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Course Description |
Creativity
Edward Nęcka
Creativity is both a type of human activity and
an individual trait. As an activity, it is based on cognition, emotion, motivation,
personality, social and cultural factors. Usually all these aspects act
together and such a confluence leads to a product that is judged novel and
appropriate in some domain. The cognitive science approach, though, needs
concentration on mental mechanisms of creative thought. Thinking and problem
solving are “natural candidates” for such analyses. However, elementary
mechanisms of attention, perception, memory, concept formation, and
imagination, are more and more frequently studied in creativity research.
As an individual trait, creativity is
tremendously differentiated among people. On one hand, the so called
“potential” or “processual” creativity characterizes every human being although
not everybody to the same extent. This type of creativity is possible to
measure and stimulate. It is also relatively easy to investigate in
psychological experiments. On the other hand, eminent creative achievements are
relatively infrequent, difficult to investigate, and not susceptible to
stimulation procedures. The problem arises, whether the term “creativity” is
equally applicable in both cases.
The aim of this course is to discuss the most
influential approaches to creativity form the cognitive science perspective.
First, we will focus on the notion of creativity, its forms and levels, as well
as the modes of defining this phenomenon. Second, we will analyze empirical
studies on the role of cognitive processes in creativity. Particularly, we will
focus on the comparison of more and less creative persons concerning the
characteristic patterns of cognition. Finally, we will analyze some existing as
well as potential methods of creativity stimulation.
·
Definitions
and criteria of creativity
·
Actual
and potential creativity
·
Measurement
of creativity
·
Creativity
as a process
·
Levels
of creativity
·
Acts
of creation
Boden, M. A. (1994). What
is creativity? In M. A. Boden (Ed.), Dimensions of creativity (pp. 75-117).
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Ward, T. B., Finke, R. A., & Smith, S. M. (1995). Creativity and the mind:
Discovering the genius within. New York: Plenum Press. (Chapter 1: Probing the
creative mind, pp. 1-24).
·
Efficiency
of attention and creativity
·
The
diffused attention hypothesis
·
Susceptibility
to incidental stimuli
·
Susceptibility
to noise and distraction
·
Divided
attention and creativity
·
Creativity
and cognitive control
Kasof, J. (1997). Creativity and
breadth of attention. Creativity Research Journal, 10, 303-315.
Nęcka, E. (1999). Creativity and attention.
Polish Psychological Bulletin, 30, 85-97.
Groborz,
M. & Nęcka, E. (2003). Creativity and
cognitive control: Explorations of generation and evaluation skills. Creativity
Research Journal, 15, 183-197.
Ward, T. B., Finke, R.
A., & Smith, S. M.
(1995). Creativity and
the mind: Discovering the genius within. New York: Plenum Press. (Chapter 2:
Concepts and creativity, pp. 25-58).
Gruszka, A. &
Nęcka, E. (2002). Priming
and acceptance of close and remote associations by creative and less creative
people. Creativity Research Journal, 14, 193-205.
·
Working
memory, long term memory, and creativity
·
The
role of encoding
·
Memory
search in the hunt for an idea
·
The
role of retrieval cues and strategies
·
Transfer
of knowledge
·
Creativity
and organization of memory
Nęcka,
E. (1999). Memory and creativity. In M.
A. Runco & S. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Creativity (Vol. 2, pp.
193-199). New York: Academic Press.
Weisberg, R. W. (1999). Creativity and knowledge: A
challenge to theories. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp.
226-250). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
·
Reinforcement
of creative behavior
·
Creativity
stimulation techniques
·
Creativity
training
·
Teaching
of creativity
·
Creativity
at school
·
Creativity
in the workplace
Ward, T. B., Finke, R. A., & Smith, S. M. (1995). Creativity and the mind: Discovering
the genius within. New York: Plenum Press. (Chapter 6: Business applications,
pp. 149-174).
Nęcka, E. (1992). Creativity training: A guidebook for
psychologists, educators, and teachers. Kraków, Poland: Universitas.
PowerPoint Presentation - extra
Edward
Nęcka
Edward Nęcka is a professor of psychology
in the Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland. He
also teaches at the Warsaw School for Social Psychology. His research interests
cover the problems of cognitive mechanisms of creativity and intelligence. He
is particularly interested in attention and working memory as factors
determining human cognitive abilities.