Nature and Nurture of Creativity Implications for Education

NATURE AND NURTURE OF CREATIVITY IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION

By MILDRED JOSEFINE LUNAAS

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

December, 1963 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Of the innumerable aclaiowledgments which come to mind, the writer wishes to express thanks and deeply-felt appreciation to her mother for help and support through the many years of education preceding the current effort; to the Graduate School and the College of Education of the University of Florida for awarding a fellowship and a graduate assistant ship; and to so many faculty and staff members of the University of Florida for challenges and help during the years of graduate study*

Special thanks are accorded to Dr. Kimball Wiles, chairman of the supervisory committee, who has guided her graduate program, challenged her by constantly high standards and expectations, and clarified numerous perplexing problems of expression and organization of the dissertation. Gratitude is expressed to the members of the supervisory committee, Dr. Maurice Ahrens, Dr. Vynce Hines, Dr.

Vincent McGuire, and Dr. Arnold Wirtala in recognition of time and thinking freely given at divers times during the period of graduate study and the writing of this dissertation.

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

Chapter

I THE PROBLEM. 1 Introduction The Study Summary

II CREATIVE PROCESSES AND OUTCOMES 21 Introduction Aspects of Creative Thought Outcomes of Creative Processes Summary

III CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE PERSONS 60 Introduction Intellectual Factors Associated with Creativity Personality Factors Associated with Creativity Motive and Interests Associated Tilth Creativity Physical Factors Interaction and Variations of Creative Abilities and Traits Identifying Creative Individuals Summary

IV ENVIRONMENT AND CREATIVITY 169 Introduction Socio-psychological Environment Physical Environment Summary

V FOSTERING CREATIVE POTENTIALITIES 192 Introduction Stimulating Creative Abilities Encouraging Personality Traits Associated with Creativity — Encouraging the Creative Process — Summary

VI CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 226 Introduction A Conception of Creativity for Education • ^ Education and Creativity Implications for Curriculum Implications for School Personnel Implications for Teacher Education Implications for Research

BIBLIOGRAPHY 277

iii CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

While the creative aspect of man has been an implicit

and perennial concern to schoolmen with varying degrees of attention

directed to it, creativity—specifically is recognition and nurture

in young people—is increasingly an explicit concern to persons in

the field of education.

Widespread interest in creativity

It is widely acknowledged that several integrants of our

society are, for diverse reasons, intensely interested in the

utilization or possible increase of creative work and in the in—

dividuals who may be engaged in work requiring creativeness. The

arts, philosophy, and the sciences have long traditions of regard

for that which changes the current in the direction of the new.

Government, business, and industry view the creative capacities of

some, if not all, people as a necessary resource for future develop-

ment, if not survival, and as a source of vital power in a precarious

world. Academic centers, long interested in man in all his facets,

are supported by private and public funds in investigations dealing with the creative potentials of children and adults and the nature of environments conducive to creative development and expression.

Individuals in social work and several other service professions

1 ^

are' considering the creative aspect in human relationships with a

view toward facilitating their work; ^ layers detected a creative

facet in successful leadership regardless of the field.

Not only is our society aware of the value of increased

creative effort, individuals in several other nations respect the

challenge of recognizing and developing creative talent. Lowenfeld

reported his surprised interest in the contrast between the spontaneity

and creativeness evident in the art work of elementary school children

in the U.S.S.R. and the more realistic and regimented art work of

Soviet high school students. The explanation given him by a

Russian was that ". . . once creativity is unfolded, then it must

be channeled and disciplined. Articles in Soviet Education^ indicate

concern for unfolding creativity in many areas of the school program.

^The Insider’s News letter . Section for Women (New York: Cowles Magazine and Broadcasting, Inc., March 5, 1962), pp. j-U; Alex F. Osborn, "Developments in the Creative Education Movement" (Buffalo, 'New York: The Creative Education Foundation, n.d.), pp. 12-13. 2 , Robert B. Myers, "The Development and Implications of a Conception of Leadership for Leadership Education" (Unpublished Ed.D. dissertation. College of Education, University of Florida. 195U), p. 219.

3 Viktor Lowenfeld, "Creativity: Education's Stepchild," A Source Book for Creative Thinking , ed. Sidney J. Fames and Harold F. Harding (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), p. 10.

^M. A. Danilov, "Cultivating Independence and Creative Activity in School Children in the Process of Teaching," Soviet Education . TV (May, 1962), 3 8-U5. 3

Taylor has commented on European interest in creativity research,^

and Osborn has reported that individuals from many parts of the

world have attended creative problem solving institutes at the

University of Buffalo and have used materials made available by

the Creative Education Foundation* Various organizations in many

nations of Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia have introduced creative training programs of several kinds; some of these stem fran the

efforts of United States firms having foreign branches, some from the

efforts of the armed forces, and some 2 frcm the efforts of universities .

Feeble indications suggest that ordinary individuals seek relief from monotony through change and the possibility that in seme small way they may have and be able to use a creative spark. Tumin

" indicated that . • . conditions ... under which ... (workers) ,

feel that their work is dull, routine and dissatisfying" have pathologi-

cal effects on the social structure;^ nevertheless the possibility

exists of remedying these conditions thereby permitting workers to

have some creative satisfactions from their jobs as well as in other

areas of living. Not only have books and articles been published by

the professions, industry, and governmental agencies, but numerous

articles and reports of research highlights have appeared in popular

^Calvin W. Taylor, "A Tentative Description of the Creative Individual," Human Variability and Learning (Washington, D. C.: Asso- ciation for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1961), p. 68 . 2 Alex F. Osborn, pp. 9 , 13 -lit. 3 Melvin Tumin, "Obstacles to Creativity," A Source Book for Creative Thinking ' , ed. Sidney J. Parnes and Harold'F. Harding"' (N ew York! Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), p. 112. »

magazines and 1 newspapers, e.g. Time , Look , Life , Parents Magazine ,

Good Housekeeping , House Beautiful , Woman’s Day , Reader's Digest ,

New York Times , and Saturday Review .

Some reasons for the interest in creativity

National interest , —Probably the most common reason given

for the urgent need to recognize and develop creative potentialities

of many people is that the survival of the United States depends on

finding ways of coping with problems on many fronts? international

affairs with ideological, technological, and ordinance focuses, and

the solution of national and international social and economic problems*

Pleas for study and action have been made by men in government, educa-

tion, the sciences, business^ and the arts.^

Accelerated change * —A fundamental justification for the

recognition of the importance of the creative in life, and thus for

schools, rests in the proposition that life—knowledge, procedures,

problems, and things—-is changing and will continue to change at rates

that are all but incomprehensible and overwhelming. How to deal with change of such scope and tempo so as to be challenged by it and to profit from it (especially in view of the fact that there is lit- erally no space to which to retreat) is a challenge to all human beings as well as to those who must exercise some degree of leadership

Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (eds.). Scientific Creativity (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 17537

2 Viktor Lowenfeld, "What is Creative Teaching?" Creativity: Second Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , ed* £• Paul Torrance (Minneapolis : University of Minnesota, 1959), pp. 3 8-50. 5

foi* others. Schwab has argued that the rate at which scientific

knowledge is increasing will, in all likelihood, render present

knowledge in science obsolete by 1975,^ and there is no reason to

suspect that the increase will necessarily cease at that time. Old

problems remain, and new ones are generated which demand solutions

and which permit little time in solution if the best interests of

man are to be served. Since change and the effects of change are

more than ever a part of human affairs, increasing numbers of

problems are to be expected especially if individuals are not able

to recognize, test, and accept the new as it affects both the funda-

mental and superficial areas of living. Scholars, scientists, nnd

technicians contribute to change, and artists interpret change; but

each individual must deal with change either by incorporating or

rejecting it in some fashion. Existent understandings »nd current

procedures are not sufficient when novel and radical solutions are

- needed; education suited to rapid change must differ from that which

is suitable in a stable society.

Role in learning . —Aside from the pressures of change and

world problems is the intriguing possibility for education that

creative thinking may actually be an efficient way of learning as

well as an aid in applying knowledge to new situations. Getzels and

Jackson suggest that students who score high on tests of creative

thinking may be using intellectual abilities not measured by in—

^Joseph J. Schwab, ’’Some Reflections on Science Education, n ^ BSCS Newsletter (September, 1961), p. 8. 6

telligence tests to learn more than predicted by their IQ's.’*'

Mental health . —-A fourth reason for the importance of the

imaginative and creative sides of human beiigs is that acceptance and

exercise of these traits are important for personality development

and mental health. Torrance warns of the behavior problems and

learning difficulties which may result if creativity is repressed;

he has stated that repression of creative tendencies, especially if

prolonged, may lead to neurotic conflicts or possibly psychoses.^

Background of interest in creativity

Early analyses of creativity . —Prior to the twentieth century.

Western philosophers, certainly as early as the ancient Greeks, dealt

with the creative phenomena in life, and philosophic interest has

continued to the present. In Bergson’s view the creative elan is

the motivating force for the universe and all life which are ever—

changing and becoming. Some early psychologists interested themselves

in the topic. Ribot’s analysis of creative imagination, modestly

styled an essay, sought to reveal elements in the development and use of imaginative abilities. He believed that the power of imagination was common to all but that it was overwhelmed by the greater weight given to reason by the time of maturity. 4-

Jacob W, Getzels and Philip W. Jackson, Creativity and In- / telligence (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,"~1962), p. 24. 2 E. Paul Torrance, Guiding Creative Talent (Englewood Cliffs,

%enri Bergson, Creative Evolution, trans. Arthur Mitchell (New York: The Modem Library, 1943).

^Th. Ribot, Essay on the Creative Imagination , trans. Albert H. N. Baron (Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1906). 7

Introspective accounts .—Many creators had remarked upon their

own experiences and tried to describe how new ideas came to them.

Ghiselin's collection of the personal accounts of creative artists

and scientists is a valuable source of such data.^” These personal

statements vary, however, in the depth of the consideration given

to the creative process and in the stated characteristics of the

process. Mcreover personal anecdotes are not subject to verification

and may overlook basic features of the process. In spite of the

difficulties in discerning a theory of creativity and its nurture

from such material, these personal accounts are, nonetheless, helpful for they do provide clues to the study of creative behavior. Insight

into the nature of the creative process may be gleaned from the

writings of creative workers themselves; insight may also be gained

through deliberate studies of the problem.

Early research work .—At the close of the last centuiy,

3 ' Dearborn and Sharp- pioneered in this research area with studies of

imaginative thought. Sporadic attempts to investigate creative thought in the early decades of this century are evidence of interest although the main stream of thought in the behaviorial sciences flowed in other channels, Colvin sought, in children's writing, relationships

-'-Brewster Ghiselin (ed.), The Creative Process (New York: The New American Library, 1952).

^George V. Dearborn, "A Study of Imaginations." American Journal of Psychology, IX (January, 1898), 183-190.

^Stella Emily Sharp, "Individual Psychology: A Study in Psychological Method," American Journal of Psychology (Anri 1 _ X H * 1899), 329-391. “ 8

between organizational and imaginative abilities, which he termed

1 logical power and spontaneity respectively. The study, later 2 repeated by Colvin and Meyer, led to the conclusion that logical power and spontaneity are dissimilar aspects of writing. Furthermore the two investigators observed that ". . .the school puts a premium on mechanical exactness, formal expression, and rhetorical correctness.

It ignores or actually hinders the expression of the deeper self.

It educates only a part of the child."

Chas sell developed a battery of tests which included, for example, coding and new responses to novel situations; the former may be said to require finding and applying a correct pattern, the latter, originality. She found little correlation between performance

on one type of task and that on the other type .3

During the twenties and thirties several investigators attacked aspects of the problem of understanding creative thinking,, Simpson studied originality of children's drawings; he declared that _v£-

"by joining a 1 creative test ... with a 'reproductive test such as any general intelligence test, we shall get a more accurate statement of the worth of an individual." His criticism of intelligence tests was that they contained no elements relative to the individual's

Stephen Sheldon Colvin, "Invention Versus Form in English Composition: An Indicative Study," Pedagogical Seminary , IX (1902), 393-U21.

2 S. Colvin S. and I. F. Meyer, "Imaginative Elements in the ^ten Work of School Children," Pedagogical Seminaiy , XIII (1906),

3 Laura M. Chassell, "Tests for Originality," Journal of Educational Psychology . VII (June, 1916), 317-328. . L ^

9 2 "• . powers of . creative productivity and . . . tendencies toward

originality. Hargreaves used projective tests to study imagination,

and when these were scored for novelty or originality, he found little

relationship between them and a measure of general intelligence.

Similar results were reported by Andrews^ and McCloy and Meier,

i.e. imagination and general intelligence appear to be two different

factors

On the other hand, conclusions that IQ is positively

correlated with imaginative use of play materials by nursery school

children'’ and that imagination increases with age and intelligence^

have been reported. Different definitions of creative imagination as

different methods of testing and scoring contributed to

divergent conclusions.

^Ray M. Simpson, "Creative Imagination," American Journal of Psychology , XXXIII (April, 1922), 2 ltf.

' 2 H._L. Hargreaves, "The Faculty of Imagination," British Journal of Psychological Monographs, Supplement. Ill (19277T 3 Elizabeth Gordon Andrews, "The Development of Imagination in the Preschool Child," University of Iowa Studies in Character. IIT (1930). ’

kff. McCloy and N. C. Meier, "Re-creative Imagination," Psychological Monographs . LI (1939), 108-116.

^Marion Sill McDowell and Sara Ruth Howe, "Creative Use of Play Materials by Preschool Children," Childhood Education. XVII (19la), 321-326.

6 V. B. Grippen, "A Study of Creative Artistic Imagination in Children by tne Constant Contact Procedure," Psychological ~1 Monographs, XLV (1933), 63-81. )

Recent re search in the nature of thinking. —Gml fnrd r in his

1950 presidential address to the American Psychological Association,

stated a need for studying and stimulating creative abilities. He documented the paucity of research dealing with creativity and related

subjects: 186 of approximately 121,000 entries, or less than two- tenths per cent of the studies, indexed by Psychological Abstracts between 1 1927 and 1950 dealt with creativity or related subjects.

(An estimate of the number of pertinent entries in Psychological Abstracts between 1950 and 1961 indexed under creativity, imagination,

originality, art, and other selected headings is a minimum of 236.

While criterion and methodological difficulties continue, man‘s creativeness is a major research question which is being studied from various approaches and with various techniques. Guil- ford and his associates are engaged in discovering factors of intellectual abilities associated with creative thinking and other

- intellectual processes. Using factor analysis a number of intellectual

abilities have been identified, and /' Guilford has proposed a theoretical 1 model of intelligence wherein abilities are conceived as they are

related to specific content, operations, and products of thought. 1/

According to the model most of the creative abilities belong in the

production category of divergent thinking /" abilities, i.e. the 1 ability to depart from fixed patterns or categories in the search^ ^ for new solutions to problems. The often noted discrepancy between IQ and creative ability may be explained in part by the absence in

— — 1 -

* 1 V* P * Guilford "Creativity." » American Psychologist . V/ ~r U.950;, Ui5. (f

4 ^

most intelligence tests of items requiring divergent operations or

transformations in outcomes.^ Tests developed by Guilford and his

associates have been used in studies of adults and have been found

suitable, as they are or with modifications, for use with adolescents^

and younger children.^

The Institute of Personality Assessment and Research (IPAR)-

has been engaged in studying personality factors which are

characteristic of creative writers, architects, mathematicians,

and research scientists and which distinguish them from less

creative persons in these fields and in the general population.

The creative adults possessed such characteristics as independence,

intelligence, openness to self and experience, great energy and

- " commitment to their work although variations were noted in the

degree to which these were among typical of the fields.

A major study of school age boys and girls is that of

Getzels and Jackson in which highly intelligent adolescents and pre-

adolescents were the subjects. Two groups-—one having the highest

scores (top 20 per cent) on intelligence tests but not on the

creativity tests, the other having the highest scores on the creativity tests but not on the intelligence tests——were selected for intensive study of their academic achievement, aspirations, values, family

^•J. P. Guilford, "Structure of Intellect." Psychological

^Jacob V. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

^E. Paul Torrance.

4 "Creativity." Carnegie Corooration of New York Quarterly.'''] IX (July, 1961), 2-5. 12

backgrounds, school adjustment, as well as certain personality and

intellectual factors. The characteristics of the group of creative

adolescents differed from the group with high IQ’s in ways that

are strikingly similar to those characteristics found to be descriptive

of creatively productive adults, e,g. the creative adolescents were 1

intelligent, independent, energetic, and open to themselves and

their experiences. Of particular importance and interest to teachers

are the findings that l) although not possessing the highest IQ’s

in the school population studied, their achievement scores were all

but identical to those students with the highest IQ scores, and

2) the teachers preferred the less creative to the more creative

students and tended to select the highly intelligent but less

creative students as the ones with outstanding potentialities,^

Torrance and his colleagues have adapted and devised instruments and procedures in order to study young children in the elementary grades. The results of these studies are similar to the findings of Getzels and Jackson with respect to achievement, certain personality traits, and the relationship between IQ and scores on tests of creativity. In addition data are accumulating which will yield, it is hoped, understanding of the growth of creative thinking or at least divergent thinking and imagination which are thought to be associated with creative thinking. While primary grade children seem relatively free to think of new possibilities, differences are apparent} a crucial point seems to

klacob W, Getzels and Philip W, Jackson, 1

be between the third and fourth grades when most children show a sharp decline— some never seem to regain this loss in capacity for using the imagination. The Minnesota studies have demonstrated the possibility of encouraging self-expression and creative thought

by procedures adaptable to many classroom situations.

The increased research interest in creativity has not been limited to psychologists. Beittel and Lowenfeld reported that factors involved in artistic creation are strikingly similar to factors

reported to be involved in scientific creativity and that these may be used to distinguish between more and less creative individuals.^ Lowenfeld had long contended that encouragement of self-expression

and creative attitudes in art transfers to other activities and fields of study; this intriguing idea offers many possibilities for investigation.

Research in fostering creative thinking flours designed to stimulate and strengthen creative thinking abilities are becoming

increasingly popular. Best known of such courses are the ones based on the brainstorming technique which was developed in the advertising business but which has been adapted for use by personnel of the armed forces, governmental agencies, and schools; according to Osborn, over 1,000 such courses are being taught throughout the country

^E. Paul Torrance.

^Kenneth Beittel and Viktor Lowenfeld, "Interdisciplinary riteria of Creativity in the Arts and Sciences: A Progress Report," gse^rch in Art Education Ninth , Yearbook of The National Art Educa- gtiontion Association (Washington, D. C.: National Education Association, 1959), pp. 35-44. 14

In industry and education and that interest has been aroused in

other parts of the world. ^ The University of Buffalo and the

Creative Education Foundation have developed instructional materials^

for such courses and have sought to ascertain the kinds and persistence

of learning for various types of students having participated in

creative problem solving courses.^

Many regular subject matter courses have been adapted or

specifically designed to include creative problem solving and

practice in imaginative thinking, e.g. Arnold’s course in creative

engineering;^ Ogborn reports that "creative principles and procedures"

have been included in at least forty different subject-matter courses.

Workshops and institutes have been held to acquaint public school

teachers with research in creativity and to assist them to discover

ways of incorporating creative thinking in various curriculum areas?

The General Electric Creative Engineering Program, established

in 1933, was founded and has flourished in the belief that creativity

1 Alex F. Osborn, Applied Imagination (3rd ed. rev.; New York:*/

C r * ix"xxiii Subsequent Osborn cita4ions re^er to ^I’bSSP’ pp * 2 Sidney J. Pames, Instructor’s Manual for Creative Problem- Solving (Buffalo, New York: The Creative Education Foundation, n.d.);'/ Student Workbook for Creative Problem-Solving Courses & Institutes .

1963; Supplementary Guide 241 Exercises in Idea Finding , n.d.

^Sidney J. Parnes, "Education and Creativity." Teachers College Record. LXIV (January, 1963), 331-339.

^•John Arnold, "Creativity in Engineering," Creativity , ed. Paul Smith (New York: Hastings House, Publishers, 1959), pp. 33-46.

'’Alex F. Osborn. 15

may be influenced by increased technical knowledge and by training 1 in idea production. Several companies—General Motors Corporation,

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, International Business

Machines, and United States Steel Corporation, to mention a few—

use certain tests of creative potential in personnel selection arid

placement and/or use creative thinking techniques in training 2 programs or production groups or both.

The United States government, through various agencies and

departments, is supporting creativity research in many centers.

The National Science Foundation supported the Utah Conferences on

the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent. At the first

conference in 1955 Dees spoke on the agency *s interest in identifying creative scientific talent and mentioned in this respect the importance

of creativity to national defense and the need to discover environ-

mental and educational factors which exert influence on individual

creativity. Several reports made at those conferences were the

results - of studies made by and for various governmental units.^ The

military services have incorporated various techniques and principles

Eugene K. Von Fange, Professional Creativity (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1959). 2 Alex F. Osborn.

^Bowen c.^Dees, "NSF Interests in the Problem of Identifying Creative Scientific Talent," Research Conference on the Identification &f__Creative Scientific Talent, ed. Calvin w. Taylm- r.q Q i+ University of Utah Press, 1955), pp. 5-13.

^Calvin W. Taylor (ed.), Research Conference on the Identifica- tion of Creative Scientific Talent (Salt Lake fMtv* Utah Press, 1955, 1957, 1959). 16

in several training programs for stimulating creative imagination

in cadets, officers, and civilian employees alike.'*'

Although it may be argued that courses, workshops, and

techniques frequently used by industry, government, and colleges are

directed to immediate practical ends and probably would have little

effect on the work of creative geniuses such as Picasso, Einstein,

or Shakespeare, these procedures have been shown to be effective

within their spheres. And there is value in and need for new q^d

better solutions to many problems—great and small, national and

personal, technical and social.

The Study

Purposes- and need for the study

The sometimes excessive length of time which passes from the

discovery or formulation of new knowledge until its implementation

in current affairs has been deplored. The field of education, no

less than others, has experienced such a time lag. The pressures

of the contemporary scene resulting from revolutionary events and

advances occurring in rapid succession require that attention be

given to the solution of problems which exert great influence on

the present and future.

Certainly it is difficult to be informed of developments in

one’s field and doubly difficult to be aware of developments in

related fields. In spite of these difficulties efforts to be informed,

Alex F. Osborn; Maury H. Chorness, ”An Interim Report on Creativity Research,” Scientific Creativity, ed. Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1963). pp. 278-298. 17

evaluate the new, and seek ways of modifying practices in light of

the new are imperative. A rapprochement of research from different

fields is necessary if educational programs are to have sound bases

for current practice as well as for testing and verifying new pro-

cedures prior to modifying current practices.

Statement of the problem

The problem of this study is threefold and consists of

seeking to:

First, discover what conceptions of the nature and nurture of creativity have been formulated;

Second, test these conceptions against research findings concerning aspects of the nature of creative individuals, the qualities of the creative process, and the means of fostering creativity;

Third, draw conclusions and formulate for education the implications of the theoretical and research data concerning the nature and nurture of creativity.

Selected questions, relative to creativity and of concern to education, provide the focuses for the three phases of the problem:

To what extent is creativity a quality of a process, a product, or an individual?

Is creativity a characteristic of relatively few individuals (or their work) or is it, potentially at least, a quality of most human beings?

To what extent is creative ability a matter of intelligence or personality patterns, innate capacities or the circumstances affecting its development?

How is such an ability, process, or characteristic related to other aspects of man? 18

How may creative ability be recognized at an early age?

Is it possible that creative abilities may be encouraged and deliberately developed, and if possible, how may these abilities be fostered?

What environment is conducive to the development and expression of creative potential?

What are the implications for education of knowledge about these aspects of creativity?

Procedure of the study

The first two phases of the problem required an inductive

approach which may be described as follows:

The literature was first scanned for an overview yielding

major emphases ; when these became somewhat evident, data were tenta-

tively organized around them; as the survey continued the preliminary

organizations were adjusted or revamped to achieve a more compre-

hensive structure; concurrent with the attempts to construct a

best fit of the data were comparisons of differing concepts and

conclusions in order to discern commonalities or distinctions among

them; finally a synthetic pattern was fashioned and checked against the data which led to further synthesis in the formulation of the conception of creativity.

The last phase, the formulation, from the aforementioned analysis and synthesis, of conclusions and educational implications for fostering creativity, was essentially a deductive process which required further analysis and synthesis similar to the description above. In stating implications, the conception of creativity was used as a guide and tentative formulations were weighed against it and the research evidence; judgment determined the final content. .

Limitations of the study

The survey of the professional literature relative to

creativity -was limited to selected materials published between

1900 and 1963. Although occasional references are made to interest and thought outside of the United States, the bulk of the data, con-

clusions, and implications apply to the United States; no attempt has

been made to consider their applicability to other nations.

Assumptions of the study

1. Individuals vary with respect to their potentialities w

and the extent to which they use their potentialities.

2. The school is one institution which affects the

development of an individual's potentialities.

3. The goal of fostering creativity is consistent with the ^ goals of a democratic society.

li. Research findings may have implications for educational

practice, and such findings provide sound bases for educational

practice

Organization of material

Theoretical conceptions of the nature and nurture of creativity,

the first phase of the problem, are included in Chapters II, III, IV, and V; research data, the second phase, are part of Chapters II, III,

IV, and V; and conclusions and implications, the third phase, are the subject of Chapter VI.

The material pertaining to the nature of creativity is organized around three major axes, viz , the creative process and products, the creative person, and the relationships of environment •

to creativity; these themes become Chapters II, III, and IV, re-

spectively. The material pertaining to the nurture of creativity

forms Chapter V. Chapter VI states a conception of the nature of

creativity based on conclusions drawn from the data; implications

for education are grouped as they rebate to curriculum and teacher

education.

Summary

Among the reasons stated for the current interest in

creativity displayed by individuals in the arts, education,

government, industry, and the sciences here and abroad are world

problems, accelerated change, the value of creative thinking

abilities in learning, and the relationship of creativeness to

mental health. Several important investigations of and programs

for developing creative abilities were noted as an introduction to an examination of theoretical and research evidence, the purpose of

which is to seek implications for education. The problem and

purpose of this study is to determine the extent of knowledge

supported by research evidence relative to seven questions of

importance to education in hopes of reducing to sane reasonable degree the time lag between the discovery and implementation of this knowledge CHAPTER II

CREATIVE PROCESSES AND OUTCOMES

Introduction

The process of creating yields the "• . . production of

1 2 some new configuration.” Keiler, Rogers,3 and Kelley and Rasey^

stress that what is creative is in essence the process. May puts \

it succinctly i "It is not, strictly speaking, proper to speak of a\

'creative person' but only of a creative act , the person creating ] .... For what is occurring is always a process, a doing; J

specifically, a process interrelating the person and his world. "3/

But process yields product and requires a doer; May's creative act

involves all three.

Brewster Ghislin, "The Creative Process and Its Relation to the Identification of Creative Talent," Scientific Creativity, ed. Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (New York: John Wiley and Sons. Inc., 1963), p. 36U.

^Manfred L. Keiler, "Creativity: Core of Art Education," Educational Leadership . XVIII (October, I960), 28-32.

3 Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1961), pp. 3U7-359.

^?arl C. Kelley and Marie I. Rasey, Education and the Nature of Man (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1952).

%ollo May, "The Nature of Creativity," Creativity and Its 1 1 a ti on > ed Harold H. Anderson (New ^3 ^ -l . ; York: Harper and Brothers, 1969;, pp. 60, 66. *

21 ,

These several -writers agree that there must be some outcome

to the process and that the outcome must have some degree of novelty.

Stein refers to ". . .a novel work that is accepted as tenable or ^ * useful or satisfying by a significant group of others at seme point

in time";^ he limits the term to processes which result in culturally

significant products. May, on the other hand, distinguishes between

two types of creativity, viz . that which results from an encounter

with the world and whose product may be entirely personal and

special talent creativeness whose products require sone type of

special ability. The most outstanding examples of human creativity

2 result from great talent and great encounter. Maslow, too, distin-

guishes two types of creativity: primary creativity which springs

from the primary processes and may be entirely personal and secondary

creativity which relies on secondary processes and yields substantial

products o Great creative work is integrated creativity combining

primary and secondary processes with talent and inspiration. ^ Others

also include in their conceptions of creativity, activities resulting

in outstanding products, and those with more personal and intangible

outccmes.k In addition to concrete, relatively rare, and socially

%oris I. Stein, "Creativity and Culture," Journal of Psychology. 81 *** XXXVI (1953), 311-322.

2 Rollo May, p. 60.

.-’Abraham H. Maslow, "Creativity in Self-Actualizing People," Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. 91-93.

klarl R. RogerS; Erick Fromm, "The Creative Attitude," Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. lil;-5U. o

significant products these writers include new appreciations and

understandings of oneself and the world, ability to assist others to r

solve problems or gain understanding, and results of such activities

as psychotherapy, self-examination, homemaking, and teaching which-

are creative if they combine elements that are novel to the individual*

if not to others

Murray distinguishes a mutual, participating type of creativity which he calls dyadic and which results from the blending of two

imaginations. 1 There are obvious differences among the production of a masterpiece by a rare genius, the modifidation of a product suggested

by a technician, and the concoction of a new recipe by a housewife,

i.e. the time, complexity of thought involved, degree of novelty, and cultural value placed on the results differ in each case. However, Thurstone assumed "• . • that creative talent is qualitatively the same at all levels of problem-solving ... the processes ... at. the professional level are psychologically similar to {VsxoqqJ ... of occasional successful men who are classified as geniuses." 2 Rogers,

too, assumes "... that there is no fundamental difference in the creative process as it is evidenced in painting a picture, composing a symphony, devising new instruments of killing, developing a

scientific theory, discovering new procedures in human relationships,

^Henry A.Murray, "Vicissitudes of Creativity," Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. 110-115.

2 L. L. Thurstone, "The Scientific Study of Inventive Talent," A Source Book for Creative ' Thinking , ed. Sidney J. Fames and Harold F « Harding (.New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), p. 52. ^

1 2U

similar elements in the production of artistic and scientific products

by professionals and nonprofessionals. Introspective accounts by

Poincare and Isadora Duncan, far instance, contain striking similarities

although their fields of activity are different in many ways .

Vinacke pointed out that a common tendency has been to confuse

the creative product with the mental processes preceding it and to

assume that because the great creative achievement is highly unusual

and marvelous the creator is himself radically different and uses

uncommon mental processes; rather than this being the case, he suggested

that the creator cultivates situations requiring creative thought and

directs his mental activities toward these .3 Difficulties are involved

in the investigation of creation; nevertheless, methods, opportunities,

and beginnings have been made. Barron commented ruefully that the

mystery "... has preserved itself rather vrell."^ The purpose of

this chapter, therefore, is to examine the data and seek characteristics

of the process and outcomes of creative thinking.

’’Catherine Patrick, Uhat is Creative Thinking? (New York: Philosophical library, 1955), p. ix.

2 Brewster Ghiselin, The Creative Process , pp. 11;, 33-U2.

3 W. Edgar Vinacke, The Psychology of Thinking (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1952), pp. 236-239.

^Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression," New Insights c^ nd tne Curriculum (Yfashington, D. C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1963), p. 28?. .

Aspects of Creative Thought 1 Analyses of the creative process vary in the number and

specificity of the elements involved, e.g., Kris divided the process

into two parts: 1) inspiration, drawing on unconscious material and

2) elaboration, as the creator views and molds his work from the

outside. Rossman stated seven steps in invention which he believed

were present and taken, consciously or unconsciously, in all cases

of successful invention although the divisions might be fused rather

than sharp: 1) observation of a need or difficulty, 2) analysis of

the need, 3) a survey of all available information, U) a formulation

°£ aH objective solutions, 5) a critical analysis of these solutions

for their advantages and disadvantages, 6) the birth of the new idea—

the invention, 7) experimentation to test out the most promising

solution, and the selection and perfection of the final embodiment by

some or all of the previous steps.^ Osborn's seven steps include:

1) orientation: pointing up the problem ; 2) preparation: gathering pertinent data ; 3 ) analysis : breaking down the relevant material;

U) hypothesis: piling up alternatives by way of ideas ; 5) incubation: letting up, to invite illumination; 6) synthesis : putting the pieces together; 7) verification: judging the resultant ideas.3 Others have included three to five steps or stages

E • Kris, '’Psychoanalysis and the Study of Creative Imagination, tt Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, XXIX (1953), 33U-351. 2 J. Rossman, The Psychology of the Inventor (new and rev. ed.; Washington, D. CTi Inventors Publishing Company, 1931). 3 -“Alex F. Osborn. 26

A classic, and perhaps best known, description of creative 1

1 thinking is the one written by Wallas. He based his model on the

introspective statements of Helmholtz and Poincare* Helmholtz stated

that after a period of work—investigation and exploration—he

reached an impasse, and it seemed impossible to continue working 0

But after a period of rest, often unexpectedly, a solution would

appear. While Poincare's account concurred with this, he described a

period of concentrated work and effort following the sudden coming of

a solution or idea; intensive work preceded and followed the appearance

of the solution. Follow-up work included working out the results,

writing out the idea and details, and verifying the work. The Wallas

description includes four stages or types of thought and work, viz ,

preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.

Antecedents of creative thought J

Vfallas included ". . . the whole process of intellectual

• p education" in his discussion of the preparatory stage. Others, too, have given it rather broad interpretations which may be considered antecedents of a particular creative effort. It may be said, with

Murphy, that one's whole life is preparation for production; even that mankind's history is preparation for the contributions of succeed- ing generations The quality of preparation afforded through a

^Graham Wallas, The Art of Thought (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1926).

2 Ibid ., p. 82.

^Gardner Murphy, Human Potentialities (New York: Basic Books. Inc., 1958), pp. 12 9-17Uo 27

lifetime of viewing the world, building experiences, learning about

one's self and the myriad things to be known influences the possibility

3, of creative work. Birch concluded from an experiment with chimpanzees $ that their past experience provided elements which were utilized

in their being able to produce novel combinations required for in-

sightful problem solving Irving Taylor calls this general prepara-

exposure which includes many life experiences absorbed without

awareness of how they may be helpful or without each being categorized.3 1 Lowes ' search of the poet 's notebook and readings revealed

the sources, and sometimes the transformations of symbols in Coleridge's

iiaageryj his reading, observations, contacts with people became

fodder or preparation far his writing.^ Johnson recommends broad

rather than specific preparation for creative work because the exact

nature of the problem is unknown.3 Bartok's immersing himself in a study of Hungarian folk music which influenced his own later compositions

is an example of broad rather than specific preparation.^ Sometimes

^The influence of the quality of past experience on imagination was discussed by Dearborn and Sharp as cited in Chapter I.

2 Herbert G. Birch, "The Relation of Previous Experience to Lisightful Problem-Solving," Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology , XXXVIII (19h$) , 3W-.3&3. 3 Irving Taylor, "The Nature of the Creative Process," Creativity y ed. Paul * Smith (New York: Hastings House, 1959), p. 62. kj. L. Lowes, The Road to Xanadu (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1927/o

^Donald Johnson, The Psychology of Thought and Judgment“ (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955).

^Toska Tolces, Creative Disciplines (Portland, Maine: The Bond Wheelwright Company, 1956). ^

preparation is seen as long, demanding, and rigorous, as, for instance,

the learning of skills with tools, materials, or the procedures

increasingly necessary at present and in the future for novel pro-

duction in science, business, education, or other fields. Murray

writes about "a sufficient concentration,'* a great store of contents

in the pre- and unconscious, and a great fund of knowledge of the

world; Hutchinson, of orientation which includes past experience

and the acquisition of necessary skills.

Sensitivity to discrepancies in events or data may initiate

thought in science; whereas the ordinary person might ignore the

deviant case or try to force it into the prevailing mold, the scientist

might seize on it for a new ventured Together with sensitivity

toward some aspect of living or knowledge, another requirement seems

to be a certain degree of freedom, personal or social, in sane area

of life, to question the existent.

Whatever initiates a productive siege probably begins with

glimmerings that somehow an improvement of or addition to the current situation —whether knowledge, ways of working or behaving —is possible; it may be a desire to penetrate to an as yet unknown level of thought.

It may begin with a desire for, realization, or assignment of a specific

'Henry A.. Murray, p. 106.

2 Eliot Dole Hutchinson, How to Think Creatively (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 19k9)o

3Georee MandJer and William Kessen, „ The Language of Psvcholoev^ (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1959')',~pp. 2Ut-2£2. •

task to be accomplished; the beginnings may be precipitated by

chance, e .g . Flemming's development of penicillin, but even here it

is recognition of a chance factor based on sensitivity and thorough

knowledge of and acquaintance with the field. 1 Oddly enough in

seme unusual cases it may be triggered by a sense of urgency as

in the case of the mathematician Galois who made a great contribu-

tion during the hours before his death in a duel. 2 Stein describes

an individual in this early stage as being in a state of disequilibrium

and that this state may be self—induced or may result from his being

sensitive to some deficiency in the current state of affairs.^

Preparation for creative thought

Once an idea or perception, however incomplete, occurs and

is grasped, thought ensues and continues in one form or another until

the effort is ended in final completion or failure. Preliminary

work is characterized by exploratory, familiarizing behavior and

includes determining the problem, searching for and gathering related

data, forming and considering hypotheses, and making attempts at

organizing thoughts. Creators who deal more directly with feeling-

writers and artists—may, as part of their preparation, immerse or

surround themselves in a mood before beginning to work. Sometimes

• klbid . .

2 Brewster Ghiselin, "The Creative Process and Its Relation to the Identification of Creative Talent," p. 363.

Morris I 0 Stein, "Creativity as an Intra— and Inter-personal Process," A Source Book for Creative Thinking , ed. Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962 ), pp . 86—87 «

preparation may be direct, but more often it seems to include fruitless

labor, false starts, erroneous sets, inadequate hypotheses, and almost

trial and error manipulation of ideas. In fact creators in different

fields suggest that thought in the early stages be kept vague to

permit shifts and to avoid premature fixation. The importance of

preliminary work is stressed by creative thinkers and by investigators

of the process; Wallas called such work preparation and saw it as

the stage during 1 which a problem is investigated from all viewpoints .

Patrick designed several research problems to test Wallas

formulation of the four stages of thought. Her goal was a situation

in which creative thought and activity would occur and where it would

be possible to record overt behavior as well as the internal thought

processes. The subjects were artists and nonartists, poets and non-

poets matched for race, age, sex, and inte lligence as estimated by

vocabulary level. Individually the subjects were presented with a

stimulus—for art production the stimulus was a selection of poetry;

for poetry, a landscape—and asked to produce a picture or poem

while verbalizing their thoughts as they worked. Records of the verbal behavior and actual performance taken at specific time intervals

during the experiments were supplemented by questionnaires directed

to the artists and poets relative to their work methods. Patrick defined the preparatory stage as the period from the presentation of the task until the first line of poetry, for example, was written, and she considered changes of thought, new ideas, and revised

1 Graham Wallas. 31

associations, occurring in this period, as evidence of preparation.

The experimental period having been divided into four parts, she found

that 75 per cent of the preparatory behavior in the art study and 50

per cent of the preparatory thought in the poetry study, occurred in

the first quarter period In a study of creativity in painting,

providing greater freedom in choice of materials and time for work,

Eindhoven and Vinacke found evidence of preparation occurring in the

early stages,* subjects read the poem (experimental stimulus) and

sketched ideas before actually beginning to paint (experimental task). ^

In these studies certain similarities and differences between

the professionals and nonprofessionals were noted with respect to

preliminary work, e.g., both groups took time to make trial attempts

and changes in thought before the final product evolved; the artists

rapidly made more small sketches in the early stages while the non-

professionals tended to make fewer but larger preparatory sketches,

and about as much time , was spent on these as with the final product;

the professionals were more skilled in their approaches to the problem,

but whether their skill resulted from special abilities or greater

practice was not clear.

Incubation in creative thought

Wallas conceived of incubation as a stage in which an in-

dividual does not think of the problem, but "unconscious and involun—

^Catharine Patrick, "Creative Thought in Artists,” Journal of Psychology , IV (1937), 35-73; "Creative Thought in Poets," ArchiviT"" of Psychology , XXVI (1955), 1-71*. p J. Eindhoven and W. E. Vinacke, "Creative Processes in Paint— ing,» Journal of General Psychology. XLVII (1952), 139-161*. 32

tary . . . nl events may take place . . . . Ghiselin termed this

phase quiescence, but in recognition of how little is known about it,

he commented that all terms are really " . . .a picturesque substi-

tute for an avowal of ignorance. Hutchinson described this as the

stage of frustration because of frequently heightened tension and

temporary abandonment of work.^ Taylor characterizes the period as

one ". when . . experiences mill and flow freely about . . .»;k

Murray and Stein discuss the importance of "permeability" of boundaries

between interests and between the conscious and unconscious y* Kris

1 describes a condition in which the normal separation between id and

ego is permeable and energy is devoted to bringing to consciousness

material ordinarily repressed—-creation thus becomes ''regression in

the service of the ego."^ Portnoy refers to unconscious elaboration,?

and Poincare believed that thought occurred in the unconscious.®

^Graham Wallas, p. 86.

2 Brewster Ghiselin, The Creative Process , pp. 11-31.

3 -'Eliot Dole Hutchinson.

^Irving Taylor, p. 61*.

-’Henry A. Murray, p. 107; Morris I. Stein, p. 87.

^E. Kris.

?J. Portnoy, "A Psychological Theory of Artistic Creation, ’ American Psychologist , IV (191*9), 266. O °Henri Poincar^, '’Mathematical Creation," The Creative Process , ed. Brewster Ghiselin (New York: The New American Library. 1952), pp. 33-1*2. 2 •

. In Patrick's studies, incubation was defined as the appearance

of an idea in an early stage, its recurrence along the way, and its

incorporation into the final product. Evidence of this stage came

from the working comments of the subjects, and it was recorded for

80 per cent of the art subjects and nonpoets and for two-thirds of

the poets. Furthermore, when it occurred, it tended to follow the

preparation stage, although its appearance was noted at different

times in the sequence of work.-*- Certain characteristics, however,

are typical whether thought involves a poem, problem solving, or

an invention, viz , no overt work is done on an idea yet revisions

occur.

Though attested to by creative thinkers, explanations of

incubation and its unconscious aspects vary; an inventor suggested

that intense thought and work take place which may be overlooked

in the light of accomplishing a solution. Patrick declared that

the incubating idea has not completely disappeared from consciousness, but that it recurs and thinking probably continues.

Incubation may be considered a period in which interference resulting from false starts and erroneous assumptions is eliminated through forgetting thus permitting insight or solution.-^ Dashiell

-Catharine Patrick, "Artists"; "Poets."

^Catharine Patrick, "Poets."

3 Robert S. Woodworth and Harold Schlosberg, Experimental Psychology (rev. ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 195U) 3U

related insight to recall which depends on the absence of interference. 1

Gestalt psychologists use the phrase "restructuring the cognitive

field * which refers to shedding old assumptions seeing new requirements

and possibilities; rigidity is eased thus permitting the possibility

of creative thinking. Restructuring may be operating in relation to

the inception of creative thought and during incubation. 2

Set refers to readiness or preparedness and has positive

effects in that it facilitates appropriate responses and inhibits

inappropriate responses; it has negative effects in that it may not

be adequately oriented to a given situation or goal. Luchins

demonstrated that rigidity prevents the use of more efficient means

of solving a problem;^ Duncker's experiments relative to functional

fixity also illustrate the disadvantage of set in problem solving.

He demonstrated a kind of negative transfer which occurs when an

object having one customary use is not easily seen as suitable for a

different use.^ One way to overcome a set is to put away the problem for a time and return to it later. Thus the stage or process of

incubation in creative thought may be considered as a period in which

1 John F. Dashiell, Fundamentals of General Psychology (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1931), pp. 562-560. 2 Max Wertheimer, Productive Thinking (enlarged ed.; New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959T<>

A. S. Luchins, "Mechanization in Problem-Solving. The Effect of Einstellung," Psychological Monographs , LEC (19U2), whole number 2U8

^K. Duncker, "A Qualitative (Experimental and Theoretical) Study of Productive Thinking (Solving of Comprehensible Problems)," Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology . XXXIII (1926), 35

a passage of time has allowed an erroneous set to die out thereby leav-

ing the thinker free to restructure the field. Lack of fatigue and

a degree of freshness as well as the absence of interference operate

to permit a solution to be found.

Thurstone suggested experimental study of the nature of thinking prior to the mcment of insight. He l^pothesized that creative

thought might be described in terms of the individual’s ’’rapport . . .

with his own preconscious thinking.”^ in a study of Thurstone ’s

hypothesis regarding preconscious thinking, Bouthilet used a word list and required the subjects to assign code numerals to each word;

they were told whether their responses were correct or incorrect.

She differentiated three categories of thinkers: 1) those who discovered the rule and showed a greater than chance level of correctness prior to insight, 2) those who discovered the rule and showed a lav level of correctness prior to insight, and 3) those who in

20 trials did not discover the rule. The result that some subjects showed, prior to insight, increasing levels of correctness was interpreted as evidence of prefocal thinking and that rapport with preconscious thinking led to improved performance; such persons might have considerable potential for creative thinking. 2

ii. L. Thurstone, p. 52. 2 Bouthilet, ’’The / . Measurement of Intuitive Thinking” (unpublished, , Ph. D. dissertation. University of Chicago, I9i;8). 36

Illumination in creative thought

For Wallas illumination is the stage of the occurrence of a

flashing thought incapable of being willfully induced. At time s

there is a feeling that an important thought is arriving which Wallas

called intimation.^ Ghiselin refers to inspiration^ which is to Born

a particular perception and its emotional release;-3 while to Fiebleman

inspiration is the awareness of the result of unconscious revisions

of impressions Several psychologists have used the word insight:

Thurstone "... assumed that the creative act is characterized by

the moment of insight which is often preceded by nonverbalized pre—

focal thinking";^ May points out that insights come "only in the

areas to which the person is intensively committed ... /and7 has

worked laboriously and with dedication ...

Illumination was defined in Patrick's study as occurring when

an idea being considered (incubated) definitely is related to the

task at hand, e.g. when the general shape of the poem or picture was

begun. This characteristic of thought was found to occur in the

Graham Wallas.

2 Brewster Ghiselin ? The Creative Process « 3 W. Born, "Unconscious Processes in Artistic Creation," Journal ^ of Clinical Psychopathology and Psychotherapy . VII (191*5),

kj. K. Feibleman, "The Psychology of the Artist," Journal of Psychology , XIX (191*5), 165-189.

^L. L. Thurstone, p. 52. /

^Rollo May, p. 62. 37

second and third quarters of the experimental periods. ^ In a study

of creative thinking related to a science problem, (only the first

three stages were included in the design) tte subjects were divided

into two matched groups j one planned an experiment (experimental task)

at one session while their verbalized thoughts were recorded, the

other group worked for several weeks, recording their thoughts in

a notebook. More elaborate plans were reported by the group working

for a longer period of time, but preparation, incubation and illumina-

tion were typically present under both conditions

Retrospective statements of scientists, inventors, and

artists can be found to give evidence of illumination often coming

in whole rather than partial form and often at unusual times and

places. For example, Beethoven reported that a melody came to him

while riding in a coach; Kekule dreamed of coiled snakes and thus

arrived at the concept of the benzine ring; the bath is often a

fecund time, almost everyone knows the tale told of Archimedes, and

then there is the account of the thinker who suddenly realized that

his preoccupation he had bathed twice—an idea had come.

Maier concluded that perception of a solution to a problem

(insight) "(a) ... is sudden, (b) there is no conscious intermediate

stage, and (c) the relationships of the elements in the final per-

ception are different from those which preceded, i.e., changes in

1 Catharine Patrick, '‘Poets''; "Artists."

p Catharine .Patrick, "Scientific Thought," Journal of

Psychology , V (1938), 55-83. 38

meaning are 1 involved.** Patrick, too, investigated the appearance

of a whole or general idea in creative thought and concluded that in the illumination stage, ideas tend to be general with details being added or changed in the last stage; during preparation and incubation, details or whole ideas might come first although the

tendency again was 2 for whole ideas to appear. Insight, if it came,

came whole for Bouthilet's subjects

Thurstone hypothesized that insight would be more likely to occur in ''dispersed attention** rather than during concentration, and

he advocated investigation of thought processes rather than dependence

on curious anecdotes or observation.^ Many accounts of how and when

great ideas have occurred describe casual activities, moments of

rest, or seemingly trivial events. According to psychoanalytic theory during recreation or prior to, during, or following sleep,

.conscious controls are less strong thus permitting unconscious

material to come into awareness.

A well-prepared mind may need but a chance occurrence to achieve a pattern; McLean wrote

1 N. R. F. Maier, "Reasoning in Humans. The Solution of a Problem and Its Appearance in Consciousness,** Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology — , XII (1931), I8I-I9E; 2 Catharine Patrick, "Whole and Part Relationship in Creative Thought,** American Journal of Psychology . LIV (19U1), 128-131.

L. Bouthilet.

^L. L. Thurstone. 39

• Accidental discovery comes most often to the man who has 6-i-^sn much conscious thought to the problem upon which he is engaged and who is in a position to grasp, through both conscious and unconscious mental processes, the significance of any accidental observations he may make. This accidental discovery is most apt to cane to the scientist who makes the greatest use of his faculties including those of rational analysis

Similar statements have been made by Cannon^ and Mandler and Kessen; many examples may be cited, e.g. von Mering and Minkowski's discovery

of a sugar-control function in the area of the pancreas; however

lucky the break in serendipitous cases, preparation beforehand enabled

recognition of the possibilities and careful work followed to confirm it.^

Gestalt psychologists emphasize insight in problem solving and maintain that thinking, and this would be especially true of creative thinking, cannot be explained in terms of habits or conditioning. Duncker considered insight to be of three types: total

analytic, coming during direct work toward the goal; total synthetic, coming when not working at the problem; and mixed, ccming during a

1 period of resumed work. * For Duncker, . . in all real explanations and ingenious theories insightful relationships are involved."^

G * McLean, "The Happy Accident," The Scientific Monthlv. LIII (19U1), 61-70. =*-*

W. B. Cannon, "The Role of Chance in Discovery," The Scientific Monthly , L (191*0), 20l;-209.

^ George Mandler and William Kessem.

^Cited in John W. Haefele, „ . Creativity and Innovation (New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1962 J7 p. 92. >K. Duncker. .

Verification in creative thought

As a result of preliminary work, incubation, and achieving

insight, an idea my be formed and a plan determined; work to complete

the plan may be marked by further preparation if necessary, continued

incubation of aspects of the problem, additional insights, devising a

means of testing the accuracy or usefulness of tte idea, tentative

judgment to confirm the feasibility of the task, or it may be the

rather routine task of producing whatever was indicated by a complete

insight. Poincare described the occurrence of full insight followed

1 by a matter-of-fact recording of it on paper . Evaluation and

communication are part of this final phase : Does the result have

meaning? Does it square with reality? How does it compare with

others ' results? Does it work? Are modifications or revisions

needed? Is the result esthetically satisfying? In some instances

immediate verification is not possible; in others it farms the final

phase of production.

Verification was defined by Wallas as the testing of the idea

and 2 putting it in its final form . Taylor calls this final stage

execution which involves the testing and communication of the work.^

To Patrick verification included the processes of perception and

judgment; this is the time and place for critical scrutiny, rational corrections, and logical starriards.^

^enri Poincare.

^Graham Wallas .3 Irving Taylor.

^Catharine Patrick, '’Creative Thought in Poets.” • The experiments with the production of painting and poetry 1

noted that the final work was largely concerned with the revision of

details, but the essential structure was unchanged. Most of this

activity occurred in the third and fourth periods, but again the

stages overlapped.

Mandler and Kessen point out that remarkable advances in

science may seem to be accidental or magical but that these are

grounded in careful training and tedious testing so that they may

be available to other scientists for verification. It is at this

point where the sciences and arts differ, i.e. artists and scientists

may achieve insight or get ideas in highly subjective ways, but the

scientist strives to test an idea by so called scientific methods

thereby offering the results to a wider community^ ^ the artist may

produce a complete, esthetically satisfying but idiosyncratic work

which may be accepted or rejected without resorting to experimental

- tests of its limits or validity.

Limitations of the research evidence

Data with respect to creative processes come from intro-

spection, either accounts related by creative thinkers or in response

to questionnaires (see Ghiselin for the first type-* and Hutchinson,^

1Ibido

2 George Mandler and William Kessen.

3 Brewster Ghiselin, The Creative Process .

^Eliot Dole Hutchinson. . "

U2 1 Ha^amard, Rossman, 2 Platt and Baker^ for tte second.) Data may be based on observations, interviews, and diaries made as professionals and nonprofessionals worked on special tasks, analyses of creative work in writing and painting; evidence of prefocal thought, or studies of related topics, e.g. concept formation and problem solving. From these data various descriptive models which may

have heuristic values may be drawn.

Although Patrick carefully defined the operations of thought which were sought in the experimental settings, one wonders if a truly creative situation can be constructed in a laboratory where time is constricted other than as it might normally be, where materials are provided rather than normally sought, and wtere subjects are consciously trying to vocalize thoughts which may occur much more rapidly than speech and interfere with other thoughts or work. The reservation about the time element was recognized by the investigator who stated that, although no limit was set and subjects varied in the amount used, the period was brief—about twenty minutes. This criticism is tempered by the fact that some of the products were later published, and the professional artists affirmed that their normal working procedures were much the same as the ones they followed for the experiment. The results of the study of thought in relation

J. Hadamard, An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field (Princeton: Princeton • University Press, l9k$) Ros sman

Platt and R » A. Baker, "Relation of ltt , , the Scientific arCh> " QUrnal °f Ch - emica l Education . 196^2002! VIII (1931), h3

tc a science problem revealed only somewhat better productions with

greater amounts of time.^

Another study of painting permitted subjects to come to the

laboratory several times according to their inclinations, various

materials were available, and the work was observed and recorded

unobtrusively; it was concluded that the processes are dynamic and

difficult if not impossible to separate

Individual differences and variations in creative thought

In cases of high level substantial production the creative process may be lengthy and may involve detours and repeated attempts, or it may be rapid and accomplished with ease once insight is achieved.

In the case of more modest personal level accomplishment, the effort

may be brief and almost immediate with little preliminary or final work involved or the stages may be telescoped so as to be hardly

distinguishable. The initial capacity and experiences of the

' individual will, undoubtedly, affect the length of and variations in the process.

The extent to which a thought process is creative depends on the problem and its inception, whether the entire process is

completed or abandoned, and the quality of the result. If a problem is assigned and the result is not unique, the creativity involved may

be a quality of the individual's understanding and growth or there may be no creative effort or outcome at all; similarly if the result is

novel and judged to be a contribution, the creativeness may be

Catharine Patrick, "Artists"; "Poets"; "Scientific Thought." 2 J. Eindhoven and W. E. Vinacke. uu socially recognized as well as an individual matter.

Individuals vary with respect to the extent that they are able to engage in or contribute to the process of creating; some may be able to form ideas or make suggestions but may not refine any of these into a final product; others may be able to accumulate data about a problem without applying it. A person may be able to evaluate the work of others and make suggestions for improvement; also recognized as creative is the sort of social behavior involved in bridging the distance between the creator and society, e.g. making contact between an inventor and the developers or large scale producers which results in widespread use of a new product. ^ These variations may be creative or potentially creative in varying degrees depending on a particular view or definition of creativity, e.g. most views incorporate the necessity for an idea to be embodied in some form and communicated in some fashion, mere ideation itself falls short of creation. The potential creativity of many individuals may be confined to small scale modifications of daily tasks at heme or on the job or expressed in personal appreciation of others or the world.

Blocks to creative thinking

A number of things may serve to interrupt or block creative thought; interruption of thought at a crucial point, e.g. at insight, may prevent continuation of the process although seme individuals are able to resurrect such moments; the inability to

^-Harold D. Lasswell, "The Social Setting of Creativity,"

Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New Yorks Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. 205-211. ;

overcame an erroneous set may block successful problem solving

anxiety and tension resulting from facing the unknown or fran distress-

ing memories or feelings arising from the unconscious as new ideas are

sought may force the creator to shut off an Important source of

- material.^ The demands and pace of modern living often mitigate

against creative thought. These and other blocks affecting the

thinking process are related to or may arise from differences in

temperament, motivation, experiences, and setting.

Outcomes of Creative Processes

While the creative process is intangible and difficult to

focus on, the creative product or that which results from the thought

process is relatively more tangible and often causes comment. The

work of outstanding human beings often provokes fear or rejoicing,

bewilderment or agreeable recognition, blame or praise, sometimes

ridicule or mere forbearance.- Yet the progress, regression, or

possibly the annihilation of mankind rests on great creative achieve-

ments; the quality of an individual^ life is certainly affected by

them as well as by humble examples which go virtually unnoticed.

If creativity itself may be viewed as capable of manifestation

at the level of unique production and more commonly at the level of

personal achievement, which may or may not include a product in the usual sense of the word, it may be more accurate to speak of tte

outcomes of creative processes rather than of creative products.

kleorge Mandler and William Kessen, pp. 2U5-2U8. h6

The outcome or result of a creative process may be a concrete object

such as a building, it may be an idea expressed as an equation or

theory or embodied in a piece of sculpture, or it may take the form

of any of the diverse productions of man. In cases of discovery

the creative aspect is to be found in the thought process leading

to a discovery or, if unsought, in recognizing the new elements and

capitalizing on them. The outcome of a creative process may also be

greater individual awareness of experience, a more pleasing arrange-

raent of one's living space, the achievement of understanding new to

the individual but known to others, an improvement in social relationships, or the achievement of service to others thereby increasing

their awareness or freeing their creative potentialities.

Hierarchies of creative products

Various schemes have been proposed for assigning value or other distinguishing marks to a creative product. Stein declared

that the product must be novel, useful, and recognized hy seme group at some time; he cautioned, hewever, that esteem for creative works varies as cultural values and styles change and as civilization 1 progresses . Rogers, on the other hand, stated that whether good or bad, recognized or not, a creative 2 act may have occurred . Between these extremes may be found proposals for assigning levels or degrees of creativity to creative products, recognizing all the while that such designations reflect current cultural values which are subject

^Morris I. Stein, "Creativity and Culture."

2Carl R. Rogers. U7

to fluctuations as times and conditions change.

Taylor would classify creative products according to five

levels: First, the expressive level is characterized by spontaneity

and freedom where quality is not important, but independent expression

is: this level is a ". . . prerequisite to later, more advanced, and

more highly controlled creative achievement." A child's drawing is

an example of expressive creativity. Second, the productive level

involves mastery of seme part of the environment by making an object

which may be similar to other objects. Third, the inventive level

exhibits ingenuity and the new lose of old elements but no new basic

idea, e.g. the contributions of inventors, explorers, and discoverers.

Fourth, the innovative level is characterized by alterations in basic

theory or fundamentals of knowledge. Fifth, the highest and rarest

level is the emergentive which involves the emergence of a new

principle, e.g. Einstein's work."1"

Fliegler arranged seven levels of creative behavior into a

pyramid of cumulative and related steps beginning with "simple

habit creativity" which while common to almost all human beings

is the beginning of loftier achievements and continuing through the

creation of life and the universe; the latter are beyond man's

powers but are included for theoretical perspective and in the event man approaches these in the future

J ^Irving Taylor, pp. 55-61.'

^Louis A. Fliegler, "Dimensions of the Creative Process,"

Creativity and Psychological Health , ed. Michael F. Andrews "[Syracuse University Press, 1961), "pp. 15-19. U8

Lcwenfeld suggested that children's art work could be evaluated

in tenns of the degree of freedom it exhibited: 1) constant stereotypes

and repetitions of elements; 2) now and then repetitious elements;

3) mere objective reports of the environment; U) seme inclusion of

self by adding personal elements to an objective report; 5) indirect

or direct inclusion of self.^-

Rhodes devised a scheme for recording on graphs changes over

a period of years in children's creative productions according to

the various characteristics of the product, e *g « revelation of an

internal or external orientation to the world* He argued that the

product embodies an idea and presents a record of the individual's

thinking at one point in time* It is possible to study creative

products and from them infer the mental processes which led to them

in a fashion somewhat analogous to archeological reconstructions of

the past from artifacts* A classification of products, according to

Rhodes, would eliminate much of the existing confusion regarding what is creative and what is not; in addition such a record would contribute to more understanding of the development of creative thought in children.^

Criteria of creativity

A thorny and as yet unresolved problem is that of a criterion

^-Viktor Lowenfeld, Creative and Mental Growth~ (3rd New York: The Macmillan Company, 1^57;.

2 James Melvin Rhodes, "The Dynamics of Creativity: An Inter- pretation of the Literature on Creativity with a Proposed Procedure for Objective Research" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. Department of Education, University of Arizona, 1956). U9 or criteria of creativity. What is the level or degree of creativity or originality or novelty achieved by a particular product? How may this be determined? Criteria of creativity usually relate to judgments or ratings of creative products, behavior, or individuals; analyses of products; and/or tests of creative abilities or traits.

Consideration of criteria applied to creative processes or products follows, while discussion of criteria dealing with individual ratings and tests is found in Chapter III.

Creative products as criteria . —Creative products have been used as criteria in several studies. Rossman counted the number of patents issued to inventors and analyzed inventions into three classifications: 1) physical, social, or mental, 2) basic or applied, and 3) empirical or systematic Numbers and quality of publications, citations, inclusion in indices, histories, or awards and honors are criteria based on productivity.

History records the names and accomplishments of many outstandingly creative human beings, and such persons generally accepted as creative may be used for study. Usually, however, such study is removed in time and place from the actual creator and may depend to some extent on the examination of anecdotal material which is not always reliable. Selections of creative persons have been based on listings in encyclopedias (Cox, Cattell), biographical, indices and dictionaries (Galton, Cattell, Clark, Ellis), indices

1 J. Rossman. 50 and histories of the sciences and arts (Lehman, Raskin, Visher,

Knapp and Goodrich), votes of peers (Cattell), evaluations of scholars (Cattell), citations in professional publications, income, offices in professional organizations, honors and fellowships held (Clark, Knapp and Goodrich). 1 Nobel prize winners or holders of other distinguished citations may be assumed to be creative and therefore worthy of study.

Criterion committees reported to the Utah Research Conferences various problems and plans for establishing criteria of scientific creativity. Ghiselin proposed that the ultimate criterion of a

creative contribution M is . . .the extent to which it restructures

our universe of understanding . . ."by introducing new elements into it; a lower level of creativity involves advancing the use and development of present systems of knowledge. Similarly Lacklen stated that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA) considers the creative level of an idea in terms of the extent

to which it underlies or affects the organization of knowledge, i.e. a highly creative contribution affects more branches of knowledge than the one in which 2 it was formulated. Walker used, as a criterion for designating creative chemists and mathematicians, peer ratings based, in part, on the influence of their writings and

For abstracts and citations of these q+ • studies see Morris I. Stem and Shirley J. Heinze, Creativity and the Individual (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, i960). 2 bert Lacklen ?° and Lindsey R. Harmon, "Criterion Committee Report,4- ., Research Conference on the Identification of Creative ** ^ ^ °ity! ^

other productions in providing basic orientation in their special ^ fie Ids.

Another scheme was concerned with assessing the creativity

of an individual scientist's life work. Such factors as numbers of

publications and patents, peer ratings, and scholarly references to

his work would contribute to a determination of the relative

creativeness of scientists past the age of sixty. These criteria would be of historical significance, but of considerably less value

in the study of younger persons and immediately active situations.

McPherson suggested that creative products be evaluated

according to inventivlevel, i.e. criteria used by the U. S. Patent

Office to gauge the meaning or level of inventiveness of a patent

application; inventivlevel criteria are: 1) Qualified intellectual

activity or creative strength used in solving the problem; 2) Use-

fulness of the idea, if executed or found tenable; 3) Step forward or

advance over present knowledge and/or practice; U) Originality or

newness in overcoming a special difficulty; 5) Surprisingness, remarkableness—a seat of the pants criterion.^

^Donald E. Walker, "Consistent Characteristics in the Behavior of Creative Mathematicians and Chemists," American Psychologist, VII (1952), 371.

2 L. R. Harmon, "Criterion Committee Report," Research Con- ference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W. Taylor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1955), pp. 251-259.

3 J. H. McPherson, "A Proposal for Establishing Ultimate Criteria for Measuring Creative Output," Research Conference on the Identifica- \j tion of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W. Taylor (Salt Lake

City! University of Utah Press, 1955) > pp. 62-68. .

Research findings relative to the correlation of childhood

interest in certain hobbies and creative work 3a ter in life contributed

to two scales of creative activities developed by Holland for use in

identifying creative adolescents: '

Creative Science Scale e , !• Presenting an original paper at a scientific meeting sponsored by a professional society. 2. Winning a prize or award in a scientific talent search. 3. Constructing scientific apparatus on own initiative. lw Inventing a patentable device. 5. Having scientific paper published in a science journal.

Creative Art Scale

1. Won one or more speech contests. 2. Had poems , stories, or articles published in a public newspaper or magazine (not school paper) or in state or national high school anthology. 3* Won a prize or award in an art competition (sculpture, ceramics, painting, etc.). U. Received the highest rating in a state music contest. 5» Received one of the highest ratings in a national music contest. 6. Composed music which has been given at least one public

- performance 7. Arranged music for public performance. 8. Had minor roles in plays (not high school or church- sponsored) . 9» Had leads in high school or church-sponsored plays. 10. Won literary award or prize for creative writing. 11. Had cartoon published in a public newspaper or magazine.

He found that these activities scales were the best indicators of

creative potential in adolescents .•*

Witty used a work sample technique whereby samples of creative writing were collected from elementary school children and judged on the basis of originality and sensitive expression of mood and

Cited in E. Paul Torrance, p. 30. . ^

feeling as well as correct use of language. Children identified by this means were studied in comparison to others.^-

Fields of activity as a criterion of creativity . —Eidus on assumed that artists were creative by virtue of their pursuance of this career and that, as artists, they differed from nonartists. 2 Gemant limited consideration to those domains wherein concrete creative activity is possible, hence the arts, sciences, and philosophy are the fields where creative genius may be found; great men engaged in politics, finance, industry, and the military lack certain features of creative genius .3

Performance as criteria. —Sprecher concluded that performance ratings, i.e. ratings of solutions to problems, were more predictive of creativity in engineering than criteria relating to ratings, biographical data, test scores, education, and number of patents. Walker's criterion ratings of creative chemists and mathematicians were based on work methods including unusual ideas, novel perspectives of problems, and the formulation of new problems, as well as on the quality of their writings

¥i T 1 G ted and the Creative Pupil," Education LHXIII ^^(April, ^x" ! ^ f5 . 1962), U51-U59; "The Use of Films in Stimulating Creative Expression and in Identifying Talented Pupils," Elementary English XXXIII (October, “ , 1956), 3 J4O-3 UU. 2 Berni e T * Eidus on, "Artist and Non-artist: , „ T ? A Comparative Study," Journal of Personality . XXVI (1958), 13-28.

Andrew Gemant, The Nature of the Genius T-_, . (Springfield. Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1961), pp. 10-13. Thomas B. Sprecher, "An Investigation .. . of Criteria for Crea- ers " (unpublished Ph. D. 2x)lLd“ g|^ dissertation, University of ^Donald E. Walker. 51*

Fla.na.gan developed a critical incidents technique whereby a sample of critical behavior relative to creative work in a particular situation might be identified. The criteria for the collection of

samples are that particular instances be important to and occur

rather frequently in the overall work situation so that a competent

observer might notice it being done especially well or especially

poorly. For such a sample, a classification can be made and rating

scales and tests constructed.^ Using the critical incidents technique,

Rivlin developed criteria of creativity in pupils as follows: 9. 1. Gives work a "personal touch" 2. Will venture into unfamiliar or new areas 3* Is sensitive to the potentialities of TnpH-ja 1*. Works with enthusiasm and pleasure 5» Demonstrates judgment on the basis of personal standards, • a sense of appropriateness, and taste 6. Is able to "let himself go" and freely respond to the source of stimulation 7. Displays a capacity for self-direction and independence 8 , Simplifies a complex task by perceiving and emphasizing the essentials Uses past knowledge to interpret a present problem in a manner that is original and meaningful 10. Displays judgment and foresight in plan ning work 11. Questions and tests the amplications of facts 12. Understands when to give up plans or ideas that seem impractical or inadequate 13 • Flexible in approach to problems li*. Demonstrates imaginative and original solutions to problems.

Mooney developed a long list (266 items) of characteristics

of creative people which he classified into various dimensions and

John C. Flanagan, "The Critical Incident Technique," Psychological Bulletin . LI (July, 1951*), 327-358. 2 Leanne Green Rivlin, "Creativity and the Self-Attitudes and Sociability of High School Students," Journal of Educational Psychology, L (August, —— 1959), 11*7-152. 55

called indices of creative behavior. It is possible to conceive of

these items as becoming part of a set of criteria for use in research,

1 in fact Mooney proposed just that o' " Numerous items deal with a

positive orientation to other people j none includes a primary orienta-

tion to ideas and things (rather than people) which is characteristic

of some types of physical scientists. 2

Taylor and Holland pointed out in their review of the

research on tests and criteria of creativity that the «... need

for exploration and development of multiple criteria of creative

performance'* is pressing and that multiple criteria are probably

more desirable than a single criterion.^

Evaluation of creative work

Self evaluation . In creative work the judgment or evaluation

of the creator himself is of the utmost importance, i.e. the creation

must satisfy the individual doing the creating:

, Have I created something satisfying to me? Does it express a part of me—my feeling or my thought, my pain or my ecstasy? These are the only questions which really matter to the creative person, or to any person when he is being creative.

^Ross L. Mooney, "A Preliminary Listing of Indices of Creative Behavior'* (Columbus: The Ohio State University, 1953), pp. 1-11.

^David C. McClelland, '*0n the Psychodynamics of Creative Physical Scientists," Contemporary Approaches to Creative Thinking, ed. Howard -* E« Gruber, Glenn Terrell, and Michael Wertheimer (New York: Atherton Press, 1962), pp. 150-152. 3 Calvin W. Taylor and John L. Holland, "Development and fj?P^c^ion of Tests of Creativity," Review of Educational Research. XXXII (Februaiy, 99-100. — * 1962), .

• This does not mean that he is oblivious to, or unveiling to be aware of the judgments of others. It is simply that the basis of evaluation lies within himself, in his own organ- ismic reaction to and appraisal of his product. If to the person it has the “feel" of being "me in action," of being an actualization of potentialities in himself which heretofore have not existed and are now emerging into existence, then it is satisfying and creative, and no outside evaluation can change that fundamental fact. 1

Others share the view that the locus of evaluation in creative

thinking is internal. Dow values intuitive thinking and his key works

of judgment are: honest? possessing humility? enthusiasm? Both

intuition and judgment depend on internal evaluation. In any

production hard work and criticalness follow emotion and inspiration;

the evaluating questions are first subjective, then objective or

external 2

Dyadic evaluation . —Murray proposes a mutual or dyadic mode

of evaluation. He sees it as an emerging, participating activity

between the creator and others. He states that the capacity "...

' to evaluate with fine discrimination ... the worth and relevance

of . . . /the product, rejecting/ what is unacceptable . . .

/and incorporating/ whatever is fitting and propitious," emerges

from dyadic creation. ^ Others have expressed similar ideas, viz ,

that evaluation may be regarded as a two-sided function involving

•^Carl R. Rogers, p. 35U»

2 Alden B. Dow, "An Architect’s Views on Creativity," Crea-

tivity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. U1-U3.

%enry A. Murray, pp. HU-115. 57

the creator on one side and significant others on the other side;

as these two sides interact, improvements or further development of

the creative process may occur and society may become aware of new

material being added to its culture Dyadic evaluation is compara-

tively lacking in threat to the one being evaluated; there is little

power of one over another a It seems that this type would be enormously

freeing with respect to communication, understanding, and social p behavior.

Evaluation by others .—Stein, for example, insists that the

creative product be recognized as useful by some group at some point

in time. Eyring stresses that creative works yield new proofs

which are repeatable. ^ Murray recognizes that of greatest importance

is the production of new and valuable compositions.-* Judgment by

others may be helpful to the creator. Criticism may itself be a

creative act and an important one, for because of the novelty of the

product it may not be recognized or it may be rejected as unrealistic.

If criticism is to be a true extension of the creative act the critic

must know the creative product and the field with which it is

^Harold H. Anderson, “Creativity in Perspective," Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959}, pp. 262-263.

^Harold H. Anderson, pp. 263-266; E 0 Paul Torrance, pp. 167-187.

3 -'Morris I. Stein.

^Henry Eyring, "Scientific Creativity," Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers.' 1959;, pp. 1-11 .

%enry A. Murray, p. 99 . 58

associated, otherwise there is little of value or validity in it. 1

Lasswell 's definition n of creativity as . • • the disposition to make

and to recognize valuable innovations," states his belief that

recognition is an active rather than passive mode of behavior. 2

Appreciation, being creative in a more limited fashion than production

or criticism, may result from a more limited knowledge of the field

The searches for various criteria of creativity for use in

scientific experimental work, or for recognition of excellence, or

merely for historical purposes are reflections of searches for

external means of evaluation.

Suirmary

• While analyses and descriptions of creative thought have included from two to seven steps, stages, or processes. Wallas 1 formulation of preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification was used as the framework for this chapter. Sensitivity to a deficiency in some aspect of the world initiates creative thought.

Evidence from

introspection reported by Ghiselin and Woodworth and Schlosberg,

—questionnaires reported by Hutchinson,

--laboratory work reported by Patrick and Eindhoven and Vinacke,

analyses of' literary creations made by Lowes,

•%. Edgar Vinacke, pp. 257-259. 2 Harold D. Lasswell, p. 203.

%. Edgar Vinacke, p. 259. 59

—analyses of art and music creations cited by Tolces,

—analyses of problem solving such as Wertheimer’s,

—psychoanalytic studies such as Freud's study of da Vinci, and

—research into the creative phases of psychotherapy point toward a dynamic view of interrelated, overlapping processes— sometimes repetitive or nonsequential—involving both consciously directed effort and unconscious thought. CH&PTER III

CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE PERSONS

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to present data regarding the

characteristics associated with creative persons, i.e. those who

have demonstrated creative behavior in some manner or other or have

been found to possess certain cognitive abilities thought to be

important for creative thinking. Many studies and conceptual

statements, e.g. by Bloom, point to an interrelationship among

cognitive, personality, and motivational factors in the determination

or development of creativity; however, these theoretical and empirical data have, for the sake of analysis, been organized into four sections, viz. data relating to intellectual, personality, motivational, and physical factors; additional sections are devoted to the interrelatedness of the factors and to identifying creative individuals.

Environmental factors which affect creativity will be reviewed in

Chapter IV.

1 B. S. Bloom, “Report on Creativity Research at the Univer- sity of Chicago,'* Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W. Tavlor"( Salt. Lalre n-ity; University of Utah Press, 1955), pp. 182-19U.

60 •

Intellectual Factors Associated with Creativity

Intelligence and creativity

Relationship of intelligence and creativity . —Gough included

"intellectual competence" and "cognitive flexibility" among five factors contributing to originality and creative thought. Scores of an experimental instrument reflecting these five factors, the

Differential Reaction Schedule (DRS), have been found to correlate

1 (,U0, ,U5» respectively) with originality and productivity. (The remaining three factors are related to personality or motivation traits and will be discussed later.) Schimek found that intellectual competence was positively related to originality in graduate students, ^ and Hall reported a relationship between originality and 5 effective intellectual functioning in a study of research scientists.

Studies of painters, scientists, writers, and architects 'O* have indicated that highly creative individuals in these fields are J intelligent people, often superior to the general population. /

Barron described the writers in the IPAR studies as having superior

Garrison G. Gough, "Imagination—Undeveloped Resource,"

A Source Book for Creative Thinking , ed. Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), pp. 218-226.

2 J. B. Schimek, "Creative Originality: Its Evaluation by the Use of Free-Expression Tests" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. University of California, 195k)

-'w. B. Hall, "The Development of a Technique for Assessing Esthetic Predispositions and Its Application to a Sample of Pro- fessional Research Scientists," abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 310-312. ^»

intelligence; ". . . creative writers who produce original work in

large quantities have IQ's, on the average, in the neighborhood of

li;0 or higher."^

Intelligence and creativity are not identical . —But among

highly intelligent people working in fields requiring great skills

and abilities, many are not outstandingly creative. Thurstone

stated that creative talent was not the same thing as intelligence, Hr

o 1 although he believed the two to be correlated positively. Data have long supported the observation that imagination and intelligence

seem to be different factors in the mental domain (see Chapter I).

Studies of creatively productive scientists, architects, and writers

conducted by the IPAR indicated that correlations between measures

of creativity and intelligence were positive but low 0^ Torrance founds a similar relationship between IQ and creativity test scores in normal elementary school classes, but the relationship dwindled in

groups of high IQ pupils (upwards of 132)

Using employees ' good ideas as a criterion of originality or creativity, it was found that persons making the suggestions were

'"Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression," p. 296o

^L. L. Thurstone, "Creative Talent," Applications of Psychology , ed. L. L. Thurstone (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1952) , pp . 18-37/

^Donald W. MacKinnon, "What Makes A Person Creative?"

Saturday Review , XIV (February 10, 1962), 15-17

^E. Paul Torrance. 63

spr'ead over a wide range of IQ scores.

Consistently the findings point to a positive, but low, or J nonexistent relationship between IQ and creativity, actual or^ J

potential. Basing his statement on the Utah conference reports,

Taylor said that IQ and creative level were unrelated or the rela-

tionship was low. The correlations of IQ and creativity test scores

reported for samples representing a narrow range vould be expected to

be statistically low; since reduction of range usually reduces the

size of correlations, these findings may be somewhat less dramatic

than they appear at first glance.

Differentiation of intelligence and creativity . —Getzels

and Jackson were able to distinguish two groups of adolescents, those

in the top 20 per cent on tests of intelligence and those in the top

20 per cent on tests of creativity; a few, however, were in the top

20 per cent on both measures. Torrance noted that children and

-K- graduate students having the highest scores on tests of creativity

3 did not always have similarly high IQ scores. Lowenfeld showed

that children with relatively low IQ's may have far richer imaginations and may be capable of drawing upon this imagination for more advanced

Maury H. Chorness, "An Interim Report on Creativity Research," Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent, ed. Calvin W. Taylor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1955), p. 1UU.

2 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip ¥. Jackson,, 3 E. Paul Torrance. 6H

productions than might normally be thought possible

The abilities that are measured by intelligence tests and

reflected in IQ scores are related to achievement in several

academic and scientific fields. The amount and type of training

required for careers in science, for example, demand high intelligence

so it is not surprising to find that scientists are well above average

in intelligence. The point is, however, not that there is no re- b

lationship between IQ and creative thinking abilities, but that at

high levels ". . . two are sufficiently independent to warrant

2 differentiation," i.e. above an IQ of approximately 120 the advantage^

of greater IQ intelligence is slight. This agrees substantially with

a conclusion drawn by Meer and Stein who studied the relationship

between intelligence test scores and creativity in a group of sixty-

four industrial research chemists o Age, total experience, and total

experience in the present organization were not related to the

creativity rankings. Those having Ph. D.'s and higher intelligence

test scores were rated more creative than non-Ph. D.'s, but further

analysis revealed that among the Ph. D.’s intelligence and creativity 4 were unrelated. The two were related for non-Ph. D. chemists

apparently because high intelligence (verbal ability) enabled them

to gain opportunities for creative research work which the Ph. D.'s had by virtue of their degrees. The creativity of Pho D.'s and non-Ph. D.'s in work sections having the most support and fewest

^Viktor Lowenfeld, Creative and Mental Growth .

^ Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson, p. 26 J 65

obstacles from the company was not differentiated by intelligence.

The investigators stated that where opportunity exists "I-Qness"

beyond the ninety-fifth percentile is less significant for creative

research work.-1-

Meier concluded from a ten-year study of artistic talent and production that intelligence accompanied artistic ability but did not account for it. The role of intelligence, particularly visual and perceptual factors and probably numerical or verbal fluency, was seen as affecting the rate of development and effectiveness of

p conceptualizing and handling material.

Giftedness and creativity . —The concept of giftedness has long been defined in terms of a high IQ and sometimes in terms of extraordinary talents. Recently, however, qualifications have been suggested in light of the statement that if IQ were the sole de- terminer, 70 per cent of the gifted youngsters would be overlooked.-^

Witty prefers expanding the concept to include creative talent and other abilities;^ Taylor fears the strength of the association of IQ and giftedness and advocates another term, although he has not

-^Bernard Meer and Morris I. Stein, "Measures of Intelligence and Creativity," Journal of Psychology , XXXIX (1955), 117-126; here again restricted range may be operating.

^Norman C. Meier, "Factors in Artistic Aptitude: Final Summary of a Ten-year Study of a Special Ability," Psychological

Monographs , LI (1939), 1UO-158.

-^Calvin W. Taylor, "A Tentative Description of the Creative*^ Individual," pp. 67-68.

kpaul Witty, "Who Are the Gifted?" Education for the Gifted, Fifty-seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Educa- tion, Part II (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), pp. Ul-63. 66

suggested a substitute.^-

Studies of creative adolescents have highlighted frequent

discrepancies among IQ, achievement, marks, and teacher evaluations

or preferences, with the result that sane highly gifted students may

have difficulties in being admitted to college if their records are

interpreted in terms of overachievement or inadquate motivation,

preparation, or aptitude for academic work. The National Merit

Scholarship Corporation announced that, in addition to the awards made on the basis of high academic records, awards should be made

to students having promise of high creative potentialities based on

outstanding academic achievement in one area or creative work, such

as original publications in adult magazines^ These awards should be made even if the high school records of potentially creative students

are not impressively high though of an adequate minimum level.

Thurstone recommended much the same considerations in order to

utilize more talent

Guilford's structure of intellect

In extensive factor analytic studies of high level thinking

abilities, Guilford has distinguished numerous intellectual abilities,

^Calvin W. Taylor, pp. 62-68.

^Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson, pp. 3 2-33.

J The Insider's Newsletter , Section for Women (New York: Cowles Magazine and Broadcasting, Inc., February 19, 1962), pp. 2-3.

^L. L. Thurstone, "Creative Talent.'* o

67 only a few of which are measured by traditional intelligence tests.

Viewing intelligence as multi-dimensional, he has proposed a model for the structure of intellect, in which the factors of intellect ' are classified into three categories according to the materials or content of thought, the operations of thought, and the outcomes of thought

Content of thought „ —The classification of the content of thought may itself be grouped three ways. One group of factors,

called figural , relates to the forms of perceived elements or objects with their various properties. Elements of vision (lines, colors, size, etc.) and audition (qualities of sound patterns) belong to this group and constitute concrete intelligence.

The classification of verbal meanings involves material having conceptual or semantic properties. Most intelligence tests are composed of verbal material, and word meanings are important.

A third class of abilities deals with symbolic material such as numerals, word structures, and code elements. Aptitudes for languages and mathematics probably depend on abilities to handle symbolic materials. Semantic and symbolic abilities may be referred to as abstract intelligence, but since they are distinct it is best to consider them separately as semantic intelligence and symbolic

^J. P. Quilford, "The Structure of Intellect," Psychological ' Bulletin, LIII (July, 1956), 2p7-293i "Three Faces of Intellect." 1 im'eri- can" Psychologist , XIV (1959), Uo9-479$ J • P. Guilford and P. R. Kern- field. "The Structure of Intellect Model: Its Uses and Implications," Reports from the Psychological Laboratory , No. 2h (Los Angeles: Univer- sity of Southern California, I960), pp. 127, unless otherwise noted the sources of the material in this section are the ones cited above. 68 intelligence^.

Operations of thought * —Guilford identified five kinds of ^ operations that may be performed on the contents of thought. The first of these he called cognition . YYhile these abilities have to do with discovery, they also relate to recognition of elements and things derived from the elements. The ability to recognize word meanings is important to verbal comprehension, and verbal intelligence tests are dominated by items of this type. / Memory abilities probably parallel the cognitive abilities and constitute the second kind of operation in thought.

Two thinking processes make up the third and fourth categories and have to do with the production of information. One, called

* convergent thinking , consists of arriving at a correct or fixed

answer, of zeroing in on the appropriate target. Divergent thinking , on the other hand, is not so restricted. It is free to roam over a ^ wider field for possibilities; several answers might be given to a question, and each could be correct. Creative thinking is often ^ divergent thinking. Y/hereas both types of thought are useful and necessary, the convergent has been stressed by schools in our society while the divergent is often penalized; traditional intelligence tests also stress the convergent patterns of thought. Guilford^ suggests that artists rely heavily on divergent thought because their'

1 production is not bound by arriving at a right answer. By contrast, scientists, need to use divergent thought at various stages

1J. P. Guilford, '’Creative Abilities in the Arts," Psycho- logical Review, LXIV (March, 1957), 110-118. .

of investigation but in the end. must concentrate on converging on a

correct solution.

The fifth kind of operation in Guilford's model is making

evaluations of or drawing conclusions frcm given information. This

ability pertains to information derived from recall, perception, and

production. Evaluative abilities are important in initiating creative

thought because the quality of being sensitive to problems or short-

comings is a type of evaluation which may lead to creative behavior.

This ability is also important in the final phases of production

in order to determine the completeness, veracity, and worth of the

result

Outcomes of thought . —When certain operations are applied to

certain kinds of materials, the resulting outcomes of thought become

the third classification in Guilford's model. These are grouped

into six categories: units, classes, relations, systems, transforma-

tions, and implications . It is predicted that the six classes or

products may result from the application of all operations to all materials and that a primary intellectual ability may be identified with the various combinations of the model's categories.

In addition to the categories described above, Guilford believes that the addition of a behavioral category (e.g. feelings or empathy) to the materials of thought classification is justified on the basis of theoretical statements although scant knowledge is available at present. Creative thinking abilities

Guilford does not consider creativity to be a single ability

or trait, but rather that it is comprised of several abilities among

the many already identified.

Fluency factors . —It was hypothesized that a creative person

is a fluent thinker, i.e. he has the ability to form many ideas

quickly. To date four fluency factors have been found. Word

fluency is the ability to respond with words containing specific1'

letters or combinations of letters, e.g. the ability to produce a„

large number of words ending in "-tion." Associational fluency is

involved in giving synonyms for stimulus words in a short time.’

Here meanings, not just letter combinations, are necessary. Ex-

pressional fluency requires the production of phrases and sentences.

The first three fluency factors are highly verbal and thus seem

logically to be related to skill and creativeness in writing.

Ideational fluency is the ability to name a large number of

ideas quickly. To test for this factor, the subject is asked to

name objects that are hard or to name various uses of a brick or to give titles to plot outlines. Scoring involves the number of appropriate responses without consideration to quality which is scored in a different category. The importance of this factor far most kinds of problem solving is revealed in the hypothesis that the greater the number of ideas produced, the better the chance .of finding a good one or the right oneo 71

Flexibility factors . —Flexibility is the ability to forsake -

old patterns of thought and to undertake new modes of thought; two

such factors have been found and related to creative thinking.

Spontaneous flexibility was found when many testees skipped from*-'

category to category in giving responses to fluency tests without "

being asked to attempt to do this; instead of confining their answers

to examples within a category, some subjects would roam in their

thinking to include examples in many categories. Counting the number

of classes into which the responses may be placed constitutes a

scare far this factor. Tests of ambiguous figures such as the Necker

cube may also be used to test for spontaneous flexibility.

' Adaptive flexibility is the ability to discard familiar *

assumptions which is necessary before success in some kinds of^ problem solving may be achieved. Several familiar "parlor games"

such as match stick triangles involve this ability. Drevdahl found a low but significant correlation between this factor and ratings for creativity. Both flexibility factors depend on freedom from persistence or perseverance in pursuing familiar but unproductive leads; rigidity in thinking results in low scores on these tests. s Originality factors .—Defining originality is difficult,- if not impossible, if one confines the definition to novelty. The'" difficulty centers on the question of novelty to whom or in what' context. There is no real way of knowing if an idea is new. under the sun, neither is there a way of knowing if an idea is new to an'' individual irrespective of the rest of humanity, present and past.-'' 72

Being fluent and flexible, Guilford and his colleagues, therefore, stated that originality is manifested in three ways: A response that

1S statisticall r infrequent i or unusual in a group of testees reveals one aspect of originality; higher scores are assigned to those responses given by only one or two individuals in a test population. Another aspect of originality is remoteness of association in time or logic.

A third manifestation of originality is cleverness . Responses

to such test questions as giving titles to story plots may be judged to be clever or matter-of-fact. Whereas the examples so far are largely verbal, it is probable that cleverness can be demonstrated

with other elements. In fact, Guilford admits that what is presently^ called originality may be the verbal equivalent of adaptive flexi- ^ bility, refinements in hypotheses and scoring procedures will <- undoubted ^ d^ify this point.* In any case a high , score in originality depends on unconventionality in thinking.

Scores of remoteness are relatively easily derived but do

not yield as high a variance as the scores for the other two factors which have the "greatest amount of originality-factor variance,"

but which require more time 2 in scoring. Several tests in the

lj * ? * Gudiford "Traits n f > of Creativity " Creativitv and T+* ^r°ld H ‘ AnderSOn (New York: WffTiTlhsT' Ha^er and Brothers,

2 *“*• Wilson, J. P. Guilford, and Measurement P. R. Christensen, "The of Individual Differences in Bulletin Originality," Psychological , L (1953), 362-370. '

battery may be scored for ideational fluency (sheer number of

responses) and for the originality factors.

Redefinition, elaboration, and sensitivity . —Individuals

differ in their abilities to see new uses for familiar objects or

their parts. Guilford calls this redefinition and reports that

analysis reveals such a factor in tests requiring a person to respond,

e.g. that, of several choices, a fish (bone) could best be used as a

needle. Improvisation and low level of functional fixity may be

alternatives for the term redefinition.

The ability to add details to bare outlines is called

elaboration and may be involved in verbal and nonverbal behavior.

The number of details or amount of elaboration, e.g. to a simple

line or dot figure or to the outline of a plan, constitutes the score.

This ability is important in planning, although little has been

reported about it.

Guilford predicted in 1950 a trait which is called sensitivity

to problems and which has been found by having subjects suggest

defects in gadgets or in social institutions. At this point

Guilford places sensitivity, which is important to initiating creative

thought, with the group of evaluative abilities.

Elaboration and the fluency, flexibility, originality factors

belong in the category of divergent thinking operations. Although^ divergency is important in creative thought, by no means is it of 1

sole importance in creative production; the convergent thinking factor called redefinition has been found to have a part, as does 7U

evaluation. Because many of these mental abilities are not included*-

in standard intelligence tests and hence do not contribute to the IQ/

Guilford and others refer to these as nonintelligence intellectual''

factors the phrase is cumbersome, but illustrative.""^

Usefulness of the Guilford tests

The Guiliord tests have been used in many studies, and some

evidence of their validity exists. Guilford himself has reported on

some of these studies; several of the creative thinking factors,

differing for various courses and levels, were correlated with

college course grades as the criterion; some have been found to

significant in occupational fields when pay rate increments and

performance were used as criteria. Drevdahl reported that the

tests of originality and, to a lesser extent, adaptive flexibility

and word fluency were related to ratings of creativity of college

students. Gerry et al . noted that the creative test battery did not

differentiate between employees high and low in suggestions made, but several of the tests, e.g. sensitivity to problems, ideational fluency, and originality, correlated with creative activities found in a biographical inventory of Air Force cadets; Chcmess and Nottelman related that these tests predicted creative expression in Air Force 1 student instructors. Wallace found that the tests discriminated between high and lav department store sales clerks even in departments considered routine and requiring little customer

lj « Guilford, "Traits of Creativity," pp. 157-159. 75

service (e.g. notions).'1' / Getzels and Jackson based their study of creativity in

adolescents on tne feasibility of using test scores as criteria of

creativity in lieu of mature creative production. The investigators

stated that their use of the term ’’creativity” refers to cognitive

abilities reflected by performance on tests, and that they assume

thao all persons possess these abilities to some degree not just-'"

those of demonstrated creative ability in the arts or sciences.^

Other studies of creative thinking, or at least divergent thinking,^

in children have assumed the importance of the abilities measured by

these tests for creative thought at all levels regardless of the

particular manifestation.^

Guilford has asserted that, at present, tests of originality^

are more satisfactory for identifying creative talent than the tests-'''

of the other mental abilities Tests of originality have been

found to differentiate significantly between more and less creative *

individuals as reported in studies of adults, college students,^'

Harold Wallace, "Tests of Creative Thinking and Sales Performance in a Large Department Store," Creativity; Second Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children (lEnneapolis ; University of Minnes ota Press, 1959), pp. 117-124.

2 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

3e. Paul Torrance.

^Ellen V. Piers, Jacqueline M. Daniels, and John F. Quacken- bush, "The Identification of Creativity in Adolescents," Journal of Educational Psychology . LI (December, I960), 351. ^ .

76 elementary junior high,^ and senior high school pupils *3 Certain tests of creative abilities have been used by business organizations for personnel selection or placement; tests have been used to determine the value of certain training procedures.

Other tests of creative abilities

Several other tests have been developed as identification and criteria measures. Flanagan devised a test of ingenuity or inventiveness which requires a clever solution to a problem arrived at by means other than deductive reasoning or familiarity with the field. He has found that the test measures something besides general knowledge, vocabulary, or special aptitudes.^ A test similar to the one described above was used as the creativity test

of the battery devised for Project TALENT, a broad research program to study the American educational system and its students.

Engineering tests . —Tests of originality or creativity in special fields have been developed and used with some success. For

instance, Owens et al . developed a test battery to differentiate

1e. Paxil Torrance.

p Ellen V. Piers, Jacqueline M. Daniels, and John F. Quacken- bush, pp. 3U6-351* 3 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip 7/. Jackson.

^Sidney J. Fames and Harold F. Harding (ed.) A Source Book for Creative Thinking (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1962 )

5John C. Flanagan, ’’The Definition and Measurement of Ingenuity,” Research Conference on the Identification of Creative

Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W. Taylor (Sait Lake City: University of Utah, 1957), pp. 109-118. 77 creative ability among machine designers by means of completion items dealing with various phases of machine design and an inventory of interests, experiences, education, and other personal characteristics.

The criterion of creativity used was the ability to understand a problem and to combine elements so as to produce a novel, workable machine design. The final test form was found suitable for prediction of creative designers in a work situation. -*•

Two creativity tests in engineering have been reported to be valuable in discriminating between the more and He ss creative

2 engineers in industrial settings.

Art tests . —Welch studied the ability to male new combinations 'from sparse elements, e.g. test items required making sentences from words and furniture from blocks. College art students were compared with professional artists and found to be better than the average population though not as good as the artists. This finding suggests that the ability to recombine elements into new wholes is not limited to a few but may be found in varying degrees in most

-*-W. A. Owens, C. F. Schunacher, and J. B. Clark, "The Measurement of Creativity in Machine Design,” Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W.

Taylor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1957) , pp . 129-lUO.

^Douglas Harris, "The Development and Validation of a Test of Creativity in Engineering,” Journal of Applied Psychology , XLIV (August, 196), 251^-257; R. R. Harris and A. L. Simberg, AC Test of

Creative Ability , abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley U . Heinze, pp. 165-169. ^ 3

people. Rosen administered the Barron-Welsh Art Scale to art

students, art professors, and nonartists and found that the test

did not discriminate among the group of artists but did discriminate

between artists and nonartists.

Tests of creativity in art have been developed at Pennsyl-

vania State University and constitute an important analysis of

abilities and contribution to the question of inter-disciplinary

criteria of creativity. The problem was to find attributes of

creativity in the arts which would distinguish between more and less

creative art students; the following eight factors, strikingly similar to Guilford's traits of creativity, were found and suggest that

creativity in the arts and sciences have some common attributes.

lhis research in artistic creativity found that sensitivity

to problems and experience was an important factor; later analysis yielded four aspects of sensitivity; 1) perceptual sensitivity involving refined use of the different senses so as to be able to discover the components and relationships among parts of perception; esthetic 2) sensitivity involving organization and expression of elements into an harmonious whole; 3) social and emotional sensitivity;

1 L. Welch, "Recombination of Ideas in Creative Thinking," Journal of Applied Psychology , XXX (1916), 638-61,3; V. R. Fisichelli and L. Welch, "The Ability of College Art Majors to Reconbine Ideas in Creative Thinking," Journal of Applied Psychology , XXXI (19U7),

2j * Co R°sen, "The Barron-Welsh Art . . . . Scale as a Predictor of Originality and Level of Ability among Artists," Journal of Apolied Psychology o ^ " , XXXIX (1955), 366-367 3 Kenneth Beittel and Viktor Lowenfeld. 79

and U) intellectual sensitivity.-*-

Other factors -which are important in artistic creativity

include fluency which involves production of diverse materials in

response to diverse circumstances ; flexibility , the ability to adjust

quickly to new situations; originality or uniqueness of responses;

redefinition , the ability to rearrange elements; analysis , the

ability to analyze or abstract or penetrate details; and synthesis

and closure, the ability to combine or unite several elements in

order to achieve a new whole • Esthetic coherence of organization

results from bringing order out of chaos and expressing the most with

the least; superfluous elements are discarded.

' When tests of these attributes were administered to college

art students, the scores were found to be positively correlated to

ratings of creativity by instructors. Therefore the tests were found

to be suitable as criteria of creativity in the arts and predictors

of artistic production.

Beittel and Lowenfeld 's attributes are similar to Guilford's

traits in actual terms used as well as the concepts embodied in the

2 terms. Guilford originally hypothesized that more creative persons

excelled in the abilities of analysis and synthesis; both failed to

emerge in his factor analysis, possibly because "... individuals

^Viktor Lowenfeld, "Basic Aspects of Creative Teaching," Creativity and Psychological Health ed. Michael , F. Andrews . (Syracuse University Press, 1961), ”pp. 131-138. 2 Kenneth Beittel and Viktor Lowenfeld. o .

do not differ systematically from one another with respect to a

general ability to analyze in connection with many kinds of tasks

nor do they differ systematically in a general ability to synthesized1^

The art tests required the demonstration of these abilities in

specific tasks which may account for their then differentiating the

more and less creative

Relationship of creativity to learning and problem solving

Learning . —Studies have documented the fact that creative

pupils give evidence on achievement tests of learning sometimes in

excess of what might be expected from an examination of their IQ's,

so it seems they may be using intellectual abilities other than the

ones measured by standard intelligence tests; Getzels and Jackson

failed to find that motivation accounted for such a discrepancy

between IQ and achievement and noted that, as a rule, school marks

2 were not commensurate with achievement scores. Torrance suggested

that some things can be learned as efficiently by using the creative

thinking abilities, i.e. learned creatively, as by traditional,

convergent means. He found that children in the elementary grades

can use the divergent thinking abilities, for instance, and that

graduate students can use creative learning sets to practice their

creative abilities and to acquire knowledge for later recall.-^

L , J . P . Guilford, "Traits " p . H4.9 O Jacob W. Getzels and Philip ¥. Jackson.

^E. Paul Torrance. 81

Cline et al . concluded that Guilford’s tests of creative thinking have

validity as predictors of academic performance (high school) and

that these tests ”... are measuring intellectual characteristics

not fully represented in the IQ”^

Problem solving .-—Gestalt psychologists have long stressed

the importance of problem solving in learning, and have devised

experiments to study factors involved in problem solving (see Chapter

II) . The factors of flexibility and redefinition are opposite to

rigidity and functional fixity, 2 e.g. the ability to redefine is

polar to functional fixity. Problem solving, to Wertheimer, consists

of two parts : the beginning of the process Sj_ and the solution

three types of problems may be distinguished: 1) a problem that is

a continuation of earlier events and produces further consequences;

2) a problem without a specific goal but which exists through a realization that improvement is possible; here the recognition of the existence of a problem, S^, is more nearly the goal, S 2 , than the specific solution to the formulated problem; 3) a problem in which particular goal, Sg, requirements are of central importance, e.g. designing a house. Creative thinking factors may be helpful in all three of types problems and as the thinker proceeds from S to S . 1 2

Victor B. Cline, James M. Richards, Jr., and Clifford Abe, “The Validity of a Battery of Creativity Tests in a High School Sample,” Educational and Psychological Measurement . XXII (1962), 78U.

V. P. Guilford, "Traits," p. 150.

^Max Wertheimer, pp. 238-2U3. ^

Guilford’s sensitivity to problems factor would be especially

important to a problem of the second type while all would probably

be important to the third type.

Relationships of creativity to academic achievement and grade s

Academic achievement . —Studies of elementary and secondary 7

school students have almost consistently shown that highly creative

students achieve as well as the more intelligent (high IQ) group.

The only exceptions reported were in schools which stressed learning

by authority. Torrance suggested that in schools where children

are permitted or have opportunities to learn creatively, i.e. to

use the divergent thinking abilities by asking questions, experi-

menting, exploring, manipulating, and testing ideas, they achieve

as well as their less creative classmates, whereas in schools

stressing ” ’traditional kinds of learning’” the achievement phenomenon

or similarity of achievement scores of both groups is not found perhaps because of more limited opportunities for creative learning a Palm's study of graduate students in counseling provided another exception in that the high intelligence (high Miller Analogies Test scores) group scored higher than the high creative group on post- course achievement tests, but the high creatives tended to show somewhat greater gains when pre- and post-course test scores were

1 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson; E. Paul Torrance. 2 E. Paul Torrance, pp. 53-63. . A

compared. Torrance reported that in another study of graduate

course achievement the differences between the more and less creative

students were not significant, but that the high intelligence group

tended to score higher on '‘recognition 1 * and "memory” items while the

high creative group tended to score higher on "applications, decision-

making tasks, and the self-initiated learning activities."^

Overachievement . —Getzels and Jackson discussed the achieve-

ment phenomenon in high creative pupils in terms of the concept of

overachievement and its pejorative connotations. They account for

the facts by reasoning that abilities not reflected by the IQ

contribute to the measured achievement partly because the students

studied were not '“greasy-grinds, »" i.e. they were not highly motivated

toward school achievement in terms of marks j a revision of the concept

of overachievement has been suggested in light of these findings. 3

Academic grades . —Buhl reported a close correlation between

creativity test scores and scholastic achievement of college engineering students at the end of the freshman year study of women college art majors using Welsh's recombination of ideas test as a

Harold J. Palm, "An Analysis of Test-Score Differences Between Highly Creative and High Miller Analogies Members cf the Summer Guidance Institute," Research Memorandum BER-59-13 (University of Minnesota, September, 19^97, pp. 1-15.

2 E. Paul Torrance, p. 61. 3 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson, pp. 26-27.

^Harold R. Buhl, "Engineering Creativity; Qualities of the Creative Engineering Student," abstract in Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding, p. 31+6 8U

measure of creative thinking yielded a correlation coefficient of

•U5 ( C. 05 ) between the test scores and the general scholastic index

of the subjects College grades of many outstandingly creative

adults are not impressive. ^ Taylor found no relationship between

grade point average and ratings on an efficiency scale of research

engineers and suggested that grades not be given weight in personnel

selection.^

Creativity and broad knowledge

Maizell studied the relationship between creativity and

differences in information-gathering patterns and literature use in

a group of industrial research chemists. By means of a questionnaire

and daily logs , differences between the less and more creative

chemists (as determined by tests and ratings) were that the latter

tended ". . .to: (a) show diversity, depth and breadth in their

reading; (b) possess reading habits that suggested an element of

industriousness; /and/” (c) make more extensive use of literature

."k . . . , Studies of groups of research scientists and graduate

students have indicated a relationship between creative originality

^V. R. Fisichelli and L. Welch. p Donald W. MacKinnon, "Identifying and Developing Creativity," Journal of Secondary Education. XXXVIII (March, 1963), 166-17U. •^Calvin W. Taylor, "Some Variables Functioning in Productivity and Creativity," Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent ea. (jalvin W. Taylor (Salt Lake City: 'University nf Utah, 1957), pp. U-7. ^Robert E. Maizell, "Information-Gathering Patterns and Creativity: A Study of Research Chemists in an Industrial Research Laboratory," cited in Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding, pp. 351- 85 and. broad interests and wide reading.^ Case studies reported by several investigators supply examples of creative children and adolescents who display wide-ranging interests, e.g. through reading

o and attempting experiments.

Summary of intellectual factors

Intellectual abilities, in part, determine what a person is capable of doing in several important areas of living (in school and career, for instance) . These abilities are important in acquiring the academic training needed in many highly developed fields, but intelligence as measured by most standard tests yielding an IQ is not identical with ability for creative thought. According to

Guilford's structure of intellect, certain abilities involved in divergent thought and evaluation are of special importance for creative thought in the sciences although the combinations needed in various areas axe not known. Evidence exists that tests of these abilities have seme validity, these and other tests have been used in the identification of creative potential, as criteria of creativity, in personnel selection and placement, and in studies to determine the effects of training. The creative thinking abilities are important in learning and problem solving as measured in part by achievement tests but not as reflected in academic grades. If the selection of gifted students were based solely on IQ, 70 per cent of the gifted

"Hi. B. Hall, Donald W. MacKinnon, J. G. Schimek.

%£. Paul Torrance; Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson. .

86 would, be overlooked*

Personality Factors Associated with Creativity

Numerous factors or descriptive terms have been used in connection with the creative personality; Torrance lists Qh gleaned from a review of the literature*^ Originality, independence and nonconformity, openness and awareness, tolerance of ambiguity and preference for complexity, sensitivity, spontaneity and impulsiveness, sense of humor, self-expression, self-assertion and dominance, self-acceptance and identity, self-sufficiency, introversion and estrangement, psychological complexity, and mental health are traits which are examined below

Originality

Studies relating to originality have associated it with intellectual abilities and with personality traits; detailed consideration of the former is found in an earlier section of this chapter, while the latter is of concern here 0

Relationship of originality and creativity . —Israeli defines

originality as "'the capacity for the production or creation of

something new'"; Hebb considers the "recombination of pre-existent 1

2 ./ 'mediating processes'" to be original and creative.

The creative work or individual is often defined or described

^E. Paul Torrance, pp. 66-67.

2n. Israeli, "Studies in Occupational Analysis : II. Original- ity"; D. 0. Hebb, "Problems Relating to Thought"; abstracts in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 9-10, 71-72. . ^ '

87 in terms of its originality or novelty, e.g. Rogers refers to a - novel product; 1 Guilford hypothesized originality as a factor in creativity (see Chap. II); Barron refers to more creative individuals as original; ^ Dougan et al . connect originality and creative thinking.?

Originality and creativity are not the same , although it is usual to think of a creative product as original and a creative person as / exhibiting originality. k

Sprecher found that engineers 1 peer ratings of creativity emphasized originality; ^ Taylor's study of electronics engineers and scientists engaged in research and development work demonstrated high correlations between ratings on creativity and originality ^ while Walker's study showed a relationship between originality .

(work characterized by unusual, imaginative ideas, and novel views of problems) and creative work in mathematics and chemistry.

^arl R. Rogers, pp. 3U9-350.

%rank Barron, "The Disposition towards Originality," Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 139-152.

^Catherine P. Dougan, Ethel Schiff, and Livingston Welch, "Original! ty Ratings of Department Store Display Department Personnel,"

Journal of Applied Psychology , XXXII (19U9), 31-35*

^Thomas B. Sprecher.

^Donald W. Taylor, "Variables Related to Creativity and Productivity among Men in Two Research Laboratories," Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 228-250.

^Donald E. Walker . : ^

Gerry et al . found that scores of originality correlated highly with creative activities as revealed ty biographical inventories

2 Holland reported that creative adolescents were consciously original;

studies have revealed that creative youngsters exhibit originality

o in their school work and in their choices of careers and hobbies

Hammer found that adolescent art students judged to be "truly creative," rather than "merely facile," exhibited "greater original responsiveness

Hall used mosaic construction, a nonverbal task, as an expression of originality in a study of research scientists. He found that the originality ratings of these productions did not correlate with other measures of originality which involved verbal skills $

Barron reported significant correlations between originality and other personality variables (in Air Force officers) as follows

"disposition toward integration of diverse stimuli; energy, fluent

R. Gerry, L. de Veau, and M. Chorness, "A Review of Some Recent Research in the Field of Creativity and the Examination of an Experimental Creativity Workshop," abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 270-272.

2 John L. Holland, "Creative and Academic Performance among Talented Adolescents," Journal of Educational Psychology, LII

(June, 1961), H4.5 .

3e. Paul Torrance; Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

^E. F. Hammer, Creativity (New York: Randan House, 196l) 0

%. B. Hall. 89

output, and involvement; personal dominance and self-assertion;

responsiveness to impulse and emotion; femininity of interest; and

general effectiveness of pe rforman ce." Men who were distinguished

as high in originality but lav in intelligence for the experimental

population described themselves as: '‘affected, aggressive, demanding,

dependent, dominant, forceful, impatient, initiative, outspoken

sarcastic, strong, suggestible."^

Guilford reported relationships between certain creative

thinking aptitudes and nonaptitude personality traits, e.g. more

than chance correlations between originality and interest in

esthetic expression, divergent and reflective thinking, and tolerance

of ambiguity.

Sources of originality . —Psychoanalytic theory considers the

source of creative or original ideas or novel combinations of ideas to be in the unconscious: While Sachs considers the unconscious essential to literature, the id, ego, and superego are all involved in the production of beauty, Jones sees ideas originating in the id and residing in the preconscious;^ Kohut believes that the production of the enjoyment of music employ all three psychic structures, but

Frank Barron, "Originality in Relation to Personality and

Intellect," Journal of Personality , XXV (1957), 730-7U2.

2 J. P. Guilford, "Traits." 3 H. Sachs, The Creative Unconscious , abstract in Morris I, Stein and Shirley J 0 Keinze, p. 261 c

Ernest Jones, "How to Tell Your Friends from Geniuses,"

Saturday Review , XL (August 10, 1957), 9-10 +. 90

1 art in general permits controlled regression; Beliak relates the

ego's capacity for oscillating between loose primary process thinking

and rigorous secondary process thinking to a general factor in the

2 creative personality. For Kubie, however, the preconscious system

is the source of creative ideas because of the inaccessibility of the

unconscious under normal conditions; the unconscious is seen as a

source of rigidity and conflict which interfers with the creative

preconscious

Hersch contrasted responses to the Rorschach Test of artists,

schizophrenics, and normal noncreative individuals; he found that

the creative individuals (artists) gave more primitive responses in

contrast to the noncreative individuals and in common with the

schizophrenics but that the quality of these responses differed

from those of the schizophrenics in that more control was available.

Kersch concluded that creative artists had available more primitive and more mature material.^ Efy-den, by means of several projective tests, contrasted a group of creative individuals in the fields of painting,

1 H. Kohut, "Observations on the Psychological Functions of Music," Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.* V (1957). 389-U07.

2 L. Beliak, "Creativity: Some Randcm Notes to a Systematic Consideration," Journal of Projective Techniques , XXII (1958), 363-380. 3 Lawrence S. Kubie, Neurotic Distortion of the Creative Process ' (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1958).

I* Charles Hersch, "The Cognitive Functioning of the Creative Person: A Developmental Analysis by Means of the Rorschach Test," Dissertation Abstracts . XVIII (1958), 296-297. 91 writing, and choreography with a group of successful industrial and professional persons, equated for age, sex, and socio-economic status; he concluded that the creative individuals were more likely to use, than to repress, primary thought processes; that primary material ’was less productive of anxiety and was integrated with secondary thought processes; they were more introversive and inner-directed; they possessed and used well their superior intellectual abilities. The noncreative group shaved more anxiety with primary material and sought to repress it; they were more conforming and outer-directed; while possessing superior intellect, they were functioning on a lover level. Barron interpreted his findings relative to the personality correlates of originality thus: Persons who are intelligent and original avail themselves of materials and processes associated with the conscious and unconscious, the intellectual and affective, the combination being more indicative of the creative than either alone

Independence and nonconformity

Independence and creativity . —Implied or stated in many descriptions of the creative person is the characteristic of independence based on his reliance on personal feelings, values,

^Walter D. Myden, "An Interpretation and Evaluation of Certain Personality Characteristics Involved in Creative Production: An Investigation and Evaluation of Personality Structure and Character- istics of Creative Individuals in the Context of Psychoanalytic Theory and Ego Psychology,'4 Dissertation Abstracts , XVII (1957), 897-898.

2 Frank Barron, "Personality and Intellect." • . ^

standards, procedures, and evaluation. 1Rogers theorized that an

internal locus of evaluation, which involves independence, is a

condition of creativity on the grounds that a creative act is a

personal one and that the individual's judgment of its validity,

veracity, and value is the crucial one. Mooney implies a degree

of independence by stating: "The creative person seeks to manage

his actions during his experiencing through disciplining himself to

serve the extension and focusing of his experience," and that the ^

creative person is willing "to be different in things that make a""

difference ."^

Hall found that more original research scientists were

3 , assessed as independent. Creative children and creative adolescent)

art students are typically independent.^

Autonomy, expressed as self-sufficiency and self-direction.

has been found to be characteristic of productive scientists in many

5 studies. Roe described different groups of scientists, as exhibiting independent thought and interest and the desire to find out

for themselves ; moreover these tendencies were established during

^Carl R. Rogers, p. 35U.

2 iloss L. Mooney, "Creation and Teaching" (Columbus: The

Ohio State University, 1962), p . 3

3 W. B. Hall.

^C. Paul Torrance; Jacob W. Getzels and Philip ¥. Jackson; E. F. Hammer.

^Calvin ¥. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 385 ^ .

childhood.^ Independence of mind is related in a study of graduate

students in science; independent judgment has been correlated with

originality in groups of people engaged in art, science, and military 2 service. Students classed as independent in their judgments differed

from yielders in their self-descriptions (they were more original,

emotional, artistic) and in their responses to an Independence

Questionnaire (they were more inner—directed, tolerant of uncertainty

and valued creativity)..^ Myden reported that creatively productive

persons were more inner-directed .

Noncomformity and creativity . —Independence may be considered

in relation to nonconformity and "c ounterformity 11 Crutchfield

define? c onformity as the yielding of a judgment by an individual

in response to the pressures of group thinking; the individual may

yield as a result of internal compulsion or forceful pressure.

Socially uniform behavior is not necessarily conformity in this

context. Crutchfield’s concept deals with a conflict situation in

which an individual finds that his conviction is different from the

thinking of a group. In this situation he may yield his belief and

1 Lnne Roe, The Making of k Scientist (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1952).

2 Frank Barron, ’’Originality in Relation to Personality and Intellect;” Frank Barron, ’’The Psychology of Imagination," Scientific American , CXCIX (1958), I50-l66o

^Frank Barron, "Some Personality Correlates of Independence of Judgment," Journal of Personality , XXI (1953), 287-297.

^Walter D. Myden. 9k

conform, or he may maintain his judgment, announce it, and deviate.

Remaining independent may be hazardous; conforming may be unpleasant.

Crutchfield analyzes different types of conformity and nonconformity.

Actually conforming behavior may be' caused by a weak or unformed

conviction and may result in a change of conviction; or an individual may outwardly, and expediently, conform while keeping his private

conviction unchanged. Nonconforming behavior may result frcm truly

independent and confident judgment, or it may be a reaction to the

group. In the latter instance the individual is being influenced

by the group just as in the two conforming types of behavior;

Crutchfield calls this reaction counterformity rather than non-

conformity.^

In a series of experiments, Crutchfield has studied various

groups in Asch-type laboratory situations permitting him to manipulate

signals thereby giving a subject the impression that all others in

the group agree to a response. This forces the subject into the

conflict of trusting his decision and holding out against the group

or disavowing himself and joining the group in what he is led to believe, i.e. the group is solid in its agreement. Of the groups

studied, industrial research scientists exhibited the least conforming behavior while female college sophomores exhibited the most. Military

officers were the most conforming of the male samples, and a group of

^Richard S. Crutchfield, ’’Conformity and Creative Thinking,”

Contemporary Approaches to Creative Thinking , ed. Howard E. Gruber, Glenn Terrell, ana Michael Wertheimer (Hew fork: Atherton Press, 1962), pp. 125-126. o

college alumnae were the least conforming of the female samples.

Differences among individuals in the various samples were striking; 1

some did not yield on any points, while in most samples there were

some who conformed to the supposed group opinion in each case; however,

here again the scientists had the best record, i.e. the highest

conformity score was 58 per cent. Scientists who were rated higher

in originality had lower conformity scores than those rated lower in

originality.' '

Other variables were correlated with conformity scores

revealing that the independent subjects exhibited greater ideational

fluency, cognitive flexibility, and were more autonomous. Crutch-

field concluded that there is ’’strong ... evidence for the antitheti-

cal relationship of conformity and creativity.”^

The creativity of conformists and counterformists is hampered

by personality and motivational factors of compulsion which prevent open appraisal of a question or situation.-^ The independent thinker has balanced the demands of socialization and his integrity. As

Crutchfield puts it, ’’The truly independent person——in whom creative tninking is at its best—is someone who can accept society without ~"7*r denying himself. l

1 Ibid. pp. 127-131.

2 Ibid. pp. 131-132.

3 Ibid. pp. 135-139

klbid . p. 139. o

Conformity in thinking, i.e. rigidity and following habitual

patterns, hinders the manipulation of ideas and perceptions and

yields endless reproductions of past thoughts and applications of old

modes of problem solution; responding to ideas, people, and events in

a categorical fashion without regard to possible differences reflects

lack of awareness and exemplifies rigid thinking

The nonconformity of the creative individual is expressed

by independence of thought and ideas rather than by peculiar social

behavior; creative individuals may be conventional in areas not

connected with their creative activity,^ although there are among

popular accounts many examples of socially nonconforming behavior

some of which may have resulted frcrn sources other than the well-

springs of creativity (such as physical comfort, unconcern for

details, hostility, withdrawal, or extreme absorption with the

solution to a problem). Drevdahl found that the more creative art J

and science students were nonconforming, with the creative art

students displaying greater social nonconformity.^

Cattell and Drevdahl reported that eminent research scientists are distinctive from the general population and from eminent teachers and administrators of science in that they tend to be more radical

(socially) and exhibit more Bohemian unconcern than these other

^Ibid .

2 John E. Drevdahl, “Factors of Importance for Creativity," Journal of Clinical Psychology . XII (January, 1956), 21-26. 97

groups. 1 Hall reported that creative research scientists tended to be more lax in social and cultural conventions and somewhat different. 2 Guilford concluded that originality in thinking was not dependent upon social unconventionality nor was it coupled with a need for

adventure .3 Torrance listed "odd habits, disregard for health and courtesy conventions, and keeping unusual hours" as traits found in various studies to be associated with creative adults; creative

children in his studies tended to be known for having "wild" or

"naughty" or "nonconforming" ideas The origins of and the extent -1 to which social nonconformity is related to creative behavior are

clearly undetermined at this time.

Creative children have been observed to be not group minded: they resisted group work, did not cooperate with groups, and antag- onized the other children in work groups; they preferred their own ideas and methods of work. Sometimes severe group pressures were applied to control the creative children; in one small work group,

xor instance, the most creative child was saddled with the paper work to keep him quiet. Teachers, too, used various tactics to defend themselves from the annoyance of these devient figures .5

Raymond B, Cattell and John E. ,, *n Drevdahl, "A Comparison of he ersonality Profile (16 P.F.) of Eminent Researchers with That of Eminent Teachers and Administrators and of the General Population » pritish Journal, of Psychology . XLVI (1955), 248-261,

2W. B. Kail,

3j. P. Guilford, "Traits."

Paul Torrance, pp. 66-67, 52-54. -

^E. Paul Torrance, pp. 123-124,*/ .

Freedom and creativity.--Creative individuals value freedom

to do and see things in their own ways, to question and find out for

themselves, and to work according to the demands of their stages of

thought not by the demands of an external time schedule. Inde-

pendence may be expressed by insisting on one's own work method or

work schedule and the use of personal controls in accomplishing work

This striving for freedom often leads young children into difficulties

2 with other children and adults, and, for creative boys and girls,

the expression of individual inclinations sometimes results in con-

flicts with and feelings of estrangement from others in the school

situation.-^ MacKinnon observed that potentially creative students

might have problems in school because they resist group pressures

and favor their interests

Openness and awareness

Openness to others and events. —Henry Miller, in the preface

n to a volume of Eric Barker's poems, writes that he . . . lives

as a poet should live, that is, in a constant state of awareness of

the animate and inanimate world about him."-’ Rogers' view is that

openness to perception and experience is a primary condition for

'•John ¥. Haefele; Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly , p . 5 *

p E. Paul Torrance.

3 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson; E. Paul Torrance, pp. 121-122.

^Donald W. MacKinnon, "Person."

%ric Barker, A Ring of Willows (New York: A New Directions Book, 1961) , p. 9. . —

creativity;-'- distortions resulting from defensiveness or rigidity

prevent elements in memory, the environment, or emotions from coming

to awareness. Mooney finds that the creative person holds himself

open to experience, i.e. he extends his experiencing through

’’increasing inclusions.” Fromm stresses the importance of actually

seeing, being aware of, and responding to persons and events in one’s

environment Freedom to manipulate or reorganize many elements

what Rogers calls ’’toying with elements”—is vital for creative

activity and is contrary to rigidity and defensiveness. Jones l '

suggests that an open mind and some degree of credulity is part of

creational thinking;^ Thurstone pointed out that many creative

thinkers became involved with impractical schemes as well as the

ones which netted them their fame—some could be even called

c; gullible

Palm and Holland have reported that openness to external stimuli and experience is characteristic of more creative graduate students and adolescents respectively.^ The IPAR studies found that writers tend to be more open and receptive to experiences while

^Carl R. Rogers, pp„ 353-35U.

2 Ross L„ Mooney, p. 3» 3 Erich Fromm, pp. Ui-U8«>

^Ernest Jones.

^L. L. Thurstone, "Creative Talent."

^Harold Jo Palm; John L. Holland. —

100

mathematicians and research scientists tend to place emphasis on

r the control of experience; the former v, ere termed perceivers and

the latter, judgers.^ It appears that creative individuals in

different fields differ with respect to the type and degree of

openness which is characteristic of them.

More creative individuals score lower on tests of authori-

tarian tendencies than 3ess creative persons. Meyer formed two groups

—one high on a scale of ethnocentrism and one low on the scale

matched for intelligence and scored for the number of novel ideas

relative to a civic problem. Although there was no significant

difference between the groups an the number of responses, the high

ethnocentrism group produced more answers that were denials of the

problem, and low group produced more differentiable and original ideas-— — Stein and Meer concluded that "the real differences between . . . high and lew creative individuals may turn out to be a function

of defensiveness or overcriticalness which inhibits the generaliza-

tion and communication of hypotheses." They found that more creative

chemists had greater personal resources and formed better Gestalten and

hypotheses under ambiguous conditions

^Carnegie Corporation of Mew York Quarterly , pp. 2-3.

^Priscilla Meyer, "A Study of the Production of Creative Ideas," American Psychologist . VIII (1953), I1OI4 .

%orris I. Stein and Bernard Meer, "Perceptual Organization Study 0f Creativity," Journal of Psychology . XXXVII (195U), 39 ^ ^

101

Openness to self . —Maslow describes creative people as being

more open to the unconscious and irrational in themselves and less

inhibited with respect to feelings studies by Hersch and Myden

found that more creative adults were open to primary material, and

Barron reported that doctoral candidates in the sciences and with

great creative potential were ". . „ unusually appreciative of the

p intuitive and non-rational elements in their own nature." Rogers

refers to openness resulting from permeable boundaries among concepts,

beliefs,. and perceptions Stein relates permeability of regions

to hypothesis-making ability and suggests that different fields may

require greater flexibility in the cognitive or in the affect regions,

nevertheless he warns that rigidity in one sphere adversely affects

the other.

Hammer describes creative adolescent artists as being aware

of themselves,^ and Torrance concludes that in graduate students

self-awareness is associated with greater creative ability.^ The

IPAR studies found that highly creative males were more open and

^Abraham H. Maslow, p. 85.

2 Charles Hersh; Walter D. Myden; Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 386.

^Carl R. Rogers, p. 353.

^Morris I. Stein, "Creativity as Intra- and Inter-Personal Process," p. 87.

^E. F. Hammer.

^E. Paul Torrance, "Need Characteristics of More Creative Mental Hygiene Students" Research Memorandum BER-60-8 (University of Minnesota, July, I960), pp« U~5« 102

1 aware of their feelings and of others'.

Kubie stresses rapport with the preconscious and associates

creativity with greater openness, awareness, and spontaneity

together with the rejection of repression as a mechanism for con-

trolling impulses or unweleaned thoughts. Excessive use of repression

leads to unconscious conflicts resulting in interference with the

availability of the preconscious system which is the source of

p creative ideas. That more creative persons (artists and writers)

make less use of repression was reported by Myden and Barron, ^ but,

to the contrary, it has been reported that scientists use repression

as a mechanism for handling affect and instinctual energies. ^ More

creative adolescents are, according to Getzels and Jackson, more

aware and accepting of themselves; they tend toward greater ex-

pression of impulse, use of fantasy, and less defensiveness®^

Tolerance of ambiguity and preference for complexity

Tolerance of ambiguity . —Greater openness to self and things

outside of the self may be expressed as toleraixe of ambiguity and avoidance of premature closure. Rogers relates a tolerance for ambiguity to openness and sees this as an important condition for

Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly , p. 3.

^Lawrence S. Kubie.

%alter D. Myden; Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression."

^Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 386.

-’Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W® Jackson. 103 1 creativity. While the less open and less creative individual

imposes a structure or seeks a solution quickly, the more creative

person has the strength needed to bear immediate tension in order to achieve a finer, perhaps more inclusive, integration or synthesis. Mathematicians often seek elegant solutions in preference to correct but ordinary ones o Guilford found that more original people had a high tolerance for ambiguity, ^ while Eiduson reported that artists

showed a great tolerance for ambiguity in sensory perception.^

Preference for complexity .—This tolerance for ambiguity

may be expressed as an attraction to or acceptance of disorder, or a willingness to defer judgment or delay closure in hopes of finding

a better solution; such tolerance may be expressed as a preference for complexity, i.e. a seeking out of the complex, an incorporation of asymmetrical and detailed elements in one 's work, an attraction for the complex and asymmetrical, even disorderly, or chaotic, in

drawings for the challenge presented to achieve, ultimately,

simplicity, order, or reconciliation.^ While a preference for or a

seeking out of disorder in order to mold it into a coherent form may be viewed as a motivation, it may be viewed as a characteristic of

^Carl R. Rogers.

2 ” J • P . Guilf ord . ’’Traits . 3 Bernice T. Eiduson.

^Frank Barron, “The Needs for Order and for Disorder as Motives in Creative Activity," Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 153-160. - ^ 5

temperament. Rosen found this preference in more original art

1 students. - A related trait is the ability to "integrate diverse

stimuli" which was found to correlate with originality in a study of

military personnel.

Sensitivity ,

Four elements of sensitivity in the arts are perceptual,

social and emotional, intellectual, and esthetic.

Perceptual sensitivity o—4'Iurphy believes that sensitivity to

some sort of sensory experience, while it varies with individuals,

is important to creative work especially to the early development of

3 a creative individual, and Greenacre, that sensitivity to sensory

data and the relationships between stimuli is a characteristic of

creativity.^ Eiduson found that artists were extremely responsive

to sense data and showed "richness" in associations and expressions.

Studies of artists and artistic aptitude indicate that sensitivity

to ideas and materials is related to creative production; ^ Wilson

^J. C. Rosen,,

p Frank Barron, "Originality in Relation to Personality and Intellect o"

Q •'Gardner Murphy, "Creativeness," Personality (New York: Harper and Brothers, 19U7), p. k Phyllis Greenacre, "The Childhood of the Artist. Libidinal Phase Development and Giftedness," The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child , XII (New York: International Universities Press, 1957), H7=72.

^Bernice T. Eiduson.

^Kenneth Beittel and Viktor Lowenfeld. 105 reported, that the poets he studied were more sensitive to experience and stimuli than others. ^ Roe concluded that sensory perception is more important in art than science, but inferential perceptions are

p important to scientists.

Emotional and social sensitivity . —Vinacke recognized that emotional and perceptual sensitivity is important in the arts but suggested that artists are more interested in and so use this aspect more often, thus perhaps accounting for its being an outstanding quality in artists. 3

Intellectual sensitivity o —Guilford has stated that sensitivity to problems is a trait which, while evaluative in nature, is a precursor of creative thought; without the ability to see problems, sense improvements, and detect defects, innovations would be rare.

He includes this trait with other intellectual abilities but recognizes that sensitivity, as well as several other abilities, may be viewed as aspects of intellect or personality. ^ Creative people studied at the IPAR were described as sensitive, and while creative persons see things as others do, they also see things as others do not; Barron

4l. N. Wilson, "Poetic Creativity, Process and Personality,"

Psychiatry, XVII (195U)> 163-176; Abraham H. Maslow, p. 85; Erich Fromm, pp. l±lv-U8. 2 Anne Roe, "Artists and Their Work," Journal of Personality , XV (1916), 1—1|0.

•^W. Edgar Vinacke, pp. 238-239.

Uj. P. Guilford, "Traits." . ^ —

106

called this a creative "vision. Inventors and otner persons sense

possibilities for change or are interested in what may be in contrast

to being limited to being vexed with what is the present situation

Roe reported that biologists perceive aspects of problems or ex-

perience not seen by others; social scientists see things not likely

to strike others. The ability to sense the possibilities for revision

or innovation in commonplace problsms or situations and create new

forms often produces the effect of surprise—one is startled by the

recognition of the heretofore familiar in an unfamiliar arrangement which belies the difficulty that was probably involved. Such sensi-

tivity is repeatedly documented as important to inventors, scientists,

and others, e c g. it was said that Einstein could not understand the

obvious

Esthetic sensitivity . —Esthetic sensitivity is important in artists and is related to originality in research. Mooney considers

'‘sensitivity to structural harmonies'1 essential to creative research.^

Gough's DRS includes a dimension of esthetic sensitivity which is related to originality.

^Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression," p. 297„

2 Anne Roe, "A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists and Anthropologists, and a Comparison with Biological and Physical

Scientists," Psychological Monographs , LJCVII (1953), 1-55.

^Ross L. Mooney, p. 3 °

^Harrison G. Gough, pp. 22U-225. 107

Spontaneity and impulsiveness

Maslow describes self-actualizing creative people as spon-

taneous, i.e. they are able to act freely without undue concern for

external standards."'" Vinacke believes that spontaneity is essential

for creative thought and defines it as freedom to manipulate perceptions

and memories and to use emotions and fantasies.

Guilford found that impulsiveness was correlated with idea-

tional fluency in a study of Coast Guard cadets; he also noted that more creative subjects spontaneously shifted their thoughts to different

categories and varied their responses—this sort of richness he called

spontaneous flexibility .3

Getzels and Jackson stated that more creative adolescents were more likely to express their impulses;^ Creative or original individuals

in many fields have been described as being more responsive to and

expressive of their impulses On the other hand, productive scientists

have been found to exhibit control, almost over-control, of impulse.^

"'"A. H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality (New York: Harper and Brothers, 195U), pp. 208-211.

' ' o >

iIT. Edgar Vinacke, pp. 25U-257*

^J. P. Guilford^ "Traits."

kjacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson. c Frank Barron, "The Needs for Order and for Disorder as Motives in Creativity"; "Originality in Relation to Personality and Intellect"; D. G. Woodworth, "A Factorial Study of Trait-rankings Used in an Assessment of Professional Research Scientists," abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 329-330.

^Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 386. 108

Sense of humor

Spontaneity, fluency, flexibility, originality, redefinition,

elaboration, rapport -with the pre- and unconscious, and impulsiveness

rather than suppression or repression are characteristics of humor.

Guilford noted that original responses, i.e. more creative ones, often included elements of humor. Creative children and adolescents have been reported to have and express in their work a sense of humor

often based on unusual associations or uses of words. Possessing and valuing humor (creative adolescents placed a sense of humor second in a list of eight traits they wished for themselves while the high

IQ group placed it last) was possibly a saving grace in helping the highly creative adolescents to withstand the tensions of psychological estrangement, being different, and the various pressures directed against them.-*- Palm interpreted his study of graduate students to show that a sense of humor stemming from spontaneity was characteristic.

2 of the more creative students. Gemant observed that elements of humor are characteristic—not necessarily general or essential—of great art works and that certain elements may even be found in philosophical writings.^

Self-expression

Maslow writes of self-expression in connection with self-

1 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

^Harold J. Palm.

3 Andrew Gemant. 109

1 actualizing creativity;' ' creative youngsters need to express them-

selves and do so by using a stimulus or assignment as a take-off

point rather than confining themselves to communicating within limits

of the stimulus# Crutchfield doubts that striving to achieve

creativeness or self-expression is likely to result in a creative

act though the resultant will be expressive of the individual to

some extent .3

While a need for self-expression may be viewed as a motivating

force, the expression may be indicative of temperament and suppression,

harmful. Discussion of this point seems to be primarily related to

expression through personality development or art work, rather than

through invention or scientific work. Gough, however, suggests that

there nay be stylistic variations in research work reflective of

views, values, and procedures relative to self and work.^

Self-assertion and dominance

Self-assertion . —Self-assertion is a personality trait which

has been found in correlation with originality and associated with more creative persons; Stein reported that the more creative industrial research chemists in his study considered themselves more

^Abraham H. Maslow.

O Jac ob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

^Richard S. Crutchfield, p. 122.

^Harrison G. Gough, "Stylistic Variations in the Self-views and Work Attitudes of a Sample of Professional Research Scientists," abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 309-310. .

no assertive and authoritative and less acquiescent and submissive than the less creative chemists. Moreover, Barron found that self- assertion and personal dominance were positively related to originality and speculated that a bit of self-assertion and willfulness is needed

p for opening new frontiers.

Dominance . —Dominance refers to "such characteristics as confidence, self-reliance, persuasiveness, initiative and leadership potential,"-* and is a characteristic of original and creative individuals

Self-acceptance and identity

Fromm’s "experience of I" is a sense of one's self in the

Yrorld,- of being a doer of deeds, of being part of a group yet not a mere reflector of thoughts and feelings, and of experiencing so that it may be said that the experience originates in the individual.^

Maslow describes creative individuals as self -accepting, not self- critical, ^ while Mooney finds that the creative individual focuses

^Morris I. Stein, "A Transactional Approach to Creativity,"

Scientific Creativity , ed. Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1963), pp. 217-227.

2 Frank Barron, "Originality in Relation to Personality and Intellect o"

3 Harrison G. Gough, "Manual for the California Psychological Inventory," (Palo Alto, California: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1956)

^Raymond B. Cattell and John E. Drevdahl.

^Erich Fromm.

^A. H. Maslow. Ill

his experiencing though self-differentiation and self-realization. 1

This characteristic may be stated as the necessity of knowing who one

is, where one is going, and why. Hall found that the research

scientists who constructed the more original mosaics were more self-

accepting. ^

Creative children have problems and often need help in

discovering their identities, purposes, and worth. ^ In the process

of achieving identity through self-differentiation as well as through

the development of talent, the creative individual may concentrate

on certain aspects of himself to the exclusion of others. Kubie

and Roe stress the importance of knowing many aspects of self especially

the affective

Self-sufficiency

Cattell and Drevdahl describe eminent research scientists as more self-sufficient than the general population or than out-

standing teachers or administrators of science .5 A creative person is not overly dependent upon the presence of others and at times can and prefers to get along without them.

'Ross L. Mooney.

2W. B. Hall.

^Eo Paul Torrance.

^Lawrence S. Kubie ; Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist .

^Raymond B. Cattell and John E. Drevdahl. .

112

Introversion and estrangement

Introversion . —Jung's theory of two basic attitudes among

people is useful in describing creative individuals. He defined

these postures in terms of an individual's orientation to the world,

i.e. extraversion is toward the external, objective world, while

introversion is toward the subjective world; the ease or difficulty of

social adjustment; and the tendency toward open or secretive behavior.^-

Among the creative individuals studied by the IPAE, mathe-

maticians tended to be introversive, i.e. their interests were

centered on inner concepts and ideas, the architects tended toward

introversion, and the group of writers was split, almost as many

were extraverted as were introverted; Barron stated that the writers

were "distinctly more introverted than extroverted."^ Creative re-

searchers in psychology, physics, and biology tended to be more withdrawn

schizothyme than teachers and administrators in these fields, but all

these scientists differed from the general population in the direction

of being more schizothyme Drevdahl reported that the group of

creative art and science students he studied was somewhat withdrawn

and quiescent.^ McClelland found creative scientists to have fewer personal contacts and more concern for things than people;

^Carl G. Jung, Psychological Types (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 19U6), pp. U12-517

2 Donald If. MacKinnon; Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and and Expression."

-^Raymond B. Cattell and John E. Drevdahl.

kjohn E. Drevdahl. ~

113

he elaborated that these men avoided and were disturbed by complex

personal contacts.

Roe found that biologists were not socially outgoing and

tended to exhibit strong intellectual control in personal relation-

p ships. Bloom stated that creative chemists and mathematicians

differed from their less creative colleagues in that they were

frequently found to have some difficulty in establishing warm personal

relations with others, and they had need to retreat from the social

world to one of ideas and things

Creative individuals——adults and children——have expressed

a liking and need for solitude. Roe reported that creative scientists

developed early in life a liking for solitary activities.^

Adolescent artists prefer the observer role to participation.^

Many creative youngsters struggle for opportunities to develop their

ideas and to work in an individualistic fashion. Studies of creative

children in the elementary and secondary grades reveal their problems

David C . McClelland, "On the Psychodynamics of Creative Physical Scientists, 1 * Contemporary Approaches to Creative Thinking , ed. Howard E. Gruber, Glenn Terrell, and Michael Wertheimer (New York: Atherton Press, 1962), pp. li|l-175o

2 Anne Roe, "Psychological Examinations of Eminent Biologists,”

Journal of Consulting Psychology , XIII (19U9), 225-2U6 0 3 B. S. Bloom, "Report on Creativity Research by the Examiner's Office of the University of Chicago," Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron.

^Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist .

-*E. F. Hammer. HU

related to working with groups, making friends, and gaining

recognition.

Roe suggested that the interests of psychologists and

anthropologists in people stemmed from home influences} she found

these groups differed from physical scientists in the orientation

of their interests toward people or things.^

Estrangement . —The experience of separateness accompanies

the creative process because of the novelty involved. Maslow observed

that self-actualizing and creative individuals appeared to be a

breed apart and that they felt apart in many situations Creative

industrial research chemists were more distant from their parents

and other adults, and they saw themselves as different from the

general population and their colleagues.-^ Mention has been made of

the tendency to have difficulty with and thus to avoid inter-

personal relationships that characterizes many creative scientists

which, no doubt, results from and/or increases a feeling of

estrangement.

Creative children often reveal in their work and describe them-

selves as being different and apart from their classmates. Researchers

1 Anne Roe, ”A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists and Anthropologists, and a Comparison with Biological and Physical Scientists.”

2 A. Ho Maslow.

^S. J. Blatt and Morris I. Stein, ”Some Personality, Value, and Cognitive Characteristics of the Creative Person,” American

Journal of Psychology , XII (1957), U06. 115

state that psychological estrangement from peers, teachers, and even

family may lead to difficulties but that many youngsters have the

necessary strength and resources to bear the stress.^"

Psychological complexity

Barron has stated that creative adults are psychologically

complex, e.g. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MHPl)

n scores of creative writers were . . . high on scales measuring

schizoid, depressive, hysterical, and psychopathic tendencies and

... feminity of interest pattern" and high as well, on a scale measuring "strength of the ego"; scores on ego strength and pathological tendencies are negatively related in the general population.

He concluded that these persons are both "sicker and healthier" than

p most people. The IPAR studies found that often creative individuals

had been or were disturbed or troubled, but they also had important resources for dealing with their difficulties; these persons reacted to

"psychic turbulence" with the resources of intellect and personality,

candor and soundness so that these problems did not become sources of

impoverishing restraints or inhibitions. Not absence of problems, but

3 strength to deal with them was characteristic of the creative subjects.

Creative individuals are able to make use of seemingly

1 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

2 Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression."

^Donald 1/7. MacKinnon, "Person." "

116

antagonistic resources—primary and. secondary processes, originality

or imagination and intelligence , passion and reason, the unconscious

and conscious, the irrational and rational. They seek the challenge

of disorder yet need ultimate order o The dualism of western thought

views these as polar tendencies.

A condition of a creative attitude is, according to Fromm, <-

an ability to accept conflict, not avoid it or eliminate it by

strict categorization. Another condition, ’’willingness to be born

every day," refers to a willingness to relinquish an established

source of security for the challenge and excitement of the unknown which 1 requires one to rely on his capacities . Anderson sees

creativity as a constituent of biological and psychological growth

and learning which requires the yielding of the present for the

emerging new, together 2 with the integration of the new with the old .

Maslow writes of the ability to make dynamic wholes of opposites

thereby resolving conflicting influences, of accepting the challenge

°f tne unknown rather than relegating it into a known compartment,

of being oriented to the safety and danger of the unknown in contrast to the established. He gives, among several examples of achieving balance or integration between opposing tendencies, the resolution of selfishness and unselfishness and a blending of maturity and

"^Erich Fromm.

2 Harold H. Anderson, "Creativity as Personality Development, Creativity and Its Cultivation, ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, - 1959 ;, pp. 119 11*1 . 117

childlikeness, which may be expressed through a sense of wonder or

1 naivete or gullibility.' ' Following Maslow, an interpretation made of

creative adolescents was that they were more likely to prefer the

safety and dangers of the unknown to that of the familiar; evidence

p of this preference was found in their work and aspirations.

Another aspect of this quality is that creative persons "are able to tolerate the inner tensions created by holding conflicting values, or . . . that they resolve the conflict." One example is that creative people consider the theoretical, and esthetic values to be of almost equal importance;^ another example is the inclination toward disorder and need for ultimate, though possibly delayed, ordering already mentioned in connection with originality.

Creative work seems to require sensitiveness and strength toU- be independent; these characteristics are typically viewed in western culture as feminine and masculine respectively. The conflict between-"^ cultural sex role identification and the development of both qualities in a particular individual may contribute to psychic disturbance and atrophy of creative tendencies. But recognizably creative adults give evidence of having resolved the seeming paradox. Highly creative , men have been described in many studies as being more open to and / aware of themselves, their feelings, and other people, as well as

^A. H. Maslow.

2 Jacob HIT. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

-^ Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly . 118 possessing varied interests, all of which are feminine traits. Most of these individuals were not effeminate in manner, nor was there evidence that they were typically sexually abnormal. They were, however, able to express both sides- of their nature.-^ It was hypothesized that more creative individuals of either sex would, on the MMPI, score high in the opposite direction, i.e. creative men vrould .have high scores on femininity scales and vice versa. The subjects were male counselors, but, using the scores of creativity tests and the MMPI, no significant differences were found; however,

with further analysis, two patterns emerged, viz , a feminine independent and a feminine dependent pattern, with the former being significantly correlated with creativity test scores.^ Myden reported that creative adults display greater sexual ambivalence possibily because they make more use of primary processes and less use of repression.^

Creation in many fields also requires independence, dominance, and inquisitiveness—masculine traits—which may operate against women becoming creative in many fields o It probably can be stated that women who have achieved outstandingly in the arts and sciences—one thinks of Buck and Curie—have exhibited a considerable degree of independence and curiosity. Little research exists at this point; however, it has been reported that high IQ women tended to be more

^Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly .

^Harold J. Palm 0

•Valter D. Myden. 119

masculine in attitudes than an undifferentiated sample .

Creative adolescents exhibit "integration of feminine and

masculine components," according to Hammer. Torrance reported that

creative children may deviate from sex norms, not in the direction

of sexual abnormality, but from culturally determined patterns of

traits and behaviors. Sensitivity in girls is to be expected, but in

boys it is often suspect; independence and dominance are valued in

boys, but in girls these traits are considered unfeminine . Conflict

along this line begins early and may stifle creative development in

bcth boys and girls. He illustrates this by accounts of boys who

would not attempt to suggest uses or improvements for a toy such as

a nurse's kit because that was "girl stuff," but some would change

it into a doctor's kit which was more suitable, and of girls who

often did not attempt to handle science models because girls do not

need to know about such things. Cultural pressures along this line

are strong, come early and from many sources—home and child-rearing

practices, advertising, school standards, avocational pursuits, ard.

entertainment are but a few general ones; many children resolve

their conflicts by abandoning certain aspects of themselves for

prescribed behavior thereby weakening their creative potentialities

^Barbara S. Burke, Dortha W. Jensen, and L. M. Terman, The Promise of Youth: Follow-up Studies of a Thousand Gifted Children! abstract in "Morris I. “Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, p. 133! p E. F. Hammer.

•%. Paul Torrance. ^

120

• Barron concluded that the creative person is both more

primitive and more cultured, more destructive and more constructive,

crazier and saner, than the average person.^"

Mental Health

A fairly common stereotype of a creative genius includes

such elements as eccentricity of dress and behavior, neurosis or

near insanity, withdrawal from, impractical or inept dealings with

average people and everyday affairs. MacKinnon points out that these

are ’’caricatures rather than characteristics,” and while there may

be elements of truth, the whole is a distortion of reality.

Early efforts to account for rare genius often forged a

strong link between rare abilities and madness or nervous instability.

While the studies of the past fifteen years refute many popular

notions, these same studies reveal that the question of psychological

health is not easily answered. Mention was made above to personality

assessments which disclosed trends or traits usually defined as

pathological as well as traits associated with health and strength,

e.g. the IPAR studies which led Barron to conclude that writers are

’’sicker and healthier” than the average

Sources of strain . —Murphy analyzed four factors which con-

tribute to stress for the creative person: 1) intense craving to

^Frank Barron, ’’The Needs for Order and Disorder as Motives in Creative Activity,” Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 153-160.

^Donald W. MacKinnon, ”Person.” 3 Frank Barron. 121 reach a goal -which may involve great and. sustained effort -with little rest and resultant strain on the nervous system, 2) determination toward and absorption in work and thought often separating the creative person fran others, 3) personal engrossment perhaps resulting in eccentric behavior which defies conventions, and U) frustration in achieving a goal. He suggests that in some instances instability is not a consequence nor dees it accompany creativeness, while in others it is related, but instability may affect the creative person and his work.^

At times the demands of various professional and social roles are in conflict with each other or with personal integrity producing another source of stress. The creative adult must somehow balance the demands in time and energy of his obligations to himself, his work, his employer, and his family. He must decide where to invest his energy, when to question tradition, and when to accept it; a

2 child faces similar conflicting demands.

While stress, conflicts, and frustrations are apt to be present, lias low believes that the expression of creativity is important to psycho'

3 logical health and maturity. Torrance discusses evidence of the

damaging effects of repressed creativity, viz , faulty or uncertain

^Gardner Murphy, Personality , p. U67. O “^Morris I. Stein, "A Transactional Approach to Creativity, '* Calvin ¥. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 217-225.

3 A. H. Maslow. 122

self-concept, impaired learning, behavior problems, neurotic conflicts,*-""

^- and possible psychoses 0

Apparent instability . —Certain characteristics of creative

persons may produce behavior which is considered peculiar or abnormal.

A creative individual may regress occasionally (presumably in the

service of the ego) or may permit repressed material to awareness;

this may appear unbalanced, but this may be integrative and thus

healthy.

Cattell and Drevdahl remarked that creative research

scientists are less stable emotionally, but that this lack of stability

aids in the recombination of ideas and elements and s'b contributes to

creative work» In contrast to this finding are reports that high

ego strength and emotional stability are descriptive of scientists;-^

these conflicting conclusions may reflect different definitions of

stability or different research interests, e.g. studying the incuba-

tion phase of the creative process or studying interpersonal rela-

tionships o

Descriptions of creative people indicate that they u have

sharp edges'* and are not always well-rounded. This is not to suggest

narrowness; on the contrary many creative individuals have broad

interests and are well read as well as sensitive to much around them.

Wolfle pleads far the recognition of the value of diversity within

*E. Paul Torrance, pp. 125-llilo

2 Raymond B. Cattell and John E. Drevdahl.

^Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 385. . ^

123 per'sons not only among persons. There is value in having some persons develop a talent to a high degree of specialization, while others seek to develop several talents possibly enabling them to link areas of knowledge into a broad view of man and the universe.

He seconds Benjamin's pleas for tolerance of individual differences; in Benjamin's phrase, there is value in "the cultivation of idio- syncrasy."^- Elementary school children may resist efforts to make them well-rounded with the result that some become "problem" children, and some give up the struggle.

Roe noted that many Rorschach protocols of eminent scientists could be interpreted as maladjusted, and that many of these men were not well adjusted in the sense of having warm personal relations, but she considered them well adjusted in the sense of their being happy in their work and socially useful. Bloom found that among the more creative chemists and mathematicians he studied there was some difficulty in establishing warm and friendly relationships with other people.^ Lack of gregariousness and talkativeness tend to be associated with productive scientists.

It has been suggested that an important difference relative to the mental health of creative individuals and sick noncreative

^Dael Wolfle , "Diversity of Talent," American Psychologist, XV (I960), 535-5U5

p Anne Roe, "A Psychological Study."

^B. S. Bloom.

^Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 386. .

12U

individuals is that while both may use regression, the creative person

employs it and material so derived for some purpose, subjects it to

rational judgment, and achieves a creative synthesis in contrast

to disturbed but uncreative people. Creative persons often experience

tension, problems, or anxiety but deal with these so that they do

not become overwhelming obstacles; stress or difficulties are re-

conciled within the psychic structure or are used in creative work.

Mas lew has suggested- that perhaps the concept of adjustment

should be reexamined and that criteria of mental health be based on

the healthiest specimens rather than on the average.

Effects of psychological problems on creative work . —Effects

of psychological difficulties have been noted in the achievements of

artists; Freud's analysis of da Vinci is a classic in this area.

Problems may affect the creative process in directing it along certain

lines or interfering with it or aborting the effort. Kubie argues that neurosis is detrimental to creativity in every field, i.e. it "corrupts, mars, distorts, and blocks" and that overcoming neurotic problems will free rather than destroy creative ability.^

Hilgard warns, however, that therapy aimed at better adjustment may actually interfere with creative work.k No one knows how treatment

^A. H. Maslowo o Sigmund Freud, Leonardo da Vinci , trans. A. A. Brill (New York: Random House, 19ii7)

3 Lawrence S. Kubie.

^Ernest R. Hilgard, "Creativity and Problem-solving,"

Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. 17U-178. 125

would have affected Van Gogh's work, but he might have lived to

paint new sights.

Creative personality pattern

Roe concluded from her extensive studies of artists and

scientists that it is impossible to isolate a particular creative

personality pattern applicable to numerous areas of work; furthermore,

examination of responses to projective tests by skilled interpreters

other than Roe failed, in numerous instances, to find evidence which

would indicate, with assurance, the protocols of creative subjects.^-

Myden stated that projective tests, especially the Rorschach,

”... could differentiate a syndrome of personality characteristics

p m a creative population.”

Summary of personality factors

A number of personality traits were examined. Evidence -

indicates that originality, independence, openness, tolerance of ^ ambiguity, sensitivity, dominance, and introversion are descriptive^

of creative adults in the sciences and arts and are associated with^ children identified as having marked creative potential. Some traits/ e.g. spontaneity, self-expression, social unconventionality, were^ found to be associated with artistic creativity at least. Variations have been found among creative persons in different fields as well as ^ among particular fields. Some traits are closely related to s creativity as expressed in psychological health, e.g. self-acceptance,^

^Anne Roe, "Personality”; "A Psychological Study."

Walter D. Myden. • o ^

126

self-assertion, self-sufficiency, and spontaneity. In addition^

there is evidence that creative individuals are psychologically

complex and exhibit tendencies or patterns which are normally

considered as healthy or pathological, therefore the question of

mental health is difficult to resolve concisely—highly creative

adults are subject to many strains but may handle these so as to avoid impairment, although incidence of illness may be found among

these people, as in any other group. Creative children show signs

of psychological problems and strength. Personality traits are

affected by and in turn affect cognitive and motivational factors.-

As yet it is not possible to describe the creative personality 1 profile

Motives and Interests Associated with Creativity

Motivation for creativity may be viewed in two general frames

of reference : the theories which reduce the motivation to the

operation of mechanisms for dealing with unconscious material and the theories which view motivation as stemming from the tendency of the organism to fulfill its potentialities. In the first category belong the drives and mechanisms important in psychoanalytic theory; to the second belong such theoretical concepts as self-actualization and self-fulfillment

Sublimation and compensation

According to Freud, the source of creativity is in the unconscious, and creativity arises fran conflict in the unconscious; the same forces that motivate the artist drive other people into 12 ?

neurosis. Several mechanisms may deal with conflicts between

unconscious desires and conscious conceptions of reality and its

demands. According to psychoanalytic theory, motivation may stem

from sublimatory or compensatory needs.

Sublimation .—Freud stated that imaginative writing, like

daydreaming, is, for adults, a substitute for the play of childhood;

both are motivated by unsatisfied wishes. Because the adult desire

for childish play causes shame and guilt, it may be sublimated and

take the form of prose or poetic writing, for instance, which permits

the ordering of things into patterns more pleasing than reality.

-he artist turns his fantasy into a new reality which is considered

a valuable reflection of life by others who share dissatisfactions

similar to those of the artist. 1

In his analysis of da Vinci, Freud stated clearly his views

on the genesis and alternative outcomes of infantile sexual investiga-

tion. If the investigation is repressed ". . . curiosity henceforth

remains inhibited and the free activity of intelligence may become

narrowed for life." Or the repression is resisted "... and the

suppressed sexual investigation comes back from the unconscious as

compulsive reasoning." A third course, rare, but rich in its consequences, results in the sublimation of the libido into curiosity which may be freely used in intellectual interests; ". . . investigation

1 Sigmund Freud, "The Relation of the poet to Day-dreaming," G 1IgCted ?ape rs * trans »- Joan Riviere (London: Hogarth Press, u , - 1?U8),* i \7 I / ^ MB 1 M ^ 128

becomes to some extent compulsive and substitutive of the sexual

activity • . . Thus the source of scientific or artistic

curiosity and probing into nature may be viewed as arising from

natural sexual interests that have been deflected from direct de-

velopment toward a substitute line of development Moreover

society derives much of the energy it needs from sexuality because

libidinal energy maintains its intensity despite such changes in

goals. ’’Sublimation of instinct is an especially conspicuous

feature of cultural evolution; this it is that makes it possible for

the higher mental operations, scientific, artistic, ideological

activities, to play such an important part in civilized life.”^

Brill theorized that the production of poetry has its ulti-

mate source in the id and its search for pleasure, while the

particular expression of poetry is a means of oral gratification

growing out of childhood needs .3

Lee suggests that artistic production is motivated by in-

adequately repressed destructive tendencies.^ Grotjahn points out

that works of art may be viewed as reactions to destructive tendencies

^"Sigmund Freud, Leonardo da Vinci , pp. lit6-150. p Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents , trans. Joan Riviere (New York: J. Cope and H. Smith, 1930), pp. 139-ll;0.

%• A.. Brill, ’’Poetry as an Oral Outlet,” The Psychoanalytic Review , XVIII (1531), 357-378.

%. B. Lee, «0n the Esthetic States of the Mind,” Psychiatry,

X (19U7), 281-306. . 0

1 129

and as substitutes for destruction and the guilt resulting there-

from. McClelland suggests that the motivation for the scientific

exploration of nature has its origins in repressed aggressive

tendencies derived from limitations placed on aggressive behavior

1 during childhood, rather than in repressed sexuality. Kris con-

sidered creative activity the result of repressed libidinal and/or aggressive impulses and "regression in the service of the ego. "3

Sublimation of eitner pleasure or destructive tendencies, has been criticized as incomplete and undemonstrated and therefore found

lacking as an explanation of the dynamics of creative behavior.

Compensation . -Adler stressed the compensatory mechanism as

an Important influence if not efficient cause of creative behavior <> In order to compensate for inferiority, shortcomings, or weaknesses the individual directs his energy tavard endeavors which overcome

or surpass certain limitations , thus the mode of expression is affected by the organism's defect. Achievement results in a satisfactory balance between the recognition of Imperfection and strivings for expression. 4 Additionally, motivation for creative work has been

1 Martin Gratjahn, Beyond Laughter (New fork: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1957), pp. 12 8-13 o

2 David C. McClelland.

3e. Kris.

^A. Adler, Problems of Neurosis, abstract in Morris T. fits-in Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 235=23?. 130

attributed to the fear of death or desire for immortality, and

parturition.-1-

This view, too, has been criticized as furnishing an in-

complete and essentially negative view of creativity. May is

critical of both the sublimation and compensation explanations on

the grounds that they are reductive; and Anderson, because they are

2 negative rather than positive. Selections of cases from the

analytic literature or among historically eminent creators yield

examples, no doubt, to support these vieyfs. Unconscious conflicts

and the mechanisms whereby they are handled may be the sources of

or influences on creative strivings in many cases, nevertheless it

is doubtful if these are universal motives for creative work.

Drives to fulfill potentiality

Allport argued that no primitive motivation is needed to

account for creative activities. In adults current motivational

systems, while developing from earlier systems, may be distinguished

from preceding ones; a talent has functional autonomy, i.e. the

creator uses his talent for the sake of the satisfaction it gives

him not to satisfy unconscious motives.-^

\)tto Rank, Art and Artists , trans. C. F. Atkinson (New York: Knopf, 1932); Ernest Jones.

2 Rollo May.

^Gordon W. Allport, Personality (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1937), pp. 190-207. 131

Goldstein considered self-actualization the basic motive of

man rather than drives to reduce anxiety or handle repressed fears

through sublimation. An individual must grow and develop in the 1 directions made possible by his potential. The idea is expressed

by '*• Rogers in his phrase . .to become his potentialities’* and S

2 by Maslcw when he writes : ’’’What a man can be, he must be.'* May

wrote that truly creative art is '*the most basic manifestation of

man's fulfilling his own being in the world Schachtel states

the creative motive as man's need to relate to the world. ^ Hart

considers creativity an integrative, synthetic force which, by

reducing negative tensions and harmonizing opposing forces, e.go

elements of the conscious and unconscious, resembles biological

growth.^ Theories of this general orientation offer clinical ex-

perience , but little more in the way of evidence to support their

views although certain experimental studies may be interpreted in

terras of this “holistic -dynamic " psychology.^

Golann hypothesized a motivational construct according to

1 Kurt Goldstein, The Organism (New York: American Book Company, 1939), pp. 196-197.

2 Carl R. Rogers, p. 351; A. H. Maslcw, p. 91*

^Rollo May, p. 57.

^Ernest G . Schachtel, Metamorphosis (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1959), pp. 21*0-21*6.

'’H. Ho Hart, “The Integrative Function in Creativity,'*

Psychiatric Quarterly , XXIV (1950), 1-16.

^A. H. Maslow. 132

which the tendencies of individuals differ in the degree to which

they seek ". . .to experience their fullest perceptual, cognitive

and expressive potentialities in their interaction with their

environment."'*' Two experiments were conducted to study creative

motivation. In one it was hypothesized that persons motivated to

experience their fullest potentialities, i.e. toward creativity, would prefer objects and situations permitting more idiosyncratic ways of dealing with them. Artists and nonartists were compared as

to their preferences on the Revised Art Scale (RA) which consists of

60 items (30 drawings liked by artists and 30, disliked by them) from

the Barron-Welsh Art Scale. The items liked by the artists were not

more attractive but more ambiguous and evocative than those they

disliked while there was no significant difference among the preferences

of the nonartists. In a second study the art preference test and a

forced choice questionnaire of preferred activities were administered

to sixth and eighth grade pupils. It was hypothesized that pupils

preferring the ambiguous stimuli would prefer activities allowing

self-expression and those preferring the static figures would prefer

more routine activities. Boys with high RA scores did indeed prefer

activities and situations allowing for self-expression, independence,

and utilization of creative capacities, while boys with low RA scores

chose more routine or assigned activities. The results for the girls

were in the same directions but less clear. Golann summarized that

^Stuart E. Golann, "The Creativity Motive," Journal of

Personality , XXX (1962), 588-600. 133 individuals with high motivation for creativity prefer objects and activities allowing some self-expression or independent structuring and that these findings are more consistent with theories of self- actualization than with reductionistic theories.

Studies by Myden and Musterberg and Mussen found that the need for self-expression was an important motive for artists and that this motive was not satisfactorily explained in terms of psychoanalytic theory. ^ A. group of graduate students judged to be creative were found to have a need for exhibitionism or a need for self-display

2 and expression. Studies of highly creative adolescents reveal their openness to the world, their seeking to explore and relate to the world, and their tendencies to respond to stimuli with expressions of self. 3

Empirical studies of motivation

Empirical studies have approached the question of motivation at a contemporary level but in sohb cases have probed for antecedents or developmental stages or influencing factors.

Willingness to risk. —Fromm's "willingness to be born" every / day and Maslow's challenge of the unknown^ reflect personality traits and motivational elements. Persons who risk the unknown are bold

^Walter D. Myden; Elizabeth Munsterberg and P. H. Mussen, "The Personality Structures of Art Students," Journal of Personality, XXI (1953), U57-U66.

'Harold J. Palm.

Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

^Erich Fromm, p. 53 » Abraham H. Maslow, pp. 86-87. «

13k and courageous; creative persons are described as adventurous and willing to attempt different jobs. Creative adolescents are attracted by uncertainty and dare to make new combinations; Torrance found that more creative children dared to take risks and push ahead into unfamiliar areas. ^ Creative engineers prefer new and different problems; Hadaraard remarked that he did not want to work on problems 2 which others were investigating—he preferred different ones.

An element in scientific creativity is willingness to take certain risks in research, and McClelland contends that a scientist must be willing to risk, bear the resultant tensions, and get some satisfaction from such risk-taking. Unless one is willing and able to acknowledge risk and invest part of himself in it, little of worth is likely to result. The most productive type of gamble in science and business is one the outcome of which can be affected by one’s effort and skills in contrast to gambling as in games of

•3 chance

Need for achievement . —McClelland relates a tolerance for risk-taking to ability and opportunity as well as to Need for

Achievement (N Achievement), a basic motivational factor. He found

^E. Paul Torrance.

2 Jacques Hadamard, The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 19U5 )

^David C. McClelland, ’’The Calculated Risk: An Aspect of Scientific Performance,” Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 18U-192. .

135

that subjects with high N Achievement, as measured indirectly by

fantasy material, were attracted by activities requiring risk not so

great as to depend on luck nor so little as to be assured, and that

these persons worked harder when the odds were moderate—not too

long, not too short. For physical scientists, the risk deals with

things or nature, not people and interpersonal situations. Accord-

ingly, the highly creative scientist is an individual with moderately

high N Achievement and inclined to the unknown and to take certain

risks involving his skills, not luck.

Too much N Achievement interferes with successful research

work probably because the individual cannot invest too much of him-

self in a risky enterprise, or he settles for a reasonably quick

return through choosing projects which pr anise a possibility of

quick completion. There appears, therefore, to be a relationship

between the strength of the achievement motive, and a) resistence

to premature closure while striving for ultimate closure, and b) the

ability to withstand the tension produced by uncertainty and delayed

closure coupled with the need for closure. Too much risk-taking

capacity or too much attention to the long shots interferes also because, by definition, these do not pay off frequently, although now and again the. returns may be spectacular

Highly creative adolescents do not differ from the general school population or from high IQ students with respect to N

1 Ibid. —

136 ^ Achieveme nt .

Curiosity .-—Descriptive words and phrases relating to curiosity are frequently stated in connection with creativity or originality, e«g« questioning, inquisitive, speculative, baffled, puzzled, explorative, not bored, desire for truth, attracted by the mysterious, constructively discontent, dissatisfied and fault-finding with respect to present knowledge and procedures, while the word curious is applied by many, 2 Gough's five factors comprising the DRS include one called "an inquiring mind."^ Interest in new and different ^ things is a characteristic of more creative graduate students; interest in new and unusual problems is a trait of creative engineers.

• Research scientists display curiosity that Roe believes stems frcm many sources but is satisfied by their work.^ (McClelland also investigated curiosity and concluded that three motives curiosity, N Achievement, and striving for independence—had their origins in childhood experiences

Energy and commitment o —Fromm feels that the capacity to concentrate, to work hard, and to devote one's complete attention to

^Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

^E. Paul Torrance. 3 Harrison G. Gough.

^Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist .

^David C. McClelland, "On the Psychodynamics of Creative Physical Scientists." •

137 a problem is a condition of creativity.^ McClelland, drawing on

the findings of several investigations, stated that, '‘creative scientists are unusually hard working to the extent of appearing almost obsessed with their work."^ Roe found that willingness to work hard and long was the sole characteristic common to both artists and scientists, but not necessarily was it exclusively typical of the highly creative in these fields.^ Studies of creative children and adolescents have found them to be capable of and willing to work hard on their interests.^ Meier noted that persistence was characteristic of talent in artj^ Rossman documented the effects of persistence in successful invention,^ and Edison's remark that invention was 99 parts perspiration to one part inspiration echoes the point. Industriousness has been identified as characteristic of scientific and technical productivity and of renowned research workers in several scientific fields as revealed in biographical works. While words such as conscien- tious, thorough, and tenacious have been used to describe creative individuals, the implication is not one of unrelenting attach to achieve quick closure, rather the creative thinker may ebb and flow

^Erich Fromm.

2 David C. McClelland, "Psychodynamics," pp. 1U6—]_U7

-^Anne Roe, "Artists and Their Work, " Journal of Personality , XV (19U6), 1-1*0 3 The Making of a Scientist .

^E. Paul Torrance; Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson.

%. C. Meier.

6j. Rossman. 138

"the requirements of the work.^- The use of energy to reach

one 's goals was noted as it related to successful problem solving among creative chemists and mathematicians; energy was a correlate

of originality in Air Force officers.^ Graduate students displaying

drive, interest in problems not just subject matter, and an attitude of seeking ideas and methods is indicative of later creative productiv-

ity^ Furthermore the trait of being self—directing in initiating and persisting with a task, even when no progress is apparent, re-

quires creative strength. Together with resources of energy and willingness to use them in hard work, need for, satisfaction in, and

commitment to one's work have been found to be important motivation

variables for artists and scientists alike. Gough's "sense of destiny" or resoluteness is related to original work.^ Based on extensive interviews with noted writers, Barron states his conviction that without an "intense cosmological commitment," which he calls

"'the moral attitude,'" no amount of mental ability will produce

"a genuinely creative work." The quest for vision and meaning of the philosophic and esthetic sort is fundamental to outstanding creative achievement •-*

^-Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly . 2 B. S. Bloom; Frank Barron, "The Disposition towards Originality."

3Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 3 86.

^Harrison G. Gough.

-’Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression," pp. 297-298. 139

Altruism . —Roe concluded from her extensive studies of

eminent scientists that altruism was not a widespread motive for

them, thus refuting a popular image of the scientist. 1 Van Zelst and

Kerr reported that selflessness of motive was a variable in scientific

p and technical productivity. Thus a sincere interest in helping man-

kind has been proposed and refuted as a motive.

Importance of motivation for creativity

Roe, Bloom, Guilford, and others have stressed the importance

of motivational factors to creative work. Differences in motivation

affect performance, and Guilford declared that motivation was even

more important for creative expression in everyday affairs than in

test situations where subjects are usually highly motivated.-^ Praise

and instructions to be clever or original have been shown to affect

positively performance in creative test situations as well as in

other situations.^- Strong motivation for creative endeavor is ex-

pressed in self-initiated work and spending long hours beyong those

normally expected in academic or research work. Bloom noted that

science students who became intensely involved in research while in

Anne Roe ? Scientist .

2 Raymond H. Van Zelst and Wilard A. Kerr, "A Further Note of Some Correlates of Scientific and Technical Productivity," Journal

of Abnormal and Social Psychology , XLVII (1952), 129.

3j. P. Guilford, "Traits of Creativity."

kp. R. Cristensen, J. P. Guilford, and R. C. Wilson,. "Relations of Creative Responses to Working Time and Ins timetions," Journal of

Experimental Psychology , LIII (1957), 82-88. graduate school were more likely to be productive of research in

their later careers than students who merely sought to "do a piece

of research" to satisfy a requirement*-^

Interests and values

Roe believes that interests are powerful determiners of occupations, and she suggests possible relationships between the development of interests and early childhood experiences which influence the child's orientation to life—toward people or things, and in turn his interests. -Interests and experiences, then, linked with aptitudes contribute to motivation toward certain kinds of work including science. She believes that in an accepting home environment, aptitudes and motivation are more important in determining interests and eventually occupational selection. Many scientists, and others, displayed early inclinations which led them to their eventual professions, e.g. physical scientists had engaged in gadgetry and O inventors. had tinkered. c Artists, too, often show marked propensity for sketching or composing, e.g. Mozart* Sometimes numerous talents and interests are present and conflict with the result that creative persons may come to their career decisions rather late .3

Several studies have identified preferences for particular modes of thought. Physical scientists seem to be oriented to thinking about ideas and things, while social scientists are oriented toward

43 • S. Bloom.

P Anne Roe 9 Scientist .

-^ Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly . 1U1

people The IPAR studies revealed that regardless of field, creative

individuals score high on interests typical of psychologists, archi-

tects, authors, and it was inferred that creative people are more

interested in abstract thought involving the meanings and implications

of ideas than in practical details, ^ yet productive scientists have a

liking for method and precision.^ Guilford has reported several interests in different types of thought, e.g. reflective, rigorous,

autistic, divergent or convergent thought. ^ These reports suggest distinctions among more and less creative individuals as well as between various fields although the data are limited.

Creative individuals share a commitment to the value of freedom and independence of thought; the economic is superseded by the theoretical and esthetic Studies conducted at the National

Institute of Health (NIH) reveal that a "science orientation," i.e. importance of opportunity to contribute to basic scientific knowledge, freedom for originality, and use of present skills and abilities (as opposed to status- or prestige-oriented "institution orientation") is related to scientific performance while the institutional pattern is not. It was reported in another study that industrial research teams rated high and low in creativity did not differ with respect to

1 Ame Roe, Scientist .

^Donald W. MacKinnon.

-^Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 385.

^J. P. Guilford, "Traits of Creativity."

^Donald W. MacKinnon, "Person." ^

aspiration for promotions within or out of the research situation^

the orientation patterns of the NIH studies being similar to the

direction of aspirations in the industrial study, the differing

relationships may be accounted for by the need for both scientific

and institutional motivation in industrial laboratories.

Summary of motivational factors

According to psychoanalytic theory, the sources of motivation

for creative work are in the unconscious and are expressed primarily by way of the mechanisms of sublimation and compensation. Another theory states that motivation is derived from the strivings of an organism to become its potential. Clinical observation and examples as well as empirical studies may be cited to support both views.

Risk-taking ' tendencies, need for achievement, and curiosity have been 1 suggested as motives for creativeness. Great energy and commitment S mark highly creative individuals in the arts and sciences, and these are the only consistent traits found to date although it is by no \S means asserted that they are peculiar to highly creative persons./

Interests, often appearing in childhood, differentiate creative / individuals in some groups.

1 Norman Kaplan, "The Relation of Creativity to Sociological Variables in Research Organizations," Calvin ¥. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 195-20U. 1143

Physical Factors

Age and creativity

Development of creative abilities . —Ribot essayed to show

that creative imagination was common to almost all human beings and that it developed with age much as other abilities do. But he observed that with maturity, somewhere, somehow, growth in the constructive 1 use of imagination became attenuated or ceased.

Thirty years later Andrews noted that imagination—defined as the "process by which items of experience are combined to form new products"-—was a spontaneous trait of a young child which appeared to peak at age four to four and one half and to decline with the increase in years. She concluded that slightly negative and decreas- ing correlations existed between imagination and age, that girls peaked higher, earlier, and declined less rapidly than boys, and that there was a strong tendency to use the word like between ages ages four and five.* That imagination, originality, and spontaneity are typical of young children and atypical of older ones and adults has been and is pointed out and lamented too frequently to require elaborate documentation.

With the results of extensive testing of students frcm the kindergarten through graduate school, the first, albeit tentative, developmental curves of abilities associated with creativity are

1 Th. Ribot.

2 Elizabeth Gordon Andrews. available for part of this growth span. The pattern of development is of a steady increase in creative abilities from grades one through three, a sharp drop between grades three and four, some recovery in grades five and six, another drop between grades six and seven, followed by growth through the end of the high school years. ^ Studies j prior to the Minnesota research, e.g. by Kirkpatrick, Colvin and Meyer,

Simpson, Andrews, and Mearns, yield substantial agreement with respect to age and grade characteristics. A few differ, however: Grippen found no imagination before age five; Vernon, no constructive imagination before age eleven on the average; and Ransohoff, that imagination increased with age and intelligence.-^ The latter appear to have defined and sought for imagination in terms of ability to interpret reality rather than in terms of recombining elements or improvising from the real to the not real.

The only exception reported by Torrance is a slow, but steady increase in the ability to formulate hypotheses; causal thinking involved in the formation of hypotheses follows a more regular growth

^E. Paul Torrance.

2 E. A. Kirkpatrick, individual Tests of School Children,”

Psychological Review , VII (1900), 27U-280; S. S. Colvin and I. F. Meyer; Ray M. Simpson; Elizabeth Gordon Andrews; Hughes Mearns, Creative Power (2nd rev. ed.; New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 195BT:

^V. B. Grippen; M. D. Vernon, ”The Development of Imaginative

Construction in Children,” British Journal of Psychology , XXXIX (19U8), 102-111; Martha Beckman Ransohoff, "Imagination in Young Children,” (Unpublished Master's Thesis, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1928), cited by Elizabeth Gordon Andrews, pp. 7-8. curve after a rather slow beginning

The "fourth grade slump" noted in test results apparently

affects creative efforts in writing, art, and music. The reasons

for the fluctuations in the developmental curve are not known, but

they may be related to changes in physical growth, orientation to reality, peer pressures to conform, and adult efforts to acquaint the young wiuh differences between fantasy and reality; scrae children appear not to recover frcsn the drops, while others are able to maintain

the use of these abilities. Andrews thought that the marked tendencies

of four- and five-year olds to use the word like in their responses to stimuli used to invoke imagination were related to their growing awareness of and interest in naming the things around them; she thus related the tendency to intellectual and physical growth. ^ Getzels-" and Jackson analyzed the forces and pressures which operate to curb ' fantasy in youngsters and attribute loss of imaginative power to^ premature efforts to impose adult standards of reality on the young .3

Torrance associated certain personality disturbances with the critical

points on the curve, viz , at ages five, nine, thirteen, and seventeen, and noted that these points also coincide with transitions from one developmental stage to another as formulated by Sullivan for example.

The decrement in creative ability at age nine is often attended by behavior problems and learning difficulties. Analysis of creative

' )

3-E. Paul Torrence. O Elizabeth Gordon Andrews.

3jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson. 1U6

test materials of children of other countries suggest that the curves

representative of American children may be influenced by cultural

rather than biological factors Longitudinal studies, as yet not

done but at least one underway, may confirm these hypotheses or

reveal other factors of importance. From these descriptions of average,

but irregular, patterns, many variations may be found (as is true

of other averages).

Age and creative productivity . —The effects of increased

age on the functioning of human abilities are not fully understoodj

however, it appears that some motor and sensory abilities decrease

in older persons, e.g. spatial ability and perceptual speed show

2 signs .of declining with age. Too, skills not used frequently are subject to atrophy.

Lehman’s study of the relationships between great contributions to the various sciences, arts, and other fields and the ages of the creators revealed that outstandingly creative individuals were, at the time of their achievement, under fifty, except in politics or if earnings over $50,000 became the sign of productivity. Revolutionary achievement in chemistry and mathematics were made by persons under 35 and often in their twenties. Several other statistical studies tend to corroborate the thesis that youth and achievement, especially in

^E. Paul Torrance, ’’Cultural Discontinuities and the Development of Originality of Thinking," Exceptional Children XXIX, (1962), 2-19. —

2. T L. L. Thurstone, "Scientific Study." the sciences and invention, are related.^ Dennis disagreed with

Lehman’s methods and sought to prove that productivity does not

drop as dramatically as Lehman's curves suggest and that various

biases influence the citations and judgment. of a person's work; he

stressed lifetime productivity not the age of an individual's

greatest achievement. 2 In some fields and for some individuals

great achievements come with advanced age, in other instances these

are associated with relative youth.

Perhaps of greater importance than age per se are other

factors related to maturity and fame. Increasing responsibilities

may reduce the time that is available for innovative work, and health

problems or less drive to achieve after early success or increased

inflexibility may operate against highly creative productivity

Thurstone suggested that the strenuous demands of creative work may

be so great that, for some individuals, creative work is reduced as

age increases; retaining an attitude of curiosity is most important for con-

tinuing creativeness.^ Young men may have certain advantages in better

-4l. C. Lehman, Age and Achievement (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953); "Young Men Lead in Scientific Discovery" Science Digest XLK (January, 196l), 53~5U° ry W . Dennis, "Age and Achievement: A Critique," Journal of Gerontology , .XI (1956), 331-333; "The Age Decrement in,Outstanding Scientific Contributions : Fact or Artifact?" American Psychologist, XIII (1958), U57-U60; "Age and Productivity among Scientists,"

Science , CXXIII (1956), 72U-725. 3 J. Bjorksten, "The Limitation of Creative Years," Scientific

Monthly , LXII (19U6), 9U.

^L. L. Thurstone y "Scientific Study." 11*8

training or may be willing to undertake long range projects in their

need to achieve.

Heredity and creativity

Galton sought to demonstrate that mental abilities are

hereditary and that eminence runs in certain families Criticisms

of Galton's thesis often stress the importance of environment and

opportunity, e.g. Constable argued that must talent is wasted because

of the limiting effects of poverty. 2 Cattell studied eminent American

scientists and concluded that outstanding achievement was the outcome

of the interaction of heredity and environment; in another study of

historically eminent persons, he concluded that heredity was more

potent than social or physical environments.-^

Brain associated creative genius in many fields with

differences in the organization of the nervous system; the genius

has more elaborate "schema" or patterns in the nerve cells, these

schema being partially innate and partially developed through use

Although little evidence is available, Greenacre stated her convic-

tion that genius is based on hereditary factors which develop fully

^F. Galton, Hereditary Genius , abstract in Morris I. Stein . and Shirley J • Heinze, pp. 85-90.

2 C. F. Constable, Poverty and Hereditary Genius , abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 8U-85. 3 J. MoK. Cattell, "Families of American Men of Science"; "A Statistical Study of Eminent Men," abstracts in Morris I. Stein- and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 82-83, 363-361*.

v. R. Brain "Some Reflections on Genius," abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 100-101. . •

1U9

in favorable conditions.^ Meier regarded certain factors in artistic

aptitude, i.e. intelligence, manual skill, and energy, as dispositions

O determined by heredity but developed in favorable circumstances.

Thurstone believed that creative abilities ". . . are probably inherited. Guilford's position is that "heredity probably does determine limits, upper and lower, within which development can occur."

He cites Ferguson as conceiving of the primary abilities as general ones developed by experience and practice Lange-Eichbaum argued that genius is a sociological phenomenon.^

Health and creativity .....

Thurstone suspected that "there probably is a relation between creative work and health," in spite of the fact that many creative men have been productive in spite of serious handicaps and illnesses.^1

Bett studied fifteen famous authors and concluded that illness affects the personality as well as the style and content of creative work.^

While illness is not marked in many geniuses and may not produce talent, it may affect the development and use of talent. Roe found no significant influences of health and physical constitution on

^Phyllis Greenacre.

%. R. Meier

^L. L. Thurstone, "Scientific Study."

dj. P. Guilford, "Creativity: Its Measurement and Develop- ment," p. 16U.

%. Lange-Eichbaum, The Problem of Genius , abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 3U8-350.

Al. L. Thurstone, /.'Scientific Study," p. 62.

At. R. Bett, The Infirmities of Genius, abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, pp. 35B-357 ^

150

scientists—whether on their work or on their selection of an area

of interest—the only exception she noted was that theoretical

physicists had often had severe childhood illnesses perhaps con-

tributing to personal isolation.

An important point when considering the effects of illness,

threat, hardship, or frustration is that individuals vary with respect

to their reactions to misfortunes. An event or situation which may be

2 crippling to some may be incorporated or utilized by others . Galois

spent the hours during the night before his death in a duel writing

mathematical problems and principles which were unknown at the time

and not appreciated for many years. Rest necessitated by tuberculosis,

for instance, may be used by some to organize ideas and to write works which might not have been accomplished in an ordinarily busy life.

Maintenance of health is important for learning and thus for

the exercise of creative abilities in children. While adversity may

assist in the development and use of talents and may be a challenge

to overcome, no one advocates making life unnecessarily hazardous.

Torrance suggested, apropos of this and other limitations everyone

experiences, that creative youngsters be helped to recognize and

accept the unavailability of seme opportunities and to postpone

satisfaction of certain desires until the deprivation can be overcome;

similarly physical limitations must, in many cases, be accepted, but

^Anne Roe, "A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists and Anthropologists, and a Comparison with Biological and Physical Scientists."

2A. H. Maslow. . •

151 efforts may be made to live and work within such limits.'*'

Talent and special abilities

Numerous examples of extraordinary talents involved in great achievement may be cited; indeed some types of creative work require special talents. Mere possession of a special ability, however necessary, is not sufficient for high level production; training and practice in the development of its use are vital and require opportunity and determination in the doing. Meier regarded the manual skill needed in art as inherited, at least by disposition,

p but that its full utilization required practice.

McClelland regards as an important aspect of future research the need to study how talent is developed, not merely striving to identify potential talent.-* Torrance pleads for efforts by school people and others to help creative youngsters to recognize and value their talents and abilities instead of fearing to use them.*4

Summary of physical factors

Development of the creative thinking abilities appears to be irregular with crucial points occurring between the ages eight to nine and eleven to twelve when drops in imagination and divergent thinking have been noted. The relationship of age and creativity

*•£. Paul Torrance.

^N. R. Meier.

^David C . McClelland et al. , Talent and Society (Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand, 1958)

^E. Paul Torrance 152

is not clear, but it appears that in some fields outstanding achieve-

ments occur relatively early in life (under 35). Productivity,

however, may continue until late in life although outside pressures

and infirmities may be hindrances; maintaining curiosity and flexibility

is seen as important to continuing productivity. Inherited talents

and abilities set important limits on individual potentials, but

practice and use develop the potentialities.

Interaction and Variations of Creative Abilities and Traits

Interaction of abilities and traits

Certain temperament and intellectual traits, e.g. sensitivity,

flexibility, or originality, are difficult to distinguish, i.e. are

they traits of temperament or intellect or both? However, a number

of abilities are correlated with particular traits; Thurstone stated

that persons who have high scores on the first closure factor (ability

to fuse a vague perceptual field or form good Gestalten in an

ambiguous field) ”... tend to be socially outgoing and optimistic

and fluent ...” while those who are high in the second closure

factor (ability to destroy a gestalt to find a small element)

”. . . are generally quiet and reserved and more analytically

1 inclined.”' ' Furthermore that sane temperament traits apparently affect creative abilities has been illustrated by the work of Meyer

^L. L. Thurstone, "Scientific Study,” p. 55. . . ^ 9

153 and' Myden as well as by Fleming and Weintraubrt

Conversely Meadow and Fames reported that training and i/" practice in the use of certain creative thinking abilities, notably divergent thinking abilities, appear to strengthen certain personality

variables associated with creativity (see Chapter V) . l/

Bloom concluded that more and less creative chemists and mathematicians differed less in cognitive traits than in personality

2 and motivational traits

Personality components affect in various ways both the creative process and product. Creative thought may be directed to one problem and not another; the effort may continue to completion, or it may be abortive; elements available or not, for unique combinations result from experience and perception: these are examples of the influence of temperament on process. Elements of style, recurrent themes, and the relative freedom from or inclusion of distortion are examples of personality influences on the creative product

Variations in abilities and traits

Guilford views creative ability as consisting of a "collection of different component abilities or other traits," rather than a unitary factor An individual may have one ability to a high degree

-^Pricilla Meyer; Walter D. Myden; Elyse S. Fleming and Samuel Weintraub, "Attitudinal Rigidity. as a Measure of Creativity in Gifted

Children," Journal of Educational Psychology , LIII (1962), 81-83.

2 B. S. Blocm.

•^J. P. Guilford, "Traits of Creativity." •

but not another, e.g. Thurstone noted that some individuals who excel

in one closure factor may not in the other Few attempts have been

made to discover the extent to which intellectual and other factors

are universally applicable to creative behavior in all fields and at

all ages or if there are distinctive clusters peculiar to special

fields there are indications that the latter possibility is the

case although it is premature to outline with completeness the nature

of such clusters of traits. Divergent thinking factors dealing with»^ symbols may be related to creativity in the arts and mathematics, «/ while those dealing with verbal symbols are undoubtedly related to

2 x/ creativeness in writing. Furthermore, creativeness in the arts, the sciences, and social situations (industry, home life, or various groups) probably involves some different factors. Or to put it another way, the proportion or balance of various factors needed in these different spheres is probably different; the scientist probably needs greater symbolic abilities than the businessman, as well as several other abilities. The operations of thought as conceived by

Guilford probably are found in parallel abilities dealing with various materials and important to different fields of activity. In addition abilities not primarily creative, e.g. memory, convergent thinking, and evaluation, are undoubtedly involved in creative work regardless of the field, A, person may be creative in one area and not in another or in other words, creativity may be somewhat specific

"*"L. L. Thurstone, ’‘Scientific Study."

. P. Guilford, "Traits." 155 to a particular field, although there have been examples of rare creative genius outstandingly productive in several fields, e.g. da Vinci and Pascal.

Drevdahl found that whereas, creative art and science students differed from students in general with respect to personality traits, there were also differences between the two groups, e.g. the creative art students tended to be more socially radical, self-sufficient, and emotionally sensitive than the science students; interest in the

internal mental life may be associated with creativity in the arts, but interest in external things may be associated more with creativity

1 in the sciences . Roe found differing patterns of traits as revealed by projective tests among anthropologists, biologists, chemists, and

1 o , other groups of scientists. Other variations among creative

individuals may be found in interest patterns.

Summary of the interrelatedness of creative abilities

At this stage of research knowledge it appears that temperament and cognitive factors are closely related and that they affect

each other and the possibility of creative work. Creative individuals

in various fields differ from the general population as well as within

and between their fields.

^ohn E. Drevdahl.

Anne Roe, "A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists and Anthropologists, and a Comparison with Biological and Physical

11 Scientists . 156

Identifying Creative Individuals

The problem of identifying creative persons, whether they

are adults so that opportunities and recognition may be provided

for their abilities and work or whether they are children with

potentialities for creative work, is a primary research need which

has received considerable attention in recent years. Many of the

studies cited in the preceding sections had objectives which included

the identification of creative individuals. The overlapping problems

of the criteria, measurement, and prediction of creativity are con-

sidered in the discussion which follows; this section examines research related to criteria, tests, and group measures of creativity.

Criteria of creativity

Criteria of creativity, whether based on products or individual performance or traits or even certain test scores, depend fundamentally upon subjective judgments; the contributors to the criterion committees of the Utah conferences on scientific creativity have attempted

" • • .to define and identify the role of subjectivity, rather than

1 to pretend that . . . /they/ have abolished it."

Ratings of individuals . —Research studies of creativity often utilize various types of ratings as criteria. In spite of errors in judgment, Cattell wrote, "there is ... no other criterion of a man’s work than the estimation in which it is held by those most competent

Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 382. 157

3 to judge."- - Ratings may be made by experts—persons who should know about the individual, work, and situation—such as supervisors, department heads, and colleagues or sometimes subordinates, e.g.

Ifeer and Stein used composite ratings of peers, superiors, and sub-

ordinates in studies of industrial research chemists; these ratings included quality and quantity of ideas and, to a lesser extent, the

"ability to do something about one's ideas. Drevdahl used professors' ratings of college art and science students, the criterion being the degree to which the students demonstrated creativeness in

3 their work and behavior. Thurstone commented that usual academic evaluation standards are antithetical to evaluation of creative potential; therefore ratings of students’ creativity by professors should be used with caution for they may be unsatisfactory.^ Roe studied eminent biologists, psychologists, and antropologists, among other professionals, chosen by peer ratings.'’ Cattell and Drevdahl used committee ratings to select from professional societies eminent subjects for a study comparing the scientists with the general population and among themselves. ^ The IPAR studied creative adults

. McK. Cattell, "A Statistical Study of American Men of Science," abstract in Morris I. Stein and Shirley J. Heinze, p. 365. 2 Bernard. Meer and Morris I . Stein.

3 John E. Drevdahl.

^L. L. Thurstone, "Creative Talent."

^Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist.

B. Cattell and John E. Drevdahl. ^ /

158

selected and rated by peers and experts, e.g. professors of English

suggested the creative writers Self-ratings and supervisors'

ratings emerged as creativity factors from factor analysis of $0

criterion measures; in adolescent and adult samples self-ratings have

proved to have moderate validity.

Jex, in a study of principals' and supervisors' ratings of 1

high school science teachers, found a -.38 correlation between these y

ratings and the teachers 1 scores on a test of ingenuity.^ Piers

et al . used teacher ratings of the creativity of junior high school ^

• pupils as criteria and found these to be somewhat satisfactory

although differences among teachers' conceptions of pupil creativity/

probably reduced the usefulness of the ratings as criteria. ^ Getzels 1 \

and Jackson found that teachers themselves are not good judges of ‘

the creative potential of their pupils; they tend to select those /

who score high on intelligence tests not those high on tests of "

creativity. The investigators explained that this is in part due to-"

conflicting conceptions of creativity on the part of the teacher v

judges and in part to traditional value systems connected with the

school enterprise.^ As Holland put it, . . teachers generally

•'•Frank Barron, "Creative Vision and Expression."

^Calvin W. Taylor and John L. Holland. 3 Frank B. Jex, "Negative Validities for Two Different

Ingenuity Tests," Scientific Creativity , ed. Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1963), po. 299-301.

^Ellen V. Piers, Jacqueline M. Daniels, and John F. Quackenbush.

^Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson. . .

159 rate students with good grades higher than those with lower grades,^

more * . . . /and that/ teachers give lower ratings to students with potential for creativity . . . than to students with less potential, suggests that school personnel value the good grade-getter more than,/ the creative student.”^- J

Harmon studied the factors contributing to the ratings of judges to determine upon what bases their judgments were made. The highest correlation between the creativity rating of a background questionnaire sent to winners and nonwinners of Atomic Energy

Commission fellowhips and the questionnaire variables proved to be with the number of publications. The limitations of this variable

as a criterion of creativity are that publications themselves vary

as to relative worth and actual writing for publication demands an

extra push beyond the requirements of laboratory work. It was

apparent, however, that this criterion was the main one used by the

2 judges

Various means have been used to obtain reliable and valid

ratings, e.g. Meer and Stein once used an average of two ratings made

a month apart, 3 and Drevdahl had his professors rate their students

•kjohn L. Holland, "Some Limitations of Teacher Ratings as Predictors of Creativity,” Journal of Educational Psychology, L - ( 1959 ), 221 222 .

^Lindsey R. Harmon, ”The Development of a Criterion of Scientific Competence,” Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. UU-52

3 Bernard Meer and Morris I. Stein. ^

160

on 'their privately defined conceptions of creativity as well as on a

definition provided by the investigator who also obtained ratings by

two professors for each student The validity of ratings rests on

the understanding of the raters of the definition or criteria of the quality or production being rated and perhaps the degree of closeness or sympathy of the rater to the work or individual being rated.

Public school people, by most indications, are poor judges of creative- potential or performance. McPherson suggested that evaluations of creativity would be improved by training judges to make more sensitive

p discriminations. Rating scales are at best intermediate criteria and at worst unreliable.

Test scores as criteria of creativity . —Criteria which are being used more frequently than ever before are scores on various types of tests. Guilford's tests have been used and adapted for use with many different test populations. Barron used some of these tests as well as projective and other tests scored for originality, as criteria of originality.^ Studies of creative or divergent-" thinking in young children and adolescents have used adaptions of/ some of the Guilford tests together with new ones to study creativity*

>/' Karnes et al . used them to identify a group of creative elementary school children in order to study the relationship between creative-'

^•John E. Drevdahl.

2 J. H. McPherson.

^Frank Barron, "The Disposition Toward Originality." 161 ability and over- and underachievement Test scores used as ^ criteria in lieu of creative productivity enables researchers to study potentially creative children and adults and to study the effects of training or changes in environment. The validity of these tests as criteria or as predictors of mature creative productivity is not known at present; Taylor and Holland summarized the state of/< research knowledge thus: "... there is still uncertainty about^ the degree to which the ... ‘creativity* tests are valid pre- S dictors of important creative performance .... Nevertheless,* these 'creativity* tests are, without doubt, measuring intellectual/' processes and ncnintellectual characteristics that are not closely S

p related to those involved in high intelligence scores."

Biographical inventories . —Attempts to differentiate the creative on the basis of interests, hobbies, activities, and background factors suggest their usefulness in many situations. Taylor and

Holland reported that certain items in a biographical inventory are good criteria for the prediction of creativity.-^ Chorness and

Nottelman found that childhood interest in certain hobbies was indicative of creative work later in life.^ This finding contributed

'"Merle B. Karnes et al. "The Efficacy of Two Organizational Plans for Underachieving Intellectually Gifted Children," Exceptional

Children . XXDC (1963), ^38-14.6.

2 Calvin W. Taylor and John L„ Holland, p. 97.

^Calvin W. Taylor and John L. Holland, p. 99.

^cited by John L. Holland, "Creative and Academic Performance Among Talented Adolescents." 162 to two scales of creative activities developed by Holland for use in identifying creative adolescents (see Chapter II) . Gerry et al « found significant correlations between eleven of Guilford’s tests and creative activities scores based on a biographical inventory.^

Sprecher found that biographical data correlated significantly with one or more criteria of creativity in engineering. Taylor and Holland reviewed the research and concluded: ’’Nearly every study involving even a brief biographical inventory or biographical approach for predicting creativity in scientists has been found to have promising validity in the initial sample studies. ”3

Personality criteria . —Various traits revealed by many tests have been found to be characteristic of creative persons in various fields, but Roe found that projective test protocols varied considerably among creative persons in different fields and that in. some cases these could not be interpreted as indicative of highly creative work.^ Taylor and Holland concluded, after reviewing theu

literature, tint the validity of personality tests for identifying creative potential is low.5

LR. Gerry, L. de Veau, and M. Chorness.

2 Thomas Bo Sprecher, "An Investigation of Criteria for Creativity in Engineers."

•5 Calvin W. Taylor and John L. Holland, p. 97.

Vnne Roe, "The Personality of Artists," -Educational and Psychological Measurement , VI (19U6), U01-i|08j "A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists and Anthropologists, and a Comparison with Biological and Physical Scientists."

-’Calvin W. Taylor and John L. Holland, p. 98. 163

Tests of creativity

Tests of abilities thought to be associated with creative thinking have been used to identify creativity in children, adolescents, younger and older adults, professional people, employees of various types, and college students. Other tests measure aptitudes needed in various fields. Standard personality tests have been used to measure factors of temperament and motivation.

Several nonverbal tests have been developed for use -with younger children^ and adults; Hall used a mosaic construction task for assessment and personality correlation purposes in a study of

2 research scientists. Tests of artistic preferences and construction tasks -were used in the IPAR studies and were related to other measures and certain personality factors.

Taylor has pointed out that for the most part validation studies are lacking although work is progressing (available evidence was reviewed above). There seem to be even more ideas for possible tests than tests that have been produced much less perfected, e.g. nine types of tests requiring complex and diverse tasks are listed in Scientific Creativity .-*

Problems of criteria and large scale testing remain to be >

/ '' solved before longitudinal studies are undertaken, although the need1 for such studies of national samples is widely acknowledged .v

Tl. Paul Torrance. 2 ff. B. Hall.

^Calvin ¥. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 383-3 8U —

161;

Dyer suggested the substitution of studies of overlapping groups

for the study of a single group over a long period of time. By

studying groups of children and young adults from early elementary

school through graduate school and. testing them frequently, a sixteen year longitudinal study might be compressed into four years. •*

Sociometric measures

Certain sociametric devices appear useful; when asked to name the children who had the wildest or naughtiest ideas, teachers and youngsters most often nominated those with the highest scores on creativity tests, but when asked directly to name the most creative, teachers and pupils were more apt than not to select children with high IQ scores than those with high creativity scores.

Observation of groups and individuals

A simple and sometimes useful means of identifying a creative individual is to look for the one who causes an uproar in a group he may be a creature who has stated an unexpected view which may be evidence of creativity. Another identifying mark is the quality of individual contributions to group discussion, particularly those which inject important new elements to the discussion. The creative person/ often thinks "at right angles" to the stream of group thought; the /

'Henry S.Dyer, "Some Problems in Identifying Creative Scientific Talent at Various Academic Levels," Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W.~ Taylor (Salt Lake City! University of Utah Press* 1955), pp. 111-131. p E. Paul Torrance. 1

165

result may be progress and/or consternation.- - The behavior of

creative children in heterogeneous and homogeneous groups differs,

i.e. in the former the creative child often causes disturbances,

does not cooperate, daydreams, is not credited for his contributions

even if these are great, is often saddled with a task to control him;

in more homogeneous groups (based on intelligence or creativity test

scores) signs of social stress are reduced. While it appears that

these manifestations may occur as a result of the combination of

other factors, it seems worthwhile to note the possibility of clues

O for identifying and helping the more creative child.

Individuals who frequently display traits associated with-7

creativity, e.g. flexibility of thought, a personal approach to work,/

and problems, a tendency to ask questions, who seem reluctant to accept/

ready made answers or insoluble problems, who discover solutions to

problems before instruction and are thus atypical for their age groups

these may be identified as gifted creatively, though here again the cir-S

cumstances of motivation, context, and outcomes of these character-y^

istics must be known before identification is assured. Other traits v

which may be observed and associated with creative potential are v

curiosity, originality in behavior, positive reactions to or seeking/'

out new aspects of experiences or environment, independence and non-*-

conforming tendencies, imagination in work, fluent and flexible idea-'-

^alvin Wo Taylor, "A. Tentative Description of the Creative , Individual," Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding, pp. 170-18U. 2 E. Paul Torrance o .

166

tion, self-direction shown in going beyond the work requirements andt/

persistence in problem solving, experimentation, and ability to see

and state relationships. It must be remembered that any of these Z'

alone may be not signs of creative potential.

Tests have limits and tests of creative abilities are markedly limited because they are relatively new and measure but a few of the many components of creativity. Young children may have difficulties in expressing their ideas, either by writing or speaking,

or they may be hampered by time limits or lo.v motivation. Few

school people are familiar with the administration or scoring or interpretation of the few already published tests.

Summary of identifying creative persons

Ratings and certain tests seem to be the best criteria for selecting creative individuals although these depend to some extent

on performance as well as other traits. No one factor of interest, background, or personality is, at present, indicative of creative achievement

Chapter Summary

Theoretical and research data relative to the characteristics of creative individuals were reviewed in this chapter. The traits and abilities herein discussed are not in and of themselves sure signs of creativity, i.e. not all who may have some or many of these are creative or creatively productive nor are those who lack some of them necessarily uncreative. Moreover, while it appears that certain qualities or characteristics tend to be associated with creative 167

potential or productivity in one or more fields, variations have

been discovered with and among specific fields. Furthermore many of

these traits and abilities appear to be interrelated.

Numerous studies have indicated that intelligence and creativity, while related in high level achievement, are not identical, therefore giftedness in students ought not be limited to measured intelligence

or scholastic aptitude. According to Guilford’s concept of intellect, consisting of the several memory and thinking abilities, creative thinking involves, in differing stages and degrees, several abilities notably those, such as flexibility, originality, and redefinition, vchich depart from the given or known and turn to the probable or unknown. Analyses of creative abilities in art suggest that these are parallel to those involved in scientific creation. The creative thinking abilities contribute to learning although this is not always reflected in academic grades.

Creativity seems to be a function of abilities and particular personality factors such as independence, tolerance of ambiguity, and sensitivity. Sane traits, e.g. self-acceptance, are associated with creativity expressed as psychological health and personal enrichment; others, e.g. introversion, are characteristic of sane but not all, fields of endeavor. Attributes such as spontaneity or openness may be typical of sane creative persons or may be limited to certain phases or areas of thought. While related to the creative, humor has not been reported to be typically a facet of creative persons.

Results of many studies abundantly mark the personality domain as psy- 168 chologically complex with usually conceived opposite tendencies appearing together, eog. ego strength and schizoid tendencies. The relationship between creativeness and mental health, or lack of it, is not easily determined; the important matter seems to be the manner in which the individual handles the stress and anxieties of living and his creative work. In any case creativity appears not to stem frcm insanity nor is it necessarily diminished by therapy. Considerable motivation, apparently stemming from several possible sources, and hard work in the achievement of a desired result are characteristic of creatively productive individuals; in certain fields talents or special abilities, e.g. manual dexterity, are required for creative work. A creative personality type has not, as yet at least, been identified although many criteria and measures have been used in studies of adults and children. While many of the studies have concentrated on known creative adults for the identification of peculiarly creative traits, other studies, using various instruments, have found these traits to be common in various degrees to most individuals.

While heredity and age strongly influence creative potential and productivity, their effects are, to some extent, amenable to development and adjustment to insure the greatest use of abilities.

Certain traits may be viewed as blocks to creative expression, but these too may be modified. Finally, it has been noted that oppor-

i. tunity and practice are needed in order that creative potential become functional —

CHAPTER IV

ENVIRONMENT AND CREATIVITY

Introduction

Neither an examination of the individual and his behavior nor

an examination of the environment is adequate for an understanding of

the nature and emergence of creativity. . .A theory of creativity

/is needed7 which includes variables related to social conditions in 1 addition to . . . something which resides solely within the individual.”

Creative behavior results from the interaction of an individual and the environment; the two interact so intimately that they should be isolated only for purposes of analysis. Creation, though private, occurs in relation to environmental factors, i.e. other people and things; whether these factors are facilitating or inhibiting will affect the quality and quantity of creative expression.

The materials used in creation cane from the environment nature and culture—as well as from the individual's resources which have been culturally influenced to a large extent.

The problem here is to discover what is known about the effects of environment on a person's creative potentialities or performance. This is an area of much speculation and theorizing but relatively little research directed specifically to creativity; however,

^Maury H. Chorness, p. 295*

169 170

research dealing with the effects of environmental factors on learning

and personality is voluminous and related to aspects of the present

problem.

Socio-psychological Environment

Culture and creativity

Elements within a culture, among them values, the family, 7 education, and technology , are of immediate concern for understanding

creativity for these factors affect creative potential in three

fundamental ways : first, by their effects on the development of the

individual, second, as they influence the opportunities for creative

thought, and third, through the various reactions of people to creative J work. '

Development of the individual . —Elements of a particular

culture influence the individual's development from earliest life through

maturity. These factors are a part of the individual's very process of

creation and so affect its course from inception to completion or

interruption. Thurstone said, ". . .it seems almost certain that the

cultivation of creative talent is influenced by the value system in

our culture. If a child is encouraged when he tries to think along

unconventional lines, he is more likely to develop creative and pro-

ductive ideas than if any such efforts were constantly discouraged."^"

Preliminary research findings suggest that the significant

drops in the development of creative thinking abilities found at ages five, nine, thirteen, and seventeen may be determined more by cultural

•^L. L. Thurstone, "Creative Talent," p. 19. 171 factors than by biological factors. Children's scores on creative

thinking tests formed different patterns in different cultures, e.g.

Samoan children's scores, while lower than those in the United States,

showed a steady increase; the pattern in India was similar to but lower

than the pattern in the United States.

Cultural discontinuities were cited as major determiners of these differences. In Samoa, particularly the rural areas, there are few discontinuities to interrupt the growth of these abilities, but the dominant cultural values are acceptance of tradition and suppression of inquisitiveness and individuality. These values tend to perpetuate traditional motifs in craft work and ceremonies, for instance. In- dividuals steeped in these values have lower scores on tests of divergent thinking and imagination in comparison to scores obtained in the

United States and some European nations . In urban Samoa there are indications of increases in originality as well as personality disturbances related to cultural discontinuities resulting from the introduction of values and patterns different from the traditional ones.

The developmental curves obtained in the United States reveal marked dips at various points, and certain personality and behavior problems appear to coincide with these points. These phenomena may be related to strong cultural pressures with respect to new demands for maturity such as elimination of fantasy, conformity to sex roles, stress on the avoidance of mistakes, and more formal and verbal school work; additional pressures at these times are concern for practical matters, and the increasing influence of peer judgments. American culture being peer-oriented and success-oriented (with concomitant emphases

N 172

on 'fear of error, striving for success, and a sometimes superficial consideration for others), may support thorough-going conformity, dishonesty in work and in interpersonal relationships, as well as denial of certain aspects of self. Conformity, dishonesty, and denial of self are hardly conducive to creativeness in any of its aspects The study, while limited, does suggest the importance of cultural influences on the development of creative thinking.

Opportunity for creative thought . —Culture provides opportunities for or limits to creative behavior; creativeness may be stimulated or stifled by values which impose standards of the relative worth of creative products, which demand certain types of products, which permit or restrict inquiry into any aspect of the culture, and which make it possible or impossible for individuals to become diverse according to their potentialities. More opportunities, for example, exist for persons with high measured intelligence and academic achievement to obtain scholarships for training and to find jobs affording creative opportunities, and such opportunities are vital to the development and utilization of creative talent.

Mead probed the enigma of creativity in terms of the relationships between the forms or style provided by the culture and the uses made of these by the individual, the emphasis being on the interaction between the individual and his environment. She suggests that within a framework of cultural forms some combination

Ji. Paul Torrance, "Cultural Discontinuities and the Development of Originality of Thinking." ^ •

173 and balance of freedom and opportunity for the exercise of imagination

together with respect for the skill and discipline of hard work in the acquisition and use of skills —these are several necessary conditions for the emergence of creativeness. .These conditions and the value of

searching expressed perhaps as a need to test limits, or to try new approaches, or to break or change a prevailing pattern, or to seek for new beauty or knowledge are required to achieve great creative productivity within a culture as well as for individuals to experience creativity. Based on analyses of several cultures none of these elements—cultural farms, freedom, opportunity, skills, materials, discipline, imagination, or desire for innovation—is a sufficient condition for creativity* Moreover, it is futile merely to state that children are creative if they have opportunities to exhibit this quality.

Furthermore, Mead speculates about the effects on the individual and society of original thought which yields the rediscovery of known facts and solutions as well as the effects of the production of work which is false or of mediocre quality. Satisfaction with the ordinary and minor may hinder or prove beneficial to the production of novel work which advances the development of the culture.'*’

Comparative studies of major cultures have been suggested in order to discover the effects of values, recognition and reward, norms of conduct, and the image and status of various types of work on creative productivity.

^Margaret Mead, "Creativity in Cross-cultural Perspective,"

Creativity and Its Cultivation , ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), PP* 222-235*

^Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron, pp. 3 7 U—3 75 .

17 ii

Reactions to creative Yfork . —Society influences creativity,

through its reactions to creative attempts and results; will the

creator be recognized, honored, accepted, rejected, or ignored? A

degree of openness is required of individuals and groups to appreciate,

respond to, and incorporate new elements. Mandler and Kessen give

examples of the extent to which society has gone in order to ignore

or disparage new discoveries; such reluctance to accept the new is not

always a negative feature, however, because examples of the rejection

of erroneous new theories may be noted as well as the rejection of

accurate ones Although accurate evaluation of innovations is diffi-

cult at the tame of their development, the quality of the reception is

important to continued creative work and perhaps for social progress.

While openness is required cf all, to some extent the awareness or

support of or mere permissiveness toward creative work is greatly affected by certain key individuals, e.g. critics, patrons, developers

of innovations, and leaders who, in turn, may influence what will be

produced in the future. Mutual reactions between creators and recog-

nizers also have effects on the continuation of creative effort and

the qualities of this continuation.

Widespread neglect of creativity . —Establishing an environment

conducive to creativity, actual or potential, is a problem not only for business and schools but also for society as a whole. Certain cultural values and demands, educational practices, and job situations are inimical to creative development. Wolfle noted that such school ^

^George Mandler and William Kessen.

^See Chapter II for a discussion of the evaluation of creative products .

175

practices as uniform assignments and evaluation for promotion and ^

' scholarships, as well as advertising and union policies, for example, 1

are among the forces operating against diversity among people.^" Tumin

listed ten points (among them standardized operating techniques which

discourage experimentation as well as the practices of setting goals and

settling problems from above) which are stifling to creativity in

p work and social life. Murray diagnosed contemporary society as

suffering from "paralysis of the creative imagination."^ Overemphasis-^

on success and preventing failure may block risk-taking and the testing-'

of self and reality thereby curbing creative behavior; at several 1^

points greater efforts are needed to value creativity and to offer

opportunities and challenges for its manifestation.^

Home and family

Family attitudes and values . —Roe hypothesized that 1) differ-

ences in home atmosphere and parental attitudes, especially early ones, are correlated to basic orientations toward people or toward ideas and things and 2) that these orientations determine, in large part, interests which in turn influence the choice of occupation. An accepting environment would make possible the greater importance of aptitudes in the development of interests. Home experiences vary with sex, the child's position in the family, and socio-economic status. Roe believes that creativeness is hindered by overprotecting or overdemanding family

^•Dael Wolfle

^Melvin Tumin.

^ Henry A. Murray. K

176

situations, and she cites her studies of artists and scientists

in partial confirmation of this. Family values with respect to

learning and independence, for example, are important influences in 1

the backgrounds of scientists.^ Among other factors, home conditions

may or may not predispose an individual to creativeness.

Stein reported that more creative chemists recalled engaging

in solitary activities early in life (the less creative, in group

activities) and being more distant from parents and adults in general;

their parents attitudes toward them were more inconsistent than was typical of the less creative subjects. The IPAR studies revealed

that creative adults frequently had had unhappy childhoods ; either

these individuals had actually had unhappy or difficult early years

(and some reported less than ideal conditions) or they recalled,

rather than repressed, the stresses of growing up.^

In a study of fourth grade children employing tests and interviews, Weisberg and Springer compared certain factors in the backgrounds of more, and less creative children. The investigators con-

cluded that the more creative child is a product of a not "particularly well adjusted" marriage and a family that is not "overly close."" Con-/ siderable open, rather than suppressed, hostility and conflicts are likely; family members do not cling to each other for support ' and satisfactions, and neither parent dominates the family.

1 A.nne Roe, "Early Differentiation of Interests," Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin ¥. Taylor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1957), pp. 98-108. ^Calvin ¥. Taylor and Frank Barron, p. 226. 3 Carnegie Corporation of New York York Quarterly , p. 5* . -

177

As conclusions Weisberg and Springer stated: The optimal family./ pattern is not close; parents do not insist that the child conform to 1" their values even in conflicts; parents interact strongly with the ^ child, threat is reduced by the effects of parents who are sure of themselves and do not dominate the child; the abilities of the child' are not overvalued.

Getsels and Jackson presented descriptions of the parents and homes of some of the highly creative adolescents they studied. The investigators found that the parents of creative youngsters were likely to be strong individuals who permitted the child to be somewhat independent and who were concerned with the child's interests and enthusiams rather than purely social or scholastic standards. ^ With reference to the creative adolescent Holland wrote: '’His parents appear to be more permissive and more nurturant of his ideas and impulses so that communication with the self and the world is stimulated."-^

Research is needed to determine more precisely home and family influences on the abilities, temperament, and motivation associated with creative adults

Socio-economic status . —Research evidence with respect to socio-economic status is mixed. Several studies have noted that outstanding scientists came frcm upper middle class families and had

-*-? 0 S. Weisberg and Kayla J. Springer, "Environmental Factors in Creative Function," Archives in General Psychiatry, V (1961), 55H-56U.

2 Jacob W. Getzels and Philip Y/. Jackson.

3 John L. Holland, "Creative and Academic," p. Ili5» 178

fathers in the business and professional fields but there is some

evidence that creative researchers in science came from middle and

lower middle class backgrounds. Stein noted that highly creative-^

industrial research chemists came from lower educational and socio-

economic backgrounds than did the less creative chemists. ^ Knapps

reported that scientists tend to have had humble social origins, i.e/^

a third came from nonwhite -collar occupations and 60 per cent from. -

lower middle class families. Artists and literary men came from both'''

extremes while scholars in the humanities had the benefits of higher

socio-economic status

While it is hazardous to proclaim the effects of various

factors or patterns on the development of individuals, it appears that

family relationships affect interests, motivation, and personality.

Events, values, and interaction which contribute to the development of various characteristics associated with creative productivity (e.g.

independence), evidently nurture creative potentials.

Effects of groups on creativity

Open and closed groups . —Ziller et al . concluded that open groups, in which the members changed, produced more and better ideas thus being more conducive to creativity than closed groups; open groups were viewed as demanding less personal constraint and as profiting from the stimulation of novel perceptions. These comparisons

^Anne Roe, Scientist .

p ‘•Morris I. Stein, "A Transactional Approach to Creativity."

^Robert H. Knapp, "Demographic Cultural and Personality Attributes of Scientists," Scientific Creativity , ed. Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1963), p. 212. i

179

between experimental open and closed groups, however, are tenuous for

the experimental design introduced competition into the task of the

open groups and competitiveness may have affected the results."-

Shepard reported that group productivity, creativity, and enthusiasm

were negatively related to the length of association of team members

m an industrial laboratory; Torrance stated that superior decisions

were made by temporary groups perhaps because status was less prominent.^

These findings are in accord with the views of Sorokin and Redfield who

associate invention and creativity with mobile societies^ and in

opposition to the view that isolation is conducive to creativity.

Positive and negative features of groups o —Certain group

methods of creative ideation seem to operate better with carefully

selected, experienced, and stable groups (see Chapter V). Bruner

described an industrial production group that was fixed in membership

and separated frcm the rest of the plant so that they might work

according to the requirements of the problem. ^ Osborn believes that

''Robert C. Ziller, Richard D. Behringer, and Jacqueline D. Good- childs, "Group Creativity under Conditions of Success or Failure and Variations in Group Stability," Journal of Applied Psychology, XLVI (1962), U3-U9.

2 Ibid . 3 E. Paul Torrance, "Some Consequences of Power Differences on Decision Making in Permanent and Temporary Three-Man Groups," Small Groups , ed. Paul Hare, Edgar F. Borgatta, and Robert F. Bales "(New York: Knopf, 1955), pp. U82-U92.

^’itirim Sorokin, Social Mobility (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1927 ) R. Redfield, "The Folk Society," American Journal of Sociology, LII (19U7), 293-308.

5 Jerome Bruner, "The Conditions of Creativity," Contemporary

Approaches to Creative Thinking , ed. Howard E. Gruber, Glenn Terrell, and Michael Wertheimer (New York: Atherton Press, 1962), pp. 17-28. 180

one idea stimulates another with the result that group situations

facilitate creative ideation provided freedom is maintained.^ On

the other hand it has been concluded that groups are not conducive to

2 or actually hinder creative thought. Lorge et al . reviewed a number

of studies that compared group and individual performance; they concluded

' that the benefits of group interaction are mutual stimulation and

cooperation, but that a negative feature is the behavior of one or

more persons who interfere with the task at hand.3 While this study

did not deal specifically with a comparison of group and individual

performance in situations involving creative thinking, the caution

against assuming that there is necessarily correspondence between

experimental group and individual performance and that in nonexperimental

situations is applicable.

Amount of contact . —The frequency of contact with colleagues

appears to affect productivity; for scientists working with others hav-

ing dissimilar viewpoints, having daily contact with more similarly

oriented persons was coupled with higher performance. For scientists

of like orientations, optimum contact was one or two times a week; more

frequent contact was related to a decrease in performance.^ Shepard,

^Alex F. Osborn.

2 Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly ; see also discussion and references in Chapter V.

3 I. Lorge et al . "A Survey of Studies Contrasting the Quality of Group Performance and Individual Performance, 1920-57,“ Psychological

Bulletin , LV (1958), 337-372.

^Donald C. Pelz, “Relationships between Measures of Scientific Performance and Other 1 Variables,' Scientific Creativity , ed. Calvin W. Taylor and Frank Barron (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1963), pp. 309-310. 181

on the other hand, concluded that in industrial laboratories the more

contact the better. Contact is obviously a positive element, but the

amount may depend on the nature of the patterns of organization and

its worko^

Effects of group pressure . —Excessive group pressures for

conformity also interfere with the possibilities of independent or

divergent thought. Crutchfield demonstrated the negative relationship

between conformity and creative thought; Torrance reported the effective

means employed by groups of children to control a creative thinker, e.g.

open aggression, hostility, criticism, disparagement, rejection,

assignment of clerical or administrative duties.

Torrance observed ” . • . significantly more signs of social

stress ... in heterogeneous than in homogeneous groups ^with respect

to creativity/ in . . . schools.” While social stress is generally

considered to be disruptive and a hindrance to productive thinking,

in some cases it stimulates thought, and ”. . „ teachers by their choice

of homogeneous or heterogeneous groupings may possibly influence the degree of social stress in groups working on tasks requiring creative thinking.” Little is known, however, about this aspect of grouping.

Harmon suggested that creativity might be facilitated by using carefully selected research teams; members of such teams should be selected on the basis of their particular patterns of abilities,

^Ibid . , p. 310.

p E. Paul Torrance, “Social Stress in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Groups in the Intermediate Grades," New Educational Ideas: Third

Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , ed. E. Paul Torrance (Minnea- polis: University of Minnesota Press, I960), p. 65. ^

182

the' numbers of ideas each can manipulate, and other qualities in order

to insure maximum productivity.^

Conditions conducive to creativity

Safety and freedom . —Rogers hypothesized that the conditions

of psychological safety, i«e. acceptance of the individual as being '

of unconditioned worth, absence of external evaluation, and empathy,”

coupled with psychological freedom, i.e. "freedom of symbolic expression, *1 would increase the likelihood of creativity. While these hypotheses

have not been extensively tested, Rogers suggests such research while

citing his teaching and clinical experience in support of his views.

In an environment' of psychological safety and freedom, an individual would be free to think, be, and feel what is within him and to be open and spontaneous with respect to his resources; he would be free to dare, fail, and dare again thereby developing the conditions necessary for increased creativity.

Effects of evaluation . —Opportunities to experiment with ideas and solutions which may be incorrect in situations where evaluation is absent are important for without such opportunities thinking may be curtailed and the student or worker may seek only the known correct answers. Premature criticism or having to defend an idea rather than^ share and explore it may stifle creative thinking. Scofield had discussed the need for trial responses without evaluation as well as

^Lindsey R. Harmon, "Social and Technological Determiners of Creativity , " Research Conference on the Identification of Creative

Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W. Taylor l Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, .1955)* pp. h2-$2. o Carl R. Rogers. •

183

for broadening the base for evaluation. Results of experiments

with young children indicate that different types of evaluation as well

1 as absence of evaluation have effects on creative performance.

An open environment . —Anderson believes that an open system

in human relations in contrast to a closed system, ". . . is . . . the

ideal, propitious environment for creativity. "3 To the acceptance^

and permissiveness of an open system must be added the stimulation*^

derived from "the free interplay of differences' which is also needed*

for creative development. Creativity requires not only freedom but, also

interaction between person and environment. ^ This it is that enables J

an individual truly to respond to himself and others thereby facilitating

creativity.

Reducing negative aspects of the environment . —That threat,

stress, and frustration affect learning, perception, and performance

has been demonstrated by various investigators. Gibb found that under"''' conditions of reduced threat, the production of ideas was greater with*''' respect to both the number and quality of ideas; 5 adequate time and

'Robert W. Scofield, "A Creative Climate," Educational Leade - ship , XVIII (October, I960), 5-6.

2 Dietmar P. Schenitski, "Adult Evaluation and Peer Evaluation as Factors in Creative Thinking," New Educational Ideas: Third Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , 'ed. E. Paul Torrance (Minnea- polis: University of Minnesota Press, I960), pp. 128-11*5. 3 Harold H. Anderson, "Creativity in Perspective," p. 253.

^Harold H. Anderson, "Creativity as Personality Development," pp. llj.0—lip-

o R. Gibb, "The Effects of Group Size and of Threat Reduction upon Creativity in a Problem-solving Situation," American Psychologist, VI (1951), 3 24. 18U

reduced stress aid thought and problem solving. It has also been

pointed out that few elements are threatening per se , rather they are

threatening as they are so perceived by individuals . Adequate time

and some freedom to plan and conduct one’s own work are general re-

quirements of a conducive environment.

Responsiveness and feedback . —Recent theoretical statements

in psychology stress the importance of feedback for understanding behavior.^" Guilford associated feedback with the evaluative abilities which are important to various types and stages of thought (see Chapter

III). Productive thinking is facilitated in a responsive environment wherein much data are available when needed and feedback is immediate.

Suchman's research in inquiry training and Moore's work with teaching preschool age children how to write, read, and spell were based in

2 part on these principles. To the extent that self-initiated learning/ and successful learning by discovery or inquiry may be associated with 7 or viewed as preludes to creative production, feedback is a positive ^ y characteristic of an individual's environment.

Importance of people . —The importance of rapport between teacher and pupils is often cited in educational literature, and its importance

^See for example J. P. Guilford, "An Emerging View in Learning Theory," Intelligence, Creativity, and Learning (Bellingham, Washington: Western Washington College, I960), pp. 29-16; 1Robert Wiener, Cybernetics (New York: John Vfiley and Sons, 19U8).

2 J . Richard Suchman, The Elementary School Training Program in Scientific Inquiry ( Urbana : University of Illinois, 1962); Omar K. Moore, "Orthographic Symbols and the Preschool Child—A New Approach," New Educational Ideas: Third Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children, ed. E. Paul Torrance (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, I960), pp. 91-101. .

185

is recognized with respect to creative learning and expression.

Communication between teacher and student as well as between counselor

and student is likewise important. Potentially creative students would

benefit by having teachers, counselors, or community figures to emulate;

it has been reported that outstanding scientists often recalled the

encouragement and influence of a former professor or teacher.^ Personal contact and encouragement is offered as a factor of importance in the development of creative talent.

The Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan has found that creativity is increased in situations containing a good bit of uncertainty as well as security, but not so much uncertainty and lack of security as to produce anxiety which inhibits creativity.

Individuals vary as to their sources of both, e.g. one individual may have internal sources of security, but may draw on others or work problems for sources of uncertainty or challenges.^

Reciprocity of effects of persons and environment

While attempts have been made to discover the nature of the effects of the environment on creative individuals, some studies have^ illustrated that creative individuals often disturb others because of-'' their independence, insistence on their own work habits, and their / personal complexity-—they do not fit precisely the common mold.^

Creative students and workers may be difficult to work and live with because of the tensions they experience during problem solving and the ^

•4)ael Wolfle

2Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly , p. 7« J

186

turmoil of their inner conflicts, e.g. in trying to reconcile opposite -

sides of their natures. While creative individuals often contribute*^ to their problems with others, the creative person can often be helped' to understand the effects of his behavior and modify aspects of his 1

1 behavior without negating creative traits .

Creatively thoughtful persons often cause problems for administrators through their sensitivity to defects and efforts to bring about improvement. Creative contributions, while potentially constructive, are destructive of the status quo, therefore causing such contributions to be viewed sometimes as negative, dangerous, disturbing, or causing unnecessary trouble.

Supervisors 1 ratings of creative workers on flexibility and cooperation are negatively correlated with such evidences of productivity as publications. Creative persons tend to have low promotion rates and receive fewer organization awards for contributions; although premotion may interfere with creative work (thus a low promotion rate may not be a negative feature), sane recognition and rewards are important even though creative individuals tend to place economic rewards and values beneath the esthetic and theoretical.

Haefele discussed the problem from the standpoint of industrial management, e.g. he pointed out that a creative researcher is likely to work intensely at times and at other times appear to be doing nothing so that the idea of a time clock and work hours is often

1 E. Paul Torrance, Guiding Creative Talent .

^Calvin W. Taylor, "Some Variables." 187

meaningless Van Zelst and Kerr found that creative scientific and

technical personnel believed strongly in personally set deadlines

and freedom to work on voluntary tasks in addition to assigned tasks,

Kaplan reported that when such freedom is offered it is not always

utilized in industrial laboratories

Physical Environment

A common assertion is that a rich stimulating environment

would be or is conducive to creativity; such an environment is

described as including many and varied sources of information,

experience, and challenges in addition to opportunities and freedom

to question and test ideas. While such stimulation depends on

personal or social factors, it depends, too, on material resources.

Much of the support for these assertions is derived from values,

observations , and deduction from the effects of environment on learning

and personality. Of greater significance than the mere presence or absence of resources are the uses to which they are put and the possibilities of manipulating the situation.

Material resources

Harmon noted that for creative research at present there is a greater need than before for training, equipment, and sophisticated

“John W. Haefele.

2 Raymond H. Van Zelst and Willard A. Kerr, MSome Correlates of Technical and Scientific Productivity, 1 * Journal of Abnormal and

Social Psychology , XLVI (1951), U70-U75.

^Norman Kaplan, p. 200. 188

materials. In the future it is likely that computing machines

capable of storing information and combining ideas mil be needed for

creative achievement; such machines are means of facilitating the

creative process by increasing the amount of data considered. Haefele

stressed the need for libraries, technical aid, and clerical help in

order to facilitate creative research; he also suggested that industry

provide secluded spots for incubating new approaches to problems.^

Eyring analyzed facilitating conditions in several chemistry

laboratories and concluded that the availability of material resources,

e. go equipment, supplies, money, and a good library, together with

freedom and encouragement to try out new ideas contributed to research productivity and to the training of graduate students. 3 Knapp stated that in productive college science departments esprit de corps was more important than the material resources; he cautioned, however, that the relationship might reflect the quality of the students rather than the relative importance of libraries and other facilities. Abundant

n material resources tend to be . . • found in higher cost institutions

which . . . /have/ relatively few majors in science ...

Quality of stimulation

Monotonous or novel stimulation from the external environment significantly affects the use of imagination, but the nature of ttese

^Lindsey R. Harmon.

^John W. Haefele.

3 Henry Eyring.

^Robert H. Knapp, p. 209. 189

effects is not clear. Maddi et al .^ studied four groups of male

undergraduates; prior to writing stories (experimental task) about

pictures which were projected to all four groups, one group was

subjected to monotonous stimuli; one, to novel stimuli; two control

groups, to ordinary activity of their own choice. All of the subjects

responded to an adjective check list concerning the stimulation. The

stories were scored according to two criteria, 1) the desire for

novelty and 2) the degree of novelty in the production. Two results

were reported; the work of the monotony group revealed a desire for

novelty but was rated as lacking novelty, while the work of the novel

and control groups was similar with respect to the two variables.

The investigators suggested that the experience of monotony arouses

the need for variation -while it temporarily decreases the ability to

think in an initiating manner; imagination being reduced, the need is

expressed as desire for novelty. Each person has a typical level of

activation; when monotony ensues the individual behaves so as to raise

the activation and variation level, i.e 0 to engage in less monotonous

activity. However if such behavior is inappropriate in the situation,

as it usually is in a classroom, the resulting experience of monotony, while it arouses the need for variation, may interfere with certain

aspects of physiological functioning, thus contributing to the manifestation of decreased imaginative power. Support for this explanation exists in research data which have established that even after a very

Salvatore R. Maddi et al », "Effects of Monotony and Novelty on Imaginative Productions," Journal of Personality . XXX (1962), 513-527. 190

few minutes an individual's performance of a monotonous repetitive

task may be affected and that following even a few hours of sensory

isolation subjects may show difficulty in organized thinking. While

monotonous conditions . . hardly seem conducive to the kinds of

thought that would be considered original or creative,""' novel

stimulation failed to be effective in this study. The researchers

speculated that ". . .a monotonous situation structured so as to

encourage attempts to increase the level of stimulation available

within the situation would be more likely to produce the desired effects

because the subjects would remain more able to employ active forms of

thought in attempting to satisfy the need for variation." 2

Harper reported the results of several experiments which de-

monstrated that consistency in the environment leads to "consistency

in oehavior" and "restricted modes of perceiving" while variability in

the environment assists in perceiving the world "in new and usefully

unhabitual ways." Children responded to experimentally irregular re-

inforcement schedules with "more active, alert, and interested" behavior

while others on a regular schedule grew "more lethargic and stereotyped"

probably because they began ". . .to view the situation in an habitual way. "3

'•Ibid., p. 525.

2 Ibid .

^Robert S. Harper, "Variability, Conformity, and Teaching," Teachers College Record , LXIII (May, 1962), 6U2-6U8. •

191

On the other hand extreme variability may result in sensory

overload and distortion and may upset the typical activity level in

the ascending reticular arousal system of the central nervous system.

'•When this happens persistently," according to Lindsley, "perception

is disrupted, attention gives way to distractability, and interest to

boredom. Behavior performance is either held in abeyance or becomes

highly stereotyped and not adaptive." 1

Summary

Little is known of the positive effects of the environment on

creative potentialities, but available data suggest that freedom and

opportunity together with a desire to manipulate elements in the environ-

ment are important to creative development. More is known of the effects

of threat, anxiety, frustration, and severe limitations, but an

environment free of these negative influences does not insure creativity.

A rich or bland environment may not provide challenges to improvise and

speculate; on the other hand austerity or turmoil may stifle investiga-

tion. It appears that the important consideration is not merely the availability of tools and information but the uses made of them together with the quality of the human interaction.

1 Ibid . , p. 6U6

1 CHAPTER V

FOSTERING CREATIVE POTENTIALITIES

Introduction

Positions regarding the possibility of assisting the growth of

creativity differ. Some hold that the best that can be done is to

avoid inhibiting creativity which must develop by itself; others, that

by teaching certain skills, by providing activities, challenges, and

assignments designed to provide opportunities for practice, by arranging

a conducive environment, or by eliminating unnecessary restrictions

on thought or work, this capacity will be fostered. A conception of

creativity limited to the relatively rare ability to produce culturally unique and significant contributions, suggests efforts at noninter-

ference so as to avoid blighting the ability and to permit its development to follow highly individualistic lines. If, however, a conception

of creativity includes more modest abilities, it is reasonable to consider procedures for cultivating these abilities.

While the number of studies dealing with the nurture of creativity is relatively small, such research has been undertaken, and data are accumulating. Maltzman et al . concluded from several studies that

". . . originality is a learned form of behavior which does not differ

1 in principle from other forms of operant behavior ." Guilford^ has

1 Irving Maltzman et al . "Effects of Different Amounts of Training on Originality," abstract in Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding, PP. 35U-355. ^ 192 3

193

written, "Like most behavior, creative activity probably represents to 1"

some extent many learned skills. There may be limitations set on these/

skills by heredity; but I am convinced that through learning one can/

extend the skills within those limitations Fames reported that^

• creative productivity can be developed by deliberate procedures'." 2

Much concern for and interest in fostering creativeness have

been expressed; likewise questions and hypotheses have been proffered

for thought and study. It may be said that creativity, and its nurture,

is well on its way to becoming, or has already become once again, a

shibboleth of educators.

•^ited by Sidney J. Parnes, "Can Creativity Be Increased?" A Sjource Book for Creative Thinking , ed. Sidney J. Parnes and Harold FT Harding (.Hew York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), p. 188. ^Sidney J. Parnes, "Committee Report on the Role of Educational Experience in the Development of Creative Scientific Talent," Research Conference on the Identification of Creative Scientific Talent , ed. Calvin W. Taylor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1959), p. 309.

-^Interest in creative learning and expression was marked in the proposals and innovations of the reformers who formed the progressive education movement. It is beyond the scope of this paper to trace the antecedents of many current proposals and ideas to those offered in the 1920's and 1930's; however, it may be noted that in several instances the new ideas of the current decade are similar to the methods and objectives of the earlier period. One difference between the then and now is that while the present interest reflects widespread concern it is related to the renascence of writing and research into aspects of creativity undertaken in education, psychology, and other fields. Several of these early research studies, reviewed in Chapter I, provided the foundation for contemporary work. Much writing was concerned with developing creative capacities or permit-ting creative potentialities to unfold. Elizabeth Gordon Andrews (pp. 62-63) quoted Edwin D. Starbuck and Harold Rugg who were critical of imita- tion and unnecessary uniformity in school work; both favored discovering and encouraging the individual's potentialities including imagination and creativeness. The Progressive Education Association sponsored a book. Creative Expression (New York: John Day Company, 1932), which contains bibliographies of source materials and published books by boys and girls as well as ideas for fostering perception, appreciation. 19U

Studies of fostering creativity have dealt with means of training

or affording practice for abilities thought to be associated with

creativeness and improving the production of ideas. Results of various

experiments, training programs, and practices in laboratories, industries,

and classrooms are one source of data; another source is hypotheses

derived from theories of the nature of creativity and investigations

of the characteristics of personality, motivation, abilities, and

environment associated with creative achievement. Needless to say

once such fostering procedures have been planned, tested, and the re-

sults evaluated, long range studies ’will be needed to trace the effects

of the various approaches on the actualization of creative potentialities.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine practices, experimental

research, and theory relative to the deliberate training for or en-

couragement of creative thinking and work. Some reports of research

and practices (especially in the fields of psychology and business)

refer to training programs, methods, and effects while other papers

refer to cultivating, encouraging, stimulating, fostering, or not

stifling creative potential. The chapter is divided into sections

dealing with stimulating creative abilities, encouraging creativity

through attention to aspects of personality and creative processes,

providing a conducive environment, and fostering creativity by means

of particular school practices. The suggestions and research regarding

and expression primarily through language activities. An examination of Education Index for these early years yields numerous references to books and articles emphasizing the creative aspect of children's work in many school areas. 195

means of increasing the use of the creative abilities are based on

the assumption that seme thing, however limited, may be done to encourage

the realization of creative potential even if the abilities themselves

may not be produced or increased.

Stimulating Creative Abilities

One approach to stimulating creative thought is to devise

special courses and training programs such as are being taught in

colleges and for personnel in industries; another, is to incorporate

creative thinking principles and techniques and to require creative

thought as part of the work in regular subject matter courses. Certain

techniques have been found useful for stimulating creative idea production

and implementation in these courses and in many fields of work. These

procedures aim at Improvement or utilization through practicing certain

intellectual abilities, facilitating creative processes, and providing

environments conducive to creative thought and work. ^ ' Identifying creative individuals

Certain tests of cognitive, personality, and biographical

factors may be useful for identifying creative potentialities, although

most are in experimental forms and much remains to be discovered about

their uses, validities, and interpretations. These tests and other

means of identification are discussed in Chapter III as are various

criteria of creative work in Chapter IIo Several industries have

sought and used such devices in connection with the selection and placement of personnel for work assignments and training opportunities. .

196

Training programs and courses

The oldest and most extensive industrial training program is

the General Electric Creative Engineering Program, and numerous

descriptions and studies have been made of it. The course includes

work to increase technical knowledge, to produce ideas, and to convert

these into usable products. Participants are carefully screened, and

only those with the greatest potentials are enrolled; course graduates

show their increased creativity by several standards, e.g. cctnparisons

of pre- and post tests, numbers of patents, and ratings. Analyses and

descriptions of the General Electric program and other industrial

approaches to the problem of fostering creativity may be found in

several sources.^-

An informal and flexible program at the Battelle Memorial

Institute (participation is voluntary and in addition to regular working hours) includes seminars and symposia '‘for the inculcation

of the philosophy of creativity," conferences for generating ideas,

"maintaining the best possible creative climate," as well as the consideration and recognition of new ideas. Wilson reported that the participants themselves believed that they had benefited and that the number and quality of ideas generated gave evidence of the value of p the program.

The well knowi course in creative thinking developed at the

1 Eugene K. Von Fange; John W. Haefele; Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding.

p Robert Q. Wilson, "Expanding Creative Capabilities," Battelle Technical Review (April, 1962), pp. 11-15 ^

197

University of Buffalo is based on the ideas of Alex Osborn and

stresses his brainstorming technique and other methods for the

production of ideas. Teaching materials and tests have been developed

for use in the course which may be modified to fit various time require-

ments, e.g. semester courses, shortcourses, or workshops.^

The Air Force has arranged workshops in order to train employees

and personnel in the application of creative thinking to many areas

of work. A workshop for civilian employees which used several techniques

(e.g. Arnold's "out of this world" project and brainstorming) to provide a conducive atmosphere and opportunities to approach various tasks in a creative fashion resulted in significant gains in the quality and

originality (accompanied by a decrease in quantity) of responses to certain tests as well as certain changes in the understanding of self and others.

Wilson recommended, for training scientists and engineers, a broad orientation and training program consisting of a basic course in creative thinking, the study of the history of science emphasizing the training of and mental processes of scientific creators, applications of creative approaches to student problems in advanced courses, e.g. in problem identification, definition, and experimental procedures.

Moreover, he and others have suggested that students have opportunities to work with staff members on research projects

^Alex F. Osborn, p. 162.

2 Ro Gerry, L. de Veau, and M. C homes s.

•^Robert Q. Wilson. 198

Modifications of regular courses

In addition to creative problem solving courses perse,

many college courses have been modified to include creative techniques

and assignments. Examples include a course in Creative Marketing

Strategy, taught at Harvard and an economics course at the University

of Chattanooga; Osborn stated that at least UO subjects have been

revised to include creative principles and that these principles and

approaches have been used in many businesses, professions, by branches

of the armed forces, and governmental agencies at all levels."'"

Torrance has experimented with the use of induced reading sets

in classes of graduate students. In one study students were asked

to read research articles critically or creatively, i.e. looking for

possibilities and strengths rather than looking solely for weaknesses;

the students who employed a creative set were more successful in apply-

ing the material to professional problems and in developing a new idea

as required by the course. Hyman directed two groups to evaluate

problem solutions either critically or noncritically; later the groups

suggested solutions to new problems, and individuals in the noncritical

group suggested solutions that were rated as better than average and

better than the proposals of the critical group .3 in another study

•'"For detailed reviews of this development see the writings of Alex F. Osborn and John ¥. Haefele.

^E. Paul Torrance, "Effects of Induced Evaluative Set on the Development of New Ideas Among Graduate Students, " Creativity: Second

Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , ed. E. Paul Torrance (Minne- apolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1959), pp. 137-1UO. ^Cited by J. P. Guilford, "Factors that Aid and Hinder Crea- tivity," Teachers College Record, LXIII (February, 1962), 380-392. -

199

students were required to exercise creative abilities by using

memory, evaluative, and creative sets while reading articles, producing

a new hypothesis with respect to the subject, and attempting to apply

research findings to school problems. Students who attempted to read

assignments creatively improved in the ability to apply the informa-

tion read to problems with no loss in subject recall. 1-

Techniques for stimulating creative thought

Brainstorming and Applied Imagination . —Brainstorming, a

technique for deliberately increasing the production of ideas,

- originated in the advertising business, but its popularity has led

to its use by various businesses and industries as well as by governmental agencies, schools, and the armed forces here and abroad.

Originally conceived as a group method, it has been found suitable for use by individuals working alone. Interest in the technique has led to numerous claims for it and criticisms of it and to numerous experiments seeking to determine its usefulness and effects, As

Osborn has often explained, brainstorming is not a form of problem solving; it is a method of increasing the flow of ideas which may assist in problem solving. Once ideas have been produced, there remain the problems of selecting, testing and implementing the most suitable ones in a solution to a particular problem.

In all its variations brainstorming emphasizes suspending judgment during the free-wheeling evocative stage and the spontaneous

^E. Paul Torrance and Judson A. Harmon, "Effects of Memory, Evaluative and Creative Sets on Test Performance," New Educational

Ideas: Third Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , ed. E. Paul Torrance (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, I960), pp. 102-127. 200

offering of ideas and variations on ideas in a criticism-free

atmosphere. Stated in psychological terms, suspended judgment and

spontaneity relate to free expression of, rather than suppression

0j - > pre— and unconscious material; in another sense it capitalizes

on the generalization that the more ideas that are produced the more

likelihood there is that a good one will emerge. Basic to the whole

idea is freedom from criticism while ideation proceeds and the desira-

bility of modifying the suggestions of others; Osborn warns against

attempting to employ the technique without thoroughly understanding

the rationale and requirements of freedan and deferred judgment. In

Osborn’s scheme the group producing the ideas does not evaluate the

ideas, although brainstorming may be used in the evaluation and selec-

tion of an idea for implementation.^

The leader of a brainstorming group states the problem specifically, and clarifies and maintains the rules throughout the session.

Clark follows Osborn in describing the technique and suggesting provisions for its successful application. Both advocate, for brainstorming, small numbers (five to ten) and a relaxed atmosphere; superiors or clients should not be included in the group. Sometimes a warm-up period in which a couple of topics are brainstormed for practice is useful, especially for new or inexperienced members. Von

I'ange and Haefele discuss the applications of brainstorming to business

^Alex F. Osborn.

2 C. A. Clark, Brainstorming (New York: Doubleday, 1958). 201

settings and suggest ways of getting maximum benefits from it.''"

Youtz analyzed brainstorming and the principles put forth in

Applied Imagination , He examined these in terms of Wallas ' formulation,

of the stages in creative thought and concluded that Osborn's methods

facilitate the creative process by encouraging individuals to over-

come inhibitions and to avoid premature judgment. In group situations

the result is freedom and a conducive psychological environment.

According to Youtz the ideation period and the singling out of several

promising ideas for further consideration, followed by the testing of

one or two ideas, resemble ”... Wallas' stages of 'Incubation' and O 'Illumination,' with preliminary 'Verification' added.” In addition

he cited evidence from experimental psychology which supports Osborn's

ideas. He sees these methods as practical means for "breaking the

restriction of habit" and encouraging people ”. . .to free themselves

of the restraints and fears of being wrong."

In a series of studies at the University of Buffalo compari-

sons were made between groups of students trained and untrained in

creative problem solving in terms of their gains in quantitative and

qualitative production of ideas, the persistence of training, and the

effects of training on personality traits. Farnes reported that, based on measures of individual work not group collaboration, students

trained in creative problem solving were superior in the quantitative

^Eugene K. Von Fangej John W. Haefele.

p Richard P. Youtz, "Psychological Foundations of Applied

Imagination," A Source Book for Creative Thinking , ed. Sidney J, Parnes and Harold F. Harding (New York: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 1962), pp. 193-216. 202

1 and' qualitative production of ideas .

In a study conducted to determine if group participation

facilitated or inhibited creative thinking, brainstorming was ex-

plained to the subjects at the beginning of the experiment; half

worked alone and half worked in small groups during the experimental

sessions. The results indicated that the small groups produced a

larger average number of ideas than the individuals; but when group

production was compared with the combined production of random syn-

thetic groups of individuals the latter were credited with more ideas,

more unique ideas, and better quality ideas. The investigators

concluded "... that group participation when using brainstorming

inhibits creative thinking." Further analysis revealed that when the

number of ideas was accounted for, there was little difference

between the active and synthetic groups with respect to quality and

uniqueness of ideas; therefore the value of group brainstorming is

p yet to be verified.

In another study Taylor and Block proposed to discover whether

group or individual effort in brainstorming should come first when

both are allowed in equal time. The subjects were divided into two

sections; half worked individually for the first half of the time and

in groups the second half while the remaining subjects reversed the

order of individual and group work. The individuals who worked

^Sidney J. Fames, "Can Creativity Be Increased?"

2 Donald W. Taylor, Paul C. Berry, and Clifford H. Block, "Does Group Participation When Using Brainstorming Facilitate or Inhibit Creative Thinking?" Yale University, Department of Industrial Administration and Department of Psychology (November, 1957 ). « 3

initially in groups produced a larger mean total number of different

ideas than did those who first worked alone, but the difference in

the number of ideas produced failed to be significant at even the *10 $ level. The average number of ideas produced by the experimental groups

during the first half of the work period proved to be inferior when

compared to the numbers produced by random groups composed of the

subjects who worked alone. Therefore the authors stated, "One conclusion

can be rigorously drawn: when members of a group devote equal time to

working alone and in a group more ideas are produced when working

alone regardless of whether group or individual work comes first,

thus substantiating the conclusion in the study reviewed above.

While the results of these two studies question the efficacy

of group brainstorming, these results do not cast doubts on the

usefulness of the technique to individuals. Several studies support

the generalization that brainstorming is useful to an individual as

a technique which enables him to use his capacity to produce novel ideas. Although brainstorming has been criticised by those who are contemptuous of the suggestion that great ideas or productions, e.g.

MacBeth, can be produced by a group using a gimmick, those who have used it say that it worked in many situations not requiring "Mac Beth's."

^Donald W; Taylor and Clifford H. Block, "Should Group of Individual Work Come First on Problems Requiring Creative Thinking when Equal Time Is Devoted to Each? 1 * Yale University, Department of Industrial Administration and Department of Psychology (December,

1957 )

2 Sidney J. Pames, "Increased." 20U

Synectics .—Gordon, while agreeing with Osborn's approaches

to a great extent, has developed a theory for developing creative

capacities and producing ideas which he named Synectics . He stresses

developing discipline in group members to avoid early judgment and

settlement on a solution. To speculate is to incur risk, so a

criticism-free atmosphere is essential though difficult to attain

because of the all-too-frequent readiness of human beings to disparage

the novel; impatience may push toward a solution, but deferment may

yield a better one. Since time is required for most problems, sessions

should be several hours long with relief coming through humor and movement

(he often supplies one less chair than there are group members); fatigue

is not viewed as a negative factor per se for it may have beneficial

effects by stimulating risk-taking. The group leader sets the stage

by describing a general problem or situation; the actual problem is

known at first only to the leader and is revealed late in a session

because Gordon believes that aiming at a precise target may inhibit rich associations and possibilities. Two phases are involved: idea conception and implementation; difficulties arising from guilt, inhibi- tion, fatigue, and license may be overcome, at least in part, by attention to problem statement and the selection of the group members and leader. He advocates including participants with philosophical and esthetic as well as with scientific or technological backgrounds in order to achieve greater fluency and flexibility in the sources of material for analogies and ideas. The Gordon Method is rather complex, and expensive, for it requires the availability of highly skilled and sensitive individuals, preferably with varied backgrounds. ^

205

as well as time for attacking problems. Evidence in support of Gordon's

method exists in its proven success in solving problems and suggesting

new products; moreover experimental Synectics sessions have dealt with

problems of government, suggesting that the technique may have social

applications

Checklists and other techniques . —Osborn suggests the use of

checklists as aids to the production of ideas; his consists of nine

questions (put to other uses? adapt? modify? magnify? minify?

substitute? rearrange? reverse? combine?) and has been used widely

an business and college courses. Polya suggests four steps and various

substeps for solving mathematical problems which may have usefulness

in other kinds of thought: understand the problem, devise a plan,

implement the plan, examine the solution.-^ Arnold recommends making

a personal checklist; his includes four key ideas: question, observe,

associate, and predict.

Crawford developed Attribute listing, a technique which consists

of examining an object or area to determine its characteristics; by

modifying or changing an element a new product or solution may result.

One difficulty with this technique is that the more familiar an

individual is with an object, the more difficult it is to decide on

^William J< J. Gordon, Synectics (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961).

2 Alex F. Osborn.

3 Cited by John E. Arnold, "Useful Creative Techniques," A Source Book for Creative Thinking . ,ed. Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), p. 253.

^Ibid ., p. 25U. ^

206

its attributes.-^- Similar, but more complicated, is Zwicky's Morpho-

logical Analysis which seeks to state a problem in broad or general

terns and, by means of charting aspects or qualities involved in the

problem, to discover novel combinations leading to a solution.

These aids to thinking have been practiced and found useful in various

settings and with different problems; the common element among these

several techniques is that of purpose, viz , to remind the thinker of

possibilities he might otherwise overlook <>

Haefele developed a technique called the Collective Notebook

which is designed to present a problem together with pertinent in-

formation and to stimulate and record the thinking of willing members

of an organization. A notebook with background information and space

for comments and ideas is given to the participants; additional materials

may be distributed from time to time to further stimulate thought.

After a month or so these are collected and a resume prepared from which solutions may be determined; participants are given copies of

the final report 0 It is possible to involve larger numbers of employees by distributing booklets describing a problem and providing a means of gathering suggestions. 3

The use of incentives, such as rewards for suggestions, is a spur to innovative thinking which is well established in business and government.

1 Ibid., pp. 25U-255.

2 Ibid., pp. 255-257.

3 John W. Haefele. o o

207

Osborn describes techniques enabling the individual to practice.

and thereby to improve, his innate creative abilities in all areas of

his life—work, home, and recreation. He suggests little exercises

in recall, description, and observation in order to stimulate imagina-

tion and sensitivity together with means of facilitating each of the

phases of creative thought.^ Setting regular times of the day for

creative thought, quotas of ideas to be produced, and deadlines for

creative thought and work—all these are seen as aids to more active

and deliberate use of imagination and originality in thought and every-

day work. Similarly Johnson suggests, as a means of improving productive

thought, that an individual strive to use his imagination a little each'

Hay, e.g. he should practice drawing fantastic animals or writing

^nonsense verse 2

Arnold required engineering students to solve problems arising

from circumstances radically different from conditions on earth.

While not yielding immediately practical designs, such an assignment

did help students to approach problems more openly, i.e. with divergency.

imagination, and without being bound by current reality

Evidence in support of these procedures is based largely on

observations of successful use rather than on experimental studies,

but each seeks to aid imaginative thought by increasing the material

considered, stimulating the production of ideas, and postponing pre-

-*Alex F. Osborn.

^Donald M. Johnson, The Psychology of Thought and Judgment (New York: Harper and Brothers , 1955 )

John E. Arnold, "Creativity in Engineering." 208

mature judgment o The foundation for these procedures is two general-

izations : 1) that with a large number of ideas there is a greater

possibility that a good one will emerge, and 2) that better ideas

tend to appear relatively late in a work period,,^

Another aid to productive thinking is to carry pencil and

notepad at all times for jotting down ideas which may come in the midst

of daily activities and which may be lost if not recorded. Anecdotes

of the sudden appearance of ideas in diverse settings testily to the

value of having writing materials available. When children were encour-

aged to keep an ‘’idea trap” to aid them in their writing and other work,

good ideas or apt descriptions were not lost. Fourth grade pupils were

encouraged to write in their free time and for a purpose (a student

newspaper); most showed considerable improvement as a result of using

the idea trap. Jotting dcwn stray ideas helped the children to value

their ideas and reduced daydreaming during periods of other work. 2

Experimental training procedures

Evidence from several studies indicates that the originality

of verbal responses to stimulus words may best be increased by practice in giving different associations to the same stimulus word, that repeated trials are better than one, that individuals receiving no training are less productive, and that praise and directions to be original increase originality as measured by responses to a final word

Alex F. Osborn.

2 Roberta Hiller , "Your Ideas Are Important : An Experiment in Creative Writing,” New Educational Ideas: Third Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , ed. E. Raul Torrance (.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, I960), pp. 168-175. :

209

association test and by responses to several of the Guilford tests.'1'

Other studies, too, have demonstrated that directions to be clever

reduce the number or responses (ideational fluency) while increasing

cleverness, an aspect of originality.

In another investigation, subjects were given study materials

before attempting to solve problems known to be puzzling because of

the common tendency toward functional fixity; the material for study

listed uncommon uses of objects, and the investigators concluded that

study before problem solving tended to facilitate the production of

solutions

Nicholson trained his subjects for U5 hours in six methods

l) lecture -discuss ion of Osborn's methods, 2) Arnold's out of this world project, 3) lecture-discussion of other approaches to problem solving (Wallas and Dewey), k) participation in brainstorming, 5) training with special materials adapted from Guilford's Association test, and 6) miscellaneous methods. He found significant increases in the production of remote and uncommon ideas on post-training tests

Ten one hour training sessions, reported in another study, increased the number and quality of ideas produced by employees as suggestions to

^Irving Maltzman et al ., abstracts in Sidney J. Pames and Harold F. Harding, pp. 352-35U*

^Ibid ., p. 352.

-'Patrick James Nicholson, "An Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Training upon Creativity," Dissertations Abstracts, XX, 1071. • 3

210

1 management. True presented an exposition of principles of creativity

as the training method and found that exposure affected positively

both quantity and quality of ideas; he reported a correlation of +.866

between these two aspects of idea production. ^ Sommers substituted

"creative learning activities for some standard ones" in the free hand

drawing portion of a college class in industrial arts drafting and

concluded that, on the basis of test scores, it is possible to improve

creative thinking abilities while not reducing subject matter learning.

Effects of training in creative thinking

Persistence and transfer of training . —Training procedures such

as the General Electric program and the University of Buffalo courses

have been found to have effects of improvement and applicability as

measured by tests and actual productivity; moreover, the benefits have

been of some duration. Likewise persons skilled in brainstorming and

Synectics are able to apply their skills to many problems. On the

other hand, unimpressive results were obtained in experiments involving persistence and transfer, although it was concluded in each instance that originality and problem solving were increased by learning

1 A.. L. Simberg and T„ E. Shannon, "The Effect of AC Creativity Training on the AC Suggestion Program," abstract in Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding, p. 361.

2 G. Herbert True, "Creativity as a Function of Idea Fluency, Practicability, and Specific Training," Dissertation Abstracts, XVII, U01-U02.

3 Wesley Sherran Sommers, "The Influence of Selected Teaching Methods _ on the Development of Creative Thinking," Dissertation Abstracts, XXII, 395U.

^Irving Maltzman, Seymore Simon, and Leonard Licht, "The Per- sistence of Originality Training Effects," abstract in Sidney J. Parnes and Harold F. Harding, p. 35k 211

Perhaps these discrepancies may be related to the principle of learning

theory -which states that learning is facilitated by meaningful materials

and motivation and that transfer is more likely if the learner himself

can discover relationships and apply and test the appropriate elements. 1

Perhaps the word association tests used by Maltzman were less meaningful

to the subjects than the materials used in other investigations.

Nevertheless, the question of persistence and transfer of training

relative to encouraging creativity are unanswerable with confidence

at this point.

Degree of improvement . —Thurstone believed that the creative

abilities vary among individuals and that persons possessing an un-

common degree of ability in one area profit to a greater degree by

training or practice so as to excel to a greater extent than is possible

for persons receiving similar training but being endowed 'with a lesser

degree of a particular ability o The degree of improvement which

results from training is related, according to True, to the degree of

ability possessed by an individual; whereas improvement has been

demonstrated in persons of greater and lesser ability, those having

initially greater ability show greater gains .3 Fames, however,

reported that creative problem solving courses were "equally helpful"

to persons of high and low initial intelligence and creative ability;

furthermore, he reported that "... older students . . . gained as

Ernest R. Hilgard, Theories of Learning (2nd ed.; New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1956), p. U87. 2 L. L. Thurstone, "Scientific Study."

•%. Herbert True. .

212

much ... as did younger students . . . /and/ males and females

demonstrated equivalent gains."-'-

One may conclude that whereas training yields improvement, the

extent to which the creative abilities may be developed is uncertain;

likewise the persistence of such improvement is uncertain.

Techniques for developing creative thinking abilities in school

Knowledge of the various abilities contributing to creativity

should help a teacher, interested in fostering creative thinking, to

devise exercises or opportunities for pupils to develop these skills

and abilities. Several writers have suggested activities which require

2 the use of many of these abilities

' Sensitivity . —Sensitivity to problems is important to the

beginning of a creative thought process. This ability may be stimulated*''

by eliciting l) different interpretations of a problem; 2) different*''

. / ways to solve arithmetic problems; 3) responses to questions such as

what would happen if . . .? and U) defects, needs, or deficiencies!/

in the environment, i.e. with gadgets or social institutions./

Perceptual sensitivity or the refined use of all of the senses may

be encouraged by practice in describing various sensations resulting from experiences with many objects and situations and opportunities to

'"Sidney J. Parnes, "Can Creativity Ee Increased?" pp. 189-190. 2 See, for example, Robert C. Wilson, "Creativity," Education for the Gifted , Fifty-seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), pp. 108-126; Viktor Lowenfeld, "Basic Aspects of Creative Teaching"; J. P. Guilford, "Frontiers in Thinking that Teachers Should

Know About," Reading Teacher , XIII (February, I960), 176-182. ^

213

recall details of scenes or objects. For instance, teachers who

conduct observation walks in the woods or around the school yard to

note details as well as whole impressions may be providing for growth in sensitivity. Such an activity might be related to several curriculum

areas, i.e. a nature walk might fit into a study of plants, or it might

be related to art or writing activities. Such activities, planned for

individuals or a group, would probably contribute to the heightened

sensitivity of both the teacher and the pupils. These activities permit

se -^~'expression and divergent thinking and may lead to renewed vigor

in attacking other learning problems.

Fluency .—Fluency may be developed by practice, and many /

suggestions have been made for its encouragement: 1) create a need for^ creative thinking that leads to generating many ideas to solve a problem/

give a report, write a theme, or for things to do at heme or on vacation;'

2) avoid forcing a set pattern (how-to-do-it) for all to follow; S

3) use checklists, models, and brainstorming to prime the idea pump;/

set h) aside time for ideation; 5) practice thinking of synonyms, new/

and different uses for objects, naming relationships between words/ or different uses for objects in a particular category, e.g. listing/

things that are white; 6) give some facts (e.g. characters) and have/

students make up their own products (e.g. story plots). *-/

Originality and flexibility . —-Activities which stress novelty ^ rather than convention probably encourage original and flexible thinking, e.g. drawing cartoons and writing punchlines, finding new ways to express old ideas, making up tall tales and comparing these with myths.

1 finding new ways to solve arithmetic problems, making analogies, using-''"

old materials in new ways, giving titles to poems as well as writing/

one’s own or the last verses to a poenu Forming hunches or hypotheses

about causes or consequences of phenomena requires fluency, flexibility*

as well as the use of facts.

Considering materials from atypical positions or for unorthodox

uses requires the opposite of functional fixity and involves redefini-

tion and flexibility. Probably the best examples are the uses in art

and craft activities of common objects in entirely different contexts

to produce different effects. Improvising effects in dramatics or tools

for science or cooking also provide opportunities for flexibility.

Opportunities for divergent thinking . —Providing more oppor-^

* tunities for divergent thinking requires the use of more open end /

questions and situations in school; such practices as considering /" controversial or as yet unanswerable questions, challenging beliefs requiring alternatives, elaborating information in various directions,^ require more of the student than guessing what the teacher wants or memorizing the answers. /

Encouraging Personality Traits Associated with Creativity

Observations of personality change as a result of psychotherapy suggest that those things which help people to become stronger and more aware of themselves and the world also help people to use their abilities and resources more fully. May and Kubie argue, and support their / arguments with their clinical experiences, that overcoming neuroses i/ ^ /

215

contributes to releasing creativity rather than inhibiting it. 1 ^

Aspects of personality development and creativity

Understanding of self . —The school is one institution having a

part in the development of children's personalities. Kubie has stated

that the most important goals of education are to develop the individual's'

highest capacities and to prevent neurotic distortion. Efforts should

be directed toward a goal of emotional maturity, i.e. self-knowledge

in depth and harmonious coordination of the conscious and unconscious^

systems by minimizing both unconscious conflicts and excessive conscious

reality demands, both of which interfere with the preconscious system-

that is so important for creative thought." Understanding of self is^

/ 2 important in scientific research and in all areas of work and living.

As a result of her studies of eminent scientists. Roe recommended that schooling help children to know more of themselves than merely their* intellectual natures. Internal discipline and great motivation are needed to achieve the intellectual training and concentration necessary for high level accomplishment, but problems growing out of attempts to derive all satisfactions from professional and research activities contribute to waste in the utilization of human potentialities.^

Reports of training procedures for increasing creative problem solving include findings relative to certain personality changes.

Nicholson noted a significant relationship between several factors of

^Rollo May; Lawrence S. Kubie.

^Lawrence S. Kubie, "The Psychiatrist Considers Curriculum

Development," Teachers College Record , L (January, 19li9)> 2U1-2U6.

•3Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist . 216

self-concept and improvement of idea production.^ Subjects who

participated in a creativity workshop experienced personal gains re-

lating to self-confidence and increased understanding of self and others.^

Social skills . —Teachers and guidance counselors should help 1'

creative children to learn certain social skills which would reduce peer 1 '

pressures against their sometimes deviant behavior and modify their very/

real obnoxious behavior while not interfering with the functioning of-

their creativeness i This is a delicate task, but certain techniques

and suggestions may alleviate the harshness and difficulties of

psychological estrangement. A concommitant task is to help classroom

groups (and parents) to reduce demands for unnecessary conformity .3

Basically these tasks involve learning and practicing real respect for*''

the individual and for individual differences, together with learning

freedom and responsibility in terms of oneself and others; these are

tenets of the ideas of democracy which may be related to still another

aspect of life and school work, viz , fostering creativity.*

Encouragement of creative characteristics

Fantasy . —Several thoughtful writers have suggested that since

imagination and fantasy play important parts in creative productivity in so many areas, these aspects of thought should not be curbed or ridiculed or stifled at an early age. Rather imagination should be permitted to function freely so that later, when intellectual abilities

Patrick James Nicholson.

-^R. Gerry, L. de Veau, and M. Chorness.

3e. Paul Torrance. 217

have developed sufficiently, imagination and intellect may be used

jointly in creative enterprises. Getzels and Jackson warn against

excessive efforts to curb imagination prematurely by imposing adult

standards of reality, e.g. by substituting realistic models for toys or

substituting factual books, trips, and activities for more plastic ones

1 which may lend themselves to fantasy . The child's first attempts to

express himself and his ideas may be crude by adult standards of beauty,

perfection, or reality, but without first steps little may be anticipated.

Originality . —Originality may be encouraged by permitting

children to depend on and educe from themselves what they draw or make

instead of following patterns which yield nearly identical results.

Students should have chances to attempt formulations of different ideas '

and problems without immediate negative reactions from teachers and

classmates.

Independence and identity . —Independence and identity are- based upon self-knowledge as well as upon self-acceptance and self- confidence. Opportunities to discover and develop confidence in personal resources aid the growth of independence. Opportunities to explore different types of physical activity, areas of knowledge, interest, and feeling complement the cultivation of creativity however it is conceived. A teacher should be aware of differences among pupils*"' and should urge children to find their best ways of working; he should*' arrange class activities and assignments to permit some variations, e.g. instead of having each one do the same thing in the same way with =

^acob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson. 218

virtually the same results, alternatives might be given such as a choice"'

of several activities or a general assignment requiring students to^

structure it while working. Examples of application, analysis, syn-

thesis, and evaluation tasks in school work provide points of departure

for assignments and tests which involve interpreting and structuring

' tasks. ^ Such activities usually require extra teacher planning and 1

raise problems of evaluation; students who have been accustomed to-"

uniformity in school work often protest when required to decide and plan and think.’ The values of diversity in work do not suggest that all

classroom activities be executed in terms of idiosyncratic whim; degrees of uniformity are needed aside from the problems and practical impossibilities of undertaking original approaches to everything.

Creativity may be fostered by respecting nonconforming tendencies^

(but not necessarily all social nonconformity) based on different-'' y values or understanding. Classroom activities should include opportunities for individual, therefore different, work and thought as well as group work. Groups may arrive at conclusions by dominance (the creativity of many may be crushed) or through compromise (creativity1^ may be limited) or by integration of differing views which requires

p creativeness to achieve. Exaggerated concern for uniformity and adjustment to group standards stifles individuality and independence and, thereby, the potential for either original or creative thought and

^-Benjamin S. Bloom (ed.). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1956).

^Mary Parker Follett, Creative Experience (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 192U). K

219

work. Hoffa found that persons with art experiences in their back-

grounds. in contrast to others lacking such experiences, measured

significantly higher ( ( .01) on independent judgment and that persons

with greater art experiences tended to demonstrate greater independence

of judgment. That such a relationship was found, however, does not

indicate that the art experiences produced the independent judgment,

although the suggestion that art experiences provide opportunities for

and encourage independence ought not be dismissed prematurely.

Openness and awareness . —A group of educators wrote that a

major contribution to fostering creativeness is the provision for 1/

openness in school activities; questions should be permitted, materials

made available, ideas should be expressed, and differences respected.

Kubie argued that no taboos should force feelings to be repressed for

i repression may contribute to crippling unconscious conflicts or blocks

to creative thinking; he would at all levels permit talk of hate or

fear or bitterness toward others in order to avoid shame and guilt

Experiments to increase awareness of self, feeling, and the

environment may be suitable or adaptable for children at various ages

Activities which encourage sensitivity also contribute to greater

"^Harlan Edward Hoffa, "The Relationship of Art Experience to Some Attributes of Conformity," Dissertation Abstracts , XX, 3123. 2 ^"Creativity and Openness to Experience," Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming (Washington, D. C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1962), pp. lUl-163.

•^Lawrence S. Kubie, "Psychiatrist."

^Frederick S. Peris, Ralph F. Hefferling, and Paul Goodman, Gestalt Therapy (New York: The Julian Press, Inc., 1951)* „ :

220

opehness and awareness

Spontaneity . —Moreno’s work with spontaneity and role playing'*'

is not new, but the technique is adaptable to many school activities,

e.g« for guidance purposes and for learning leadership and social

skills. Very often established practices, such as role playing, may

contribute to many kinds of learning experiences including those which

foster sensitivity, empathy, fuller experiencing and thereby contribute

to the encouragement of creativity.

Dominance . —Parnes reported that training in creative problem

solving resulted in certain changes in personality traits; need for

achievement and self-control were not affected, but dominance showed

a significant increment in the subjects completing a creative problem

solving course. Dominance includes such characteristics as confidence^

self-reliance, persuasiveness, initiative, and leadership potential, which have been associated, to some degree, with creative persons;^ it does not connote power over others which is negatively related inK creative persons .3 v

Curiosity . —Permitting students to investigate problems on their own may encourage curiosity while perhaps strengthening initiative and the critical thinking skills. An investigation of children's

"V. L. Moreno, "Theory of Spontaneity-Creativity," Sociome try, XVIII (1955), 105-118.

2 Sidney J. Parnes, "Increased," p. 189.

3 Herman J. Radig, "Creative Attitudes, Quest for Power, and Creative Ideas of Educators," Creativity Second Minnesota Conference on Gifted Children , ed. E. Paul Torrance (Minneapolis • University of Minnesota Press, 1959), pp. 130-135* / 221

curiosity defined it in behavioral terras; a child displays curiosity

when he l) reacts positively to new elements in the environment,

2) desires to know more about many things, 3) scans his surroundings in»^

search of new experiences, and 1*) persists in examining situations in

order to know more Children rated high on curiosity comprehended

sentence meaning better than those rated lew in curiosity when the

2 criterion groups were matched for IQ. While the study does not state

that high curiosity leads to better reading comprehension, the finding

suggests that curiosity may actively contribute to many kinds of

learning. Encouragement in appropriate directions may be beneficial,

although much remains to be discovered about differences in curiosity.

Teachers should, at least, support signs of curiosity by permitting

questions, taking an interest in questions, possibly making suggestions

about sources of information, and reacting positively (but not with

insincere flattery or uncritical praise) to the results of personal

searches.

Reports of research in teaching elementary school children the

skills of inquiry reveal that their curiosity about strange events

provides intrinsic motivation for discovering the facts and causes of

physical phenomena and leads to greater autonomy in searching for

^Wallace H. Maw and Ethel W. Maw, "Establishing Criterion Groups for Evaluating Measures of Curiosity,” Journal of Experimental

Education , XXIX (March, 196l), 299-305. ,

2 Wallace H. Maw and Ethel W. Maw, "Children's Curiosity as an Aspect of Reading Comprehension," Reading Teacher , XV (January, 1962), o

222

information.^

Encouraging the Creative Process

Creative individuals have revealed that they are aware, to

some extent at least, of their best ways of working or arriving at

ideas; therefore, it has been suggested that a way of fostering creative

potential is to help people to understand something about creative

thought and to find their best ways of engaging in such thought. Ex-

planations of creative processes and principles have been used success-

fully as training measures. Torrance suggests that great creative

acccmplisbments be studied in order to illustrate the process of

creation including the sources of ideas, problems, steps, and failures.

Such study would not disparage the accomplishment but would help to

dispel the awe which tends to blind people to anything but the wonderous

results. Anecdotes of great discoveries which imply magic, ease,

or suddenness usually ignore the harawork of preparation and testing

and the sometimes long periods of disappointment before final success.

Few accounts of scientific experiments or discoveries relate the false

starts, failures, or difficulties involved. Rather than diminishing

the marvel, such illustrations should add dimensions of greatness to

the work and the human beings capable of great achievement

Preparation .— —Broad , varied, and rich knowledge serves as a

resource for creative thinking. Traditionally schools have been much S

J . Richard Suchman.

2 E. Paul Torrance, “Developing Creative Thinking Through School Experiences." ^

223

concerned with the acquisition of knowledge, and since this is a primary

goal of contemporary education, it may be said that in this respect the ^

school nurtures creative potentialities. It is Important, however/''"

what kinds of knowledge are accumulated and how it is accumulated,1

i.e. knowledge gained by discovery is more available than that acquired*'

by rote. The efforts of national groups to revise certain secondary/'

• school subjects in order to include modern concepts, understanding of/"

7 how new knowledge is achieved, learning by inquiry, understanding of and*-

means of coping with change in these areas—these efforts represents

contributions in terms of more accurate and possibly more accessible^

knowledge for all students as well as to those gifted creatively. 1

Understanding facts is substituted for rote memorization, and facility.,'

in applying facts replaces mere acquaintance with or recognition of u

facts. Important, too, is the ability to seek facts that are needed

in order to solve a particular problem ; learning how to learn and

acquiring the skills for attaining new facts are important in view of

rapid and far-reaching changes foreseen as being characteristic of the

next decades.

Incubation and illumination . —Much less attention has been given

in most schools to the phases of incubation and illumination in creative

thought than has been directed to the aspect of preparation. Since

little is known about these processes and because they vary within and

between individuals, perhaps little can be done to teach or encourage

them except to help children to realize that these processes have

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Using Current Curriculum Developments (Washington, D. C.: The Association, 1963). 22h

played important parts in great achievements. It is possible, however,

to point out the wisdom of leaving a task for a time, or allowing time

for the occurence of incubation; it is also possible to provide both

active and quiet times in school and opportunities for privacy. Industry,

regular study habits, and criticalness are virtues in school while

solitary daydreaming, passive inattention, or the free expression of

1 ideas is unwelcome or frowned upon;" " bells ring, and the day is segmented

to make concentrated thought or work almost impossible. Students can

be encouraged to record and value their ideas whenever these come;

they can be encouraged to toy with ideas or manipulate objects; they can

be taught to defer judgment in order to increase ideation in light of

the tendency for a good idea to ccme late in a period of thought.

Weisskopf speculated that it may be profitable to advocate passive

inattention in certain phases of individual work, to encourage tasks

that require long periods of work, to teach the use of unconscious

material together with conscious activity, to admit that intellectual work is not always unemotional or rational. ”... Training in

attention may succeed ‘too well' so that the child is shut off from a whole flood of freely emerging associations and ideas.

Verification . —Judgment and criticalness have long been practiced

and taught in schools. To aid creative thinking, a child should be

^Edith A. Weisskopf, "Some Comments Concerning the Role of Education in the 'Creation of .Creation, Journal of Educational

Psychology , XLII (1951), 185-189.

2Ibid.

^Theodore Reik, Listening with the Third Ear (New York: Farrer, Straus, and Company, 19U9), p. 165. .

225

encouraged to test his ideas, to rely on his own judgment, and to trust himself as his best critic. Emphasis should be on constructive criticism and the values of criticism at the final stages of thought and work.

Summary

ifnile positions differ as to the efficacy of developing creative potentialities, many approaches have been used in business, government, schools, and experimental work. Among the approaches used are special

courses, workshops, on-th^j ob seminars, incorporation of creative

principles into regular courses or programs, and the use of idea pro-

ducing techniques. Some evidence exists of the value of these efforts

in stimulating or increasing the production of original ideas and work.

These procedures attempt, either directly or indirectly, to

•stimulate the use of abilities involved in creative thinking,

•encourage personality traits associated with creativeness.

teach about the process of creative thought, and

provide an environment conducive to creative work.

A number of techniques and materials have been suggested for use in elementary and secondary classrooms, as well as elsewhere, although at this time little is known of their effects CH&PTER VI

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Introduction

After examining such varied sources as research reports, articles and advertisements in popular publications, as well as speeches to businessmen and professional groups, it may be noted that pleas have been made for greater numbers of creative scientists, businessmen, teachers, artists, and leaders. Furthermore creativeness is sought whether it is to be expressed directly in work or in private life.

Creativity appears to be valued, at least, at an intellectual level as an important and much needed component at the individual as well as the societal level.

The purpose of this chapter is to state some conclusions with regard to the nature of creativity and education for creativity and to state some implications of these conclusions for school programs and teacher education. If theory is to become a guide for practice aimed at attaining specific goals and if research conducted in related fields is to be applied to educational practice, investigation of implied procedures is required; therefore, these implications are in a sense hypotheses which require testing and subsequent revision. A special area of applied research in education is needed now more than ever.

The conclusions presented in the conception of creativity are

226 .

227 minimum statements supported by same research data. T/fhile this concep-

tion and the implications drawn from it seem reasonable to the writer

in light of current research knowledge, each person must perform these

tasks for himself in terms of his experience and current setting re-

cognizing that all such conclusions and implications should be subjected

to testing and implementation before research can finally be an active

influence on current practices

A Conception of Creativity for Education

Creativity is a process

1/ Creativity, in man, is a process which yields a result or outcome that is to sane degree novel, at least to the individual. Further- more, the creative result has been subjected to sane degree to judgment

or refinement. The outcome is, moreover, potentially at least, applicable to or capable of inclusion in the life of the individual or a group.

It is easier to state various exclusions to defining statements of process than to state briefly a positive declaration which will hold in all or nearly all cases. For example, fantasy, imagination, autistic thinking, and hallucinations may be novel or original but not necessarily creative unless the resultant products are subjected to some rational processes and found to be either useful in reality or esthetically satisfying. An idea or insight not acted upon either in producing a thing of some sort or in modifying one's attitude toward life or behavior or fulfilling one's potential in some way is not creative.

The creative process has same fundamentally similar aspects whether it is employed by creatively productive geniuses or persons more modestly 228

endowed, and less active.

To state that creativity is a process suggests not only an

outcome but also a performer or creator and a setting. Each aspect of

the process is important to a conception of creativity for the inter-

relationships among them influence, on one hand, the development of the

individual's creative potential and, on the other hand, the benefits

enjoyed by a society as a result of creative work.

It seems necessary to distinguish the term creativity from such

terms as productivity, growing, learning, living, behavior, or change

per se , or there is little to be gained by using these concepts. It

is reasonable to note that cells change throughout life, and that

changes in behavior—whether resulting from maturation or learning—are

novel at the time they occur; moreover, it may be inferred from these

generalizations and the nonstatic nature of the universe that each moment of existence, too, is novel, but to equate all of these processes with the creative is to derive a number of equivalents which aid thought but little. Rather it would be helpful to limit the term creativity

somewhat while retaining, whenever necessary, a broad view of a creative aspect to the universe and evolution. Furthermore, it seems reasonable to exclude a merely competently or intelligently contrived plan, action,

or artifact which is, again, in a sense, novel. While it may be agreed that the universe, all living matter, growth, and learning are creative in the sense that all involved change of some sort and that along some dimension change is novel, such a loose construction does not differentiate, for instance, between changed behavior resulting from conditioning 229

and that resulting from self-initiated insightful learning.

Creativity may exist in all people

Ey their very nature, human beings, except for the manifestation

of pathology, have, in varying degrees, potentialities for change,

learning, and creativeness. To agree, however, that all human beings

have seme potentialities for creativeness is not to equate, for example,

the processes leading to the rigidities of an obsessive compulsive

personality or the delusions of the unbalanced with those processes

antecedent to the achievements of those who are able to express and

develop their capacities in ways which fulfill themselves or add to mankind's stock of resources. The capacity for creative behavior varies

among individuals not only in degree, but also with respect to the areas

in which it is likely to be expressed and the degree to which it is

functional rather than latent. Another variation among human beings

is that the creative potential of some, if accompanied by other talents, may be expressed in culturally noteworthy accomplishment while in others

it may be experienced only in private situations.

Creativity is an individual and social process

Creativity is an individual process the quality of which is determined, in part, by the particular combination of physical, personality, and intellectual factors within the individual. An act, and thereby the process beyond it, may be considered creative or not depending on the individual's particular ccmbination of abilities, experiences, and stage of development. A solution to a problem may be routine for one, yet it may be creative for another, i.e. a solution may or may not be creative relative to an individual's ability, experience. 230

or 'maturity.

Creativity, though an individual process, is to some extent a

social process in that elements involved in the process come from both

the cultural past and present, and, in turn, to the extent that outcomes

are socially novel and communicated, the character of the future is

changed. Other people may contribute to the creator by criticizing,

testing, or recognizing the outcome ; conversely, others may interfere

with the process by preventing or limiting the development of the

individual's capacity.

Creativity is influenced by complex patterns

It is hazardous to state now a conclusion relative to traits

and abilities common to creativity, although a core of interrelated

factors is supported by several investigators. Highly creative persons

are intelligent^ they employ the divergent thinking abilities to move

frem the regular, simple, known, or controlled to the asymmetrical,

complex, unknown, or unpredictable. They are, at least in some area

sensitive to discrepancies, uncertainties, anomolies, or possibilities.

They prefer the ambiguous or evocative and handle such stimuli (objects, situations, activities) independently, i.e. in their own terms not necessarily as others mighty they accept the tensions which often accompany creative efforts. The behavior suggested above appears to spring from and give expression to an inclination for self-fulfillment or experiencing fully one's potentialities for interaction with the environment, again, at least in some area. Behavior expressing these abilities and traits may be considered creative for the individual and 231 perhaps recognized as creative in a social sense. In addition highly creative individuals appear to have accumulated much knowledge in and out of school although this knowledge is or was not always reflected

by school marks . They value freedom; they display curiosity and intense motivation in their fields.

There is no archetype of creativeness; variations and alternative traits differ among individuals as well as among fields. Self-expression, for instance, varies enormously and may not be creative; the artist's expression is highly idiosyncratic, though requiring some common features if it is to be shared at all, while the scientist’s work must be public or universal in order that it may be used and repeated by others.

Both affect and intellect are, to different degrees, involved in the phases of the creative process.

Creativity may be applicable in many areas

Creativity may be expressed in many ways and in many fields, i.e. it is not restricted to the arts or sciences alone. The capacity may be expressed in business, invention, learning, personality development, social relationships, and many other areas of living. While certain similarities in creative thinking appear to be present in behavior or accomplishment in several fields and at various levels of capacity, particular clusters of abilities, interests, and traits are necessary for, or more indicative of, success in different fields, although little is known of the extent of these similarities and differences.

Creativity is perhaps more likely in some fields than in others.

Areas in which originality is emphasized or even required may be more )

232

conducive to creative behavior than those requiring uniformity. Even

in the most regularized activities, however, there are opportunities

for some creative behavior, and from time to time seme individuals

contribute innovations. While creativity is used, at present, as a

generic term, understanding is best expressed in terms of the field

to which it is applied, hence it is probably more precise to examine

creativity in art or personal living rather than to seek a premature

synthesis which is too general to be useful. A. characteristic de-

scriptive of both creative artists and scientists is that these indi-

viduals expend much energy and are committed to hard work in their fields,

but this characteristic alone does not distinguish between the highly

creative artist or scientist, nor does it distinguish the creative

individuals in these groups from schizophrenics who likewise expend

much energy and work in performing tasks which seem necessary to them.

Creativity is influenced by the envii-onment

Characteristics of or elements within the environment become

facilitators , or inhibitors to creative performance according to the

quality of interaction between an individual and the environment. An

act may be deemed creative or not in terms of the individual as well as

in terras of a particular environment, k culture which neither stresses

nor appreciates innovation or a culture limited to a bare and perhaps

precarious existence may channel creative potentialities into highly

regularized behavior; in such situations a relatively minor variation i°r achievement may be remarkable while in a more productive culture a

minor innovation may scarcely be noticed. 233

Value judgments being relative, it is necessary to separate the

consideration of positive or negative values attached to the outcome

of creative thought from the consideration of the thought itself.

Assignments of values differ according to the perceptions of the

judge, the standards of an era, and the uses to which products are put.

Along with an analysis of the various aspects of creativity, consideration

of the question of the value of creativity to the individual and to a

society is important. Additionally, creative innovators should consider

the impact of their work on the course of events in their society.

Creativity can be developed

Creative abilities may be developed through practice and use.

Though constitutional limits exist, the possibilities of improvement

are great .for few people achieve their full potential. Little is / \ known, however, of the best ways to assist this development or of the

factors which interfere with its development. Probably more is known about effective means of controlling behavior or stifling creative potential than of' freeing or nurturing human potentialities.

Education and Creativity

Consideration of the relationships between education and creativity and particularly those between education and fostering creativity in school is best given to approaches to the problem rather than to a series of discrete solutions or patterns by which it may be hoped that the nurturing is accomplished.

Several approaches, based on the best available evidence and compatible with other goals, are possible and necessary to the nurture 23 U s' of creative potentials through the process of education. First,

since creative thinking requires much information and many facts,

efforts may be directed to helping the learner to build a broad

background of knowledge and skills which is accessible and useful to

him. In this time of emerging knowledge, the required foundation is

one that includes facts and concepts, but facts and concepts so

learned that the student realizes that facts change and so learned that he is prepared to verify the continued validity of facts. The appropriate foundation includes opportunities for insight into how knowledge is discovered.

Another approach to nurturing creative potentialities is to provide opportunities for practicing the various intellectual abilities involved in evaluation, analysis, synthesis , together with convergent and divergent thinking. Creative thinking abilities and traits appear to contribute to learning and applying the results of learning so that in this respect the task is eased somewhat, i.e. the very creative abilities which are sought contribute to acquiring other needed resources and abilities.

In order for knowledge to be effective, education should stress, whenever possible and appropriate, opportunities for self- initiated learning and independent study as well as opportunities for arriving at conclusions for oneself. Education should emphasize the skills of isolating a problem, inquiry, analysis, formulating hypotheses, searching for data, testing ideas, drawing conclusions and implications, and evaluating the effectiveness of solutions. Learning to apply facts and concepts to new problems is often stated as a purpose of education. .

235

but it is one receiving relatively little attention in the course of

acquiring the facts. A study of educational objectives stated that

the operation of synthesis, while it requires creative thought, is

least stressed in classroom activities and evaluations

Third, schools should nurture creativity by their efforts to

facilitate phases of creative thought through understanding of the

creative process. Helping students to utilize the ebb and flow of

ideas and to increase the possibilities of idea production may contribute

to preventing the loss of creative potential by attrition. In many

instances certain techniques appear to aid creative thinking, and these

may be used in educational programs. Opportunities for creative

thinking may be found in almost all areas of the school program, and

» creativity should be encouraged by relating creative thinking, whenever

possible, to that which is taught. Certain "killer phrases" such as

"it can't be done" should be replaced by permission to question the established and test new ideas. Making some mistakes and failing in an endeavor may be helpful if the emphasis is placed on profiting from the experience by trying to find out why success did not occur.

Fourth, education may contribute to fostering creativity by encouraging certain personality characteristics or freeing personality from distortions which may hinder creative functioning. For instance, encouraging independence, non-conformity, curiosity, the capacity for taking risks, and willingness to make a sustained effort should contribute to the actualization of creative potentialities. However,

'•Benjamin S. Bloom (ed.), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives* (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1956) . 236 the cultivation of the personality or mental health aspect of creativity, while important, is not sufficient for high level creative achievement

in most fields . Such achievement requires skills and knowledge for which the foundations may be laid in preparatory education.

Fifth, creativity may be nourished in school by arranging a ~ Cr — conducive environment. Little is known of specific positive features ^ -—""v. which facilitate creative thought, but at least the elimination of certain negative features should help. Education may contribute to J fostering creativity by encouraging positive attitudes toward the creativeness of self and others and by encouraging attitudes conducive to the utilization of innovation and originality.

If persons engaged in the enterprise of education are to . undertake seriously to cultivate creative potentialities several fundamental points must be considered. Of first importance is the recognition and understanding of the nature of creativity. Next is recognition and understanding of the possibilities for enhancing creative development.

Based on knowledge and a commitment to the value and importance of creativity, decisions must be made as to who will be encouraged, i.e. shall everyone be afforded opportunities or shall such opportunities be limited to a selected number? Following such a basic decision, implementation depends on other decisions as to when, where, and how individuals will be taught. Whether programs are considered formal experiments or not, evaluation of educational efforts in terms of goals, procedures, and outcomes is necessary to avoid haphazard or, worse still, harmful approaches. 237

Teachers should be prepared for and helped in this undertaking

by pre- and in-service education as well as by the efforts of admin-

istrators and supervisors whose behavior supports or hinders the work

of teachers.

Implications for Curriculum

The curriculum is considered to be the many experiences pro-

vided by the school, and the sources of this curriculum are found in

the nature of society, the nature of the learner, and the structure

of the bodies of knowledge to be studied. More particularly the

curriculum of an individual student is that portion of the whole which

he experiences and which is mediated through his particular perceptions

and affected by his background, needs, and goals. Elements in the

curriculum as planned by the school include objectives, teaching methods

and materials, evaluation procedures, and environment.

Curriculum objectives

Curriculum objectives should be revised to include ones related to fostering creativity. Such objectives are consistent with currently stated needs in our society, knowledge of creativity and its relation- / ships to learning, and current knowledge of the learner. Furthermore the fact that most pupils tend to learn that which is aimed for and evaluated emphasizes the importance of including an objective or objectives related to creativity. Objectives relating to creativity should accompany not supersede others. In fact, other objectives may contribute to creativeness, e.g. knowledge or skills needed in various areas and developed so as to yield understanding and to be available 238

for thought. Likewise objectives related to physical, social, and

emotional development may contribute to the nurturing of creativity

if these are freeing rather than constricting and if these contribute

to the understanding of self and others.

Educational objectives (and practices) must provide for the

consideration and development of values in harmony with the best

conceptions of man, society, and democracy. Since it is difficult or

impossible to include a value dimension in a description of the creative

process or in a conception of creativity, it is important that con-

sideration of the outcomes of creative thought and the values involved

bee one a part of class activities at all levels of schooling and in the

various subject areas. Education for creativity in science, for

instance, should be accompanied by consideration of democratic values

and responsibilities with respect to scientific innovation.

Inclusion of creativity among the goals of education implies,

furthermore, that creativeness and creative persons be valued and

accepted at more than the intellectual level. If not accepted as worthy

on a personal or emotional level creativity will hardly be fostered.

Individuals need freedom to live, explore, and, at times, deviate; sp problems (and there will surely be problems) generated by attempting

or actually providing such freedom must be accepted and solved—and

solved creatively. Creativity in many people will not be fostered

if its display is greeted, verbally or nonverbally, by ridicule or

hostility or if it is ignored in favor of more conventional responses,

no matter how much verbal approval is given to an abstract generalization

of the needs and benefits of increased ^ creativity in many fields. 239

Likevri.se the creativity of many will not be encouraged if its appearance

in rudimentary forms or in related modes of divergent thinking or

behavior is ridiculed. Y/hile sincere valuation of the creative is a

problem throughout society and not limited to the schools, teachers

have the double responsibility of reconciling for themselves any

conflicts relative to their commitment to creativeness while helping

youngsters to develop a wholesome appreciation for the creative in

themselves and others. This is another example of the generalization

that knowledge alone of a problem, technique, or concept is not

sufficient for its solution or implementation.

Another aspect of creativity as an aim of education is considera-

tion of the question of who shall be so educated. Several ideas with

seme research data supporting them suggest that nearly all children

can benefit from opportunities to exercise various creative abilities.

Nearly all individuals possess some degree of all abilities including

the creative abilities. Nearly all individuals can benefit from

practice for it is unlikely that any person reaches his full potential.

Creative abilities play a part in many areas of living, learning, and personality development so that cultivating these abilities is important to all people. Society may lose the creative talents of many if educational experiences are limited to a few. Furthermore, the democratic ideal of the worth of the individual and his right to develop fully his potential suggests that each person should have opportunities to develop his creative capacity along with his other capacities. This ideal, however, suggests that individuals with great potentialities should have opportunities to develop these to the fullest degree possible, 2U0

although such development may require special provisions and will

contribute to making the individual strikingly different from others.

The goal of preparatory school education is, therefore, to seek to

develop the creative capacities of all children not merely of a few.

Such a task is consistent with the needs of society and best knowledge

of the nature of the learner and his development.

Another problem in connection with fostering the creative

potentials of all children arises with respect to differing values

among social classes.^ Many children of lower socio-economic status

are handicapped educationally by limited experiences and opportunities

and by values extolling immediate satisfaction. To some extent school

learning is aimed at future accomplishment not merely immediate gains.

Learning to use the creative thinking abilities may necessitate the

postponement (not abandonment) of immediate satisfaction through in-

vestigating, testing, or implementing ideas; such postponement may be

unacceptable to some children and may result in certain losses of

potential. Serious questions have been raised regarding intellectual

losses among school drop-outs, and one may wonder about a concomitant

loss in creative potential.

Several aspects of the problem of values are important for

nurturing creativity, i.e. valuing individual differences, valuing

creative abilities, using these abilities with a commitment to con-

structive or positive values, recognizing that different social values affect the possibility of fostering creativeness.

^Allison Davis, Social-Class Influences upon Le arning (Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1957)* .

Finally, thought must be given to deciding if creativity is

a general objective of education or one related to a particular level

or subject area. Is it an objective in art classes alone? Is it

•>

applicable as a goal of elementary education? Is such an aim best

accomplished by a special class in creative thinking? Drawing on

knowledge of human growth and learning, of the creative abilities,

of society, and the expressions of many thoughtful persons, it is

reasonable to assert that opportunities for creative expression and

learning should come early in a child's life and continue throughout

his life. Furthermore, opportunities may be and should be provided

in many subject areas. At some levels special classes in creative

ideation may be worthwhile, but at the elementary and secondary school

levels opportunities for creative thinking are best provided in

connection with the study of the various subject areas. It is worth-

while to stress again that creativity should not be considered the sole

goal of education and that original thinking and formulations per se

are not necessarily efficient, correct, desirable, or possible in all

situations

Areas of the curriculum

Once the basic decisions have been made as to who and what will be taught, opportunities for creative learning depend on the manner in which daily experiences affect individuals.

By applying the broad approaches, outlined above, to the various areas of the curriculum, the creative potentialities of many children may be fostered. Each major area—science, language, social science, mathematics, the arts and humanities —may, to some degree. 2U2

offer opportunities far the exercise of creative abilities. These

opportunities depend on the attitudes ofteachers as to hove the

subject should be taught, how materials should be used, and how

students should participate in class work. Although most subjects

offer these opportunities, they do vary. In most art classes original work is an important aim, but on the other hand, learning how to spell

requires, in most cases, learning one correct form although divergent thinking may help in teaching or remembering the conventional forms.

Opportunities to discover facts and arrive at conclusions

should be part of the study of many subjects over many years. The inclusion of open end questions and the expectation of originality contribute to nurturing creativity. Efforts should be made at all levels and in all areas to broaden the experiencial background of students.

Because creative work is individualistic, efforts to encourage creative potentials may conflict with patterns of mass education and create new problems. These problems and conflicts must be resolved into a balance between emphases on individual and group processes, between individual and large group instruction so that both phases may contribute to the greatest growth of the individual and for society.

Implications for teaching

Teaching methods . — It has been demonstrated that some aspects of creative thinking may be improved by knowledge of the creative process and practicing certain intellectual abilities which implies that opportunities for creative thinking may be provided in the classroom. If teaching is to foster creativity, it should reflect 2h3

or incorporate aspects of creativity, e.g. flexibility, qu.es tionning,

exploration, and. sensitivity. Evidence of teacher flexibility or

fluency in making explanations, arranging plans, or handling materials

may serve as examples to children and be important additions to the

opportunities pupils have for exercising these abilities while using

verbal and nonverbal materials themselves. Teachers vmo knew something

of the creative abilities and processes may incorporate this knowledge

^1) in the uses they make of various media; by devising questions,

assignments, and tests requiring more than yes or no answers or merely

the repetition of given facts; and Y) by designing activities or

assignments requiring original or divergent thinking in the analysis,

synthesis, or application of ideas or facts.

Although the theoretical structure of the various intellectual

factors may change with continued study, understanding of various

intellectual abilities should be used to develop means of encouraging

them according to the capacities of pupils and the requirements of the

field of study. In this regard subjects should be analyzed in order

to discover the possibilities of the use of divergent thinking and to

achieve a balance among the various intellectual factors.

Rewarding or recognizing original thinking and self-initiated

learning should help pupils to value their abilities and ideas.

Teachers should treat questions and imaginative work or ideas with

respect, but they must do this with a commitment to and respect for

individuality or else the result becomes merely a superficial gesture.

Important to teaching for creativity is finding ways by which

children may practice the abilities associated with creative thinking. That certain practices yield gains in creative thinking implies that

teachers try to -use some of these procedures. Preliminary data also

imply that variations in techniques are possible thus making several

procedures suitable for use in different grades, subject areas, and

for different ability levels, e.g. children in grades one through

six trained in brainstorming showed increases in fluency, flexibility,

and cleverness. Devising and testing such variations as well as new

means of encouraging creative abilities are ways a teacher may display

his creativeness as well as foster pupil creativity. Investigations

of the effects of praise and of different types of grouping, directions

to be clever, and learning sets imply experimentation with their uses

in class work at several levels.

It is impossible to state a procedure that can be applied to a

particular situation with all children and that will have the desired

effect; techniques will not of themselves create great ideas, but they

may prevent the loss of ideas. More important than using a technique,

however useful it may be, is the teacher's understanding of and attitude

toward it and toward its worthiness. If a teacher is convinced it

will not work or is uncertain of the rationale or uncomfortable with

it, such a technique is to be avoided until a more tentative or

experimental attitude may be achieved. If a new technique, e.g.

brainstorming, is used to gain the teacher's prearranged end, the

technique does not stimulate ideation but becomes another type of manipulation.

Since creativity is an individual process and its fostering requires opportunities to exercise individual abilities, the implication 215 is that teaching and other phases of education should be less group centered, but the suggestion is one of balance not substitution.

At several levels it is probably true that neither group thinking alone nor solitary thinking alone is better for all problems, individuals, or circumstances. Variations may be important to successful problem solving, and the preference of the thinker together with the demands of the problem should be considered. Recognition of individuality implies less emphasis on conformity and increased emphasis on the individual and his goals. Efforts must be made to achieve a balance between group and individual work, divergent and convergent thinking and behavior, the novel and the routine in terms of the ages and backgrounds of the .pupils, as well as the requirements of the subject. If classroom work is viewed as having neither limitations nor directions, time and energy will undoubtedly be wasted and harm done especially to young children who do need some limits. Also misplaced emphasis on novelty and divergent thinking may cause tensions and problems for pupils

(and teachers) who are less disposed in this direction. Society and most occupational areas have need too of not very creative individuals.

Most descriptions of the creative process appear to be reasonable analyses of recognizable features, but as mere descriptions they have little use. However, if one bee ernes a model, not to be followed blindly, but as a guide for the improvement of thinking, certain benefits may accrue. Investigations have revealed the importance of rational, controlled thought and work in the forms of various types or preparation, persistence, and critical evaluation, yet it has been shewn that a certain amount of undisciplined free-moving thought, a 2U6

kind of playfulness, and a putting aside of the work is equally im-

portant at times. An individual seeking to improve his thought processes

might well practice fluent ideation without critical judgment in early

stages, alternate disciplined and free-roaming thought, provide time

for incubation of ideas , even relent in a persistent attack on a

problem in favor of postponement or temporary abandonment, and evaluate

his thinking with a view to improving the process in addition to

evaluating the result of thought.

Students should be helped to apply these general principles

to their school and other work, e.g. an assignment could be given on

Friday together with some time for preliminary thought with the bulk

of the work to be done Sunday; students might note recurring thoughts

or ideas and if new ideas appeared at the time of final work,

Encouragement of broad i knowledge and interests could be expected

to contribute to creative thinking by increasing the possibilities for

combining elements into new patterns. Memory is also important for

creative thought, but it contributes most when elements are related

conceptually rather than scattered. Its usefulness depends on what is

available for recall and how this information was achieved and organized.

An implication for education is that by teaching facts and ideas in

such a way that these have meaning for pupils and become part of ex—

panding conceptual structures, the possibility of creative thinking

will indirectly be aided. Experiences which help the pupil to discover

relationships or explanations for himself result in learning which is

more likely to be available for problem solving and additional learning. 2U7

Sensitivity and flexibility in arranging time is an important

part of teaching and classroom management which may facilitate or hinder

learning. Providing times and places in a busy schedule to allow for

individual thought and alternating periods of quiet and activity may

contribute to fostering creative thought processes which require ample

time and freedom from prescribed limits. The problem arises, however,

of distinguishing between meditation or incubation and daydreaming;

while the latter is usually considered unproductive, it may lead to a

fruitful idea. No one single intellectual ability is a problem solving

or creative thinking ability. Rather many abilities are involved, and

these vary with the field in which thought occurs. Moreover, many

of these abilities are not measured by tests which are in widespread

use. Creative abilities being intellectual but distinguished frcm

intelligence, the implication is that many, rather than a few, intel-

lectual abilities should be objectives in school work.

Opportunities for engaging in different kinds of thought probably contribute, indirectly at least, to creative thinking;

distinctions among types of thinking are not sharply drawn. Problem solving is closely akin to creative thinking, and critical thinking is useful at various stages of creative thought. Furthermore, emphasis should be placed on producing ideas or hypotheses not merely solving for prearranged ends or criticizing work or ideas. Even in the early elementary school years modest beginnings may be made toward developing the various thinking abilities. Therefore certain current practices such as problem solving, experimenting, and individualized approaches to learning offer possibilities for fostering creative 2U8

thinking as well as for accomplishing other educational goals.

Pupils should be encouraged to ask questions, seek many ideas

and much information related to their questions, try to test possible

answers, and evaluate the results of the search. In addition they

should evaluate the efficiency of the search and the model or plan

they followed. Finally they should be encouraged to speculate about

the applications or meanings of what they found as well as to be

sensitive to additional questions suggested by the search. If creative

thought is to be stimulated, the problem should be difficult enough

to be a challenge to prolonged thought rather than so simple as to

require a solution suggested by memory or found after a brief period

of thought. The difficulty of a challenging problem varies, of course,

with the age and ability of the pupil; a too difficult problem may

become a threat and thus may restrict creative thinking.

Studies to date indicate that learning by discovery, experi-

menting, and seeking implications contributes to subject matter recall;

therefore, reconsideration of the most efficient means of acquiring

facts is needed. Teaching facts authoritatively is not necessarily

the most efficient means of accomplishing the educational task. The

implications of admittedly preliminary investigations are for greater

opportunities for seeking answers not merely absorbing them, testing applications of ideas to other situations, and forming relationships among concepts and fields of study. It is not suggested that these points are new; they are not, but there is renewed justification of their importance. 2U9

Knowing the various kinds of blocks to creative thinking may-

enable a person to overcome them and continue work, e.g. at times a

warm-up period may stimulate the flow of ideas and permit the continua-

tion of work after a setback. If children, and teachers too, learn

to take advantage of unplanned changes in their work or of accidental

events, the chances are that creativity is being encouraged. likewise

experimenting with materials may increase sensitivity and flexibility

as well as add new experiences to an individual's personal resevoir.

Evaluation abilities are important in the final phases of

creative thought. Strengthening the abilities to evaluate work honestly

in terms of subjective purposes and objective standards is necessary

although difficult to accomplish.

Because external evaluation per se often has negative effects,

some school work might be done for practice or "just for fun" with no

evaluation involved. At times it should be permissible to stop working

on a project (or stop reading a book); work may be resumed when

circumstances seem propitious or it may be abandoned. Sometimes a

seemingly abandoned idea reappears much later in a richer context than

was before possible. If creative processes are to be honored, there

should be acceptance of fluctuations in work and recognition of the

validity of the individual’s judgment. Some work might be done for

personal evaluation only, or dyadic evaluation might be used. Positive

evaluation might be used at times in place or the more negative types.

The effects of different modes of evaluation vary with the age of a

child; it has been shown that no evaluation helped younger children but not older ones while critical peer evaluation interfered with the 250

cre'ative work of older children but did not interfere with the work of

younger ones.

Children need to learn to evaluate their work and to determine

means of improving it or overcoming difficulties. Greater knowledge

of and confidence in one's abilities may result from emphasis on

self-evaluation. Teachers, too, need to practice the sort of evaluation

which suggests ways of overcoming problems in their work. Of importance

to self-evaluation is that hunches be specific enough to be tested

rather than general explanations which offer few suggestions for future

effort.

There are difficulties involved in sampling and evaluating

original work, but examples may be found of possibilities in many

fields and at the various grade levels. Several sets of criteria

may be used to evaluate art work and other productions (see Chapters

II and III). Self-initiated learning activities or work bearing on

questions having no known answers may be evaluated in terms of the

attack or approach to the problem. The teacher represents the standard

of the culture yet must respect self-expression and self-evaluation

on the child's part; social needs or efforts directed toward social

ends imply the need for evaluation relative to some standard while personal ones suggest evaluation in terms of individual development, purposes, and capacities.

Current problems of evaluation in curriculum and in teaching revolve around too limited objectives and measuring instruments.

Interpretations of even limited measurements which attach undeserved accuracy or universality to the score or scores further obscure evalua- .

251

tion. Without objectives related, to the nurture of creative po-

tentialities and without devices or guides for measuring growth in

creative behavior, this area is formless and encouragement may be

accidental or intuitive. Even this state of affairs is preferable

to the absurdity of unimaginative use of supposedly creative approaches

to teachings it is preferable, too, to the danger of abusing creative

potentialities

In spite of numerous exhortations to be process centered,

educational efforts are largely concerned with the products of

learning, the accumulations of information rather than the ways by

which these were amassed or the readiness of facts for future use.

r A ith respect to creativity, most children will not produce creative

work as measured by adult or cultural standards. Children may exhibit

creativeness by achieving a product new to and expressive of themselves;

this type of creative behavior is not to be confused with, nor is it

equal to, the creative achievement of talented adults. Some children may exhibit creativeness by formulating ideas new to themselves and

infrequent among those their own age; possibly such achievement is predictive of culturally significant production, but it, too, is not the same as the achievement of an original creator, k few youngsters may produce truly original ideas which contribute to a wider community than the schoolroom. American schools enroll, for all practical purposes, all the children; therefore, regardless of the product, all children should be permitted to benefit from engaging in the process of expressing themselves in a novel way and deciding if the production is good. Thus a broad and general conception of creativity is important. 252

but it should not detract iron the luster of high level culturally

significant achievement.

The implication follows that tests of the creative abilities

and of creative learning when they are , available , have a proper place

in the school program. These should yield many scores, expressed as

profiles, rather than a single score creativity quotient. Prudent

interpretations of these tests and the more commonly used ones are

required to avoid the vaunted importance accorded to some test scores

in the past as well as at present.

Furthermore, it is implied that reinterpretations are in order

of such concepts as overachievement, intelligence and the high IQ

student, mental health, adjustment, and giftedness.

Implied by research findings is a relationship between

creativeness and personality. One aspect of this relationship is

that an understanding of creativity or creative potential requires

attention to such aspects of personality as temperament, motivation, and the unconscious. Another aspect of the relationship between creativity and personality is that certain characteristics may suggest means of identifying or predicting creative persons or creative potential.

A third aspect is that by encouraging certain personality features latent creativeness may be stimulated or guided. Similarly, by alleviating conflicts or tendencies which block creative behavior, a positive change may result.

If abilities and traits which contribute to making some people more creative than others are known, this knowledge should assist in identifying persons with greater potentials for creative work. The 253

several thinking abilities and personality characteristics which have

been associated with creative adults may be less pronounced among

children and adolescents but these may be used as guides for identifying

and encouraging creative potentialities. Even if it is assumed that

most people have the potential to be creative to some extent, discover-

ing those with greater than average capacities in various areas is

appropriate to knowing, planning for, and aiding an individual to use

his abilities to the fullest. In school work such knowledge could aid

in the individualization and enrichment of instruction for the

encouragement of special abilities.

Promising means of identifying creative potentialities incluie

work samples and products, observation, and biographical data. Tests

are unavailable for general use at this time (see Chapter III). In-

direct test evidence may be useful if interpreted cautiously, e.g.

a not outstanding IQ score linked with a higher than expected achievement score may be an indication of creative potential; students with

high creative potentialities have been found among overachievers.^"

Efforts to understand the relationship of personality traits to creative productivity suggest that more attention should be given in school to contributing to the formation of positive self-concepts and healthy personalities. Attention should be directed to supporting individuality and reevaluating the balance of group and individual work and responsibility. Children should be taught skills for coping

^Merle B. Karnes et al ., "The Efficacy of Two Organizational Plans for Underachieving Intellectually Gifted Children," Exceptional

Children , XXIX (May, 1963), Ii38-Ut6.

<\ 25U

with pressures from classmates and. other people • These skills require

knowledge of self and of outside demands together with the strength

to balance both personal inclinations and social obligations.

Many teachers feel uncomfortable with questions having no

answers or answers which are unknown to them, in situations and

activities the outcomes of which are uncertain, or with persons they

do not know and understand. These teachers tend to cleave to the tried

and true and to forego experimentation and exploration. Yet if

children are to learn to tolerate ambiguity, to delay closure, and to

withstand the tension of not knowing but seeking an answer, teachers

must accept probing questions, admit the limitations of their own

and existing knowledge, permit the consideration of new or unsolved

problems, and help pupils to learn the skills of seeking information

rather than merely absorbing the established or given. For surely

the future is unknown and the only certainty which may be stated is

that accelerating change will render life, work, knowledge, and problems vastly different from the present.

Highly creative individuals are psychologically complex and

exhibit seemingly opposite tendencies. Teachers, realizing this possibiligy, should accept opposite tendencies in children while helping children to accept their conflicting tendencies as well as the similarities and dissimilarities among them. While this may be especially important for children with high creative potentialities, it is important for all children. Too many adults refuse to accept certain aspects of themselves with resultant difficulties of various kinds

'X . —

255

and degrees of severity. Understanding would contribute to a more

permissive climate with respect to innovation and independence. An

important example , though by no means a lone one, is related to mascu-

linity and femininity of intersts ; adults should not insist that

children conform to stereotyped sex roles and modifications in school

climate make it permissible for girls, at least, to demonstrate such

masculine traits as manipulating things, asking questions, and

interest in science, even if their contributions are not valued as

highly as boys '

Since many creative adults displayed and developed during

childhood those interests and skills which contributed to their mature

achievements, it has been recommended that children with strong interests

be encouraged to develop these. There is need for all kinds of talent

the many-faceted universal type intellect and the kind which develops

one ability to great heights; efforts to make people well-rounded may interfere with the creative process and creative development.

Some attitudes appear to be antithetical to creativity, e.g. authoritarianism, rigidity, and ethnocentrism. Whatever encourages openness, flexibility, and understanding of others may lessen the effects of these negative tendencies. School activities should provide greater possibilities for individual and group action without authori- tarian direction as a means of providing freedom in which personal development and investigation are aided.

While increased attention to creativity is a legitimate, though hardly novel, concern of education, the profession must avoid 256

the' Scylla of defining all practices in terns of the individual,

original and divergent and the Charybais of uniform standards, the

status quo, and convergent. If the process of education is viewed

as having no limitations, no standards, or no direction, time and energy

will undoubtedly be wasted and harm done especially to young children

who do need some limits, standards, and directions. Also misplaced

emphasis on novelty and divergent thinking may cause tensions and

problems for pupils (and teachers) who are less disposed in this

direction.

Teaching materials . —Teaching materials, too, should incorporate

aspects of creativity such as flexibility and opportunities for

individuals to question or react to assignments. In view of repeated

predictions of changes in factual knowledge, more books, media, and

people should become sources of information. Using more expendable

materials such as paperback books as textbooks and supplementary

materials would provide more up-to-date information. Several source-

books for each course, each concentrated in depth on a particular

phase of the subject matter, would contribute to flexibility and to

more up-to-date knowledge <>

Books, films, and other media may be produced to assist the

student to understand the structure of the subject. They may stimulate

curiosity and ingenuity and suggest unfinished tasks, unanswered

questions, challenges for individual thought, applications to other

subject areas and to situations in and out of school.^ In other words.

See, for example, Suchman's descriptions of the films developed at the University of Illinois and the materials developed by Parnes for creative problem solving courses which have been cited elsewhere. 257

materials may present one view and approach to the world and converge

on the known and accomplished, or they may reveal the unknown and

some possibilities for individual reaction and use. Teaching materials

which illustrate changes in and comparisons of old and new practices

and tools and which reflect increases in knowledge or how old ideas

may be applied to new situations may stimulate questions, projections

of the future, or ideas for current improvements.

More important though, than any specific piece of material,

is the way in which it is used in a classroom. Programmed materials^

may enable a student to move at his own pace and may promote self-

initiated learning without the treat of teacher or peer reactions

thus freeing time and energy for teacher and pupils to engage in

activities out of which may come insights and applications involving

creative abilities. Perhaps these programs can be so developed to

include open end questions at various points. Textbooks with an

error or two may provide springboards for checking the correct items

and realizing that the printed word or authorities are not infallible;

on the other hand, if erroneous statements go unquestioned, they may

perpetuate error. Teachers may use a textbook as one of many resources

and as a foundation for venturing beyond its limits rather than as

the sole authority. Few teaching materials have been developed

specifically in order to develop the creative abilities of children.

Among the few such materials are workbooks for primary and elementary

school age youngsters which stress using the imagination and various

'X . -

258

1 divergent thinking abilities. These workbooks, while designed to

stimulate creative thought, may be used dogmatically, or puoils 1

work may be evaluated in a narrow or critical fashion thereby re-

stricting the value of such materials

Environment and fostering creativity . —Teaching for creativity

involves efforts to establish a suitable mileau and provide opportunities

and materials for children to learn about themselves and the world.

The dividing line between methods and atmosphere is indistinct for

method affects atmosphere. For instance, eliminating criticism and

delaying judgment, rubrics of bainstorming, create an atmosphere

conducive to ideation.

That certain factors in the environment apparently affect

creative potential in positive or negative ways implies that creative

potential would be fostered by providing or eliminating certain factors^—

A school environment conducive to creativity is stimulating"’-^ bland,

facilitating not restricting. Such an environment recognizes and

values creativeness; it permits new ideas and inventiveness. It provides freedom and opportunities to question, gather data, and test ideas. A conducive environment is responsive, i.e. it provides feedback in terms of the needs and insights of pupils at a particular time. A facilitating environment provides time, materials, and resources for working out ideas. An environment which permits questions

E. Myers and E. Paul Torrance, Invitations to Thinking and (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Perceptive Publishing Company, 1961). The authors have published several other workbooks and teachers manuals for use in the primary and elementary schools. 259

and searching for answers also permits mistakes and failure. Seeking

for ideas and answers, in contrast to always accepting the given,

involves risk, and part of the risk is that one may not always arrive

at a correct or suitable outcome or solution. If constant stress is

put on correctness and perfection, error and failure must be avoided

at all costs. Mistakes and crude productions are legitimate and

should be permitted though not accepted as final products; rather they

should become important parts of individual learning activities and

individualized teaching. In other words an environment conducive to

creativeness tends to provide those conditions which encourage and

support creative ventures rather than those which restrict or deaden

creativeness.

Data suggest that the best climate for learning and creativity

is one in which the individual has freedom to use his various abilities.^

Freedom exists within a structure or order which aids creative behavior

by assistxng the individual to devote his energy to making decisions relative to his expression through creative production. Habit, routine, and regulations permit creative energy to be directed to a task and not dissipated in random fashion; however, this does not preclude the possibility or desirability of breaking through the commonplace and arriving at a better way as a result of creative insight. Teachers should exhibit permissiveness with respect to questions, subjective

''Interpretations of the finding that groups of highly creative but not high IQ students achieve virtually as well as groups of high IQ but not highly creative students (see Chapter I) suggest that many schools provide freedom for youngsters to use their abilities and personal approaches to learning even though these schools may not recognize or attempt actively to encourage creative abilities. 260

reactions to learning experiences, innovative or trial uses of materials,

and some errors. Permissiveness, however, must be considered and

accorded in terms of purposes as well as the maturity and experiential

background of the pupils. Freedom of symbolic expression is desirable

while actual freedom of expression may generate serious consequences

and problems®

Freedom to express oneself is based on thorough knowledge and

soundly acquired skills. Knowing the conventions is, more often than

not, basic to departing from them to achieve significant productions.

Children need to learn rules and facts; they should progress in their

skill in using the rules and facts which provide additional ways of

expressing ideas. But this learning should not stifle their proclivity

to subjective reactions and expression.

Care should be taken as to the amount and kind of control

that is exercised. An analysis of teaching in terms of teacher-

pupil interaction revealed that much of a teacher's behavior is of

a controlling type. A way of lessening the negative aspects of some

of the controlling behavior is to establish, by making public, the reasons for the control.^ Thus control may be viewed by pupils as based, in part, on normal expectations for a particular age group rather than on what may merely appear as personal standards or whims.

A conducive atmosphere is free of such negative features as hostility, threat, and unnecessary time pressure. The varied demands

\iarie M. Hughes et al.. Development of the Means for the Assessment of the Quality of Teaching in Elementary Schools (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1959)* 261

of modern life for speed, efficiency, correctness, peer acceptability,

social responsibilities, and leeping busy interfere with considering

the untried. Periods of rumination without interruptions should be

possible. Needed are both privacy for contemplation and public times

for sharing, communicating, and gauging reactions to one's productions.

An atmosphere wherein the individual feels secure and accepted

is conducive to some aspects of personality development and learning.

A degree of uncertainty and challenge is also indicated, but the degree required varies with the individual. When uncertainty becomes

threat, perception, learning and action are limited. Since a bland environment presents few challenges, a relatively rich stimulating environment is suggested over a barron one; however, it is open to question just how rich and stimulating the best environment is.

As knowledge increases and training becomes more complex for almost everyone, additional and varied material resources are indicated to provide for individual needs and interests as well as to increase the efficiency of the educational operation.

Efforts to provide opportunities for new experiences should be expected to nurture creative potentials, therefore the classroom environment should be extended to include many persons and materials in addition to places in the community. Contact with differing values and interpretations of events, for instance, influences the development of personal viewpoints and may be related to awareness of the possibility of multiple courses of action and the need for innovation and creativity in the areas of social behavior. Establishing an atmosphere »

262

wherein children can learn to understand other people as well as

differing values and beliefs which sometimes result in different con-

clusions would promote better communication with, and less pressure

against, highly creative students who do profess values differing from

those of other students, teachers, and parents

Teaching, in order to foster latent creativity, cannot be

direct or so ordered as to attempt to establish an easily followed

pattern though certain techniques and special courses may be helpful

in some instances. Instead, teaching for pupil creativity should be

concerned with recognizing and developing many different abilities,

skills, and characteristics. Facilitating insight into thought processes

together with adding to a background of experiences are likely to

cultivate creative potentials . Even very young children can add to

their experiential background by opportunities to ask questions,

seek information, organize facts, use facts in different situations,

guess at what caused a given situation and what should be done about

it. With practice in these and other skills, thinking should be

Improved which should indirectly facilitate creative thinking.

Various methods, materials, and the provision of a conducive

atmosphere may be used in this endeavor. Three qualifications apply

to efforts to foster creativity, viz. 1) the teacher must truly desire to unfold the creative abilities; 2) the teacher should exemplify aspects of creative behavior in his work; 3) the quality of teacher- pupil interaction is of cardinal importance in assisting creative development. Efforts should be made to overcome or avoid the numerous

*\ '

263

bldcks to creative work whether these be obstacles to thought or

obstacles in the personality or environment.

Education for creativity requires balance between individuality

and group-mindedness , feeling and thinking, objectivity and conven-

tionality, discovery learning and drill or exposition. While no one

composition of a suitable balance is appropriate for all persons at

all times, the greater the creative talent the more latitude, in the

direction of the idiosyncratic, may be allowed in the balance.

Implications for School Personnel

The task for school personnel relative to fostering creativity

was aptly stated some years ago: ” . . . The lack of imaginative

thought in our schools is itself a real problem for imaginative think-

ing. ,1

&11 personnel should be familiar with the basic attributes of

creativity for they must decide in which curriculum areas creative

abilities are best fostered. Decisions must be made as to how this

may best be accomplished in terms of the levels of ability, achievement,

and ages of the pupils. Staff members must find evidence for evalua-

tion purposes. Some guidelines are available for evaluating educational

objectives, lessons, tests, and teacher behavior.^

Personnel must be willing to experiment, to depart from

^Julius Boraas, Teaching to Think (New York: Macmillan Company, 1922), p. 118. O See citations of work by Benjamin S. Bloom, J. P. Guilford, and Marie M. Hughes for clues and suggestions. .

26U

tradition, and to accept the possibility of failure in these attempts

It is necessary for all personnel to find ways of developing and

expressing personal creativity without stifling the opportunities of

others to use their potentials. The more creative student should be

accepted and valued rather than ignored or resented by teachers and

administrators. Considering the importance of attitudes in school

work, acceptance is a prime necessity if creative talent is to be

recognized and encouraged. Studies to date point to the fact that

students with high creative potential are not docile, may take excep-

tion to several popularly held values, and often do the unexpected.

Unless these characteristics are seen as sources of worthwhile endeavors

and not as irritations or qualities to be eliminated, a plethora of

tricks will not cultivate creativeness.

Everyone on a school staff should be willing to accept and deal with the problems which arise from efforts to increase pupil creativity. If creative abilities and traits are sincerely encouraged, one result will undoubtedly be less docility in pupils and more varied uses of equipment and materials. All personnel frcm administrators to custodians must be willing to accept less formal order, at times, and to tolerate uncertainty. The maintenance of a school climate supportive of classroom efforts concerns all personnel. Study and reappraisal of deviating pupils, likewise, are tasks for teachers, administrators, and guidance workers; distinguishing between pupils who are independent or rebellious is not easy but is important. Judg- ment of creative potential by school personnel is difficult and highly 265

doubtful at present for not only are teachers poor judges of pupil

creativity, but administrators are poor judges of teacher creativity.

Teachers and creativity

Several interesting descriptions of creative teachers may be

found in current publications, but few characteristics have been

studied and definitely associated with fostering pupil creativity.

Frequently used descriptions of creative teachers include the charac-

teristics of being sensitive, flexible, resourceful, and able to try

new approaches to classwork and children. These teachers may be quiet

or considered hard to get along with.

Teachers may exhibit their creativity in several aspects of

their lives, but creativeness in teaching is of first importance for

this paper . A teacher may direct his creative abilities toward the

final achievement. If children are manipulated like objects or things,

it is doubtful if much is accomplished toward fostering their creative

potentialities. If adults' plans, techniques, or standards of per-

fection are the important ones for achieving an end there must be few possibilities of trials for the ideas of youngsters.

Teachers may exhibit creativeness in teaching by innovating ways of using the resources of the school and community to help children learn and by arranging time and equipment to best advantage.

r A teacher may be creative by directing his efforts to discovering, stimulating, guiding, and encouraging the creative capacities of his pupils. Accounts of student reactions to creative learning activities seem to indicate that these experiences are exciting; if such 266

experiences become common in more classes at more levels will they

become boring and routine? The creative resources of teachers will

have to be utilized in order to avoid the possibility that these

activities will become just another routine in the school game.

A teacher may be creative by directing his efforts to discover-

ing, stimulating, guiding, and encouraging the creative capacities of

his pupils. Together with flexibility and resourcefulness, several

kinds of sensitivity to individuals and situations are required of teachers in order to encourage pupil creativity. By being sensitive to problems inherent in classroom work and by helping children to become more sensitive to the possibilities for improvement, a teacher may encourage creativity. Statements or questions reflecting such sensitivity may be disconcerting for they may point to weaknesses overlooked by the teacher. If a weakness is noted and an improvement is sought, the implementation of a solution may require an adjustment of the status quo.

Teachers should encourage the development of keenness in sense perception and respect for feeling. Cultivating sensitivity to the needs and feelings of other people and to the requirements of social situations and arrangements is an aspect of fostering a kind of creativity which is sorely needed. Acceptance of the idea of ubiquitous change in contrast to unswerving reverence for the established, is fundamental to encouraging sensitivity to defects in arrangements or discrepancies in the facts.

Sensitivity, expressed as greater responsiveness on the part .

of ‘the teacher to the substance which the individual pupil contributes to the situation, is a key to modifying the learning environment in the direction of facilitating learning and perhaps fostering creative thinking. Offering help, suggestions for work, or information which the pupil is truly free to accept or reject in terms of his interests is another aspect of greater individualization and responsiveness in teaching which could contribute to independence and self-confidence.

In order to foster pupil creativity, a teacher should have a foundation of knowledge of his subject field, society, and children in addition to knowledge and 'understanding of the nature of creativity and the possibilities for fostering it. A teacher must discover the possibilities in the particular program, methods, materials, time, and pupils with which he is working. He must be willing and able to try new approaches to the subject or students, and he must be able to accept failure from time to time and to profit from disappointing results

A teacher should combat some of the pressures toward conformity by providing support for students who display independence in their thinking, for instance, and by providing opportunities for self- expression. Another way to reduce the demands for conformity is to require pupils to structure some assignments and to permit variations in classwork.

Another implication for the teacher is that he should support the student who advances a new idea or tries out a novel procedure or asks an unusual question. Semetimes it may be necessary to support a .

268

child who differs in class discussion or with the group consensus.

Balance must be sought between group and individual work, between

uniformity and individuality, between consensus and independence.

In each instance both are important, but the ways by which these are

achieved help to determine if the effects encourage or stifle creative

potentialities

A teacher must be sensitive to differences between originality

related to creative expression and oddball differentness. TOiile

seeking a balance that encourages individuality, it is necessary to

distinguish between behavior that, on the one hand, may be considered

a sign of healthy independence or an expression of personal differences

and behavior that, on the other hand, is indicative of negative or

bizarre tendencies. At present it may be difficult and puzzling for

teachers, for example, to attempt to distinguish between negativistic

withdrawal and the need for solitude while thinking. Conformity and

nonconformity are additional examples, i.e. there are distinctions

among necessary social uniformity, conformity based on pressure or

insecurity, independent judgment which may or may not be contrary to

consensus, and opposition to any and all group judgments. It is

fallacious to set off nonconformity against conformity or creativity

against conformity as generalizations of the good and the bad. Teachers who know the individuals in a class as well as is possible and who know and value something of creative phenomena, must often rely on their good judgment and intuition as the best course of action because little is known with certainty of the best ways to detect or encourage creative 269

potential. Observation and consideration of a student's work in

terms of several criteria and over an extended period may provide clues.

Implications for administrators and supervisors

The first task of administrators and supervisors with respect

to fostering creativity is to create and maintain an atmosphere of

freedom in which to search for better ways of working and to experiment

with new possibilities. Part of the risk involved in innovation is

that some new procedures may not be successful in spite of the most

careful planning. Risk should be accepted, but it should not be seen

or used as a threat.

A pattern of organization and behavior is necessary to support

a permissive atmosphere. Conventional patterns of organization or

administrative behavior may hinder innovations, but too rapid change,

by not allowing for careful consideration or by aiming for premature

closure, may stifle creativity by weakening the individual's commitment

to a cause. The task of the administrator is to balance innovation with conventionality that is subject to future modification.

Administrators and supervisors may assist teachers by suggesting new procedures and by making materials and space available as needed.

Another aid is promoting the study of problems or disseminating research information.

Important aspects of creative administration and supervision are to identify, value, and reward creative teachers. Administrators have the responsibility to discover creative talent within an organization and to seek the best uses of such talent. Creative teachers might be enlisted to consider school problems or proposed innovations 270 with some provision for and recognition of their efforts being part

of the request (see Chapter V for possible procedures).

Administrators should bridge any gaps between original thinkers and other faculty members. Creative teachers may need to learn social

tactics for getting along with others on the staff, or they may need help to withstand or reduce undue pressures exerted against them.

Finally administrators can exhibit creativeness and possibly contribute to fostering creativity among the staff and student body by trying new plans and arrangements for organizing and implementing the school program. Such innovations as team teaching, module scheduling, special groupings for instruction, and the uses of tele- vision and programmed instruction offer possibilities for better utilization of teachers' time and talents as well as for some aspects of pupils 's growth. Depending on purposes and implementation, some of the new movements may contribute to important learning and, thereby, indirectly, to the possibility for creative growth. If innovations regiment learning or restrict divergent thinking and individuality, they become an anathema to creative development.

Implications for Teacher Education

First, as with any educational effort, the importance of creativity should be reflected in the objectives of teacher education programs, and opportunities to learn creatively should be provided in many areas.

If the research with respect to recognizing, understanding, and fostering creativity is to have any applications in school programs. .

271

stfi& opportunities to learn creatively should be provided in many

areas

If the research with respect to recognizing, understanding, and

fostering creativity is to have any applications in school programs,

teachers, pre- and in-service alike, need to learn about this research

and to discover ways to use the research findings in their work.

Therefore, concepts of the various aspects of creativity should be

dealt with at different points.

More important than learning about creativity are opportunities

to seek and practice the various skills and abilities involved. This

implies that instructors know something of the field, use techniques which stimulate creative thinking, devise assignments and opportunities

for students to exercise these skills. It has been demonstrated that assignments to employ different reading sets, develop questions and hypotheses, explore possibilities, and find implications contribute to increased use of creative thinking and to greater facility in applying knowledge to novel situations. The use of the divergent thinking abilities also appears to result in subject matter learning and recall.

In light of research findings it is appropriate to reconsider the concepts of giftedness, adjustment, mental health, intelligence, achievement and overachievement, permissiveness, discipline, evaluation, feelings, and the unconscious which are studied in the course of preparation for teaching as well as in in-service programs. Teachers need to learn about and practice forming educational objectives, planning work, writing tests, and evaluation outcomes in terms of 272

thd creative thinking abilities as well as the other abilities. They

should learn about and practice interpreting standardized test scores.

They should examine teaching and their own behavior in terms of

opportunities for pupils to question, as well as in terms of the

degree of control exercised, the amount of social uniformity rather

than ideational conformity demanded, and the balance of group and

individual work.

Just as teachers may use creative traits, e.g. flexibility and

independence, to identify potentially creative children, so may

instructors 'use these traits to identify and encourage potentially

creative pre-service (or in-service) teachers.

Opportunities for potentially creative teachers to work on

research projects with college staff members might be valuable as

learning experiences and for encouraging a questionning attitude in

teaching. Likewise, potentially creative student teachers would, undoubtedly, benefit from opportunities to work with creative teachers during the observation, participation, and student teaching phases of the preparatory sequence.

In-service courses and more informal efforts offer possibilities for learning about recent research developments and discovering implications for specific problems and situations, but, again, merely having knowledge of propitious elements is insufficient. Opportunities to seek understanding and engage in creative thinking are vital.

Emphasis should be on seeking research findings in order to apply this knowledge to particular problems and situations. Furthermore experimentation should be encouraged, actively supported, and assisted by 273

such means as additional data, materials, time, and space with which

to work.

Implications for Research

Any review of the research literature dealing with aspects

of creativity and the factors affecting creativity reveals that,

while much has been learned, much remains to be discovered. Most

studies include statements of needed research. Of paramount importance

are needs to determine predictive criteria, developmental data, inter-

relationships among the various factors of personality and environment.

Long range studies and the development of measuring instruments are

frequently cited as primary needs.

Aside from learning more of the nature of creativity, much

remains to be learned about the factors which influence, positively

or negatively, the development of creative potentialities. More needs

to be known of the effects cf various experiences and efforts to

increase the use of creative abilities.

In education, research needs are related to insights into

the nature of the creative process and the nature of creative individuals. In education, the primary emphasis is appropriately on encouraging creative behavior and discovering aspects of the environment which affect creative development.

What elements in the hone and family background influence factors of motivation and temperament associated with creativity?

How do these elements contribute to the actualization of creative potential? 27U

Research data are needed in order to understand the growth and

development of creative tendencies. Certain crucial points are

special concerns for research. One such crucial point is at the

beginning of the junior high school years; another is between the

third and fourth grades. Is there any relationship between these

points and the signs which mark the potential drop-out student? In

both cases are common factors operating at these points?

To what extent are there individuals with potentials for

originality among the drop-out population? What sorts of programs

and personal contacts are likely to contribute to developing this

latent resource? What programs or personal contacts are likely to

contribute to the actualization of creative potentialities of pupils

from lower socio-economic backgrounds?

With respect to environment, how may opportunities be offered

for children to engage in the production of novelty but avoid over-

stimulation which seems to result in individuals who become consumers

rather than producers of novelty? Do small classes and rich reading materials and other resources provide the best environment for creative

learning? Innovations are suggested to arrange for time and freedom

to plan and to carry out one's own work. This suggestion applies to school programs at all levels; it applies as well to the possibilities for providing time and freedom to teachers and develop their ideas.

Efforts should be made to study the immediate and long-range effects of different sets and groupings on the potentialities of pupils.

What effects do groups —open or closed, temporary or permanent, homogeneous or heterogeneous —have on the development of creative abilities? 275

What are the effects of various pressures and social stress on creative

growth? What about the effects of competitive ratings and external

criteria in the evaluation of learning? Will creativity be fostered

if schools emphasize social conformity rather than ideational conformity?

What is the optimum balance between conformity, uniformity, and origin-

ality?

Likewise the effects of teacher behavior should be sought -

What sorts of behavior encourage pupil creativity? To what extent

does a teacher nurture pupil creativity by initiating activities

requiring divergent thinking, self-expression, or sensitivity for

instance? How creative should a teacher be in order to encourage

creativeness in pupils? What constitutes creativity in teaching?

What are the relationships among various techniques and approaches

to fostering creativity and the social class, levels of maturity, and experiential background of children.

Research findings that repetition interferes with effective learning and imagination imply a need to adjust requirements for practice so that it contributes to the acquisition of skills but not to the sort of mechanical repetition which may block originality.

What are the effects of drill or repeated trials on creative thinking?

Can practice (e.g. giving different responses to the same question, studying unusual uses of or responses to stimuli, or various sets) encourage imagination, originality, or invention?

To what extent can creative training, learning, problem solving, or experiences be expected to transfer or generalize to other situations, circumstances, or areas of study? Will art experiences contribute to 276 creativity in science or social life? Yfill cultivating sensitivity or flexibility predispose an individual to behave sensitively or flexibly in many situations?

Finally means are needed by which creative thinking and growth in creative thinking may be assessed especially in the elementary and secondary school years. How may creative thinking be recognized or rewarded? Is it necessary that creative thought should be recognized or rewarded? .

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Mildred Josefine Lunaas was born August 21 , 1929 , at Stamford,

Connecticut. She attended public schools in Miami, Florida, and in

June, 1951 , was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts frcm

the University of Miami. In August, 1956 , she received the degree

of Master of Education from the University of Florida. She held a

Graduate School Fellowship in 1957-58 and worked as a graduate

assistant in the College of Education in 1961-62 .

Miss Lunaas has been a public school teacher in Florida and

Ohio for nine years. She is a member of Phi Alpha Theta, Kappa

Delta Pi, Pi Lambda Theta, and Phi Kappa Phi. This dissertation was prepared under the direction of the

chairman of the candidate's supervisory committee and has been approved by all members of that committee. It was submitted to the

Dean of the College of Education and to the Graduate Council, and was approved as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education,

December 21, 1963

Supervisory Committee: