiences, has a legislative (creative and self-directed) thinking style, and develops within a nurturing (or at least tolerant) environment. 18 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CATEGORY THREE: WHAT DRIVES PEOPLE TO BE CREATIVE? ❑ One of the psychologists who stressed the importance of purpose as a driver of creative work was Gruber (1988; Gruber & Wallace, 1999). ❑ His Evolving Systems Approach considered the creative person as a whole and his or her activity as a network of enterprise motivated by the need to answer questions that triggered the creator’s curiosity. ❑ By studying the development of creative work over time, this approach allows us to consider the dynamic between knowledge, affect, and purpose in creativity and understand what exactly makes creators passionate about what they do. 19 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE OR FLOW THEORY ❑ One conceptualization of this passion is Csikszentmihalyi’s (1996), optimal experience, better known as Flow. ❑ When people are intensely engaged in a favorite (yet still challenging) activity, they may enter an exciting, pleasurable moment of complete absorption. ❑ This sensation, called Flow, is rewarding by itself; as a result, people may be creative simply to experience these feelings without worrying as much about a specific end goal or external reason. ❑ When the audience is other people, it becomes more complex. Guidance is being creative in mentoring others to help them become in touch with their own creativity. ❑ The intersection of extrinsic motivation and an audience is called Giving, which is using your own creativity to help others in a tangible way. It is the presence of a specific (and often physical) end goal that is present in Giving that leads it to be classified as extrinsic motivation. 20 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THE MATRIX MODEL ❑ A different motivational theory is the Matrix Model (Unsworth, 2001) from industrial/organizational psychology, which focuses on the reason (comparable to intrinsic–extrinsic) and context (whether the problem is open or closed) for being creative. ❑ The corresponding matrix suggests four types of creativity. Responsive creativity (extrinsic, closed) involves doing a specific task for an extrinsic reason. Expected creativity (extrinsic, open) is being asked to be creative; there is more freedom but the impetus is still someone else. Contributory creativity (intrinsic, closed) is being engaged and interested but focused on a specific, often more narrow problem. Finally, Proactive creativity is creating for your own reasons and to your own specifications (and is likely the most comparable to most conceptions of creativity). ❑ In many ways, motivation is the spark that enables creative action. 21 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CATEGORY FOUR: HOW DO WE CREATE? Once someone has the needed components and has the drive to be creative, what is the actual process like? Some of the earliest theoretical work in creativity scholarship has tried to answer this question. 22 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * WALLAS (1926) THE FIVE-STAGE MODEL Wallas’s first stage was preparation, in which the problem solver begins to study and gather knowledge. Next comes incubation, in which the mind keeps thinking about the question even if the person is doing other tasks. This stage may be brief or last a long time. His third stage, intimation, is often dropped from modern perspectives on his work; it is the moment of realizing a breakthrough is imminent. In the illumination phase, the person has the “aha” moment – the awaited insight in which the solution appears. Finally, the verification phase is when the idea is tested, expanded, and implemented. 23 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * GUILFORD’S (1950, 1967) STRUCTURE OF INTELLECT MODEL ❑ Two of Guilford’s proposed thought processes were divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the ability to think of as many different possible solutions as possible to an open question or problem, whereas convergent thinking is choosing which idea or answer is most worth pursuing. ❑ These two thinking processes are sometimes called idea generation and idea exploration 24 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT MODELS OF CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING: ❑ Two current and widely used models of the creative process are expansions of Guilford’s original concept of idea generation and evaluation. ❑ The Geneplore (Generate-Explore) model (Finke, Ward, & Smith, 1992) is one of the founding blocks in the field of creative cognition (see Ward & Kolomyts, Chapter 9, this volume). ❑ In the first generative phase, the problem solver develops mental representations of possible solution, called pre-inventive structures. ❑ In the second explorative phase, these different pre-inventive structures are evaluated for how well they would fit within the constraints of the desired goal. ❑ Several different cycles may occur before a workable and creative solution is found. 25 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CAMPBELL (1960): THE BLIND VARIATION AND SELECTIVE RETENTION (BVSR) THEORY According to BVSR, ideas are blindly generated; they may come unplanned and without insight into their quality. Over time, some ideas are selectively retained. It is the retained ideas that last and have a true impact. 26 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * MEDNICK’S (1962) ASSOCIATE THEORY ❑ One prominent theory is Mednick’s (1962) Associate Theory, which emphasizes the ability to make connections between remote concepts. ❑ When presented with a word, according to this theory, a more creative person could generate related words that would be less commonly associated. ❑ For example, the word “milk” might inspire most people to say “cow” or “white,” but more remote associations might include “moustache” (as in a milk moustache) or “Jersey” (a breed of cow). ❑ Notice, however, that this ability is heavily reliant on knowledge, intelligence, and culture 27 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * GALENSON (2005, 2009) PROPOSED AN INTERESTING WAY OF CHARACTERIZING THE CREATIVE PROCESS IN THE CASE OF EMINENT CREATORS Galenson (2005, 2009) distinguished between two types of creators: conceptual creators (such as Picasso), those who start from an idea and try to find the best way of putting it into practice, and experimental creators (such as Cézanne), who continually looked for the best way of perfecting their practice through trial and error and plenty of experimentation. 28 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * NOTE ❑ Wide range of phases and processes within and across them. Despite this variety, they nonetheless all focus exclusively on the individual creator and his or her intrapsychological dynamic. However, in real life (particularly as technology continues to advance), we are more likely to create in implicit and explicit collaboration with other people. ❑ Such scenarios mean that modern creators are apt to also consider and integrate other people’s ideas and perspectives (Barron, 1999). 29 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CATEGORY FIVE: HOW DO WE CREATE TOGETHER? HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISMS AND IMPLICATIONS OF SUCH COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY? There are at least two ways to conceptualize this question. ❑ The first way focuses our attention on the creative outcomes of groups. Such work, often in laboratory settings, strives to understand what dynamics enable successful groups and how creativity differs between teams and individuals. ❑ The second way considers the interaction and communication processes that occur within real-life collaborators or teams. 30 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * ALEX OSBORN (1957 HARNESS THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL EMBEDDED WITHIN GROUPS. ❑ Alex Osborn (1957) wonder how we could harness the creative potential embedded within groups. He invented brainstorming and claimed that people can produce twice as many ideas when working together than when they are alone. ❑Although his method remains popular up to this day, his claim has been repeatedly proven wrong. ❑What are the reasons behind these experiences? Many explanations have been proposed in the literature, ranging from social loafing and groupthink to production blocking, referring to ideas being lost because people take turns when speaking in groups. 31 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * VYGOTSKY (1978): COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY ❑ The literature on collaborative creativity sheds new light on this by drawing on sociocultural scholarship, dating back to Lev Vygotsky (1978). Vygotsky suggested that children, as they grow, internalize knowledge and acquire skills in interaction with others. ❑ Moreover, through this interaction, they are capable of performing tasks they could not do alone. ❑ He called this idea of not merely studying what children can achieve but also what they are capable of doing with others (which also includes mentorship or teaching) the zone of proximal development. 32 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * JOHN-STEINER (1992) SOCIAL INTERACTION ❑ John-Steiner (1992) studied this potential of social interaction to foster learning and creativity in relation to real-life, long-term collaborations. ❑ She found that productive collaborations are characterized by tensions, complementarity, and emergence. 33 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * GLĂVEANU (2015): PERSPECTIVAL MODEL ❑ Glăveanu (2015) proposed that we acquire the perspective of others on the situation or the problem at hand. In his Perspectival Model, creativity is conceptualized in terms of dialogues between different perspectives and the capacity to reflect on one’s position from the standpoint of another person. ❑ These processes – perspective-taking and reflexivity – are cultivated within social interactions and, when fostered within group interactions, they can make the difference between low and high productivity. 34 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * DREU AND COLLEAGUES (2011) : THE MOTIVATED INFORMATION PROCESSING ❑ Dreu and colleagues (2011) discuss the Motivated Information Processing in Groups Model, which sees group creativity and innovation as a function of both epistemic motivation and prosocial motivation. The former refers to the degree to which group members systematically process and disseminate information, while the latter refers to whether they seek a collective gain rather than a personal one. ❑ Different conditions are considered to play a part in this dynamic, including time constraints, openness to experience, and the existence of a shared identity. 35 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * KARWOWSKI (2011, KARWOWSKI & LEBUDA, 2013): CREATIVE CLIMATE ❑ Karwowski (2011, Karwowski & Lebuda, 2013) postulates three primary factors that contribute to a creative climate: task and interpersonal cohesiveness and dynamic-energetic components that, together, balance the need for stability and flexibility and encourage risk-taking among members. ❑ Finally, there are elements of the context that go beyond team or organizational climate and relate to the general culture within which people create. There are marked differences, for example, between Western forms of creativity, which emphasize individuality, risk-taking, and the rupture between the new and the old, and Eastern conceptions, highlighting the need for continuity, adaptation, and renewal of traditions 36 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * WHAT MAKES CREATIVE WORK LAST? ❑ Thinking back to the Four C model, what is that quality that separates Pro-c from Big-C? Which creative works lasts generations and which fade away? The BVSR theory expands from how we create to the question of what is retained over time. The research literature on genius is also devoted to this topic. In addition, several broader creativity theories address this issue. ❑One influential approach is Csikszentmihalyi’s (1999) Systems Model, which looks at the relationship between the person, field, and domain. The person is the creator and his or her creative work remains constant. ❑Another way of considering which creative contributions last is to analyse different products as to how they change their domain. 37 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * WHAT MAKES CREATIVE WORK LAST? ❑ The Propulsion Model of Creativity (Sternberg, 1999a; Sternberg&Kaufman, 2012; Sternberg, Kaufman,&Pretz, 2001, 2004) outlines eight different types of creative contributions that are categorized by how they propel the domain forward. ❑ Four types maintain the existing paradigm. ❑ Perhaps the most straightforward are conceptual replications, which simply reproduce or reinforce past creative work. Redefinitions stay within the same domain but have a new angle or perspective. Forward incrementations push things slightly forward on a small scale. Advance forward incrementations go further to advance things, to the point of sometimes being too far ahead of their time to be appreciated. ❑ The remaining four types are ways of either rejecting or replacing the existing paradigm. Redirections try to alter the direction a domain is moving. Reconstructions/Redirections not only want to alter the direction but to go back to a past period of time and ignore recent developments. Integrations aim to merge two different areas together to synthesize into a new domain. Finally, Reinitiations want to dramatically alter and reinvent a domain, virtually creating their own starting point and 38end goal. PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * WHAT MAKES CREATIVE WORK LAST? ❑ The core distinction between those who want to create within a paradigm versus those who want to change a paradigm is represented in many other related theories. ❑ These include similar dichotomies such as Incremental vs. Radical creativity (Gilson & Madjar, 2011) and Adaptors vs. Innovators (Kirton, 1976). 39 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CONCLUSION ❑ Certainly, the future will bring additional theoretical development (and ❑ Empirical work that continues to explore, expand, and attempt to answer these questions. ❑ There are several possible questions that could be addressed by theory. There has been extensive thought given to the personal requirements for creativity (such as the Componential and Investment Theories). ❑ In contrast, consider the question, What are the resources and support systems needed to be creative? Instead of personal attributes, what affordances (action possibilities) of material objects are needed? How can mentors, access to materials, social networks, and new technologies help foster someone’s creativity? 40 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4  * CONCLUSION ❑ Another possible question is How does a novice become a creative expert? There are several concepts from the expertise literature, such as the importance of deliberate practice over many years, that can and have been applied to creativity. ❑ Last but not least, there is a pressing need to raise the question of How can creativity contribute to positive societal change? Over time, our ideas of what domains are creative have grown from the arts and sciences to include business, education, everyday life, and many others. ❑ There is no (successful or widely accepted) grand theory of creativity that takes into account every possible question, variable, or approach (Baer, 2011). Nor, truly, is there any particular need for one. Creativity is so complex and multifaceted that any theory that tried to explain everything would be unwieldy to the point of being incomprehensible. 41 PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY & INNOVATION - TOPIC 4