1. CREATIVITY
Creativity may be defined as “the quality of being able to produce
original work or ideas in any field”. It is the cognitive activity that
results in new, novel, and unusual way of viewing or solving a
problem.
Robert Sternberg has proposed to apply the name Creatology to
scientific studies of creativity.
2. Four concepts
Flexibility refers to the
concept that a creative
person approaches a
given problem from many
different angles. All of
their ideas are not based
off of the same theme.
The concept of
Fluency refers
to the need or
ability to
generate a large
number of ideas
to select a
solution from.
Originality refers
to the novelty,
uniqueness, or
newness of the
idea.
Clarity refers to the idea
that a creative idea is not
vague. It is specific enough
that others can understand
the idea, talk about it,
elaborate on it, and explore
it further.
5. Expertise is the foundation of all creative work. The
potential of creativity is enhanced when individuals have
abilities, knowledge, proficiencies, and similar expertise in
the field of endeavor.
Creative thinking skills encompasses personality
characteristics associated with creativity, the ability to use
analogies as well as talent to see the familiar in a different
light. Development of creative ideas involves intelligence,
self-confidence, risk taking, ambiguity and perseverance in
the face of frustration.
Motivation is the desire to work on something because it’s
interesting, involving, exciting, satisfying, or personally
challenging. This motivational component is what turns
creativity potential into actual creative ideas.
6. DIMENSIONS OF CREATIVITY
Intellectual leadership- Creative thinkers are able to create new
and promising theories or exciting trends which inspire others to
follow up; in essence starting a movement, school of thought or
trend.
Sensitivity to problems-Being able to identify problems that
challenge others and open up a new field of thought is a mark of
creative thinking.
Originality-Creative thinkers are able to find ideas or solutions
that no one else has been able to come up with. Patents are
(supposedly) given out to original ideas.
Ingenuity-Ingenious solutions are able to solve problems in a
neat and surprising way or which also reflect a new perspective at
looking at the problem.
7. Unusualness-Creative thinkers are able to see the remote
associations between ideas. When word association tests are given,
people in highly creative literary fields like poets give a higher
proportion of unique responses.
Usefulness-Solutions or ideas that are also practical are also
considered more creative as the creator is able to meet the
constraints of the problem while at the same time producing
unusual and original solutions.
Appropriateness- Non sequitur ideas can be highly original and
unusual, but are not as creative as ideas which are also appropriate
to the situation. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy is within the
genre of fantasy writing, but has also shown itself to be both
convincing and imaginative.
8. STAGES OF CREATIVITY
Preparation- Spending long
periods of time immersed in
the problem, gathering
knowledge relevant to it, and
working on it.
Incubation-An interval during
which the person involved stops
working actively on the problem
and turns to other matters.
Incubation periods may provide
people with an opportunity to
recover from the fatigue
generated by the intense
preparation phase.
Illumination or Insight-At
such times, individual’s
report that they suddenly
see, perhaps only in partially
developed form, the first
glimmer of a solution they
have been seeking for
months or even years.
Verification-Considerable
refinement must often follow. The
idea must be worked out,
translated into testable form, and
then actually tested. Only when
mounting evidence indicates that
it does work, is the creative
solution carried to its final
conclusion.
Graham
Wallace
9. Having conflicting goals and objectives.
Competition in the present environment can hamper motives for
creative output. Concerns with job advancement or opportunities
as opposed to job stability or security mat affect motives to be
creative at work.
A too hectic environment that does not provide quiet time for
reflection and introspection.
A sterile environment that does not feed the senses.
FACTORS AFFECTING CREATIVITY
10. Rigid rules and barriers that prevent us from gathering information and or
from connecting with others.
Fear of self-expression and of the judgment of others as well as lack of
confidence can severely limit ones creativity.
Negative thinking and self-criticism are also limiting factors of an
individual’s creativity.
Stress is a distraction, which drains energy, which could otherwise be used
creatively.
11. Organic causes like Dementia, frontal lobe syndrome or stroke
may result in multiple cognitive deficits including memory loss,
impairment in abstract thinking and difficulty coping with new
tasks.
Emotional depression-when we are depressed, our minds are
filled with self-deprecating thoughts, sometimes to the level of
obsession. When we are overwhelmed with negative self talk,
poor concentration and hopelessness, our brain has neither the
time nor the resources to devote to new and innovative ideas.
12. MEASURMENT OF CREATIVITY
Creativity tests, mostly devised during the past 30 years, are
aimed at assessing the qualities and abilities that constitute
creativity.
These tests evaluate mental abilities in ways that are different
from and even diametrically opposed to conventional intelligence
tests.
Most creativity tests in use today are based on the theory or
creativity evolved by J.P Guilford in the 1950s. Early tests
designed to assess an individual’s aptitude for divergent thinking
the Torrance (1962) and Meeker (1969) tests.
13. One of the most common tests used to assess creativity in a child
or an adult is the Torrance Tests of Creative thinking.
The TTCT test is a series of figural exercises (thinking with
pictures) and verbal activities (thinking with words) that students
do to showcase their creative abilities.
The most extensive work on divergent thinking was done under
Guilford’s direction at the University of Southern California by
the Aptitudes Research Project (ARP).
14. The ARP tests are divided into verbal and figural categories.
Those that measure verbal ability include:
Word fluency: writing words containing a given letter.
Ideational fluency: naming things that belongs to a given class
(i.e. fluids that will burn)
Associational fluency: writing synonyms for a specified word.
15. Expressional fluency: writing four word sentences in which each
word begins with a specified letter.
Alternate uses: listing as many uses as possible for a given
object
Plot titles: writing titles for short story plots.
Consequences: listing consequences for a hypothetical event
(“what if no one needed to sleep?”).
Possible jobs: list all jobs that might be symbolized by a given
emblem.
16. The figural ARP tests, which measure spatial aptitude, include
the following:
Making objects: drawing specified objects using only a given set
of shapes, such as a circle, square etc.
Sketches: elaborating on a given figure to produce sketches or
recognizable items
Match problems: removing a specified number of matchsticks
from a diagram to produce a specified number of geometric
shapes.
17. Decorations: using as many different designs as possible to
outline drawings of common objects.
Divergent thinking tests are generally evaluated based on the
number and variety of answers provided; the originality of the
answers; and the amount of detail they contain (a characteristics
referred to as elaboration).
18. Some creativity tests evaluate attitudes, behavior, creative
perception, or creative activity.
The Eby Gifted Behavior Index reflects the growing view of
creativity as specific to different domains.
It is divided into six talent fields: verbal, social or leadership,
visual or spatial, math or science, problem-solving, mechanical or
technical, and musical.
The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is a more
analytical assessment of giftedness based on five components of
critical thinking: inference, deduction, interpretation, awareness
of assumptions, and evaluation of arguments.
19. TECHNIQUES TO
ENHANCE CREATIVITY
• Develop a broad and rich knowledge base, as the preparatory phase
• Foster independence
• Encourage curiosity and the use of analogies
• Enhance positive affect
• Set aside a special thinking time or thinking place
20. • Get involved with children’s activities; some toys as well as just
talking and asking questions, contribute to creative thought and
practice.
• There are many types of games that involve intellectual thought
and creative solution; investigate miniatures, board games, card
games, computer games and simulations, and so forth.
• Try and use daily distractions to practice being creative. Learn to
incorporate the imagination into every activity, to use your creative
talents to improve your daily life.
21. • Parents and teachers should not repress creativity through
constantly placing a premium on grades and quick answers. It may
be the child who is more reserved and thoughtful who will turn out
to be clever and creative genius someday.
• Business corporations have found that the creativeness of their
employees are promoted when the structure of their organization is
less hierarchical and more democratic and free flowing.
22.
23. CONVERGENT THINKING
Convergence is commonly
defined as “the ability to use
logical and evaluative thinking
to critique and narrow ideas to
ones best suited for given
situations, or set criteria”.
It is focused on finding the
single, best, correct answer to a
standard problem in the
shortest time.
24. It emphasizes the personal characteristics of speed, accuracy,
logic, and focuses on accumulating information, recognizing the
familiar, reapplying set techniques, and preserving the already
known.
The credit for coining the term “convergent thinking” goes to Joy
Paul Guilford. He came up with the term as an opposite term to
“divergent thinking”.
According to Guilford, the tendency to narrow all conventional
options to a single solution is called convergent thinking.
Examples: Standard IQ tests measure convergent thinking. Logic
thought flow, pattern recognition, the capacity to solve problems
and testing knowledge can all be evaluated and graded in these
tests. Variety of tests, such as multiple choice tests, quizzes,
spelling tests and similar other tests require convergent thinking,
because only one answer can be 100% correct.
25. DIVERGENT THINKING
Divergence can be defined by
the ability to “generate many,
or more complex or
complicated, ideas from one
idea or from simple ideas or
triggers”.
In short we can say, thinking
that produces many ideas or
alternatives; a major element in
original or creative thought.
26. It usually happens in a free-flowing, spontaneous manner, where
multiple creative ideas are engendered and evaluated.
Once the stage of divergent thinking is complete, information
and ideas are structured and organized using convergent thinking.
Brainstorming and free writing are two process that involve
divergent thinking.
According to Guilford, the ability to think of multiple solutions
by moving outside conventional ideas, lay at the core of creativity
which he called divergent thinking.
27. Guilford identified three components of divergent thinking:
Fluency (the ability to quickly find multiple solutions to a
problem);
Flexibility (being able to simultaneously consider a variety or
alternatives);
Originality (referring to ideas that differ from those of other
people).
28. Divergent thinking is one of the stereotypes of creativity as a
whole. In order to become “creative”, emphasis is placed on a
person developing and adopting a more divergent process and
developing personal characteristics such as openness, tolerance
for ambiguity, and willingness to take risks.
The additional characteristics of curiosity, courage of ones
convictions, openness, flexibility, and nonconformity are also seen
as being fundamental to creativity.
29. Divergent thinking has been detected in people with personality
characteristics such as these- curiosity, nonconformity,
persistence and readiness to take risks.
Examples: Bubble mapping, creative artwork, maintaining a
journal, subject mapping, devoting some time to mediation and
thinking, and building lists of questions are all examples of
activities that trigger divergent thinking.
Divergent thinking wouldn’t be applicable in multiple choice
tests or standardized tests, which require a single absolute answer.
30. DECISION MAKING
The concept of decision making involves defining the problem, finding,
comparing and choosing a course of action. It is a process or activity of
choosing an appropriate course of action from several alternative courses.
Decision making is a purposeful activity because it is directed towards the
achievement of a goal and objectives. The term “decision making” has been
defined as a process of judging various available options and narrowing down
choices to a situation one.
Decision making is a conscious and human process involving both individual
and social phenomena based on factual and value premises which concludes
with a choice of one behavioral activity from among one or more alternatives
with the intention of moving towards a desired state of affairs.”
31. There are various models of decision making they are as follows:-
1. RATIONAL DECISION MAKING MODEL
A decision making model that describes how individuals should
behave in order to maximize some outcome.
The process of rational decision-making comprises a number of
steps, such as those given by Simon (1977):
Intelligence: finding occasions for making a decision;
32. Design: inventing, developing and analyzing possible courses of
action;
Choice: selecting a particular course of action from those
available; and
Review: assessing past choices.
33. Rational decision making process
The optimizing decision maker is rational. There are six steps in
the rational decision making model.
The model begins by defining problem. Once a decision maker
have define the problem, he or she needs to identify the decision
criteria that will be important in solving the problem.
In this step decision maker determine what is relevant in making
the decision. This step brings the decision makers interest, values
and personal preferences into the process.
34. In the third step the decision maker weight the previously
identified criteria in order to give them correct priority in the
decision.
The forth step requires the decision maker to generate possible
alternatives that could succeed in resolving the problem. Once the
alternatives have been generated the decision maker must
critically analyze and evaluate each one.
The next step is rating each alternative on each criteria.
The final step in this model requires computing the optimal
decisions. This is done by evaluating each alternative with highest
total score.
35. Assumptions of this model
Problem clarity
Known options
Clear preference
Constant preference
No time or cost constraints
Maximum proof
36. 2. BOUNDED RATIONALITY
A process of making decision by constructing simplified models
that extract the essentials features from problems without
capturing all their complexity.
The limited information processing capacity of human being
makes it impossible to assimilate and understand all the
information necessary to optimize.
37. 3. NATURALISTIC DECISION MAKING
Naturalistic decision-making is concerned with investigating and
understanding decision making in its natural context.
The empirical foundation of naturalistic decision-making
differentiates it from other descriptive models, such as the
organizational procedures, garbage can or political views.
A recent contribution to the field of naturalistic decision making
is that of Klein’s (1998) Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD)
model. Klein observed and/or analyzed over 600 decisions made
by people in life-or-death situations, such as firemen, nurses and
soldiers.
38. According to Klein, one of the key factors leading to good
decisions is experience. The RPD model supports the idea that
experience will increase the person’s ability to recognize a
situation.
39. INTUITION
It is the ability to acquire knowledge without proof, evidence or
conscious reasoning or without understanding how the knowledge
was acquired.
Intuition decision making
It is an unconscious process created out of distilled experience.
People likely to use intuitive decision making in eight conditions,
such as:
When a high level of uncertainty exists
When there is little precedent to draw on
40. When variables are less scientifically predictable
When facts are limited
When facts don’t clearly point the way
When analytical data are of little use
When there are several plausible alternative solutions from
which to choose
When there is limited and there is pressure to come up with right
decision
41. ERRORS IN DECISION MAKING
Over confidence bias: It makes us think we know more than we
actually do.
Anchoring bias: It is the tendency to fixate in initial information
as a starting point.
Conformation bias: It represents a specific case of selective
perception.
Availability bias: It is the tendency for people to base their
judgment on information that is readily available to them.
42. Representative bias: It is tend to assess the likelihood of an
occurrence by trying to match it with a pre-existing category.
Randomness bias: It is a cognitive type refusal to accept that
things sometimes just happen that are outside the control of the
people and organizations involved.
Hindsight bias: It is the tendency for us to believe falsely that
we’d have accurately predicted the outcome of an event, after the
outcome is actually known.
Escalation of commitment error: It refers to staying with a
decision stream represents a serious of decisions.
43. 7 STEPS TO EFFECTIVE DECISION
MAKING
Decision making is the process of making choices by identifying
a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative
resolutions.
1: Identify the decision
2: Gather relevant information
3: Identify the alternatives
4: Weigh the evidence
44. 5: Choose among alternatives
6: Take action
7: Review your decision & its consequences
45. IMPORTANCE AND ROLE OF
DECISION MAKING IN HUMAN LIFE
Decision making helps to find solution to any problem in a work
place.
Decision making helps to identify the best course of action in
each given situation and there by promotes efficiency.
