1. The ability to produce original, imaginative and unique ideas.
What is Creativity ?
The ability to produce original, imaginative and unique ideas.
‘LATERAL THINKING ?’

2. What is Creativity?
A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. Frank Capra
INTUITION

3. What is Creativity?
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein
DIVERGENT THINKING

4. Creativity and Decision Making
Phases of Creativity
Theories of Creativity
Blocks to Creativity
Creativity Enhancing Techniques
Value-Focused Thinking Approach
Quality Tools for Creativity

5. Introduction Better decisions requires better alternatives
Bad alternatives will lead to bad decisions
How do we obtain these better alternatives?
Extend beyond current “the box”
Find ways to achieve objectives in new ways
These new alternatives have elements of novelty and effectiveness

6. Creative? But I’m not creative enough!!
There are techniques and tools to enhance creativity
These tools guide the formation and flow of ideas in the mind
You can be an expert in your field, and that will help the creative process
You can expand your cognitive process to become more creative
Other experiences, puzzles, reading, etc
We want to have “fluency” and “flexibility”
Quickly generate many ideas across a wide range

7. Psychological Theories of Creativity
Well studied area; very rich literature
Psychoanalytic Theory
Creative thought is the product of brain processing not accessible to conscious thought
Behavioral Theory
Creative behavior results from environmental stimuli
Appropriate awards can lead to creative behavior
Cognitive Approach
Creative behavior stems from a capacity for making unusual and new mental associations of concepts
Creative people create more “variations”

8. Psychological Theories of Creativity
Self-Actualization
Able to perceive reality accurately
Compare cultures objectively
Can look at things in a fresh, naïve, simple way
Be happy and thus be creative!

9. Phases of Creative Process
Preparation
Learn about the problem
Examine problem from various perspectives
Similar to structuring the problem
Understanding the structure of the problem and how elements relate to one another is preparation for the creative process

10. Phases of Creative Process
Incubation
Preparation
Explore new paths and alternatives
Many include unconscious processing of information
Find solutions to problems in a dream
Position of pieces of information yields a creative solution
How many have wanted to “think about it for a while?”

11. Phases of Creative Process
Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
When all the pieces come together
Verification
Does the solution have merit?
Return to the hard logic of the problem
Are all constraints being satisfied?
How well does it perform with respect to the fundamental objectives?

12. Blocks to Creativity
A “block to creativity” interferes with creativity
Why should we be concerned about them?
They hinder our decision analytical process
If we understand what they are, and why they hinder the process, we can hopefully avoid them
Framing and Perceptual Blocks
Arise in the ways we tend to perceive, define, and examine the problem

13. Perceptual Blocks Stereotyping – fit into some standard category
Tacit assumptions – impose artificial constraints
Saturation
Focus too quickly on “obvious” problem
Focusing to much on details
Getting overwhelmed with data
Inability to see problem from other viewpoints
Multiple objectives will be at play
Must understand other’s values and objectives

14. Emotional or Value-based Blocks
Fear of taking a risk
Risk aversion is a key decision analysis concept
May be counterproductive to not offer “wild” ideas
Status quo bias
Various levels of bias to current state of affairs
Change can be hard to accept
Reality versus Fantasy
Some people only want realistic solutions
Such people are comfortable “in their box”

15. Emotional or Value-based Blocks
Judgment and Criticism
Do not apply your values too soon in creative process
Need to let ideas flow freely
Inability to Incubate
Not well understood
Accepted as a phase
Are we always given time to incubate an idea?

16. Cultural Blocks Taboos Humor Reason and Logic prevails
Views of culturally accept behavior may block ideas
Humor
Good ideas can be obtained in an informal setting
Often want to let the joking free-wheel for a time
Reason and Logic prevails
Overly analytical thinking (even though it is important)
Tradition and change
Often a strong resistance to changes
The status quo got the decision maker where they are

17. Environmental Blocks Non-supportive environment
Environment that dissuades humor and playfulness
Organization is overly structured and routine
Strictly hierarchical structure
Autocratic bosses
Bosses that have all the answers
Over focus on awards, competition and oversight
Strict timelines
Often a tight suspense can lead to good results

18. Brainstorming Introduced in 1930s by Osborn
Based on idea of eliminating perceptual blocking filters
Two Principles:
Defer judgment
Quantity breeds quality
Four rules
Rule out criticism
Welcome freewheeling
Seek large quantities of ideas
Encourage combination and improvement of ideas

19. Brainstorming Works due to its synergistic effect
Among participants
Combining of ideas is not just additive
Combine pairs, triples, etc of ideas to get new ideas
Generally regarded as a group technique based on a specific objective
Specificity focuses the efforts
Useful in situations calling for idea generation rather than judgment

20. Synectics Gordon in 50s found novel ideas expressed as analogies
Research suggested use of analogies a key insight
Reduce problem to barest essentials and search for a natural analogy
Two distinguishing characteristics
Attack of the underlying concept of the problem
Examination of problem from many angles
Three types of analogy (metaphorical thinking)
Fantasy – idealistic versus realistic
Direct – find personal parallel experiences
Personal – place yourself in role of problem

21. Checklists Very simple means of generating ideas
Ask and list answers to series of questions. For instance
Are there other uses?
Can something be adapted?
Can something be modified?
Can components be re-arranged?
Can components be combined?
Can some substitution be made?
Osborn (1963) offered a series of idea spurring questions.

22. Obsorn’s Questions Put to other uses? Adapt? New ways to use as is
Other uses if modified
Adapt?
What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest?
Does the past offer a parallel?
What could I copy?
Whom could I emulate?

23. Obsorn’s Questions Modify? Magnify? New twist?
Change meaning, color, motion, sound, odor, form shape?
Other changes?
Magnify?
What to add?
More time? Greater frequency? Stronger? Higher?
Longer? Thicker? Extra value? Plus ingredient?
Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate?

24. Obsorn’s Questions Minify? Substitute?
What to subtract? Smaller? Condensed? Minature?
Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Streamline?
Split up? Understate?
Substitute?
Who else instead? What else instead? Other ingredient? Other material? Other process?
Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice?

25. Obsorn’s Questions Rearrange Reverse?
Interchange components? Other pattern? Other layout? Other sequence?
Transpose cause and effect? Change pace? Change schedule?
Reverse?
Transpose positive and negative? How about opposites?
Turn it backward? Turn it upside down? Reverse roles?
Change shoes? Turn tables? Turn other cheek?

26. Obsorn’s Questions Combine?
How about a blend, an alloy, as assortment, an ensemble?
Combine units?
Combine purposes?
Combine appeals?
Combine ideas?

27. Forced Relationships
Generate ideas by relating seemingly unrelated ideas
Use combining concept from brainstorming
Ideas may be related yielding more mundane solutions
Use ideas related to the problem and possible to each other if more practical ideas are required
Less effort validating the ideas
Start with the more general ideas and increase the specifics used later
Somewhat related is “Attribute Listing”

28. Morphological Analysis
Develop a grid of attributes along several dimensions
Examine combinations of attributes
Try to determine a solution/alternative to each combination
Really provides a framework within which to screen all combinations and determine the most appropriate combinations
Strategy-generation table is closely related

29. Strategy-generation Table
Inputs
Process
Outputs

30. FACTORS FOR CREATIVITY
Mastery of the Subject
Curiosity
Divergent Thinking
Take Risks
Motivation and Persistence
Serendipity

31. THE CREATIVE PROCESS Preparation Incubation Insight Evaluation
Elaboration

32. REFERENCES
Amabile, T.M. (1983). The social psychology of creativity. New York:Springer-Verlag New York Incorporated.
Amabile, T.M. (1999). How to kill creativity. Harvard Business Review, september-october, 1998,
Creativity in Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2004, from
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Haper Collins.

33. REFERENCES
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Implications of a systems perspective. In R.J. Sternberg (ed.) Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
De Souza Fleith, D. (2000). Teacher and student perceptions of creativity in the classroom environment. Roeper Review, 22(2),
Driver, Michaela (2001). Fostering creativity in business education: developing creative classroom environments to provide students with critical workplace competencies. Journal of Education for Business, 77 (1),

34. REFERENCES
Finke, R.A., Ward, T.B., & Smith, S.M. (1992). Creative cognition. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Galloway, C.A. (2001). Vygotsky's learning theory. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology [Electronic version]. Retrieved April 29, 2004 from Website:
Glover, J.A., Ronning, R.R., & Reynolds, C.R. (Eds.). (1989). Handbook of creativity. New York: Plenum Press
Learning and Teaching Scotland (2004). Creativity counts: portraits in practice [Electronic version]. Retrieved April 21, 2004, from

35. REFERENCES
Lubart, T.I. (1999). Creativity across cultures. In R.J. Sternberg (ed.) Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lubart, T.I. (2000). Models of the creative process: past, present and future. Creativity Research Journal, 13(3/4),
Mumford, M.D., Mobley, M.I., Uhlman, C.E., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Doares, L.M. (1991) Process analytic models of creative capacities. Creativity Research Journal, 4,
Nickerson, R. S. (1999). Enhancing creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge Press.

36. REFERENCES
Simonton, D. K. (2000). Creativity: cognitive, personal, developmental, and social aspects. American Psychologist, 55(1),
Sternberg, R.J. (2001). What is the common thread of creativity: its dialectical relation to intelligence and wisdom. American Psychologist, 56,
Sternberg, R.J. & Lubart, T. (1995a). Defying the crowd: cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity. New York: Free Press
Sternberg, R.J. & Lubart, T. (1995b). An investment approach to creativity. In S.M. Smith, T.B. Ward, and R.A. Finke (eds.) The Creative Cognition Approach. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Sternberg, R.J. & Lubart, T. (1996). Investing in creativity. American Psychologist, 51(7),

37. REFERENCES
Amabile, T.M. (1983). The social psychology of creativity. New York:Springer-Verlag New York Incorporated.
Amabile, T.M. (1999). How to kill creativity. Harvard Business Review, september-october, 1998,
Creativity in Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2004, from
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Haper Collins.

38. Selected Online Resources
Articles from American Psychological Association
URBAN's Components Model of Creativity
Introduction: Theory of Creativity
E. H. Butler Library - Creative Studies Library
Creativity in Education - Learning and Teaching Scotland
Creativity: find it; promote it - National Curriculum in Action

39. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS? Philomena Bernard School Counselor
Central Middle School
Highland Elementary