Creativity and the Individual Last month on this page we discussed the elements believed to be important in the creative process. In a sense, a part of the creative process is associated with establishing the nature and qualitv . - of the information necessary to be creative, and, therefore, i t is amenable to education. TO help students learn to think creatively, teachers need an understanding of the creative process and of the qualities that characterize creative thinkers, so they can set the stage for their students. I t is well documented that attitudinal changes can be effected through education. Three characteristics seem to he imnortant in reference to the creative person: active involvement, the ability to differentiate information. and the c a.~ a c i.t vto delav evaluation. Creative persons actively interact with their environment rather than being passive. They look with a searching attitude, a seeking, a curious intent. Creative persons also tend to differentiate the information they receive rather than homogenizing it. In other words, they seem to be more interested in differences than in similarities because differences andlor discrepancies provide maximum insight into the nature of a problem. One of the most common obstacles to creative thinking is the constant propensity to evaluate newly acquired data. The majority of people usually react criticallv and stand readv" to nass . immediate "iudeement on what they are experiencing-i.e., they categorize it-envisioning it a t once as either aood or bad. Creative persons, on the other hand, appear to he able to maintain nonevaluative position when approaching new data. They have the capacity to delay judgement. It has been recognized that different people have different requirements for the kinds of environment they need in which to work most creatively. Someneed an environment in which they can have quiet and be relaxed. Others require stimulation-something to increase the tension level. Mature creative n .e o.~ l ehave learned to mani~ulatetheir surroundings to maximize their creative capacity, whereas a developing creative individual may not be sensitive to such factors. They are creative in fits and starts; it almost seems thev are creative bv accident. Thev unable to manip. aDpear .. "late their creative potential. A number of techniques have been recognized as useful for catalyzing the generation of new ideas. One set of techniques designed to facilitate the creative process are called stimulators, probably the best known of which is "brainstorming." An important aspect of brainstorming is deferral of judgement. because a iudicial mind analvzes. " . comnares. and chooses (i.e., it engages in evaluation) whereas the creative mind visualizes. foresees. and generates ideas. In a sense, the judicial mind inhibits the creative process hut i t can he prevented from doing so by consciously practicing judgement deferral. Maximally effective brainstorming elimi-
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nates criticism, allows free wheeling, encourages the development of a large number of ideas, and seeks new comhinations of thoughts and improvements on ideas. Another technique that facilitates the creative process involves seeking an appropriate statement of the problem, which may have been casually articulated in a different context. Since a problem is a problem because we cannot solve it, a worthwhile goal is to attempt to state the problem in a solvable manner, i.e., to redefine the problem. By redefining a problem, we may set it in a new perspective and thereby get closer to a creative solution. In trying to redefine a problem, one should not be constrained by the way it was initially stated. Replacement of the initial problem statement by an equivalent, but more understandable, statement violates nothing. Finally, creative persons often invoke some deliberate means of getting a t a distance from a problem. Some people commonly suffer from a lack of creativity because they cannot see the forest for the trees. I t is equally common that others are blocked from creative solutions because they cannot deal with details. There appears to be some optimal "distance" that most people need to maintain between themselves and the prohlem if creativity is to evolve. This optimal distance probably varies with individuals. Mature creative persons have learned to control the optimal distance they must have to he creative, and, indeed, they are able to move a t will between excruciating details and broad overviews. Apparently the fulfillment of the promise of creative potential is associated with the development of certain attitudes in individuals. As we saw last month, formal educational practices, e.g., in chemistry, contain many of the elements necessary to facilitate the creative process. However, in most educational environments there is little awareness of either the attitudes that enhance creative potential in students or the opportunity to encourage the acquisition and development of these attitudes. This apparent lack of sensitivity to factors that can affect attitudes of students who are learning to think creatively is probably the reason we have difficulty in dealing with geniuses, who have an exceptional natural capacity or ability for creative and original conceptions of a subject. Failure to provide an educational environment that encourages creativity will short-circuit development of this kind of thinking in ordinary students and frustrate the true geniuses. Although the latter is an obvious waste, failure to help the larger numbers of ordinary students learn to think more creatively may well be an even greater waste in the long run. The challenge in teaching science is to be creative in finding ways to help students become more creative in their thinking. JJL
Volume 62
Number 6
June 1985
457
