creativity Flashcards
what is creativity
production of original thought that is useful or high value
- hard to find a general definition
- researchers talk about it in terms of being original thoughts and is useful
- usefulness defined widely
measuring creativity – remote associate task (RAT)
theory that original ideas are the result of ideational associative processes
the most original ideas are thought to be the most remote and far down the associative pathway
ideas early in an associative chain tend to be rote, conventional, and unoriginal
Prescribed because you can measure accuracy – requires bringing ideas together, it is though to reflect someone’s aptitude twards creativity
creativity is different than figuring out puzzles
moving away from measuring in terms of prescribed prompts and look at different ways of how people bring ideas together
experimenter doesn’t have the right answer in mind
have people rate stuff on their idea of creativity
taking away assessment part from experimenter to move towards open ended tasks
measuring creativity: Divergent thinking
measures potential for creative thought – open ended tasks
- originality (the number of unique or uncommon ideas)
- ideational fluency (total number of ideas)
- ideational flexibility (number of conceptual categories in the ideas produced)
a measure of how out of the box a persons responses are
RAT doesn’t capture creativity in the same way bc its just solving a puzzle
divergent thinking
tuning into someone’s ability to be creative
the task you provide doesn’t have one right answer and peoples answers can stem out in many ways
measuring how outside the box an answer is
** divergent thought is a reflection of creativity and not a measurement
creativity and childhood
research has shown a link between pretend play in early childhood and later creativity
found to be independent from IQ
related work with creative individuals demonstrated a link between children who invented imagery worlds and adult innovation and invention
there is a big connection between childhood experiences and what sorts of careers and creativity those children will have
kindergardeners have more unique ideas – adults tend to approach prompts in the same way
creativity and motivaiton
higher creativity linked to when people are internally or intrinsically motivated
* no external reward
* to satisfy own curiosity
* willingness to explore
how to encourage creativity?
* how do you motivate people to become more creative?
– the more you know about something, the more locked into ways of thinking you become
killing creativity
children are instrinsically motivated to use markers
Lepper, Greene, Nesbitt – children divided into two groups
– reward when played with markers
– no reward when play with markers
after several weeks, measured spontaneous play with markers
– children who received no reward were much more likely to engage in pplaying with markers
results show – providing an external reward for activities that are instrinsically motivated kills that motivation as internal reward is replaced with an external one
giving a reward changes mindset to an external motivation
* lowers creativity when externally motivated
* once motivation becomes externalized, people find it harder
Creativity - another example
Amabile (1985)
* two groups of college students write poems after being primed with
– intrinsic motivation: the drive to carry out a task out of personal fulfillment
– extrinsic motivation: carrying out the task is contingent on external influences
the results of the study showed that the students in the instrinsic motivation condition wrote poems that were later judged to be more creative by independent rater
principles of creativity
amabile concludes that motivation or an intrinsic drive is a key component of creativity
- expertise (minimal level of expertise in order to be creative)
- intrinsic motivaiton
- creative thinking skills (have to connect ideas to something new)
researching creativity is about researching how people think
creativity and motivation
Teressa Amabile (Psychologist, Harvard)
– said that motivation inspires creative processing
how do you keep motivation up
* the progress principle to keep motivation high
progress principle
cornerstone to her (Amabile) theory on creativity – expertise and putting it together with how people come up with creative ideas
connection between getting really into a project, being creative, and the emotional benefits you get from this
journalling: self-reflection about where you are
* helps people go forward when they celebrate small wins
creativity and motivation video
when people are feeling more happy and engaged in their work, they are more likely to be productive
inner work life effect
when they have intrinsic motivation, they are most creative and productive
progress principle: the number one driver is making progress
* small wins are a step forward in the work but they can boost inner work life
what is the value of keeping a working diary
* celebrate small wins
* plan next steps
* nurture personal growth
boosting creativity
where do creative ideas come from
originality: combine two are more existing ideas, no matter how different
synthesis: combining events from our past with the present moment
flexibility: ability to suppress easy answers in order to make more difficult connections, allowing for unique insights
* also linked to adaptability and remaining open to new experiences
— all different ways of thinking. The more space someone can be creative and take off pressure, heightened level of creativity
creativity and flow
flow: the optimal state of consciousness where we feel and perform our best – Csikszentmihalyi (founder of positive psychology)
definitions also include:
* state of consciousness
* heightened state of concentration during which time dilates (speeds up or slows down)
* all aspects of performance is heightened
associated with heightened sense of well-being and positive emotions
