The Definition of Creativity is... Relative
Creativity is the ability to make something original, to imagine things that don't exist, and to come up with new ideas. Creativity is the ability to look at everyday items and events in new ways. Creativity can make common things special and special things more common!
Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence. Creativity is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering, and imagining. Creative thought is found in all aspects of a growing child's life.
Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create-to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.
Some researchers maintain that creativity involves fluency and flexibility of thinking, originality, perceptiveness of problems, and the ability to redefine and elaborate (see Guildford, as cited in Lynch & Harris, 2001; Meador, 1997). Others point to personality attributes that make one more creative, including tolerance for uncertainty, willingness to overcome obstacles, openness to growth, possession of personal motivation, acceptance of sensible risk-taking, wanting to be recognized, and willingness to strive for such recognition (see Sternberg, as cited in Lynch & Harris, 2001). Still others believe that a person is not generally creative in all areas but more often in specific fields such as writing or carpentry (see Gardner, as cited in Lynch & Harris, 2001). Perhaps creativity is, as Daniel Boorstin (1992) suggests, "the most illusive, complex, and mysterious of all human processes." In all, we can conclude that creativity is a complex concept influenced by many factors including motivation, personality, circumstance, and thinking skills (Meador, 1997).
Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence. Creativity is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering, and imagining. Creative thought is found in all aspects of a growing child's life.
Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create-to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.
Some researchers maintain that creativity involves fluency and flexibility of thinking, originality, perceptiveness of problems, and the ability to redefine and elaborate (see Guildford, as cited in Lynch & Harris, 2001; Meador, 1997). Others point to personality attributes that make one more creative, including tolerance for uncertainty, willingness to overcome obstacles, openness to growth, possession of personal motivation, acceptance of sensible risk-taking, wanting to be recognized, and willingness to strive for such recognition (see Sternberg, as cited in Lynch & Harris, 2001). Still others believe that a person is not generally creative in all areas but more often in specific fields such as writing or carpentry (see Gardner, as cited in Lynch & Harris, 2001). Perhaps creativity is, as Daniel Boorstin (1992) suggests, "the most illusive, complex, and mysterious of all human processes." In all, we can conclude that creativity is a complex concept influenced by many factors including motivation, personality, circumstance, and thinking skills (Meador, 1997).
Types of Creativity
Fluency - The ability to generate a number of ideas so that there is an increase of possible solutions or related products.
Flexibility - The ability to produce different categories or perceptions whereby there are a variety of different ideas about the same problem or thing.
Elaboration - The ability to add to, embellish, or build off of an idea or product.
Originality - The ability to create fresh, unique, unusual, totally new, or extremely different ideas or products
Complexity - The ability to conceptualize difficult, intricate, many layered or multifaceted ideas or products.
Risk-taking - The willingness to be courageous, adventuresome, daring -- trying new things or taking risks in order to stand apart.
Imagination - The ability to dream up, invent, or to see, to think, to conceptualize new ideas or products - to be ingenious.
Curiosity - The trait of exhibiting probing behaviors, asking and posing questions, searching, being able to look deeper into ideas, and the wanting to know more about something.
Flexibility - The ability to produce different categories or perceptions whereby there are a variety of different ideas about the same problem or thing.
Elaboration - The ability to add to, embellish, or build off of an idea or product.
Originality - The ability to create fresh, unique, unusual, totally new, or extremely different ideas or products
Complexity - The ability to conceptualize difficult, intricate, many layered or multifaceted ideas or products.
Risk-taking - The willingness to be courageous, adventuresome, daring -- trying new things or taking risks in order to stand apart.
Imagination - The ability to dream up, invent, or to see, to think, to conceptualize new ideas or products - to be ingenious.
Curiosity - The trait of exhibiting probing behaviors, asking and posing questions, searching, being able to look deeper into ideas, and the wanting to know more about something.
Characteristics of Highly Creative Individuals
This list was adopted and adapted from the scale for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students by Renzulli and Hartman.
- Display a great deal of curiosity about many things; are constantly asking questions about anything and everything; may have broad interests in many unrelated areas. May devise collections based on unusual things and interests.
- Generate a large number of ideas or solutions to problems and questions; often offer unusual ("way out"), unique, clever responses.
- Are often uninhibited in expressions of opinion; are sometimes radical and spirited in disagreement; are unusually tenacious or persistent -- fixating on an idea or project.
- Are willing to take risks, are often people who are described as a "high risk taker, or adventurous, or speculative."
- Display a good deal of intellectual playfulness; may frequently be caught fantasizing, daydreaming or imagining. Often wonder out loud and might be heard saying, "I wonder what would happen if. . ."; or "What if we change . . .." Can manipulate ideas by easily changing, elaborating, adapting, improving, or modifying the original idea or the ideas of others. Are often concerned improving the conceptual frameworks of institutions, objects, and systems.
- Display keen senses of humor and see humor in situations that may not appear to be humorous to others. Sometimes their humor may appear bizarre, inappropriate, irreverent to others.
- Are unusually aware of his or her impulses and are often more open to the irrational within him or herself. May freely display opposite gender characteristics (freer expression of feminine interests in boys, greater than usual amount of independence for girls).
- Exhibit heightened emotional sensitivity. May be very sensitive to beauty, and visibly moved by aesthetic experiences.
- Are frequently perceived as nonconforming; accept disordered of chaotic environments or situations; are frequently not interested in details, are described as individualistic; or do not fear being classified as "different."
- Criticize constructively, and are unwilling to accept authoritarian pronouncements without overly critical self-examination.
Stuck in my Head
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Amazon Price: $17.16 (as of 12/20/2009)
List Price: $26.00
Used Price: $10.02
I'm sure you have experienced it- the thought that keeps returning to you. It could be a specific phrase or a unique party idea or whatever, but for some reason, it keeps coming back. Do you know why that is? This book has a a few suggestions on the topic and explains a bit on how creativity works.
What hinders creative development?
For young children, a non-evaluative atmosphere appears to be a critical factor in avoiding what Treffinger (1984) labels as the "right answer fixation." Through the socialization process, children move toward conformity during the elementary school years. The percentage of original responses in ideational fluency tasks drops from about 50% among four-year-olds to 25% during elementary school, then returns to 50% among college students (Moran et al., 1983). It is important that children be given the opportunity to express divergent thought and to find more than one route to the solution.
Rewards or incentives for children appear to interfere with the creative process. Although rewards may not affect the number of responses on ideational fluency tasks, they seem to reduce the quality of children's responses and the flexibility of their thought. In other words, rewards reduce children's ability to shift from category to category in their responses (Groves, Sawyers, and Moran, 1987). Indeed, any external constraint seems to reduce this flexibility. Other studies have shown that structured materials, especially when combined with structured instructions, reduce flexibility in four-year-old children (Moran, Sawyers, and Moore, in press). In one case, structured instructions consisted only in the demonstration of how to put together a model. Teachers need to remember that the structure of children's responses is very subtle. Research suggests that children who appear to be creative are often involved in imaginative play, and are motivated by internal factors rather than external factors, such as rewards and incentives.
Rewards or incentives for children appear to interfere with the creative process. Although rewards may not affect the number of responses on ideational fluency tasks, they seem to reduce the quality of children's responses and the flexibility of their thought. In other words, rewards reduce children's ability to shift from category to category in their responses (Groves, Sawyers, and Moran, 1987). Indeed, any external constraint seems to reduce this flexibility. Other studies have shown that structured materials, especially when combined with structured instructions, reduce flexibility in four-year-old children (Moran, Sawyers, and Moore, in press). In one case, structured instructions consisted only in the demonstration of how to put together a model. Teachers need to remember that the structure of children's responses is very subtle. Research suggests that children who appear to be creative are often involved in imaginative play, and are motivated by internal factors rather than external factors, such as rewards and incentives.
Creativity in the Family
The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections
Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 12/20/2009)
List Price: $18.95
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Do you want your family to be creative and inspirational? By now you probably understand the worth of a creative mind and you are itching for more info. This book is the best next step. It includes lots of ideas and projects that will foster a feeling of community in your family like you have never experienced.
How can you foster creativity?
- give children the freedom to make mistakes by respecting their ideas
- teach children to examine their surroundings and utilize their materials in new and creative ways
- give children choices
- provide environments designed to stimulate the senses
- provide time for play, fantasy, and dramatic play
- expose them to diverse experiences- take them to see and experience other cultures and lifestyles, teaching them to respect the choices of others
- brainstorming sessions with other children or an adult where there is no fear of a negative response can also help spur creative thinking
- teach children about different forms of creativity including impressionism or cubist art so that they won't be so frustrated when their work doesn't look the way they see it in their heads
- avoid comparing children's art or choosing one to be the "model" or "ideal"
- don't use art as indoor recess or as a reward to behaving well; art should be well thought out and planned
- make a wide variety of materials available to children
- suggest options, but let children ask the final decisions for art projects
- ask children about their art while they are creating it (don't guess at what it is because if you're wrong you could hurt their feelings and make them less likely to be creative in the future)
- praise effort, use of color, and uniqueness rather than the final product
- display art at child's level
- encourage individual expression
- avoid patterns, ditto outlines, and coloring books, opting for "raw materials" instead
- communicate to the child that you value uniqueness in creative expressions
- don't ask "what" the picture is, but ask them to tell you about the picture or comment on shapes, design, and color
- ask open-ended questions
- tolerate ambiguity and teach children to do the same
- model creative thinking and behavior
- encourage experimentation and persistence
- praise children who provide unexpected, but good, answers
- when you talk to the child, discuss all possible answers to a problem (i.e. on the way home, discuss 5 different ways to get home)
- give children time to make up their own stories and don't criticize if it doesn't make much sense, praise the effort and ask questions to make the children give more detail about their stories
- take time for "silly" games like pretending or start a story that takes place in a different country and/ or different time and ask the child what he or she would wear, eat, etc.
- encourage imaginative questions
- don't give the answer to word problems or puzzles, but let them really think about it and if they need help, give them hints in the right direction
Creativity isn't Always Random
The Power of Intention
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/20/2009)
Creativity is often thought of as being completely unintentional, but that is not always true. Sometime intention breeds a higher level of purpose and effectiveness to the project at hand.
Forms of Creative Inspiration
There is an old adage that states: "Necessity is the mother of invention." For those of you who have ever used a common object to fix an uncommon problem, you know that this is true. In this context, there are many things which inspire creative acts. Inspiration is an important part of the creative process. Here are some of the documented historical examples of sources of inspiration.
- Triggers and flashes: Nature is often a primary source for creative production, as are common things that surround our lives -- A sunset, a mountain, a verse of a song, a certain phrase, a child's smile.
- Obvious connections: Buckminster Fuller discovered that the triangle was the basis of the geodesic dome.
- Visions and voices: Harriet Beecher Stowe saw Uncle Tom in an ice cube. The medieval prioress, Hildegard von Bingen had visions that led to her music and writing.
- Dreams and drugs: Mary Shelley dreamed Frankenstein, Kuekle dreamed a snake biting its tail which lead him to envision the benzene ring.
- Reflections on death: Tennyson's elegy for a friend became the poem in Memoriam.
- Being in love; being out of love; tormented by rejected love: The Taj Mahal was a tribute to a beloved wife. Love poems and songs, and fond memories of love have inspired poets and song writers for ages. And where would country music be without all those "cheatin' hearts?"
- Following trains of thought: Rorschach invented the ink-blot test as members of a poetry group composed poems in accordance with what ink-blots suggested to them.
- Suggestions: Seeds of ideas come from the suggestions of others, piggybacking off others' ideas.
- Plain old thievery: Velcro was invented when George de Mestral was trying to remove burrs from his hunting clothes
- Fakes, mistakes, and accidents: Ivory soap was a mistake as a worker accidentally left on the soap beater, and POST-IT notes were conceptualized from a bad glue formula.
- Desperation: Mike Nesbitt's (of the Monkeys) Mother developed "White-Out" in her garage using her kid's poster paints. She was a divorcee with three children to support. She had gotten a job in a typing pool, but she was a terrible typist. She was afraid she was going to get fired, so she developed a way to conceal her mistakes
Other Tips
Do you have other tips for fostering creativity? Give me a shout and let me hear them!
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- WendyArt WendyArt Aug 16, 2009 @ 11:06 am
- Thanks for this great lens. Fostering creativity in our children is key to the future health of our society. I was so happy to lensroll you to my Just Create lens.
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- Marelisa Marelisa Apr 4, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
- I love your advice on how to foster creativity in kids. Schools have a tendency to suck the creativity out of children and it's important for parents to encourage creativity in their kids as much as they can. I'm lensrolling you to my lens "How to Be More Creative".
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- JosephWilliam JosephWilliam Dec 9, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
- Great ideas on fostering creativity. Excellent insights. Fostering creativity in children is so important. Thanks for the info. This will be very helpful with my work with children and parents. Joseph
http://www.childrenbehaviors.com/
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- Catalysthere Catalysthere Sep 16, 2008 @ 4:54 am
- You are an inspiration, this is a featured lens this week in our group http://www.squidoo.com/groups/Socialpostingangel
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- joel joel Jul 11, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
- I found it very useful, good effort... keep going
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by cherangelry
I am a lover of learning. With a degree in psychology, I am currently a grad student in the Occupational Therapy Program at East Carolina University (... (more)
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