Creative Process
an123
IAH--Creativity-Chapter4.pptxCreativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
By Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi
Chapter 4: The Work of Creativity
In this chapter Csikzentmihalyi has shifted terms a bit; we move away from the concerns of where creativity is located or who is creative, to an overview of how creativity happens so we’re looking at “process,” in this chapter. Note also that the term work is used here, thus the implication that what we’re dealing with in creative process is “work,” or a kind of laboring, a transforming of energy to create something significant, as a kind of personal, human application of energy.
2
Csikzentmihalyi begins as usual with a question or two.
“Is there a single series of mental steps that leads to novelties that result in changing a domain?”
“. . .Is every creative product the result of a single ‘creative process.’?”
Any time we reach for singular answers, in this and in other works on creativity, we know we’re in for a more complex discussion. Rarely do single processes or series cover all the possibilities for an answer is seems. So we’re dealing with divergent thinking on this one. There is probable more than one answer and there may be no final answer on how creativity or the creative process works.
3
That said, Csikzentmihalyi quotes Robert Galvin who claims
“. . . Creativity consists of anticipation and commitment.”
Anticipation—a vision of something that may be important or influential in the future
Commitment—a belief to keep working on the vision, in spite of doubt, discouragement, setbacks
That said—given the variety of domains and the different demands and rules of each domain
“ We should not expect a great deal of similarity in how people arrive at a novel idea or product.
“Yet, some common threads do seem to run across boundaries of domains and individual idiosyncrasies, and these might well constitute the core characteristics of what it takes to approach a problem in a way likely to lead to an outcome the field will perceive as creative.”
Perhaps this is as close as we will get in finding a single answer to the work of creativity or the creative process. Again we’re dealing with the response of the field, outcomes and we have approached the idea that creativity happens in relation to a problem.
6
Thus, the creative process as commonly characterized, includes
Five steps:
Preparation
Incubation
Insight
Evaluation
Elaboration
You find these same find steps on the creative process in the article on creative thinking,, by J. ADair in the coursepack. Though Adair uses the terms preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. Keep in mind that each step in the process will vary from context to context, from creative person to creative person and from project to project.
7
Preparation--involves
Immersion “consciously or not”
in a problem or set of issues
That are interesting
Arouse curiosity
Preparation seems to develop from attention to a “problem.”
Problems are not alike “they come to a person’s attention” in multiple ways
Problems emerge from three sources
Personal experiences
Requirements of the domain
Social pressures
Csikszentmihlyi distinguishes between two types of problems
Already formulated Problems
Everybody knows what is to be done
Only the solution is missing
The person is expected by an employer, patrons, or some other external pressure to apply his or her mind to the solution of a puzzle.
Discovered Problems
“Nobody has asked the question yet.”
“Nobody even knows there is a problem”
Thus “the creative person identifies both the problem and the solution.”
“Presented Problems”
Take a shorter time to prepare for and solve
Yet the solutions to presented problems can “change the domain in significant ways and therefore be judged creative.”
“Discovered Problems”
May be found in activities that don’t seem to present problems or require solutions.
Extended engagement with the activities may create curiosity and offer up a puzzle or a set of problems or issues.
Csikzentmihalyi associates incubation with “The Mysterious Time.”
After finding a “problem,” and thinking about it
“the creative process goes underground”
“Because of this empty space in between sensing a problem and intuiting its solution, it has been assumed that an indispensable stage of incubation must take place in an interval of the conscious process.”
So how does one know this empty space exists. Is the empty space part of the five step process, included in the incubation step? If it is an interval in the conscious process does it remain embedded, to arise from the unconscious?
15
MC goes on
“Because of its mysterious quality, incubation has been thought the most creative part of the entire process.”
“The conscious sequences can be analyzed to a certain extent, by rules of logic and rationality.”
“But what happens in the “dark” spaces defies ordinary analysis and evokes the original mystery shrouding the work of genius . . .”
So incubation involves some letting go of process to find the answer in almost random, unrelated activities. Holy smokes. Holy smokes. Holy smokes. And various participants in Ciskszentmihalyi’s study confirm this idea of letting problems simmer beneath the surface, so to speak.
16
Further
“How long a period of incubation is needed varies depending on the nature of the problem.”
Incubation is also associated with “idle time.”
What happens during this mysterious, idle time?
The Freudian view
Curiosity at the roots of creative expression is set off by repressed childhood experience
The experience is repressed or devastating because it refers to trauma or the forbidden
“The creative person is one who succeeds in displacing the forbidden knowledge into a permissible curiosity.”
So under this view, which we discussed in more detail, last class, in reference to the Singer article, creativity is driven by confusing impressions or experiences of childhood. Quote page 100 here.
18
Another view related to theories of cognition holds
That during incubation “some kind of information processing keeps going on in the mind even when we are not aware of it.
Thus, “ideas, when deprived of conscious direction, follow simple laws of association.”
To “combine more or less random, seemingly irrelevant associations between ideas, as a result of prior connections.”
So instead of being driven by unconscious repressed memories the creative person is driven a machine like processing of information at some unconscious level. If this is so, why would the machine choose associations between random irrelevant information structures? The subconscious is still involved.
19
Csikszentmihalyi adds
The difference between serial and parallel processing of information may help explain incubation.
In a serial system problems must be solved in sequence
In a parallel system a problem is broken into components (parts or steps) and the computations are carried out simultaneously; those are recast into a single final solution
MC adds finally that incubation
May be related to the idea that the unconscious symbol systems and the social context for creative process, including incubation, have a part.
“Incubation cannot work for someone who has not mastered a domain or been involved in a field.”
Thus in incubation
There is a tension between the accepted elements, findings and solutions of work in a domain and the as yet unknown of the domain.
So one must be willing to accept and reject domain knowledge.
“Creative thoughts evolve in this gap filled with tension . . .”
So incubation involves mysterious, idle, disassociated activity bringing to mind, somehow the possibilities for filling that gap.
22
Csikszenthilhalyi relates insight to
“The Aha Experience”
Aha
“. . . a particular moment when some major problem crystallized in some way that a solution became all but inevitable . . .”
“The insight presumably occurs when a subconscious connection between ideas fits so well that it is forced to pop into awareness . . .”
So we have another part of the process that seems to be related to development through or with the unconscious.
24
During the fourth step
The creative person must decide whether the insight is valuable and worth pursuing.
The internalized criteria of the domain and the internalized opinion of the field become prominent, in deciding the worth of the insight/idea.
And he relates elaboration, the fifth step to
“99 Percent Perspiration”
During this step the creative must verify the outcome whether it works or even makes sense
To do this the creative person
Must pay attention to the developing work, to notice new ideas, new problems and new insights that might arise
One must pay attention to one’s goals to understand whether the work is proceeding as intended
One must keep in touch with domain knowledge to use the most effective techniques, the best information and the best theories
One must listen to colleagues in the field and interact with others involved in similar work
Csikzentmihalyi adds
Creative work is never done.
“Even if we don’t have the good fortune to discover a new chemical element or write a great story, the love of the creative process for its own sake is available to all. It is difficult to imagine a richer life.”
