Creativity and Thinking

Creativity and Thinking

There is a special thinking in creativity process. Special thinking consists firstly problem examination, secondly internal freedom to cognitive style and imagination, thirdly inner verbal spontaneity, fourthly divergent thinking, and finally ability to regress more deeply and a greater facility to return to secondary process thought with ease.

The author discusses the relationship between problem examination and creativity. Creating and develoof the “problemology” is unavoidable for promoting creativity (Kazemi, 1996). In addition, Reiter-Palmon, et al. (1998) investigated whether problem construction plays a role in how individuals interpret ill-defined, ambiguous problems in a way that fits their personality. Results suggest a positive relationship between problem construction ability and fit of the solution to personality type.

Parnes (1971) offers that a creative person posses inner freedom and openness. Treffinger (2004) proposed openness and courage to explore ideas. The innovation correlates negatively with the dogmatism (Goldsmith1984). Forisha (1978, 1983) studied and reviewed the research in creativity, imagery, cognitive styles and their inter relationship. She concludes that imagery and creativity are interrelated with other personality factors and that the relationship between creativity and imagery is central to some subjects and not to others. In addition, relationship between scientific field and imagery has been emphasized (Roe, 1951; kazemi, 1996).

Gough (1976) focuses on word association. In addition, the author emphasizes on word fluency, verbal capacity, and writing skill. According to the author, the “problemology” relates to word conceptualization (Kazemi, 1995, 1996). Renner & Renner (1971) found that creativity-training programs increase verbal fluency and flexibility should influence a person's cognitive style preferences toward complexity. Thurston & Runco (1999) focuses on the importance of flexibility in four areas. Flexibility as a cognitive processes described using divergent thinking models. Flexibility in insight problems shows the importance of not having mental blocks in problem solving. Flexibility in personality theories shows how important it is to flex in being a productive citizen, which leads to the fourth area- the importance of flexibility and human development.

Thinking styles is included one of resources that support creativity (Gautschi, 2001).The investigators emphasize upon relationship between divergent thinking and creativity (White, 1968; Nicholls, 1972; Ziv, 1984; Davis, 1989; Kabanoff & Bottger, 1991; Kazemi, 1994, 1997; Thurston & Runco, 1999; Carson, 1999). It is seemingly that the convergent thinking, abstraction, and deduction jointly can lead to creative thinking (kazemi, 1994). The special thinking involves mannerisms such as spontaneity. Furthermore, the teachers identify spontaneity as important indicator of creative students (Westby & Dawson, 1995).Creative actors place an enormous value on spontaneity in performance (Nemiro, 1997). Treffinger (2004) proposed listening to one's inner voice. As the author describes it, there is an inner verbal spontaneity.

A creative person moves into generating ideas ,digging into ideas or being divergent, and then ends with a convergence on a practical path or idea in which he/she develops a plan of action (Carson, 1999; Treffinger, 2004). Furthermore, Dudek suggests that mature artists have a greater ability to produce a better creative product because of the greater ability to regress more deeply and a greater facility to return to secondary process thought with ease (Dudek & Chamberland, 1984). Similarly, Sternberg & Lubart (1995) present the creative process from the perspective of the creative person who develops unusual or initially misunderstood solutions to problems. The creative processes involve an active search for gaps in knowledge, problem finding, consciously attempting to break through the existing boundaries and limitations in one s field (Sternberg & Tardif, 1989).

Resources

Carson, David K. (1999). Counseling. In Mark A. Runco; Steven R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity: Vol. 1 A - H (pp. 395-402). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Davis, Gary A. (1989). Testing for creative potential. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 14, pp. 257-274.

Dudek, Stephanie Z.; Chamberland-Bouhadana, G. (1984). Primary process in creative persons. Journal of Personality Assessment, 46 (3), pp. 239- 247.

Forisha, Barbara L. (1978). Mental imagery and creativity: Review and speculations. Journal of Mental Imagery, 2 (2), pp. 209-238.

Forisha, Barbara L. (1983). Relationship between creativity and mental imagery: A question of cognitive style? In Sheikh, Annes A. (Ed.), Imagery: Current theory, research, and application (pp. 310-339). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Gautschi, Ted. (2001). Invest in creativity. Design News, 56 (12), pp. 135.

Goldsmith, Ronald E. (1984). Personality characteristics associated with adaption-innovation. Journal of Psychology, 117, pp. 159-165.

Gough, Harrison G. (1976). Studying creativity by means of word association tests. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61 (3), pp. 348-353.

Kabanoff, Boris; Bottger, Preston. (1991). Effectiveness of creativity training and its relation to selected personality factors. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 12, pp. 235-248.

Kazemi Haghighi, Nasseroddin. (1994). Cognitive and environmental origins of creativity. Exceptional talent, 3 (2) pp. 119-140. (Persian)

Kazemi Haghighi, Nasseroddin. (1995). Influence of learning and self-concept on talent development. Exceptional talent, 4 (3), pp. 231-246. (Persian)

Kazemi Haghighi, Nasseroddin.(1996). Insight and creativity. Exceptional talent, 5 (1), pp. 47-74. (Persian)

Kazemi Haghighi, Nasseroddin. (1997). Mathematical talent: Identification and development, Tehran, Sayeh nama Press, pp 16-17. (Persian)

Nemiro, Jill. (1997). Interpretive artists: A qualitative exploration of the creative process of actors [Special issue: Creativity, art, and artists]. Creativity Research Journal, 10 (2 & 3), pp. 229-239.

Nicholls, John G. (1972). Creativity in the person who will never produce anything original and useful: The concept of creativity as a normally distributed trait. American Psychologist, 27 (8), pp. 717-727.

Parnes, Sidney J. (1971). Creativity: Develohuman potential. Journal of Creative Behavior, 5 (1), pp. 19-35.

Reiter-Palmon, Roni; Mumford, Michael; Threlfall, K. Victoria. (1998). Solving everyday problems creatively: The role of problem construction and personality type. Creativity Research Journal, 11 (3), pp. 187-197.

Renner, Vivian; Renner, John C. (1971). Effects of a creativity training program on stimulus preferences. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 33, pp. 872-874.

Roe, Anne. (1951). A study of imagery in research scientists. Journal of Personality, 19, pp. 459-470.

Sternberg, Robert J.; Tardif, Twila Z. (1989). What do we know about creativity? In Robert J. Sternberg (Ed) The nature of creativity. (pp. 429-440).Cambridge University Press.

Sternberg, Robert J.; Lubart, Todd I. (1995). Defying the crowd: Cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity. New York: Free Press.

Thurston, Becky, J.; Runco, Mark A. (1999). Flexibility. In Mark A. Runco; Steven R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity: Vol. 1 A - H (pp. 729-731). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Treffinger, Donald J (2004) Creativity and Giftedness. (Introduction to Creativity and Giftedness) Thousand Oaks, California Corwin Press.

Westby, Erik L.; Dawson V.L. (1995). Creativity: Asset or burden in the classroom? Creativity Research Journal, 8 (1), pp. 1-10.

White, Kinnard. (1968). Anxiety, extraversion-introversion, and divergent thinking ability. Journal of Creative Behavior, 2 (2), pp. 119-127.

Ziv, Avner. (1984). Personality and a sense of humor, New York: Springer Publishing.