Showing papers on "Creativity published in 1999"

Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century

Abstract: A brilliant state-of-the-art report on how the landmark theory of multiple intelligences is radically changing our understanding of education and human development. . Since its original description in Frames of Mind (1983, 1993), the theory of multiple intelligences has taken its place as one of the seminal ideas of the twentieth century. Further explicated in Gardners 1993 book, Multiple Intelligences, these ideas continue to attract attention and generate controversy all over the world. Now, in Intelligence Reframed, Gardner provides a much-needed state of the art report on the theory. He describes how it has evolved and been revised. He introduces two new intelligences, and argues that the concept of intelligence should be broadened, but not so much that it includes every human faculty and value. In addition, he offers practical guidance on the educational uses of the theory, and responds in lively dialogue to the critiques leveled against it. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner has been acclaimed as the most influential educational theorist since John Dewey. His ideas about intelligence and creativity - explicated in such bestselling books as Frames of Mind and Multiple Intelligences (over 200,000 copies in print combined) - have revolutionized our thinking. In his groundbreaking 1983 book Frames of Mind , Howard Gardner first introduced the theory of multiple intelligences, which posits that intelligence is more than a single property of the human mind. That theory has become widely accepted as one of the seminal ideas of the twentieth century and continues to attract attention all over the world. Now in Intelligence Reframed , Gardner provides a much-needed report on the theory, its evolution and revisions. He offers practical guidance on the educational uses of the theory and responds to the critiques leveled against him. He also introduces two new intelligences (existential intelligence and naturalist intelligence) and argues that the concept of intelligence should be broadened, but not so absurdly that it includes every human virtue and value. Ultimately, argues Gardner, possessing a basic set of seven or eight intelligences is not only a unique trademark of the human species, but also perhaps even a working definition of the species. Gardner also offers provocative ideas about creativity, leadership, and moral excellence, and speculates about the relationship between multiple intelligences and the world of work in the future.

An examination of leadership and employee creativity: the relevance of traits and relationships

Abstract: Creativity is becoming a topic of ever-increasing interest to organizational managers. Thus, there is a need for a greater understanding of the dynamics between the personal and contextual factors responsible for creative performance in work settings. In particular, there is a need to identify the role of leadership for creativity. Until now, creativity studies have examined leadership and employee characteristics from a single-domain perspective. Data from 191 R&D employees of a large chemical company were used to test a multidomain, interactionist creativity model of employee characteristics, leader characteristics, and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX). Results suggest that employee intrinsic motivation and cognitive style, LMX, the interactions between employee intrinsic motivation and leader intrinsic motivation, and between LMX and employee cognitive style relate to employee creative performance as measured by supervisor ratings, invention disclosure forms, or research reports. Implications for practicing managers and research on leadership and creativity are discussed.

Implication of a system perspective for the study of creativity

Abstract: Psychologists tend to see creativity exclusively as a mental process. In this chapter, I will propose that such an approach cannot do justice to the phenomenon of creativity, which is as much a cultural and social as it is a psychological event. To develop this perspective, I will use a “systems” model of the creative process that takes into account its essential features. Creativity research in recent years has been increasingly informed by a systems perspective. Starting with the observations of Morris Stein (1953, 1963) and the extensive data presented by Dean Simonton (1988, 1990) showing the influence of economic, political, and social events on the rates of creative production, it has become increasingly clear that variables external to the individual must be taken into account if one wishes to explain why, when, and where new ideas or products arise from and become established in a culture (Gruber, 1988; Harrington, 1990). Magyari-Beck (1988) has gone so far as to suggest that because of its complexity, creativity needs a new discipline of “creatology” in order to be thoroughly understood. The systems approach developed here has been described before and applied to historical and anecdotal examples, as well as to data collected to answer a variety of different questions (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988b, 1990, 1996; Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993; Csikszentmihalyi & Sawyer, 1995; Feldman, Csikszentmihalyi, & Gardner, 1994).

Social cognitive theory of personality.

Abstract: and Creative Modeling Modeling is not simply a process of response mimicry as commonly believed. Modeled judgments and actions may differ in specific content but embody the same rule. For example, a model may deal with moral dilemmas that differ widely in the nature of the activity but apply the same moral standard to them. Modeled activities thus convey rules for generative and innovative behavior. This higher level learning is achieved through abstract modeling. Once observers extract the rules underlying the modeled activities they can generate new behaviors that go beyond what they have seen or heard. Creativeness rarely springs entirely from individual inventiveness. A lot of modeling goes on in creativity. By refining preexisting innovations, synthesizing them into new ways and adding novel elements to them something new is created. When exposed to models of differing styles of thinking and behaving, observers vary in what they adopt from the different sources and thereby create new blends of personal characteristics that differ from the individual models (Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1963). Modeling influences that exemplify new perspectives and innovative styles of thinking also foster creativity by weakening conventional mind sets (Belcher, 1975; Harris & Evans, 1973).

Multilevel Theorizing about Creativity in Organizations: A Sensemaking Perspective

Abstract: In this article we explore assumptions about the levels of analysis embedded in the extant literature on creativity in organizations. Uncovering and then relaxing these assumptions allow us to extend the literature with an alternative but complementary model of how creativity unfolds in complex, large-scale, and long-duration organizational projects. We build on the paradigm of sensemaking and propose a multilevel model of creativity that, as its defining feature, examines how periodic organizational crises reframe the negotiated order of belief structures about creativity.

Origins of genius : Darwinian perspectives on creativity

Abstract: Preface 1. Genius and Darwin 2. Cognition: What is the Creative Process? 3. Variation: How do Creators Differ from the Rest of Us? 4. Development: Is the Genius Born or Made? 5. Products: By What Works Shall We Know Them? 6. Groups: Creative Times, Places and Peoples? 7. Darwinian Genius Notes References Index

Motivation and creativity.

Abstract: A popular stereotype of creative people is that they approach their work with a kind of crazed intensity, often forgoing sleep, food, and other seeming necessities of life in order to advance their creative work. Undoubtedly, this view is one source of the widespread belief that creativity stems from madness. Although the connection between creativity and insanity remains a controversial point, there is considerable anecdotal and empirical evidence that creative production does require a high level of motivation. For example, the novelist John Irving reported spending as many as 12 hours per day, for several consecutive days, while writing his novels. When asked what drove him to work so hard, even years after attaining wide readership, fame, and financial success, he replied: “The unspoken factor is love. The reason I can work so hard at my writing is that it's not work for me” (from an interview reported in Amabile, 1989, p. 56). What motivation drives creative activity? Is it generally based in the love that Irving describes? Does it derive from the desire to attain ever more wealth and fame, or are there other motivational forces at work? This chapter reviews theory and research on the motivation for creativity, revealing that, although creativity can arise from a complex interplay of motivational forces, motivation that stems from the individual's personal involvement in the work - love, if you will - is crucial for high levels of creativity in any domain.

The Chinese Learner--A Question of Style.

Abstract: This paper challenges any misconceptions that Westerners may have about Chinese learning styles by highlighting how the Chinese mind operates and why certain styles of learning are preferred by Chinese students. The author discusses some of the reasons for the over‐emphasis on education for the Chinese overseas, how cultural values and beliefs have helped to shape Chinese thinking and how typical classroom behaviour has been developed over centuries of rote/repetitive learning. The problems that Western educators may face when teaching Chinese students is also considered, such as the lack of abstract thinking, constraints on behaviour caused by face, the over‐emphasis on concrete examples, lack of creativity, and the need to compromise in group situations. The author suggests that further understanding is needed to unravel the mystery of the Chinese learner before Western educators can fully appreciate the different approaches to learning and design better educational programmes for Chinese students on management courses.

Changes in the Work Environment for Creativity During Downsizing

Abstract: This study examined the work environment for creativity at a large high-technology firm before, during, and after a major downsizing Creativity and most creativity-supporting aspects of the perceived work environment declined significantly during the downsizing hut increased modestly later; the opposite pattern was observed for creativity-undermining aspects Stimulants and obstacles to creativity in the work environment mediated the effects of downsizing These results suggest ways in which theories of organizational creativity can be expanded and ways in which the negative effects of downsizing might be avoided or alleviated

Creativity as Blind Variation and Selective Retention: Is the Creative Process Darwinian?

Abstract: Darwinism provides not only a theory of biological evolution but also supplies a more generic process applicable to many phenomena in the behavioral sciences. Among these applications is the blind-variation and selective-retention model of creativity proposed by Campbell (1960). Research over the past 4 decades lends even more support to Campbell's model. This support is indicated by reviewing the experimental, psychometric, and historiometric literature on creativity. Then 4 major objections to the Darwinian model are examined (sociocultural determinism, individual volition, human rationality, and domain expertise). The article concludes by speculating whether the Darwinian model may actually subsume all alternative theories of creativity as special cases of the largerframework.

Is the Proof in the Pudding? Reanalyses of Torrance's (1958 to Present) Longitudinal Data

Abstract: The use of divergent thinking {DT) tests to assess creativity has been strongly criticized in recent years. Several critics have noted that DT test scores have shown little evidence of predictive validity with respect to adult creative achievement. Data from Torrance's (1972a) elementary school longitudinal study (1958-present) were reanalyzed using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that just under half of the variance in adult creative achievement is explained by DT test scores, with the contribution of DT being more than 3 times that of intelligence quotients. However, comprehensive longitudinal models of creative achievement based on current creativity and cognitive theory have yet to be empirically validated.

Ackoff's Best: His Classic Writings on Management

Abstract: SYSTEMS. Our Changing Concept of the World. Reflections on Systems and Their Models. Growth versus Development. Toward a System of Systems Concepts. Beating the System. PLANNING. The Nature of Planning. Alternative Types of Planning. Problem Treatments. Mess Management. Ends Planning.@aMission Statements. Creativity and Constraints. APPLICATIONS. Consumer Design. Education.@aNever Let Your Schooling Interfere with Your Education. Crime. The Effect of Advertising on Sales: A Study of Relations. On Pairs and Trios: The Smallest Social Systems. Why People Drink: Toward Understanding Objectives. Corporate Perestroika: The Internal Market Economy. Design of Management Systems. SCIENCE. The Nature of Science and Methodology. Objectivity. Rationality. The Future of Operational Research Is Past. Epilogue: The Role of Business in a Democratic Society. Index.

The Creative Climate: Its Determinants and Effects at a Swedish University

Abstract: A study of the creative organizational and individual resources of a university in Sweden was carried out by Ryhammar (1996). A sample of I30 teachers answered several questionnaires on organizational parameters and went through creativity and personality tests. One of the questionnaires was a measure of the creativity aspects of the social climate. This study consisted of further analyses, according to a causal model, of the climate dimension and its relations to other organizational dimensions and to outcome in terms of assessed creative achievements of the different departments. Some of the results were logical, expected, and easy to interpret; others were more puzzling and could be tentatively explained only in view of the special character of the academic milieu and its inhabitants. The main and clear finding was that climate and resources seemed to exert the strongest influence on the creative outcome, and that climate operated in the organization as a lever for leadership and as a manifestation on ...

When Sparks Fly: Igniting Creativity in Groups

Abstract: Where do the best creative ideas come from? Most managers assume that it's the readily identifiable "creative types" that offer the quickest route to out-of-the-box thinking. Yet, say Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, most innovations spring from well-led group interactions. The authors sweep aside conventional thinking about creativity and offer proven strategies for stimulating and directing the group dynamics that lie at the heart of innovative thinking. When Sparks Fly outlines and analyzes each step in the creative process and gives practical suggestions for managing teams. According to Fortune, "The insights in the lively book could turbocharge your team (and maybe even your career)."

Innovation and Creativity in Organisations: A Review of the Implications of Training and Development

Abstract: Reviews the contributions to the understanding of creativity and innovation in organisations and interprets the implications for training and development. Highlights key and recurrent principles: the benefits of an integrated organisational approach, the right climate for creativity, appropriate incentives for innovators, a structured means of search and a systematic way to convert an opportunity into an innovation. It implies a broad range of skills development including: team working, communications, coaching, project management, learning to learn, visioning, change management and leadership. Even though techniques for the development of innovation and enhancing creativity in individuals are well founded, there are relatively few reports on the practice of mainstreaming creativity in an organisational setting. Likewise, although the transition from idea to innovation can be systematised, problems arise from customised applications that involve the management of the change process. The application of Internet and intranet communications for innovation are beginning to emerge but the literature base lags the speed of applications. The paper concludes with a synopsis of the training and development implications of stimulating creativity and innovation in organisations.

Artificial Intelligence and Literary Creativity: Inside the Mind of Brutus, A Storytelling Machine

Abstract: From the Publisher: Computers can play superlative chess, diagnose disease, guide spacecraft, power robots that can deliver mail and (soon) clean houses, etcetera. But can computers originate anything? Can computers be genuinely creative? This is the toughest question those sanguine about Al face. This book reports on a multi-year attempt to engineer a blueprint (BRUTUS) for a computer system that can hold its own against literarily creative humans, and on the first incarnation of that blueprint (BRUTUS.1).

Implicit Theories of Creativity: Teachers' Perception of Student Characteristics in Hong Kong

Abstract: Teachers' implicit theories of creativity were elicited by requesting 204 Hong Kong primary and secondary school teachers to list the characteristics of either creative or uncreative students. Their responses, an average of about 4 to 5 creative or uncreative characteristics by each teacher, were categorized into 42 creative and 33 uncreative attributes, traits, or trait adjectives. The most frequently mentioned creative attributes were "imaginative," "always questioning," "quick in responding." "active," and "high intellectual ability," whereas the most frequently mentioned uncreative attributes were "conventional," "timid," "lack of confidence," and "conforming." Unlike results of U.S. studies, this study yielded findings that suggested that Chinese teachers regarded some characteristics of creative students as socially undesirable and other characteristics as associating highly with intellectual functioning. Cultural differences on the perception of creativity in students are discussed.

Confusion, Lack of Consensus, and the Definition of Creativity as a Construct

Abstract: Among the changes employers say are needed in the educational preparation of American young people to meet the evolving needs of the workplace is improvement in the development of individual creativity and creative thinking. However, a variety of definitions for creativity exist, hindering a consistent educational response. The major areas of controversy concerning creativity's definition are reviewed here, in roughly chronological order corresponding to the publication of each definition of significant influence. Each definition's reasons for failing to achieve widespread acceptance are analyzed, and a suggestion for a general definition of the sort that should be widely acceptable is provided.

Individual differences in emotional creativity: structure and correlates.

Abstract: The structure and correlates of emotional creativity were explored in a series of six studies, using a specially constructed measure of individual differences—the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI). Analyses of the ECI suggest that three facets of emotional creativity can be distinguished empirically as well as theoretically, namely, preparedness (understanding and learning from one’s own and others’ emotions), novelty (the ability to experience unusual emotions), and effectiveness/authenticity (the skill to express emotions adroitly and honestly). Women score higher than men on emotional preparedness and effectiveness/authenticity, but not on the novelty of their responses. People who score high on the ECI are considered by their peers to be more emotionally creative, presumably on the basis of everyday behavior. Associations between emotional creativity as measured by the ECI and a variety of other personality variables (including the Big Five personality traits, mysticism, self-esteem, authoritarianism, locus of control, alexithymia, and ways of coping) are examined, as is the relation between emotional creativity and prior traumatic experiences.

Positive and Negative Creativity in Groups, Institutions, and Organizations: A Model and Theoretical Extension

Abstract: Potential environmental and individual influences on creativity at work are described with an emphasis on how they relate to the possibility that creativity can be directed toward either positive or negative ends. A model of the psychological processes that might underlie positive and negative creativity is briefly delineated, and some outcomes of each type of creativity are outlined. The main focus is on the factors that might trigger the processes of and outcomes from positive and negative creativity and only tangentially on the cognitive processes underlying creativity and on the organizational outcomes of creativity. Literature from settings other than organizations (e.g., families, schools) that have been subject to limited theoretical and empirical attention of scholars of organizational and group processes and outcomes is mustered to support the theory.

Creative Expertise as Superior Reproducible Performance: Innovative and Flexible Aspects of Expert Performance

Abstract: In his interesting and provocative target article Simonton (this issue) argues that a remarkably broad range of creative human achievements can be accounted for by a very general process of blind variation and selective retention, which he traces back to Darwin’s theory of biological evolution. According to Simonton, genuine creativity involves blind variation, which is antithetical to the control exhibited in expert performance and thus raises issues regarding the nature of creative expertise and the possibility of intentional creative achievements. In this commentary I take issue with Simonton’s argument that it is impossible to produce creative achievements with some reasonable degree of consistency and, in addition, that creative expertise differs fundamentally from other types of expert performance in domains, such as chess, music, sports, and medicine. In some recent articles (Ericsson, 1996, 1998; Ericsson & Charness, 1994; Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Romer, 1993; Ericsson & Lehmann, 1996), my colleagues and I have proposed how the expert-performance framework can offer a promising account of the necessary conditions for creative achievements and their rare occurrence in domains of expertise. These proposals also identify acquired mechanisms that can explain the “huge … individual differences in creative behavior”—an unresolved paradox within Simonton’s proposal for creativity as blind variations.

Teachers' Biases Toward Creative Children

Abstract: Teachers' attitudes toward creative children were investigated by having them respond to 4 profiles of fictitious students: a high-creative boy, a high-creative girl, a low-creative boy, and a low-creative girl. Based on these profiles, 144 teachers and 133 college undergraduates predicted how likely each child was to engage in creative and disruptive classroom behaviors. Results showed that teachers were significantly more likely than college undergraduates to rate creative children as more disruptive than average children. Significant results also indicated a tendency for teachers as well as college students to rate low-creative girls as more creative than low-creative boys. This suggests that teachers perceive and identify creativity differently in boys and girls.

A review of creativity principles applied to engineering design

Abstract: There is a very large amount of literature in the field of creativity outside the field of engineering that has potential for application to engineering design. This paper presents a review of the salient literature and identifies how creativity principles that are based on well-founded research may be applied to engineering design. The scope of the paper includes understanding creativity, creative style, invention and innovation, certain creativity tools and an understanding of the combinations of people, products, creative process and environment that are required to achieve high levels of creativity. A discussion of the application of creativity principles to engineering design is given.

Creativity and Academic Achievement: An Investigation of Gender Differences

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible relation between creativity and academic achievement, in particular, to see if this relation might be different for boys and girls. The 2 research questions were (a) What is the relation between different aspects of creativity and different subject areas of academic achievement?, and (6) Are there any differences for boys and girls in terms of the relation between different aspects of creativity and different subject areas of academic achievement? The students were from 68 schools randomly selected from the Basque County, Spain. Among these 2,264 students, 38% were boys and 62% were girls. Three creativity batteries, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance & Ball, 1984), the Abedi-Schumacher Creativity Test (CT; O'Neil, Abedi, & Spielberger, 1994), and the Villa and Auzmendi Creativity Test (VAT Auzmendi, Villa, & Abedi, 1996), were administered to the students. Teachers were also asked to rate students' creativity. Academic achieve...

Leadership style, anonymity, and creativity in group decision support systems: The mediating role of optimal flow

Abstract: Prior research indicates that flow, a psychological state characterized by concentration, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation, may be linked to creativity of individuals participating in computer-mediated meetings. A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of leadership style (transactional contingent reward and transformational) and anonymity level (identified and anonymous) on flow and creativity of 159 undergraduate students working in groups performing a creativity task using a Group Decision Support System (GDSS). Results demonstrated that flow mediated effects of leadership on creativity in a GDSS context, and its role may be moderated by anonymity. Results also indicated that both flow and anonymity were required for enhancing creativity in a GDSS context. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Creativity Research: historical considerations and main lines of development

Abstract: Creativity research began in earnest in the early 1950s and today it covers a very broad range, with empirical studies in a host of fields. The present paper deals with the main lines of development in behavioural creativity research and contains a description of, and also critical comments on, the lines of approach that over the years have concentrated on personality‐related or cognitive aspects of creativity or that have involved various attempts to stimulate it. Whereas earlier there had been a strong emphasis on inner determinants when it came to describing or explaining creativity, during the 1980s and 1990s there was an ever‐increasing interest in regarding the human capacity for producing new and original ideas and products within a social context, whereby considerably greater account was taken of environmental factors than before. Important tasks for future creativity research would appear to be syntheses of results and the development and testing of comprehensive and integrated models. I...