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 ^ 2 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. » k 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