background work on creativity

Background Work on CreativityBackground Work on Creativity

鄭晉昌中央大學人力資源管理研究所教授

Creativity as a Neglected Research TopicCreativity as a Neglected Research Topic

• J. P. Guilford (1950) in his APA presidential address, challenged psychologists to address what he found to be neglected but extremely important attribute: Creativity. He reported less than two-tenths of one percent of the entries in Psychological Abstracts up to 1950 focused on creativity.

• R. J. Sternberg & T. Lubart (1996) analyzed the no. of creativity references in Psychological Abstracts from 1975 to 1994 and found that only one-half of one percent of the articles concerned creativity.

Mystical ApproachesMystical Approaches

• The creative person was seen as an empty vessel that a divine being filled with inspiration

• Creativity is something that just doesn’t lend itself to scientific study, because it si a more spiritual processspiritual process.

Pragmatic ApproachesPragmatic Approaches

• This approach concerned primarily with developing creativity, secondarily with understanding it, but almost not at all with testing the validity of their ideas about it.

• De Bono’s lateral thinking skillslateral thinking skills• Osborn’s synecticssynectics• Adams & Von Oech’s role play approaches as e

xplorer, artist, judge and warrior to construct a series of false beliefs that interfere with or challeninterfere with or challengege creativity functioning in order to foster creativity productivity.

Psychodynamic Approach (1)Psychodynamic Approach (1)

• Psychodynamic approach can be considered the first of the major twentieth-century theoretical approaches to the study of creativity. These approaches relied on case studies of eminent creators.

• These approaches has been criticized historically because of the difficulty of measuring proposed theoretical constructs.

• Representative figures: Freud, KubieFreud, Kubie• Compensation processCompensation process: Creative work as a way to expre

ss their unconscious wishes in a publicly acceptable fashion. These unconscious wishes may concern power, riches, fame, honor, or love.

Psychodynamic Approach (2)Psychodynamic Approach (2)

• Adaptive regression & elaboration processAdaptive regression & elaboration process: Adaptive regression is the primary process indicating intrusion of unmodulated thought in consciousness. Unmodulated thought can occur during active problem solving, but often occur during sleep, introxication from drugs, fantasies, or daydreams, or psychoses. Elaboration, the secondary process, refers to the reworking and transformation of primary process material through reality-oriented, ego-controlled thinking.

• Adaptive regression and elaboration process occurs in the stage of preconsciouspreconscious, which falls between conscious reality and the encrypted unconscious, is the true source of creativity.

Psychometric Approaches (1)Psychometric Approaches (1)

• These approaches use tests or scalestests or scales for measuring creativity

• Guilford (1950) used Unusual Uses TestUnusual Uses Test for measuring “divergent thinking”

• Torrance (1974) developed the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking that consist of several simple verbal and figural tasks involving divergent thinking plus other problem-solving skills. The tests can scored for fluency, fluency, flexibility, originalityflexibility, originality and elaborationelaboration. Subtests of the Torrance battery includes asking questions, asking questions, product improvement, unusual uses, circlesproduct improvement, unusual uses, circles.


• Some psychologists, such as Cox, Terman, Merrill, found high creative persons usual have high IQ by examining bio-data.

• Cox in his research concludes that “(creative per“(creative persons are) high but not highest in intelligence, cosons are) high but not highest in intelligence, combined with the greatest degree of persistent, wimbined with the greatest degree of persistent, will achieve greater eminence that the highest degrll achieve greater eminence that the highest degree of intelligence with somewhat less persistencee of intelligence with somewhat less persistence.”e.”


• Three basic findings concerning conventional conceptions of intelligence as measured by IQ and creativity are generally agreed on– Creative people tend to show above average IQs, Creative people tend to show above average IQs,

often above 120.often above 120.– Above an IQ of 120, IQ does not seem to matter as Above an IQ of 120, IQ does not seem to matter as

much to creativity as it does below 120much to creativity as it does below 120– The correlation between IQ and creativity is variable, The correlation between IQ and creativity is variable,

usually ranging from weak to moderateusually ranging from weak to moderate


• Positive sidePositive side of psychometric approaches– The tests facilitated research by providing brief, easy t

o administer– Research was now possible with “ordinary people”

• Negative sideNegative side of psychometric approaches– Paper-and-pencil tests are trivial, inadequate measur

es of creativity– Critics suggested that neither fluency, flexibility, origin

ality, nor elaboration scores captured the concept of creativity. Other possibilities include using the social consensus of judges.

– Some researchers rejected the assumption that noneminent samples could shed light on eminent levels of creativity

Cognitive ApproachesCognitive Approaches• These approaches seek to understand the mental represmental repres

entationsentations and processesprocesses underlying creative thought• Weiberg (1986, 1988, 1993, 1999) has proposed that cre

ativity involves essentially ordinary cognitive processes (ex. analogical transferanalogical transfer) yielding extraordinary products.

• Finke, Ward, and Smith (1992) have proposed the Gene-plore model– A generative phaseA generative phase: an individual constructs mental representa

tions referred to as pre-inventive structures, which have properties promoting creative discoveries.

– An exploratory phaseAn exploratory phase: these properties are used to come up with creative ideas. A number of mental processes may enter into these phases of creative invention, such as retrieval, association,retrieval, association, synthesis, transformation, analogical transfer synthesis, transformation, analogical transfer, and categorical recategorical reduction.duction.

Social-personality Approaches Social-personality Approaches (1)(1)

• These approaches have focused on personalitypersonality variables, motivationalmotivational variables, and socio-cultusocio-cultural environmentral environment as source of creativity.

• Representative figures: Amabile, Barron, EysencAmabile, Barron, Eysenck, Gough, MacKinnonk, Gough, MacKinnon

• Relevant personality traits concerning personality include independence of judgment, self-confidindependence of judgment, self-confidence, attraction to complexity, aesthetic orientatience, attraction to complexity, aesthetic orientation, on, and risk taking risk taking.

Social-personality Approaches Social-personality Approaches (2)(2)

• Motivation factors concerning creativity include intrinsic motivation, need for order, intrinsic motivation, need for order, need for achievementneed for achievement

• Social environment factors concerning creativity include cultural diversity, war, cultural diversity, war, availability of role models, availability of availability of role models, availability of resources, and number of competitors in a resources, and number of competitors in a domaindomain

Evolutional ApproachesEvolutional Approaches

• D. Cample (1960) suggested the same mechanisms that have been applied to the study of the evolution of organism could be applied to the evolution of (creative) ideas.

• The idea underlying this approach is that there are two basic steps in the generation and propagation of creative ideas:– The first step is blind variationblind variation– The second step is selective retentionselective retention

• Sternberg (1997) argued that good creators may or may not have more ideas than other people but they have better ideas.

Confluence Approaches (1)Confluence Approaches (1)

• These approaches hypothesized that multiple componenmultiple components must convergets must converge for creativity to occur.

• (Amabile) People implicit theory People implicit theory contain combination of cognitive and personality elements, such as “connect ideas”, “sees similarities and differences”, “has flexibility”, “has aesthetic taste”, “is unorthodox”, “is motivated”, “is inquisitive”, and “questions societal norms”.

• (Gruber) Evolving systems modelEvolving systems model hypothesized that a person’s knowledge, purpose, and affect grow over time, amplify deviations that an individual encounters, and lead to creative products.


• (Csikszentmihalyi) has taken a different “System“System”” approach and highlights the interaction of the individual, domain, and field. An individual draws on information in a domain and transforms or extends it via cognitive processes, personality traits, and motivation. The field, consisting of people who control or influence a domain, evaluates and selects new ideas. The domain, a culturally defined symbol system, preserves and transmits creative products to other individuals and future generations.


• (Gardner) Multiple Intelligence FrameworkMultiple Intelligence Framework indicates most greatest creative persons actually had strengths in more than one intelligence and that they had notably weakness in others. First, they tended to have a matrix of support at the time of their creative breakthroughs. Second, they tended to drive a “Faustian bargain” whereby they gave up many of the pleasures people typically enjoy in life in order to attain extraordinary success in their careers.– Sigmund Freud (intrapersonal), Albert Einstein (logical-Sigmund Freud (intrapersonal), Albert Einstein (logical-

mathematical), Pablo Picasso (spatial), Igor Stravinsky mathematical), Pablo Picasso (spatial), Igor Stravinsky (musical), T. S. Eliot (linguistic), Martha Graham (bodily-(musical), T. S. Eliot (linguistic), Martha Graham (bodily-kinesthetic), Mohandas Gandhi (interpersonal)kinesthetic), Mohandas Gandhi (interpersonal)

• (Sternberg) Investment Theory of Investment…Investment Theory of Investment…

The Investment Theory of The Investment Theory of Creativity as a DecisionCreativity as a Decision


What is Investment Theory of Creativity?What is Investment Theory of Creativity?

• The theory concerns the decision to be the decision to be creativecreative and is based on the notion that creative people decide to buy low and sell high in the world of ideas --- that is, they generate ideas that tend to “defy the defy the crowdcrowd” (buy low) and then, when they have persuaded many people, they sell high, meaning they move on to the next unpopular idea.

Experimental Materials for Research Experimental Materials for Research in Investment Theoryin Investment Theory

• Research within the framework has used tasks to experiment and to support the model– Writing short stories using unusual titlesWriting short stories using unusual titles– Drawing pictures with unusual themesDrawing pictures with unusual themes– Devising creative advertisements for boring Devising creative advertisements for boring

productsproducts– Solving unusual scientific problemsSolving unusual scientific problems

Six Distinct but Interrelated Six Distinct but Interrelated Resources Required for Creativity Resources Required for Creativity

(1)(1)• Intellectual abilitiesIntellectual abilities

– The creative skill to see problems in new ways and escape the bounds of conventional thinking

– The analytic skill to recognize which of one’s ideas are worth pursuing and which are not

– The practical-contextual skill to know how to persuade others of the value of one’s ideas

• KnowledgeKnowledge– One needs to decide to use one’s past knowledge,

but also decide to let the knowledge become a hindrance rather than a help.

• Styles of thinkingStyles of thinking– A legislative style is particularly important for

creativity

• PersonalityPersonality– Willingness to overcome obstacles, willingness to

take sensible risks, willingness to tolerate ambiguity, and self-efficacy

• MotivationMotivation– Intrinsic, and task-oriented motivation is essential to

creativity

• EnvironmentEnvironment– Supportive environment for “crowd-defying” ideas

Six Distinct but Interrelated Six Distinct but Interrelated Resources Required for Creativity Resources Required for Creativity

(2)(2)

Hypothesis of Confluence of Six Hypothesis of Confluence of Six ComponentsComponents

• There may be thresholds for some components below which creativity is not possible regardless of the levels of other components

• Partial compensation may occur in which a strength on one component counteracts a weakness on another component

• Interactions may occur between components, such as intelligence and motivation, in which high levels on both components could multiplicatively enhance creativity

Developing Creativity as a Developing Creativity as a Decision (1)Decision (1)

• Redefine problems• Question and analyze assumptions• Do not assume that creative ideas sell

themselves: Sell them• Encourage idea generation• Recognize that knowledge is a double-

edged sward and act accordingly• Encourage children to identify and

surmount obstacles

• Encourage sensible risk-taking• Encourage tolerance of ambiguity• Help children build self-efficacy• Help children find what they love to do• Teach children the importance of delaying

gratification• Role-model creativity• Cross-fertilize ideas


• Allow time for creative thinking• Instruct and assess for creativity• Reward creativity• Allow mistakes• Take responsibility for both successes and

failures• Encourage creative collaboration• Imagine things from others’ points of view• Maximize person-environment fit


The Propulsion Theory of The Propulsion Theory of Creative ContributionCreative Contribution


Views of Creative Contributions Views of Creative Contributions (1)(1)

• Creative contribution as paradigm shiftparadigm shift– Kuhn (1970) distinguished between normal and

revolutionary science

• Gardner’s distinguish five types of creative contributions– Solving a well-defined problemwell-defined problem– Devising an encompassing theoryencompassing theory– Creating a “frozen work”“frozen work”– Performing a ritualized workritualized work– Rendering a high-stakes performancehigh-stakes performance

• Maslow (1967) distinguish two types of creative contributions– Primary creativityPrimary creativity is the kind of a person uses

to become self-actualized– Secondary creativitySecondary creativity is the kind that leads to c

reative achievements typically recognized by a field

Views of Creative Contributions (2)Views of Creative Contributions (2)

Eight Types of Creative ContributionEight Types of Creative Contribution

• Contributions that accept current paradigm– ReplicationReplication– RedefinitionRedefinition– Forward incrementationForward incrementation– Advance forward incrementationAdvance forward incrementation

• Contributions that reject current paradigm and attempt to replace them– RedirectionRedirection– Reconstruction / redirectionReconstruction / redirection– ReinitiationReinitiation

• Contributions that merge disparate current paradigms– IntegrationIntegration

Replication (1)Replication (1)

• Replications are important because they can help either to establish the validity or invalidity of contributions, or the utility or lack of utility of approaches

• Example– Jensen (1982) and others argued that correlations bet

ween scores on choice reaction-time tests and scores on intelligence tests suggest that individual differences in human intelligence could be traced to individual differences in velocity of neural condition. However, such interpretation of results were somewhat speculative.

– Venon and Mori (1992) tested and seemingly confirmed that Jensen’s hypothesis. They developed a paradigm whereby they could measures speed of neural condition in the arm. They found that neural conduction velocity did indeed predict scores on conventional tests of intelligence. However, Wickett & Vernon (1994) failed to replicate the study.

Replication (2)Replication (2)

Redefinition (1)Redefinition (1)

• Work of “redefinition” type is judged to be creative to the extent that redefinition of the field is different from the earlier definition (noveltynovelty) and to the extent that the redefinition is judged to be plausible or correct (qualityquality)

• Example– Spearman (1904, 1927) who invented factor analysis

and used this technique to argue that underlying performance on all tests of mental abilities is a general factor, which he labeled g.

– Thomson (1939) proposed that although Spearman was correct in positing a general factor underlying performance on mental tests, he was incorrect in his interpretation of it. According to Thomson, the general factor actually represents the working of multitudinous “bonds.” These bonds are all alleged to be those mental processes common to performance on all mental tests. He proposed to change not the empirical status of work on intelligence and argued that the field was not where Spearman and others thought it to be.

Redefinition (2)Redefinition (2)

Forward Incrementation (1)Forward Incrementation (1)

• Forward incrementation represents the most common type of creative contribution. It occurs when a piece of work takes the field at the point where it is and moves it forward from that point in the space of contributions in the direction it is already going.

• For example– After the initial groundbreaking study of Festin

ger and Carlsmith (1959) on cognitive dissonance, huge numbers of follow-up studies were done on phenomena of cognitive dissonance and cognitive consistency.

• Most studies published in scientific journalMost studies published in scientific journals can be characterized as forward incremes can be characterized as forward incrementationntation

Forward Incrementation (2)Forward Incrementation (2)

Advance Forward Incrementation (1)Advance Forward Incrementation (1)

• An advance forward incrementation is a work whose potential typically is not realized at its premiere, yet is later recognized as a step along the historical path of a genre, and then seen as a work ahead of its time.

Advance Forward Incrementation (2)Advance Forward Incrementation (2)

• Example– Royer (1971) published an article that was an informa

tion-processing analysis of the digit-symbol task on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). In the article, Royer showed hoe information-processing analysis could be used to decompose performance on the task and understand the elementary information processes underlying the performance. Royer’s work forshadowed the later work of Hunt and Sternberg, but his work went largely unnoticed.

Redirection (1)Redirection (1)

• Redirection involves accepting the field where it is at a given time but attempting to move it in a new direction. Work of this type is creative to the extent that it moves a field in a direction (novelty) and to the extent that this direction is seen as desirable for research (quality)

Redirection (2)Redirection (2)

• Example– The pioneering Hunt, Frost, and Lunneborg (1973) art

icle mentioned earlier suggested that researchers of intelligence use cognitive-psychological paradigms to study intelligence. The basic idea was to correlate scores on cognitive tasks (such as lexical access) with scores on psychometric tests.

– Sternberg (1977) used cognitive techniques different from that suggested by Hunt. In particular, he suggested that complex cognitive tasks (such as analogies & classifications – high levels of intelligent thought) be used instead of simple cognitive tasks and that the goal should be decomposed information processing on these tasks into its elementary information-processing components.

Reconstruction (1)Reconstruction (1)

• The creators suggests that the field should move backward to a previous point but from there move in a direction divergent from that it had taken.

Reconstruction (2)Reconstruction (2)

• Example– B. F. Skinner (1972) analysis of creativity represents

an example of reconstruction. Skinner apparently was perturbed that the behavioristic principles that he and his colleagues believed applied to all behavior. The 1972 paper was, in large part, an argument that the field of creativity had lost its foundations, and that it needed to return to the kinds of behavioristic analyses that Skinner believed he and others had shown could account for creative behavior.

Reinitiation (1)Reinitiation (1)

• In reinitiation, a contributor suggests that a field or subfield has reached an undesirable point or has exhausted itself moving in the direction in which it is moving. But rather than suggesting that the field or subfield move in a different direction from where it is. This form of creative contribution represents a major paradigm shift.

Reinitiation (2)Reinitiation (2)

• Example– Spearman (1904) reinvented the filed of intelligence t

heory and research by his invention of factor analysis and by proposing his two-factor theory based on his factor-analytic results. Spearman’s contribution was put theorizing about intelligence on a firm quantitative footing.

– Binet & Simon (1916) reinvented the field of intelligence measurement. Whereas Galton (1883) has proposed that intelligence should be understood in terms of simple psychological processes, Binet and Simon proposed that intelligence should be understood in terms of higher-order processes of judgment. For the most part, the measurements of intelligence today are still based on this notion of Binet and Simon.

Integration (1)Integration (1)

• The creator puts together two types of ideas previously seen as unrelated or even as opposed.

Integration (2)Integration (2)

• Example– Bob Silvers (1997) tasks George

Seurat’s pointillist technique of using many small dots to form a larger work and combines it with the field photography.

General Issues

• Creative contributions can vary in novelty and quality.

• Types of creative contributions do not immediately translate into levels of creative contributions

• What is viewed as creative will depend on the match between what an individual has to offer and what the context is willing to accept and value.

Understand Creativity-related Understand Creativity-related Phenomena via the Propulsion Model (1)Phenomena via the Propulsion Model (1)

• The mode suggests that positive or negative reactions to a given contribution are likely to vary with the type of creativity evinced in a given creative contribution.

• The propulsion model helps psychologists better understand the nature of the relation between creativity and leadership.

• The propulsion model helps address the question of whether programs based on artificial intelligence are creative.

Understand Creativity-related Understand Creativity-related Phenomena via the Propulsion Model (2)Phenomena via the Propulsion Model (2)

• The propulsion model may be relevant to the long-standing issue of the extent to which creativity is domain-specific or domain-general. It is speculative that the ability to do reasonably successful forward incrementations may be largely domain-general and may even be highly correlated with scores on tests of conventional (analytic) abilities. However, the ability to perform a reinitiation may be quite a bit more domain-specific, requiring a sense or even feeding for a field that goes well beyond the kinds of more generalized analytical abilities.

background work on creativity

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