principles of creative problem solving

Principles of Creativity

Dr. Michael J. McNamara

 What is creativity?

 What is “Creative Problem Solving”?

 Structure of the Course ◦ Topical Outline

◦ Review of Assignments

◦ Course Philosophy

 “Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment… The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.” – Rollo May, The Courage to Create

 Act of developing new and imaginative ideas, then turning them into reality

Dean K. Simonton, Professor of Psychology, University of California ◦ Ability to generate novel ideas that have value

 An individual generates a wealth of ideas and then subjects these ideas to judgment.

1. Original- the idea must be novel/new 2. Adaptive- the idea must be received/adopted by

others (most often, as having solved some problem)

 Simonton’s Creative Genius  Creative works thus NEED to be appreciated (although not

always in that person’s lifetime)

 No such thing as “unrecognized creative genius” (Ex., Vincent van Gogh)

 Teresa Amabile, Professor, Harvard Business School ◦ Consensual definition of creativity: a product is creative

when experts in the domain agree it’s creative (Amabile 1982).  Thus, creativity is inherently SOCIAL!

 Appropriateness is defined by social groups, and it’s culturally and historically determined. Can never be purely objective.

 Ex., the Telegraph (1884)

 Critique: ◦ Who gets to decide?

 Value judgements made by others situated in and constrained by established contexts and conventions

“The ability to modify self-

imposed constraints” Ackoff & Vergara (1988)

Creativity

Person

Product

Press

Process

 Enhancements= an attempt to encourage things (traits and capacities) that are conducive to creative potential and creative performance. ◦ Traits, mindsets, approaches and

capacities that are indicative of ‘creative potential’  Ex., flexibility, fluency, autonomy,

openness to experience

◦ Traits and tendencies that are contraindicative  Ex., conformity, rigidity, narrowness

 Guidelines, steps, tools and/or procedures that can be used individually or as a larger program in an effort to enhance creative potential. ◦ Requires a Procedural Knowledge

that is Intentionally deployed (when required by user)

 CPS: A ‘cognitive model’ that deliberately segments problem-solving into discrete divergent & convergent stages ◦ Ex., ◦ Osborn’s CPS ◦ The Thinking Skills

model

 Chess: Most people can learn to play better chess. While there is no guaranteed formula for success, there are specific steps you can follow to help improve your game.

 Pinball: No instructions or steps to help you. At a conscious level there’s not much to do. You just engage fully, with all your senses, in the randomness of the bounce, the spontaneity of machine; maximizing every chance opportunity in a reflex state called ‘the zone’.

 Torrance (1972): moderate improvements in Torrance Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT) upon receiving training

 Rose and Lin (1984): CPS has consistent impact on TTCT scores

 Scott, Leritz and Mumford (2004): CPS training has a significant effect on demonstrated capacity for creative/innovative idea generation

 Prof. of Creativity and Creativity Thinking

 Doctorate in Political Science, SFU

 Past: ◦ Dean, Research

◦ Director, Applied Research

◦ Prof., CBU and Brock

Michael.mcnamara@sheridancolleg e.ca

 Class PO1- 43227: Friday 12-3 pm; ONLINE  Class PO3- 43244: Tuesday 12-3pm; ONLINE

 Asynchronous ◦ Posted Video Lecture ◦ Readings ◦ Task Sheets ◦ Sometimes a video ◦ Sometimes an exercise ◦ Sometimes a Bonus

 Synchronous ◦ Weekly Debrief Meetings

 Creativity Unbound: An Introduction to the creative process, Miller, Vehar, Firestien, Thurber and Nielson, FourSight

1. Creativity Assignment: 20% (Friday, June 4)

2. Test 1: 25% (Returned by Mon. June 21)

3. Final Project: 30%

4. Test 2: 25%

 Week 2 | May 24-May 28 Creative Confidence ◦ Topics:

 Creativity as Personality Trait

 Creative Confidence

 Grit

 Hypothesis Testing Mindsets

 Required Readings: ◦ -David Kelley “How to Build Your Creative

Confidence”. TED Talk ◦ Sweet et al. “Developing Creative Confidence”, The

National Teaching & Learning Forum (SLATE)