CREATIVE THINKING
DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY
• Creativity is a mental process involving the generations of
new ideas or concepts or new association between existing
ideas or concepts.
• Creativity involves the generation of new ideas or the
recombination of known elements into something new,
providing valuable solutions to a problem.
Cont…
• “Any one can make the simple
complicate. Creativity is making the
complicated simple” Charles Mingis.
OBJECTIVES OF CREATIVITY
• Main objectives of a creative thinking process is to think
beyond existing boundaries,
• to break away from rational, conventional ideas and formalised
procedures,
•
to rely on the imagination, the divergent, the random and to
consider
• multiple solutions and alternatives
CREATIVE TECHNIQUES
1. Analytical Techniques And Intuitive
Techniques.
2. Creativity In Individuals, And Techniques,
Which Generate Creativity In Groups.
3 Divergent Thinking And Convergent
Thinking.
Main points to increase or encourage
creativity in a company are:
 To Be Happy, To Have Fun
 Keep Channels Of Communication Open
 Trust, Failure Accepted
 Contacts With External Sources Of Information
 Independence, Initiatives Taken
 Support Participatory Decision-making And Employees’
Contribution
 Experiment With New Ideas
The Quality Of Creative Thinking
Can Be Judged By Three Criteria
• Productivity.
• Originality.
• Flexibility
The 10 Mental Blocks To Creativity
Concepts are adapted from Van Oech’s book, A Whack On The
Side Of The Head.
1. One “Right Answer”.
2. Logic Can Kill Creativity.
3. Be Creative – Break Some Rules
4.Be Creative – Is That Practical?
5. Play Is Creative.
Cont…
6. Make Time To Think Creatively.
7. Being Creative Is “Not My Job”.
8 Don’t Be Afraid To Be Creative.
9. Creativity…How Ambiguous.
10 Is Creativity Wrong?
TWO PHASES OF CREATIVITY
Creativity can be divided into two phases of thinking:
– Divergent thinking
– Convergent thinking
1. Divergent thinking
DIVERGENT THINKING
• Is the ability to find many possible answers to a particular
problem. Guilford (1950).
• Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to
generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.
• Divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, freeflowing manner, such that many ideas are generated in an
emergent cognitive fashion.
Cont…
• Psychologists have found that a high IQ alone does not
guarantee creativity. Instead, personality traits that promote
divergent thinking are more important. Divergent thinking is
found among people with personalities which have traits such
as nonconformity, curiosity, willingness to take risks, and
persistence.
ACTIVITIES WHICH PROMOTE
DIVERGENT THINKING
• Creating Lists Of Questions,
•
Setting Aside Time For Thinking And Meditation,
• Brainstorming.
• Subject Mapping / "Bubble Mapping",
•
Keeping A Journal,
• Creating Artwork, And Free Writing.
2. Convergent thinking
CONVERGENT THINKING
• The term convergent thinking was coined by J.P.Guilford, a
psychologist well known foe his research on creativity.
• Convergent thinking involves the pursuit of predetermined a
goal, usually in linear progression and using highly focused
problem solving techniques.
• Convergent thinking questions are those which represent the
analysis and integration of given or remembered information.
They lead you to an expected end result or answer.
Instrument
Theoretical
background and
purpose
Structure
Administrati Age
on
range
Adjective
Checklist
(ACL)
Adjectives
describe a
person’s attributes,
‘actual’ & ‘ideal’
self; identification
of potentially
creative persons
300 item list
of
adjectives
measures
37 traits
Selfassessment
or by
observers,
10 to 15
minutes
Widely
used in
adults
Personality Assessment Instruments
Used in the Field of Creativity
Instrument
Theoretical
background and
purpose
Structure
Administ Age
ration
rang
e
KhatenaTorrance
Creative
Perception
Inventory
Measures artistic
inclination, intelligence,
individuality, sensitivity,
initiative, and self
strength;
imagination,
appeal to authority, self
confidence,
inquisitiveness,
and awareness of others.
Comprises two
tests: Something
About Myself
(SAM)
What Kind of
Person Are You?
(WKOPAY)
Self
report
20–40
minutes
12
years
and
older
Personality Assessment Instruments
Used in the Field of Creativity
Instrument
Theoretical
background and
purpose
Myers-Briggs Uses the Jungian
Type
dichotomies
Indicator
of introversion/
extroversion,
sensing/intuiting,
thinking/feeling,
perceiving/judging
Structure
Administratio Age
n
range
16 different 166 multiple
personality choice
types
items
14
years
and
older
Personality Assessment Instruments
Used in the Field of Creativity
Instrument
Theoretical
background and
purpose
Structure
Administ Age
ration
range
Kirton Adaptation
Innovation
Inventory (KAI)
Evaluates differences
in preferred styles of
problem-solving and
creativity:
adaptors improve
things; innovators do
things differently
Adaptation/
Innovation
continuum
32 items
Teens
and
adults
Personality Assessment Instruments
Used in the Field of Creativity