The Unconscious Roots of Creativity


Book Description

From whence spring the sparks of creativity? It is to this very question that the field of depth psychology—especially that of C.G. Jung and his intellectual descendants—has much to contribute. Just as the Muses were the offspring of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, our memories are the ancestors of our creativity that finds its multifaceted expression in the written word, image, theater, dance, and music. The Unconscious Roots of Creativity seeks to push the investigation into that domain of memory that is beyond our conscious reach. With articles from 16 contributors, the “red thread” running through each of the offerings in this volume is that, whatever its ultimate expression, the creative impulse has its roots deep in the psyche. Edited By Kathryn Madden with articles by Linda Carter, Anna Maria Costantino, Carol Thayer Cox, Leonard Cruz, Lisa Raye Garlock, James Hollis, Naomi Ruth Lowinsky, Ian Livingston, Kathryn Madden, Jordan S. Potash, Susan Rowland, Murray Stein, Ann Ulanov, Tjeu van den Berk, Robin van Loben Sels, and Heidi S. Volf.




Sparks of Genius


Book Description

Discover the cognitive tools that lead to creative thinking and problem-solving with this “well-written and easy-to-follow” guide (Library Journal). Explore the “thinking tools” of extraordinary people, from Albert Einstein and Jane Goodall to Mozart and Virginia Woolf, and learn how you can practice the same imaginative skills to become your creative best. With engaging narratives and examples, Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein investigate cognitive tools such as observing, recognizing patterns, modeling, playing, and more. Sparks of Genius is “a clever, detailed and demanding fitness program for the creative mind” and a groundbreaking guidebook for anyone interested in imaginative thinking, lifelong learning, and transdisciplinary education (Kirkus Reviews). “How different the painter at the easel and the physicist in the laboratory! Yet the Root-Bernsteins recognize the deep-down similarity of all creative thinking, whether in art or science. They demonstrate this similarity by comparing the accounts that various pioneers and inventors have left of their own creative processes: for Picasso just as for Einstein, for Klee just as for Feynman, the creative impulse always begins in vision, in emotion, in intuition. . . . With a lavishly illustrated chapter devoted to each tool, readers quickly realize just how far the imagination can stretch.” —Booklist “A powerful book . . . Sparks of Genius presents radically different ways of approaching problems.” —American Scientist




Genius


Book Description

This text presents a theory of genius and creativity, based on the personality characteristics of creative persons and geniuses. It uses modern research into the causes of cognitive over-inclusiveness to suggest possible applications of these theories to c




The Origins and Organization of Unconscious Conflict


Book Description

The Origins and Organization of Unconscious Conflict provides a comprehensive set of contributions by Martin S. Bergmann to psychoanalytic theory, technique, and its applications. Following a general approach, Bergmann synthesizes Freud’s major contributions, the development of his thinking, the ramifications to present day psychoanalytic theory and practice and finally, discusses unresolved problems requiring further work. In these selected papers, profound meditations are offered on love and death, the leap from hysteria to dream interpretation in Freud’s intellectual development, the genetic roots of Psychoanalysis in the creative clash between Enlightenment and Romantic ideas, old age as a clinical and theoretical phenomenon, the death instinct as clinical controversy, and the interminable debate about termination in psychoanalysis and how to effect it. Crucial clinical and theoretical questions are constantly addressed and the challenges they pose will engage and enlighten the reader. Bergmann was a philosopher of mind as much as he is a psychoanalyst and the range and scope of the ideas in these selected papers is impressive, instructive and illuminating. Bergmann deals with psychoanalysis as a science, and with an ideology, referring to psychoanalysis as a "Weltanschauung", a philosophical basis for psychoanalytic theory. He presents an original, penetrating analysis of Freud’s inner struggle, about empirical research, validation and related to five other sciences; about irrational forces that constitute major motivators of human life, and require taking an existential position regarding their implications, the search for the meaning of one’s existence. The Origins and Organization of Unconscious Conflict is an exciting intellectual journey of the scientific and ideological aspects of psychoanalysis and the study of love. It will appeal to psychoanalysts, psychologists, philosophers and both undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in these fields, as well as anyone with an interest in mental health and human behaviour.




Origins of Genius


Book Description

This groundbreaking book applies Darwin's theory of natural selection to the creative process and takes readers inside the mind of genius. Line art.




Encyclopedia of Creativity


Book Description

Creativity influences each of our lives and is essential for the advancement of society. The first edition of the successful Encyclopedia of Creativity helped establish the study of creativity as a field of research in itself. The second edition, published in 2011, was named a 2012 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association's Choice publication. Featuring 232 chapters, across 2 volumes, the third edition of this important work provides updated information on the full range of creativity research. There has been an enormous increase in research on the topic throughout the world in many different disciplines. Some areas covered in this edition include the arts and humanities, business, education, mental and physical health, neuroscience, psychology, the creative process and technology. Fundamental subjects are discussed such as the definition of creativity, the development and expression of creativity across the lifespan, the environmental conditions that encourage or discourage creativity, the relationship of creativity to mental health, intelligence and learning styles, and the process of being creative. Creativity is discussed within specific disciplines including acting, architecture, art, dance, film, government, interior design, magic, mathematics, medicine, photography, science, sports, tourism and writing. A wide range of topics are covered. Here is a partial overview by topic: Business and organizational creativity: Advertising, Creative Economies, Creativity Consulting and Coaching, Corporate Creativity, Creativity Exercises, Entrepreneurship, Group Dynamics, Innovation, Leadership, Management of Creative People, Patents, Teams, and Training. The Cognitive Aspects of Creativity: Altered and Transitional States, Analogies, Attention, Breadth of Attention, Cognitive Style, Divergent Thinking, Flow and Optimal Experience, Knowledge, Logic and Reasoning, Metacognition, Mental Models, Memory, Metaphors, Mind Wandering, Mindfulness, Problem-Finding, Problem-Solving, and Remote Associates. The Creative Process: Attribution, Constraints, Discovery, Insight, Inspiration, Intentionality, Motivation, Risk-Taking, and Tolerance for Ambiguity. Education: Children’s Creativity, , Education, Intelligence, Knowledge, Metacognition, Play, Prodigies, Programs And Courses, Talent And Teaching Creativity. Neuroscience Research: Cellular Matter, Grey Matter, Cellular Density; EEG, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Fmri), Music and The Brain, Pupillometry, Systems, The Cerebellum and Transcranial Electrical Stimulation. Psychology: The Big 5 Personality Characteristics, Bipolar Mood Disorders, Childhood Trauma, Depression, Deviance, Dreams, Emotions, Expressive Arts, Grit, Introversion, Jungian Theory, Mad Genius Controversy, Openness, Schizotypy, Suicide, Therapy and Counseling Trauma and Transcendence and Transforming Illness and Visual Art. Social Aspects of Creativity: Awards, Birth Order, Criticism, Consensual Assessment, Diversity, Eminence, Families, Friendships and Social Networks, Geeks, Mentors, Millennials, Networking, Rewards, And Sociology. Society and Creativity: Awards, Climate For Creativity, Cross-Cultural Creativity, Destruction Of Creativity, Law And Society, Social Psychology, Social Transformation, Voting, War, and Zeitgeist. Technology: Chats, Computational Creativity, Computerized Text Analysis, Gaming, Memes, Networks and Maps, and Virtual Reality.




An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field


Book Description

Thoughtful and articulate study of the origin of ideas. Role of the unconscious in invention; the medium of ideas — do they come to mind in words? in pictures? in mathematical terms? Much more. "It is essential for the mathematician, and the layman will find it good reading." — Library Journal.




On Creativity and the Unconscious


Book Description

On Creativity and the Unconscious brings together Freud's important essays on the many expressions of creativity—including art, literature, love, dreams, and spirituality. This diverse collection includes "The 'Uncanny,'" "The Moses of Michelangelo," "The Psychology of Love," "The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming," "On War and Death," and "Dreams and Telepathy."




The Creativity Question


Book Description

Albert Rothenberg, a psychiatrist, and Carl R. Hausman, a philosopher, have prepared a truly comprehensive interdisciplinary book of readings on creativity. This group of selections from the works of writers in psychiatry, philosophy, psychology, psychoanalysis, and education brings together, for the first time, major theoretical works, outstanding empirical findings, and discussions of the definition and nature of creativity. The organization of The Creativity Question is unique: it illustrates the various approaches and basic assumptions underlying studies of creativity throughout the course of history up to the present time. The main body of selections appears under the categories of descriptions, attempts at explanation, and alternate approaches. As specific orientations to creativity can be traced to particular initiating thinkers and investigators, there is a special chapter on seminal accounts containing selections from the works of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Galton, and Freud. Another chapter includes recent illustrations of special types of exploratory trends: creativity of women, brain research, synectics, extrasensory perception, behaviorism, and creativity computer programming. This organization highlights the tension between strictly scientific accounts and alternative approaches offering new ways of understanding. The editors have provided for the books as a whole and for each chapter explanation and discussion of the basic issues raised by the various approaches to creativity.




Creativity and Madness


Book Description

Intrigued by history's list of "troubled geniuses,"Albert Rothenberg investigates how two such opposite conditions—outstanding creativity and psychosis—could coexist in the same individual. Rothenberg concludes that high-level creativity transcends the usual modes of logical thought—and may even superficially resemble psychosis. But he also discovers that all types of creative thinking generally occur in a rational and conscious frame of mind, not in a mystically altered or transformed state. Far from being the source—or the price—of creativity, Rothenberg discovers, psychosis and other forms of mental illness are actually hindrances to creative work. Disturbed writers and absent-minded professors make great characters in fiction, but Rothenberg has uncovered an even better story—the virtually infinite creative potential of healthy human beings.