Creativity—Major Theorists Guilford Torrance De Bono Sternberg Gardner Weisberg Harpers: http://www.harpers.org/media/image/art/cartoons/mrfish/Creativity_504x428.jpg

J.P. Guilford Convergent Thinking = Intelligence Measured by IQ 1. Convergent v. Divergent Convergent Thinking = Intelligence Measured by IQ Finding ‘right’ answer (e.g., hardest thing in the world: diamonds) Associated with academic success Divergent Thinking = Creativity Measured by ? Finding unusual answers (e.g., hardest thing in the world: Chinese algebra) Associated with real world success  Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Creativity—4 Psychological Views Big Three ‘intellectual style’ factors Fluency (e.g., tested by sheer number of objects named that are hard) Flexibility (e.g., tested by number of uses for a brick found and variety of categories) Originality (e.g., tested by unusualness of responses, easily quantified)  Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

J. P. Guilford Activity to demonstrate Guilford’s distinctions 1 Minute Test Of Fluency: List as many things as you can that are red and white The winner is… 1 Minute Test Of Flexibility: List as many very different uses for a soda straw as you can 1 Minute Test Of Originality: Come up with the most unusual use you can think of for a broken beer bottle. Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

E. Paul Torrance Professor Torrance was best known for his pioneering research in the study of creativity. He developed a benchmark method for quantifying creativity and invented in 1974 the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, which showed that the IQ test was not the only way to measure intelligence.

E. Paul Torrance Building on Guilford's work, they involved simple tests of divergent thinking and other problem-solving skills, which were scored on: Fluency. The total number of interpretable, meaningful, and relevant ideas generated in response to the stimulus. Flexibility. The number of different categories of relevant responses. Originality. The statistical rarity of the responses among the test subjects. Elaboration. The amount of detail in the responses.

Edward De Bono Vertical = Conventional Thinking Dig deeper Linear thinking Parallel to convergent thinking Lateral = Creativity Dig in different place Non-linear thinking Parallel to divergent thinking Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Robert Sternberg The Three Cognitive Virtues: Creativity Divergent thinking Originality Intelligence Convergent thinking Problem solving ability Wisdom Comes with age and requires previous two  Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Robert Sternberg Degree of correlation between Sternberg’s Big Three Dependent on field (e.g., physics, art, business) Strongest correlations are between intelligence & creativity But there are critical differences between creativity and other two for… Creativity is associated with… Unconventionality in thought & deed Aesthetic taste Flexibility Toleration for ambiguity Questioning of authority Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Robert Weisberg Weisberg maintains that ‘creativity’ is largely a myth! Author of Creativity: Genius and Other Myths Argues that creativity is simply incremental thinking based on previous learning and intelligence Develops his arguments by careful analysis of the historical record of the creation of major artworks and scientific discoveries.  Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Robert Weisberg Myth of Creativity Myth of Divergent Thinking Sudden insight and uniqueness of genius questioned Mechanical logical application is the explanation Analysis of creative problem solving supports incremental thinking argument Myth of Divergent Thinking His critique of brainstorming Evidence shows divergent thinking measures are not associated with productivity (e.g., art students study) Myth of Genius Time is ripe versus great man theory E.g., Darwin/Wallace; Newton/Leibnitz Evidence of training and preparation (e.g., Darwin) Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Robert Weisberg Did the insight to the ‘candle problem’ really come in a flash? Or were you able to see how you ‘reasoned’ incrementally to it Or used trial and error to hit on the solution? Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

Howard Gardner See website: http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm