Creative Behavior Juanita Sagan, Oakland California

1. Creative BehaviorJuanita Sagan, Oakland California • The Institute for Creative and Artistic Development (ICAD) – Oakland California • Integration: an assimilation of the important emotional and intellectual aspects of a person’s experience. • Credit Taking: Giving yourself recognition and praise for things you do to help yourself and others. • Changing symbol systems

2. Theories of Creativity • Psychoanalytic • Humanist • Behaviorist – Developmental • Cognitive • Systems Approach

3. Threshold Theory • Intelligence is necessary but not sufficient for creative accomplishments to occur. • The relationship between IQ and Creativity is apparent in people whose IQ is below 120. After that there is little predictive value.

4. Which is the most creative? • Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony • Spielberg’s movie E.T. • Einstein’s Theory of Relativity • Andrea’s flower arrangements • Henri’s award winning new hair style • Reagan’s theory of “Trickle-Down” economics

5. Which is the most intelligent? • Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony • Spielberg’s movie E.T. • Einstein’s Theory of Relativity • Andrea’s flower arrangements • Henri’s award winning new hair style • Reagan’s theory of “Trickle-Down” economics

6. Theories of Creativity • Threshold Theory • Psychoanalytic Theorists – Unconscious drive • Freud • Kubie • Kris • Jung

7. Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalytic Perspective • Creativity is said to be the outcome of the unconscious neurotic conflict. Creativity is at the service of the id. • Difference between primary process thinking (daydreams, fantasies) and secondary process thinking analytic and logical.

8. Freud on creativity & the unconscious Defense mechanism - sublimation Desires of Id suppressed Unconscious Sublimation Conscious Creative Act Primary Process – Relaxation Periods Secondary Process – Logical periods Fantasy allows the creativity regression to playful thinking

9. Ernest Kris • Fantastic, freely wandering thought processes tend to discharge libido and aggression. • Creativity results when there is a shift from the preconscious to the conscious—an illuminating experience. • Creativity is at the service of the ego which controls defense mechanisms.

10. Kris – Theory of Creativity Creativity involves the ability to regress to a childlike frame of mind. C U Pre Conscious Free- wandering thought processes Creative fantasies Importance of Playfulness!

11. Lawrence Kubie • Creativity takes place between the conscious and the unconscious that is in the preconscious. • Creativity is the new and unexpected connections, metaphorical relationships overlapping meanings, puns and allegories.

12. Kubie – Theory of Creativity Continuum Repressed experience U C Pre Symbol Systems Language Anchored in Reality Can engage in free Play Symbolic Process May be accessed by drugs or hypnosis. Connections Metaphors Creativity

13. Carl Jung • Archetypes– • Psychological type: draws from the realm of human experiences which raise the consciousness to greater levels of understanding • Visionary type: the creative process consists in an unconscious animation of the archetype and in a development and shaping of this image till the work is completed.

14. Jung – Theory of Creativity Unconscious Mind Personal Past Collective Past Creativity happens through a person by communing with both types of unconscious thought.

15. Theories of Creativity • Threshold Theory • Psychoanalytic Theorists – Unconscious drive • Behaviorists – Reinforced behavior • Skinner

16. Behavioral Principlesof Creativity > Product of genetic and environmental history. (Skinner) > Increase behavior by rewarding it. (Maltzman) S-R S-R unrelated Combination of 2 experiences. > Mental Associations has a large number of verbal and non verbal associations to connect.

17. Humanistic Perspective • Self actualization is an intrinsic drive • The self actualized person approaches all aspects of life in a creative way • Special talent creativity vs. Self actualized creativity • Conditions for creativity.

18. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Aesthetic Self - Actualization Self - Esteem Belonging Safety Physical Needs

19. Characteristics of Self Actualized People • Spontaneous Expressive • Natural Less Controlled • Less Inhibited • “Relatively un-frightened by the unknown, the mysterious and often positively attracted by it…selectively pick out things to puzzle over, to mediate on and to be absorbed in work.” Maslow, 1967 • Peak experiences – lost in the present. • Self actualized creativity vs. Special talent creativity. • Deficient needs vs. Being needs vs. Aesthetic needs.

20. Theories of Creativity • Threshold Theory • Psychoanalytic Theorists – Unconscious drive • Behaviorists – Reinforced behavior • Cognitivists- A way of thinking • Humanists – a state of being • Maslow • Rogers

21. Theories of Creativity • Threshold Theory • Psychoanalytic Theorists – Unconscious drive • Behaviorists – Reinforced behavior • Cognitivists- A way of thinking • Humanists – a state of being • Contemporary Theorists- a systems and developmental approach Amabile Simonton Gruber Csikszentmihalyi Gardner Sternberg

22. Gruber • Studied traits of creative individuals • Task commitment • Through working hard you transform yourself and what would be hard for others becomes easy for you. • The greatest fun is the work. • Creative people combine a zest for work with a capacity to play

23. Sense of purpose • Strong, robust energetic • A feeling of who they are and where they are going • Risk taking • Challenged by the unknown • Courage can come at time depending on life’s circumstances

24. Network of Enterprises • Multiple ongoing interests thread through the intellectual life of a creative individual. • Complete and enduring sets of purposes • Juggling projects

25. Bracketing • Technique creative people use to handle problem that they can’t solve yet. • Tolerance for ambiguity • Sometimes intuitive ideas can’t be explained for lack of knowledge must make assumptions

26. Images of a wide scope • Metaphor that holds the key to a creative breakthrough.

27. Creative people must use their skills to devise environments that foster their work • They must invent new peer groups appropriate to their projects • Being creative means striking out in new directions and making new friends • Being creative means a willingness to be alone for awhile.

28. Simonton • Studied creativity over the life span. • Personality • Circumstances of their training • Properties of their most highly esteemed work.

29. Findings • Maximal creativity 35-39 • Tend to produce more bad than good • Drop out of college • Smart but not too brainy

30. Developmental or early influences: • Higher incidence of parental loss • First born • Environment replete with intellectually and culturally stimulating materials • Role models: essential tension

31. Formal education • “It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry for this delicate little plant aside from stimulation stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail” (Einstein)

32. Howard Gardner • Multiple Intelligences Theory • Creativity expressed in a Domain or Field • Success is a combination of intelligences • “The creative individual is a person who regularly solves problems, fashions products or defies new questions in a domain in a way that ultimately becomes accepted in a particular cultural setting.”

33. Howard Gardner 5 Types of Activities of Creative Individuals • Solving a particular problem. (scientific and mathematical research questions and also artistic tasks) • Putting forth a general conceptual scheme. (the development of artistic or scientific theories) • Creating a product. (works of art, literature, choreography, etc.) • Giving a performance. • Performing for high stakes. (creative endeavor in which one’s words and actions are the substance in which one may risk security , health or life in the service of a mission)

34. Csikszentmihalyi (chicks sent me high) • Creativity is an interaction of person, product, environment • People create in a domain – need knowledge of that domain • Creativity must be valued to be perceived as creative.

35. Creativity Review • There seems to be a continuum of creative abilities C………………….c • There is a relationship between intelligence and creativity. This is called the threshold effect. • Depending on the psychological paradigm, creativity is viewed as a subconscious drive, a conditioned response, a way of thinking, or a drive to fulfill potential. • Creativity functions for a purpose – a problem, a goal, and area of interest, an intrinsic drive

36. Creativity Review • There seems to be a continuum of creative abilities C………………….c • There is a relationship between intelligence and creativity. This is called the threshold effect. • Depending on the psychological paradigm, creativity is viewed as a subconscious drive, a conditioned response, a way of thinking, or a drive to fulfill potential. • Creativity functions for a purpose – a problem, a goal, and area of interest, an intrinsic drive

37. Creativity Theories