Creativity Health Article

Creativity

The ability to create inventions, produce works of art, or solve problems using an original, novel, or unconventional approach.

Although many people equate creativity and intelligence, the two terms are not synonymous, and it is not necessary to have a genius-level IQ in order to be creative. While creative people do tend to have average or above-average scores on IQ tests, beyond an IQ of about 120 there is little correlation between intelligence and creativity. Researchers have found environment to be more important than heredity in influencing creativity, and a child's creativity can be either strongly encouraged or discouraged by early experiences at home and in school.

In the 20th century psychologists, educators, and other social scientists have proposed numerous theories of creativity. The psychoanalytic framework of Sigmund Freud emphasized the role of unconscious processes in creativity. Freud introduced the idea that creative achievements in the arts, sciences, and other fields result from a sublimation of libidinal (sexual) impulses. He also drew attention to the relationship between creativity in the adult and play in the child. Subsequently, the behaviorist school of psychology has focused on the relationship between creativity and external positive reinforcement (rewards, praise, honors, etc.), while cognitive theorists have analyzed the mental components of the creative process.

Another approach has been the attempt to understand creativity by studying the lives of famous innovators in a variety of fields, such as Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and Pablo Picasso. Howard Gruber, the major proponent of this approach, found certain broad common characteristics among a number of creative individuals:1) they engaged in a variety of activities within their chosen fields; 2) they had a strong sense of purpose about their work; 3) they had a profound emotional attachment to their work; and 4) they tended to conceptualize problems in terms of all-encompassing images. In a more recent version of this approach, Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner has extended his influential work on multiple intelligences to the field of creativity, analyzing the lives of seven famous creative figures in the arts and sciences who were born in the latter half of the 19th century and helped inaugurate and define the modern era during the first part of the 20th. Focusing in each case on a single significant discovery or breakthrough, Gardner rejects the traditionally monolithic view of creativity in favor of a pluralistic one that encompasses a wide variety of skills and abilities. According to this view, people are creative within a specific domain (or domains) rather than creative "in general." In addition, they show creativity regularly during the course of a lifetime and introduce innovations that are considered unorthodox at first but eventually become widely accepted within their culture.

The theories of J. P. Guilford regarding creativity have strongly influenced the field of education. First becoming popular in the 1950s, his psychometric approach (i.e., one that views creativity as measurable by testing) is based on the concepts of convergent and divergent thinking. Convergent thinking —the type usually displayed on traditional intelligence tests—involves narrowing the number of possible solutions to a problem, while divergent thinking —the type that Guilford asso ciated with creativity—entails the ability to envision multiple solutions to a problem. As put forward by Guilford, divergent thinking has three major characteristics: fluency, flexibility, and originality. Fluency is the ability to rapidly envision a number of different ways to solve a problem. Flexibility refers to the ability to consider various alternatives at the same time. Originality denotes the degree to which a person's ideas differ from those of most other people.

Since the development of Guilford's psychometric approach to creativity, a variety of tests have been devised to assess creativity. A number of these—geared toward measuring divergent thinking—have been based on how many different solutions an individual can propose to a specific problem and on the extent to which a person's answers differ from those of most other test takers. Typical questions asked on such tests include "Try to imagine the range of consequences that might follow if all national and local laws were suddenly abolished" and "Name as many uses as you can think of for a brick." Creativity tests—like standard intelligence tests—have been found to have a high degree of reliability in that an individual is likely to have similar scores on a variety of these tests. However, questions have arisen over their validity in terms of the usefulness of what they measure. One study found little correlation between the scores of both elementary and secondary students on divergent thinking tests and their actual achievements in high school in such creative fields as art, drama, and science. Many researchers have concluded that divergent thinking, while important to the creative process, is not the sole element necessary for creative achievement and that creative accomplishment requires both divergent and convergent thinking. Besides being original, the successful solution to a problem must also be appropriate to its purposes, and convergent thinking allows an individual to evaluate his or her ideas and reject them if they do not withstand further scrutiny.

In an attempt to go beyond the psychometric approach to creativity pioneered by Guilford, other researchers have studied the personality traits and motivation of creative people, focusing on their contemporaries rather than on historical figures. Personality traits have been assessed based on how creative individuals describe themselves or on their responses to tests such as the Rorschach, or inkblot, test. A Berkeley-based study found that creativity is often accompanied by personality traits such as independence, self-confidence, unconventionality, easy access to unconscious processes, and dedication to work. In addition, studies of people known for their creative accomplishments show that certain personality traits that may be impossible to measure on a test—such as motivation, initiative, ambition, tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and independent judgment—are commonly associated with creativity.

In the 1980s social psychologist Teresa Amabile focused on the importance of intrinsic motivation in creativity, arguing that a prime component in defining creativity is the pursuit of an activity purely for its own sake rather than for external rewards, such as money or recognition. In a variety of studies, items created by people who were told that their work would be judged and possibly rewarded for creativity have been found to be less creative than the results produced by those who were simply asked to work on a project with no prospect of external reward. Amabile has posited a three-part definition of creativity. In addition to intrinsic motivation, the other two essential criteria for creative achievement are expertise in a specific field ("domain skills"), which must be learned, and creative skills, including divergent thinking.

A 1962 study by Graham Wallas produced a widely used four-stage breakdown of the creative process based on data obtained from scientists and other innovators. First is the preparation stage, which consists of articulating the problem, obtaining background information, and considering it carefully in light of one's research. In the incubation stage, subconscious ideas about the problem are allowed to emerge as it enters a dormant period, during which there is no active progress, although one may periodically "mull it over." Next comes the illumination stage, in which an important insight is gained, often suddenly and intuitively. Finally, in the verification stage, the idea is tested and judged.

Environment appears to play a greater role than heredity in the development of creativity: identical twins reared apart show greater differences in creativity than in intellectual ability. Family environments with certain characteristics have been found to be more conducive to creativity than others. One of these characteristics is a relaxed parental attitude rather than one that is overly anxious or authoritarian. On the whole, the families of creative children discipline them without rigid restrictions, teaching them respect for values above rules. Similarly, they emphasize achievement rather than grades. The parents in such homes generally lead active, fulfilling lives themselves and have many interests. Finally, they reinforce creativity in their children by a general attitude of respect and confidence toward them and by actively encouraging creative pursuits and praising the results. It has been found that creativity in both children and adults is affected by positive reinforcement. In one study, four-year-olds produced more original block arrangements when their efforts were praised by adults and reverted to less imaginative patterns when reinforcement was withheld. Positive reinforcement has also been shown to boost fifth graders' scores on creativity tests, help sixth graders write more original stories, and lead college students to produce novel word associations. Studies have also found that positively reinforcing one kind of creative activity encourages original thinking in other areas as well.

Just as certain actions and attitudes on the part of parents can encourage creativity, others have been found to discourage it. Devising restrictive guidelines or instructions for an activity reduces its potential as a creative experience. Unrestricted, imaginative play is central to creativity in children—exposure to new objects and activities stimulates the senses, reinforces exploratory impulses, and results in the openness to new experiences and ideas that fosters creative thinking. In addition, anything that takes the focus away from the creative act itself and toward something external to it can be damaging. For example, knowing that one's efforts are going to be evaluated tends to restrict the creative impulse, as does knowing of the possibility of a prize or other reward. Competition creates yet another type of external focus that can stifle creativity.

Schools as well as families can encourage creativity by offering children activities that give them an active role in their own learning, allow them freedom to explore within a loosely structured framework, and encourage them to participate in creative activities for the sheer enjoyment of it rather than for external rewards.