PRESENTATION ON CREATIVITY

DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY

• Creativity is a mental process involving the generations of

new ideas or concepts or new association between existing

ideas or concepts.

• Creativity involves the generation of new ideas or the

recombination of known elements into something new,

providing valuable solutions to a problem.

Cont…

• “Any one can make the simple

complicate. Creativity is making the

complicated simple” Charles Mingis.

OBJECTIVES OF CREATIVITY

• Main objectives of a creative thinking process is to think

beyond existing boundaries,

• to break away from rational, conventional ideas and

formalised procedures,

• to rely on the imagination, the divergent, the random and to

consider

• multiple solutions and alternatives

CREATIVE TECHNIQUES

1. Analytical Techniques And Intuitive

Techniques.

2. Creativity In Individuals, And Techniques,

Which Generate Creativity In Groups.

3 Divergent Thinking And Convergent

Thinking.

Main points to increase or encourage creativity in a company are:

To Be Happy, To Have Fun

Keep Channels Of Communication Open

Trust, Failure Accepted

Contacts With External Sources Of Information

Independence, Initiatives Taken

Support Participatory Decision-making And Employees’

Contribution

Experiment With New Ideas

The Quality Of Creative Thinking Can Be Judged By Three Criteria

• Productivity.

• Originality.

• Flexibility

The 10 Mental Blocks To Creativity

Concepts are adapted from Van Oech’s book, A Whack On The

Side Of The Head.

1. One “Right Answer”.

2. Logic Can Kill Creativity.

3. Be Creative – Break Some Rules

4.Be Creative – Is That Practical?

5. Play Is Creative.

Cont…

6. Make Time To Think Creatively.

7. Being Creative Is “Not My Job”.

8 Don’t Be Afraid To Be Creative.

9. Creativity…How Ambiguous.

10 Is Creativity Wrong?

TWO PHASES OF CREATIVITY

Creativity can be divided into two phases of thinking:

– Divergent thinking

– Convergent thinking

 

 

1. Divergent thinking

DIVERGENT THINKING

• Is the ability to find many possible answers to a particular

problem. Guilford (1950).

• Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to

generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.

• Divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-

flowing manner, such that many ideas are generated in an

emergent cognitive fashion.

Cont…

• Psychologists have found that a high IQ alone does not

guarantee creativity. Instead, personality traits that promote

divergent thinking are more important. Divergent thinking is

found among people with personalities which have traits such

as nonconformity, curiosity, willingness to take risks, and

persistence.

ACTIVITIES WHICH PROMOTE DIVERGENT THINKING

• Creating Lists Of Questions,

• Setting Aside Time For Thinking And Meditation,

• Brainstorming.

• Subject Mapping / "Bubble Mapping",

• Keeping A Journal,

• Creating Artwork, And Free Writing.

 

 

2. Convergent thinking

CONVERGENT THINKING

• The term convergent thinking was coined by J.P.Guilford, a

psychologist well known foe his research on creativity.

• Convergent thinking involves the pursuit of predetermined a

goal, usually in linear progression and using highly focused

problem solving techniques.

• Convergent thinking questions are those which represent the

analysis and integration of given or remembered information.

They lead you to an expected end result or answer.

Personality Assessment Instruments Used in the Field of Creativity

Instrument Theoreticalbackground and purpose

Structure Administration

Agerange

Adjective Checklist (ACL)

Adjectives describe aperson’s attributes,‘actual’ & ‘ideal’ self; identificationof potentiallycreative persons

300 item list ofadjectives measures37 traits

Self-assessmentor byobservers,10 to 15minutes

Widelyused inadults

Personality Assessment Instruments Used in the Field of Creativity

Instrument Theoreticalbackground and purpose

Structure Administration

Agerange

Khatena-TorranceCreative PerceptionInventory

Measures artisticinclination, intelligence,individuality, sensitivity,initiative, and self strength;imagination,appeal to authority, self confidence,inquisitiveness,and awareness of others.

Comprises twotests: SomethingAbout Myself(SAM)What Kind ofPerson Are You?(WKOPAY)

Self report20–40minutes

12 yearsandolder

Personality Assessment Instruments Used in the Field of Creativity

Instrument Theoreticalbackground and purpose

Structure Administration

Agerange

Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator

Uses the Jungian dichotomiesof introversion/extroversion, sensing/intuiting,thinking/feeling,perceiving/judging

16 different personalitytypes

166 multiplechoiceitems

14 yearsandolder

Personality Assessment Instruments Used in the Field of Creativity

Instrument Theoreticalbackground and purpose

Structure Administration

Agerange

Kirton Adaptation InnovationInventory (KAI)

Evaluates differencesin preferred styles ofproblem-solving and creativity:adaptors improvethings; innovators dothings differently

Adaptation/ Innovationcontinuum

32 items Teensandadults