A Theory of Creative Thinking


Book Description

This book examines research on creative thinking, both current and historical. It explores two dimensions of human thought (time and space) and two modes of thinking (conscious and unconscious) as well as both left and right brain functions and artistic and scientific creative activities. The book proposes a "Double Circulation” model of creative thinking and argues that imagery thinking, intuitive thinking and logical thinking are main parts of creative thinking and that dialectical thinking and horizontal-vertical thinking are the guides for highly complex problem-solving thoughts and strategies.The book focuses on education and psychology and also covers how to use ICT to promote students’ creative thinking skills. Researchers will benefit from the "Double Circulation" model, which provides a new perspective on conducting creative thinking research. The book is also a valuable resource for graduate students in the fields of educational technology and psychology and for all readers who are interested in creative thinking.




A Theory of Creative Thinking


Book Description

This book examines research on creative thinking, both current and historical. It explores two dimensions of human thought (time and space) and two modes of thinking (conscious and unconscious) as well as both left and right brain functions and artistic and scientific creative activities. The book proposes a "Double Circulation” model of creative thinking and argues that imagery thinking, intuitive thinking and logical thinking are main parts of creative thinking and that dialectical thinking and horizontal-vertical thinking are the guides for highly complex problem-solving thoughts and strategies.The book focuses on education and psychology and also covers how to use ICT to promote students’ creative thinking skills. Researchers will benefit from the "Double Circulation" model, which provides a new perspective on conducting creative thinking research. The book is also a valuable resource for graduate students in the fields of educational technology and psychology and for all readers who are interested in creative thinking.




Absolute Essentials of Creative Thinking and Problem Solving


Book Description

This concise textbook provides a comprehensive and clear overview of the theory and practice of creative problem solving from a management perspective. The book works step by step through the creative thinking process. Beginning with theoretical frameworks, it considers ways of thinking, defining problems and structuring responses to them, techniques for generating ideas, evaluating and defining them, and finally how technology can be used within the creative problem-solving process. Pedagogical features to aid learning include objectives at the start of each chapter, further reading suggestions and practical examples. Divided into ten short chapters to suit content delivery, this textbook is designed as either core or recommended reading for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA and Executive Education students studying Creativity and Innovation, Management and Leadership and Management Skills.




Creativity and Divergent Thinking


Book Description

Do general-purpose creative-thinking skills -- skills like divergent thinking, which is touted as an important component of creative thinking no matter what the task domain -- actually make much of a contribution to creative performance? Although much recent research argues against such domain-transcending skills -- including several new studies reported in this book -- the appeal of such general skills remains strong, probably because of the theoretical economy and power such skills would provide. Divergent thinking, in particular, has had an incredible staying power. Despite its many flaws, divergent thinking remains the most frequently used indicator of creativity in both creativity research and educational practice, and divergent thinking theory has a strong hold on everyday conceptions of what it means to be creative. Reviewing the available research on divergent thinking, this book presents a framework for understanding other major theories of creativity, including Mednick's associative theory and a possible connectionist approach of creativity. It reports a series of studies (including the study that won APA's 1992 Berlyne Prize) that demonstrate the absence of effects of general creative-thinking skills across a range of creativity-relevant tasks, but indicate that training in divergent thinking does in fact improve creative performance across diverse task domains. The book then ties these findings together with a multi-level theory, in which a task-specific approach to creativity is strengthened by recasting some divergent-thinking concepts into domain- and task-specific forms. This book fills the gap between divergent-thinking theory and more recent, modular conceptions of creativity. Rather than advocate that we simply discard divergent thinking -- an approach that hasn't worked, or at least hasn't happened, because of many attacks on its validity and usefulness -- this book shows how to separate what is useful in divergent-thinking theory and practice from what is not. It shows that divergent-thinking training can be valuable, although often not for the reasons trainers think it works. And it offers specific suggestions about the kinds of creativity research most needed today.




Creativity


Book Description




Creative Cognition


Book Description

Creative Cognition combines original experiments with existing work in cognitive psychology to provide the first explicit account of the cognitive processes and structures that contribute to creative thinking and discovery. Creative Cognition combines original experiments with existing work in cognitive psychology to provide the first explicit account of the cognitive processes and structures that contribute to creative thinking and discovery. In separate chapters, the authors take up visualization, concept formation, categorization, memory retrieval, and problem solving. They describe novel experimental methods for studying creative cognitive processes under controlled laboratory conditions, along with techniques that can be used to generate many different types of inventions and concepts. Unlike traditional approaches, Creative Cognition considers creativity as a product of numerous cognitive processes, each of which helps to set the stage for insight and discovery. It identifies many of these processes as well as general principles of creative cognition that can be applied across a variety of different domains, with examples in artificial intelligence, engineering design, product development, architecture, education, and the visual arts. Following a summary of previous approaches to creativity, the authors present a theoretical model of the creative process. They review research involving an innovative imagery recombination technique, developed by Finke, that clearly demonstrates that creative inventions can be induced in the laboratory. They then describe experiments in category learning that support the provocative claim that the factors constraining category formation similarly constrain imagination and illustrate the role of various memory processes and other strategies in creative problem solving.




Creativity


Book Description

An integrative introduction to the theories and themes in research on creativity, the second edition of Creativity is both a reference work and text for courses in this burgeoning area of research. The book begins with a discussion of the theories of creativity (Person, Product, Process, Place), the general question of whether creativity is influenced by nature or nurture, what research has indicated of the personality and style of creative individuals from a personality analysis standpoint, and how social context affects creativity. This wide-ranging work then proceeds to coverage of issues such as gender differences, whether creativity can be enhanced, if creativity is related to poor mental or physical health, and much more. The book contains boxes covering special interest items, including one-page biographies of famous creative individuals, and activities for a group or individual to test or encourage creativity, as well as references to Internet sites relating to creativity. Includes all major theories and perspectives on creativity Consolidates recent research into a single source Includes key terms defined and text boxes with interesting related material Single authored for clarity and consistency of presentation




Creativity


Book Description

Seeking throughout to bridge the gap between the creative and the critical, and to span disciplinary boundaries, this book offers a significant intervention in the theory of creativity and the practice of criticism.




Logical Creative Thinking Methods


Book Description

Using a new, systematic framework, this illuminating book turns ideation into a task anybody with sound logic and a determination to learn can do, and do well, by separating the process from the outcome. In a competitive marketplace, all firms must constantly innovate to create sustained shareholder value. The main roadblock in innovation is ideation: the identification of value-creating ideas, often seen as the work of innately creative people. This first-of-its-kind textbook demonstrates that anyone can ideate through specific logical processes that require no creativity when used, but generate valuable and creative outcomes. To help students master and apply these methods, the book is filled with innovation examples across many sectors that can be explained and recreated using a specific LCT method. The book also includes exercises that enable readers to practice applying each method to solve real life innovation challenges. Upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students of innovation, creativity, and new product development will appreciate the demystification of ideation into a problem that can be solved by applying a series of rigorous, defined methods that can be followed without ambiguity.




Creativity and Divergent Thinking


Book Description

Do general-purpose creative-thinking skills -- skills like divergent thinking, which is touted as an important component of creative thinking no matter what the task domain -- actually make much of a contribution to creative performance? Although much recent research argues against such domain-transcending skills -- including several new studies reported in this book -- the appeal of such general skills remains strong, probably because of the theoretical economy and power such skills would provide. Divergent thinking, in particular, has had an incredible staying power. Despite its many flaws, divergent thinking remains the most frequently used indicator of creativity in both creativity research and educational practice, and divergent thinking theory has a strong hold on everyday conceptions of what it means to be creative. Reviewing the available research on divergent thinking, this book presents a framework for understanding other major theories of creativity, including Mednick's associative theory and a possible connectionist approach of creativity. It reports a series of studies (including the study that won APA's 1992 Berlyne Prize) that demonstrate the absence of effects of general creative-thinking skills across a range of creativity-relevant tasks, but indicate that training in divergent thinking does in fact improve creative performance across diverse task domains. The book then ties these findings together with a multi-level theory, in which a task-specific approach to creativity is strengthened by recasting some divergent-thinking concepts into domain- and task-specific forms. This book fills the gap between divergent-thinking theory and more recent, modular conceptions of creativity. Rather than advocate that we simply discard divergent thinking -- an approach that hasn't worked, or at least hasn't happened, because of many attacks on its validity and usefulness -- this book shows how to separate what is useful in divergent-thinking theory and practice from what is not. It shows that divergent-thinking training can be valuable, although often not for the reasons trainers think it works. And it offers specific suggestions about the kinds of creativity research most needed today.