Creativity
Flow and Psychology of Discovery and
Invention
Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Presented by: Nikhil Singh
Setting the Stage
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What’s the good of studying creativity?
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The results of creativity enrich the culture
and indirectly improve the quality of our
lives
To understand better a way of being that is
more satisfying than most lives typically
are
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Setting the Stage
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How the study was conducted
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Between 1990 and 1995, the author and
his students, interviewed a group of 91
exceptional individuals
Selection criteria: made a difference to a
major domain, still actively involved, at
least 60 yrs old
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Where is Creativity
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Three different phenomena
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Person who appear to be unusually bright
People who experience the world in novel
and original ways
Individuals who changed our culture in
some important respect
Persons belonging to the third group
are included in the study
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Creativity is the property of
system
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The Author identifies three main parts:
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Domain :: Mathematics is a domain
Field :: Individuals who act as gatekeepers to the
domain
Person :: The individual who brings the change
Creativity is an act, an idea, or product that
changes an existing domain, or that
transforms an existing domain into a new
one, and creative person is whose thoughts
or actions bring these changes
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Creativity in the Renaissance
The octagonal
ribbed dome of
the Florence
cathedral
--Brunelleschi
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Creativity in the Renaissance
doors of the baptistery of
Florence Cathedral (gates of
paradise)
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Where is Creativity
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Great works of Florentine art would never have been
made just because the domain of classical art was
rediscovered or the rulers of the city decided to make
it beautiful
Without previous models and support of the city, they
could not have done what they did
With the favorable conjunction of the field and
domain, if these two artists had not been born, some
others would have stepped in their place and and
built the doors and dome.
presented by :Nikhil Singh
The Creative Personality
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Attention and Creativity
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Specialized individuals can learn about their
domains in greater depth
Attention is a limited resource
Increasing amount of information constantly being
added to the domains
Creativity generally involves crossing the
boundaries of domains, conscious effort needed to
find an alternative
Maybe the new components of system will be
Domain, Field and Team
presented by :Nikhil Singh
The Creative Personality
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An early interest in domain
A person needs access to domain
Access to field is equally important
One word to express what makes these
creative individuals different from
others is “complexity”
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Ten Dimensions of Complexity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Have great deal of physical energy, but they
are also often quite and at rest
Use two opposite ways of thinking:
convergent and divergent
Related combination of playfulness and
discipline
They are imaginative, but the novelty they
see is rooted in reality
Harbor opposite tendencies on the
continuum between extroversion and
introversion presented by :Nikhil Singh
Ten Dimensions of Complexity
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Remarkably humble and proud at the same
time
Creative individuals to a certain extent
escape rigid gender role stereotyping
Both traditional as well as rebellious
They can be very passionate about their
work, or they can be extremely objective
Their openness and sensitivity exposes
them to both pain and enjoyment
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Ten Dimensions of Complexity
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Lesson learned
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The novelty that survives to change the
domain is usually the work of someone
who can operate at both ends of these
polarities
presented by :Nikhil Singh
The Process of Creativity
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Traditional approach
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Period of preparation
Period of incubation
The ‘Aha’ moment
Evaluation
Elaboration
The five stages in reality are not exclusive but
typically overlap and recur several times
before the process is completed
To be creative you must be involved in doing
what you love to do
presented by :Nikhil Singh
The Flow of Creativity
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Motivated by the enjoyment that comes
from confronting challenges
Enjoyment comes by
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Having clear goals every step of the way
Immediate feedback of one’s action
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Give feedback to yourself if not available
Having a balance between challenges and
skills
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Ability to judge problems
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Flow of Creativity
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Enjoyment comes by
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The Merging of Action and Awareness
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Avoiding Distractions
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Concentration focused on what they do
Spouse, library
Forgetting self time and surrounding
The activity becoming autotelic
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Doing them for the experience they provide
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Creative Surroundings
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Importance of being in the right place
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Access to domain
Certain environments have a greater density of
interactions and provide more excitement and
greater effervescence of ideas
Environment can be created because of sudden
availability of money, or presence of luminaries
Downside :: too much pressure
Bottom line :: right environment that suits
individual is necessary
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Creative Surroundings
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“What helps to preserve and develop
individuality, and hence enhance creativity, is
an environment that we have built to reflect
ourselves, where it is easy to forget the
outside world and concentrate completely on
the task at hand”
“Personalizing patterns of action help to free
the mind from expectations that make
demands on attention and allow intense
concentration on the matters that count”
presented by :Nikhil Singh
The Lives and Domains
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The Early Years :: to help shape the
future of younger people we know
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“Recognize the interest when it shows
itself, nurture it, and provide the
opportunities for it to grow into creative
life”
Three domains discussed in detail to
give a better understanding of what is
involved in producing a cultural change
presented by :Nikhil Singh
The Making of the Culture
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“what is needed is a self-conscious effort to
establish priorities and use something like an
“evolutionary impact analysis” as one of the
basis of social endorsement of new ideas”
Rewards both intrinsic and extrinsic help the
flowering of creativity
The Accessibility and Organization of the
information helps in promoting Creativity
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Enhancing Personal Creativity
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The first step towards a more creative life is
the cultivation of curiosity and interest
Specific advice
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Try to be surprised by something everyday
Try to surprise at least one person everyday
Write down each day what surprised you and how
you surprised others
When something strikes a spark of interest, follow
it
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Cultivating Flow in Everyday Life
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Wake up in the morning with a specific
goal to look forward to
If you do anything well, it becomes
enjoyable
To keep enjoying something, you need
to increase its complexity
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Cultivating Habits
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It is important not to relinquish control over
creative energy so that it dissipates without
direction
Take charge of your schedule
Make time for reflection and relaxation
Shape your space
Find out what you love and hate about life
Start doing more of what you love and less of
what you hate
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Internal Traits
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Develop what you lack
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Shift from openness to closure
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Breaking habits is like breaking bones
This duel vision doubles the riches of the world we
experience and makes it possible to react
creatively to it
Aim for Complexity
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By fully expressing the tendencies of which we are
capable, we become the part of the energy that
creates the future
presented by :Nikhil Singh
Enhancing Personal Creativity
Divergent thinking helps
 Important to try as many domains as
possible
 Find a domain that fits your interests
“Luck has a huge hand in deciding whose
c is capitalized, but if you don’t learn to
be creative in your personal life, the
chances of contributing to the culture
drop even closer to zero”
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presented by :Nikhil Singh
Thank you
presented by :Nikhil Singh