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I was sick all last week and these notes were exactly what I needed to get caught up. Cheers!
Proposed views of Creativity in Psychology
∙ Weisberg: creative thought processes are same as ordinary thought processes
∙ Foundation View: Continuity; thinkers adopt and go beyond the past to produce genuinely novel ideas and objects
Proposed views on Definition of Creativity
∙ Value: the product:
o must carry out the task for which it was designed
o Creative scientific theory must help us understand the domain in question
o Must be appreciated by some audience beyond the artist
o Creative solution to a problem must actually solve the problem ∙ Csikszenthmjiihaly’s cycle = 3 components that make any product creative
o Present discovery to field/make it public
o Gatekeepers of the domain decide whether new finding is valuable enough to publish
o Product becomes part of the domain/becomes creative
∙ Sternberg: Propulsion model of creative Contributions
o Innovation can propel field in some direction, even if same direction as current one
o Can occur whether the creator intended to do so or not
o 4/8 different effects a creative contribution can have on a field: Forward Incrementation: builds on what has already been done (continuity), without changing basic direction in field i.e. We also discuss several other topics like Metamorphism means what?
Guernica
Redirection: radical shift away from current direction of field i.e. Cubism
Advance Forward Incrementation: “ahead of its time;”
contribution too advanced for field to absorbed i.e.
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
Redefinition: new perspective on current state in field i.e.
theory that ulcers caused by bacteria in stomach & Andy Warhol’s Pop Art
Proposed Theories on Methods of studying Creativity Don't forget about the age old question of what is Pangaea?
∙ Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (Biographical Methods) o Separate ways of dealing with the world (was 7, no 8 and potential 9th) Self-understanding
Logical-mathematical
Spatial
Musical
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Linguistic
Intrapersonal
Naturalist
∙ Hayes’ 10 Year Rule (Historiometric Methods)
o Period of silence before first masterwork; usually 10 years after deep immersion in domain
Proposed theories of Creativity
∙ Plato and Aristotle - The Gods and madness
o Creative person: messenger/conduit through which gods’ ideas presented to us; ideas originate outside of normal thinking process AND outside of person as whole
Breath in from muses
Mental illness
∙ Freud - Unconscious Thinking
o Unconscious needs and conflicts play important role in determining subject matter and the way creative individual portrays it
o Associative unconscious
Poincare – Unconscious processing: incubation and
illumination
∙ Unconscious Incubation: thinking about problem We also discuss several other topics like what is Theory of Well-Being?
unconsciously while consciously thinking about something
else
∙ Illumination: sudden appearance in consciousness of a
creative idea or solution to a problem
Eyesneck – Psychoticism
∙ People born with higher inherited tendency to become
mentally ill when placed in stressful environment have
greater tendency to be creative
∙ Leaps of insight: the Gestalt View
o Poincare, Sciszentmihalyi and Simonton
o Productive vs. reproductive thinking
∙ Psychometric theories
o Confluence models of creativity
Coming together of several factors needed for creative process: particular thinking style, knowledge base, personality,
particular environment
Guilford – divergent thinking
∙ Major component: sensitivity to problems
∙ Diverge from old, produce new
∙ 2 steps
o Divergent thinking
o Convergent thinking: narrows down alternatives to
determine best ones (workable product)
∙ Psychometric: focus on measuring psychological
characteristics of creative people
o Simonton – Ideational Variants
Numerous and varied ideas resulting from
divergent thinking
o Creative Personality: aspects of personality more
prevalent in creative people than “ordinary people” We also discuss several other topics like What is rational choice?
that allow them to think more flexibly
Amabile – Componential Theory of Creativity
∙ Incorporated social-psychology
∙ 1st component: domain relevant skills
∙ 2nd component: creativity relevant skills
∙ Research found person’s attitude toward task critical in
determining response
o Intrinsically motivated (higher chance of
innovation) vs. extrinsically motivated
Sternberg and Lubart’s Investment Theory of Creativity ∙ Analysis of creative thinking based on economic
principles
o Thinker proposes unpopular ideas that have
potential growth
o Perseverance + convincing Sell high
∙ Must possess important set of intellectual abilities:
o See problems in new ways and go beyond ordinary
ideas
o Recognize which ideas worth pursuing
o Persuade others of value of one’s ideas
∙ Must possess knowledge of domain (TOO MUCH
INTEREFERE WITH INNOVATION)
∙ Must possess personality that allows you to think We also discuss several other topics like What is Glass Steagal Act?
independently
∙ Must possess environment that supports and rewards
creative ideas
∙ Evolutionary Theories
o Campbell – Blind variation and Selective Retention
Based on Darwin’s theory
Must come about through rejection of past as basis for
construction new
Blind or random generation of ideas in response to problem o Simonton – Wide ranging Confluence theory of Creativity Incorporates blind-variation and selective-retention mechanism + cognitive factors, personality characteristics, environmental influences etc. If you want to learn more check out adding the capital account to the current account, always yields what?
∙ Cognitive Theories
o Newell, Shaw, & Simon – Cognitive View
Creativity = ordinary thinking
Remote analogy; humans as information-processing systems ∙ Input and output units that allow interaction with world
∙ RAM = Working memory
∙ Hard drive = long term memory storage system
Weisberg
∙ We must first understand ordinary thinking
o Hobbes – Contiguity
Thoughts lead to one another because corresponding events were experienced together
o Aristotle – Common Content
Makes one thought call forth another even if corresponding
events didn’t occur in contiguity
Structural analogies
Deductive Reasoning
o Lovett – Creative thinking = problem solving
Analysis and transformation of information toward a specific goal, no matter how easy or difficult
o Ericsson and Simon – Theory of Verbal Protocols
Type 1 verbalization “turn off mute” – don’t disrupt thoughts Type 2 Verbalization – nonverbal processes translated verbally – slows down process
Type 3 verbalization – report specific pieces of info and explain actions – may affect outcome of thinking process
o Getzels and Csikszentmihaly – Problem Finding
2 problems: deciding what to paint and figuring out how
Expertise in Creative Thinking
∙ Theory of Inert Knowledge
o Gick and Holyoak studied spontaneous transfer = highly unlikely ∙ Dunbar - Theory of Analogical Paradox
o Expertise in an area may make analogical transfer easier
∙ Theory of Mapping
o If you don’t comprehend general structure of problem; you will only understand the solution in a specific context
∙ De Groot Theory on Expertise and Problem Solving in Chess o Masters form mental representation of the game through years of study
o Rely on domain specific expertise
o Chase and Simon – Clustering/Chunking
Top-down process affects focusing attention in a situation which affects what you recall
Practice and Expertise in Musical Performance
∙ Ericsson-Krampe, Tesch Theory on Deliberate Practice
o Different levels of achievement results from different levels of practice Theories on the Creative Cognition Approach
∙ Smith, Ward, and Finke’s Creative Cognition Approach to Creativity o All human cognition is basically creative; result of application of ordinary cognitive process
o Guided Imagery
More time to choose pre-inventive form = higher percentage of creative inventions produced
Theories on Practice vs. Talent?
∙ Galton’s 3 components
o Innate capability
o Motivation
o Capacity to work hard
∙ Acquired-Expertise view
o Differences in levels of achievement may be due to differences in expertise based on practice
∙ Ericsson et al. – High Practice Failures
o Some people may have quit because they weren’t advancing in spite of practice
∙ Winner – Savants
o Evidence of innate talent without extensive practice
o Driven by internal “rage to master”
∙ Tension View
o Creativity should come about as a result of breaking away from expertise “out of the box”
∙ Ordinary-Thinking View
o Dependent on knowledge or expertise form experience
o Develop skills through study and acquire expertise through deliberate practice
o Antecedents traceable to experiences
o Top-down process
o Structural coherence
o Local and regional analogies link ideas
o Ideas traceable to environmental events
∙ Extraordinary-Thinking View
o Break from bonds of knowledge to create
o Shouldn’t be directly traceable to experiences
o Defies logic; lacks structural coherence
o Use distant analogies
∙
DNA Model
∙ Objective Process
∙ Discovery
∙ Ill-defined problem
∙ Forward incrementations
∙ The Double Helix NOT radical advance
o Reading Schroedinger’s book about genetic material & x-ray data = you could make crystal of DNA Structure is recreatable (external stimulus)
o Initial strategy grew out of (expertise): adopted method of study from Pauling on the alpha helix (Antecedent)
o Analogical transfer: decided DNA helix too because of alpha helix Watson and Crick’s use of Pauling’s alpha-helix as base for DNA helix (DNA Model=target)
Working backwards
Alpha-keratin and DNA are analogous molecules
Used weak method of working backwards then because of
knowledge, also employed strong method
∙ According to Dunbar, Watson and Crick paradox concerning analogical transfer: why is transfer easy to find in real life but not in lab: o Regional analogy: both base (alpha-helix) and target (DNA) part of their domain of research
Already thought of each molecule abstractly
Expertise in an area may make analogical transfer
more likely to occur
∙ College undergrads naïve/don’t think abstractly
o Ordinary thinking + external info (Shroedinger’s book, Pauling’s research, Franklin’s photo 51 & report on dimensions of unit cell of molecule)
∙ Basic Cognitive Components of Creative thinking
o Deductive reasoning (Crick), drawing conclusions
o Structured thinking
∙ Heuristic Methods Used
o Watson and Crick may have worked backwards from goal when they adopted idea of DNA being helix but had an ill-defined problem o Watson used trial and error
Last part: different pairings of nucleotides like jig saw puzzle ∙ Creative Thinking and Environmental Events
o Watson saw Franklins photo and changed his image of structure of DNA ∙ Continuity with the past
o Antecedents: Pauling’s ideas
o Incremental movement, not great leap
∙ Top-down Processes: Use of knowledge
o The reason Watson and Crick fared better than other scientists is because of their background knowledge in specific areas
Important in planning
∙ Quantitative Case Study
o Used historiometric methods to study individual case study Hard to quantify things
∙ Gestalt Psychologists like Simonton feel it is free-associative thinking ∙ Guilford Believe divergent thinking
∙ New research: Foundation view
o fine-tuning to adapt old idea to new situation NOT rejection of past Guernica
∙ Subjective Process
∙ Creation
∙ Basic Cognitive Components of Creative Thinking
o Planning (sketches), judging (changing position of bulls, removal of upraised arms), planning, organizing
o Structured thinking (knew structure when he began)
Worked backwards
∙ Continuity with the past
o Antecedent: Minotauromachy (palindrome)
o Incremental movement, not great leap
∙ Creative Thinking and Environmental events
o Bombing of town set Picasso on new path; switched from studio (External stimulus)
∙ Top down processes used
∙ Heuristic Methods Used
o Guernica, Picasso worked backwards because he already had structure
∙ Quantitative case study
o Limitation: availability of data (can we know if Picasso was thinking of Minotauromachy while painting Guernica? No)
∙ Problem
o How to express feelings about the bombing
o Ill-defined
∙ Not all creative works equivalent
o Some of Picasso’s earlier works much more innovative than Guernica ∙ Type of creative contribution
o Forward incremenation
o Wasn’t radical advance in Picasso’s style or any style in art ∙ Gestalt Psychologists like Simonton feel it is free-associative thinking ∙ Guilford Believe divergent thinking
∙ New Research: Foundation View
o fine-tuning to adapt old idea to new situation NOT rejection of past ∙ Picasso followed more of a 6 year rule
o Similar development as other painters
Falling Water
∙ Met family through student; asked to build home
∙ Asked for map of land
∙ 1st visit to Bear Run
o self-report of vision of land + house
BUT said that he “vaguely” formed mental representation
30 years later he says “it was a natural thing”
o How does he grasp the vision?
Antecedents:
∙ External stimuli
o construction in Japan peak interest in houses on
waterfalls
o School (Taliesin) by the water
o Problems:
Because of layout of land, Northern Bank
only place to build house
Too small to see waterfall cantilevered over
it
Family wanted to entertain had to build up
∙ Expertise
o Built hydroelectric power plant that cantilevered
over a waterfall
o Prairie Houses
Specifically The Gale House
∙ Over hanging roof-cantilevered
∙ Cantilevered balcony
∙ Freeze of windows
∙ Central stone core
∙ Open cruciform plan
∙ Used to play with wooden blocks
Working Method:
∙ Slow and deliberate in private
o Didn’t put things on paper before he was sure
o work at 3-4am
o Constantly studied map of land; ideas germinating
in his mind (Thinking, planning, judging,
organizing, from mental representation)
Small steps
Still made many sketches once he did start
physical planning
∙ Quick and facile in public
o A lot of his construction had many faults
∙ 2nd visit to Bear run
o Kaufman calls to see Wright’s plans but he hasn’t drawn anything o In the 2 hours before he arrives, draws plan
Apprentice says it “poured out of him”