Lecture 6 - Encouraging Creativity.pdf

Encouraging
Creativity
Lecture 6
Copyrights Reserved by Fariza Hanis Abdul Razak UiTM Malaysia

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lecture, you
should be able to:
◦ Describe characteristics of
creative people
◦ Discuss factors that encourage
and/or hinder individual’s
creativity

Answer these questions
What was the most creative thing you did in the last one
day? week? …ever?
Why do you think it was “creative”?
How do you define “creative”?

What is creativity?

Some definitions
the state or quality of being creative.
the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like,
and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.
originality, progressiveness, or imagination
the process by which one utilizes creative ability Dictionary.com

Steve Jobs
“Creativity is just connecting
things. When you ask
creative people how they
did something, they feel a
little guilty because they
didn't really do it, they just
saw something. It seemed
obvious to them after a
while. That's because they
were able to connect
experiences they've had and
synthesize new things”

Three types of
creativity (Boden,
1998)
The “combinational” creativity that
involves new combinations of familiar
ideas.
The “exploratory” creativity that
involves the generation of new ideas by
the exploration of structured concepts.
The “transformational” creativity that
involves the transformation of some
dimension of the structure, so that new
structures can be generated.

Features of
Creativity (1)
Creativity is not the product but the
process
Creativity involves both conscious and
subconscious thinking
Creative thinking can be stimulated at
individual as well as group level
Creative thinking can be both systematic
and unsystematic
Creativity is about thinking something new
and whenever this new idea is
implemented it brings change.

Features of
Creativity (2)
Creativity is not a one-time / isolated activity.
Creativity is somewhat
regular activity.
Chance / accidental discovery
of new idea does not mean
creativity.
Creativity requires high degree of awareness.
Creativity involves pattern breaking
Creative thinking involves seeking answers to questions
or problems.

Some examples
Ralph Waldo Emerson, one
of America’s greatest
thinkers, was sickly and dull
as a child.
Rabindranath Tagore,
Bengal’s bard and Nobel
Laureate, was a miserable
misfit at school.
Vincent van Gogh, Dutch
impressionist painter, lived
a life of abject poverty,
developed schizophrenia
and cut off one of his ears
for his beloved.
All these people were
unique in their own ways.
If we scan the life and times
of most creative people, we
would find a varied range
of idiosyncrasies, habits
and tendencies that
characterize them.

Characteristics
of creative
people (1)
Curiosity
Many children have
problems fitting in the
school framework because
of their curiosity, their
tendency to question more.
Creative misfits can be
differentiated from dull
mischief-mongers by their
basic liveliness, awareness
and individuality.

Characteristics
of creative
people (2)
Loners
Creative individuals
often prefer being alone
for various reasons. They
also have a strong
tendency of doing things
in their own, slightly
offbeat, way.

Characteristics
of creative
people (3)
Rule-breaker
The innate originality
of a creative person’s
thoughts and ideas
often make him swim
against the current of
the world.

Characteristics
of creative
people (4)
Original and
imaginative
Creativity is often
characterized by
original thinking,
sometimes laced with a
sense of humour, even
when things are not
going well.

Characteristics
of creative
people (5)
Sensitive
Sensitivity fuels the
creative power.
◦ Of course, creative
people are not
always sensitive in
the same way, nor do
they react similarly.
But the quality of
awareness makes
them notice things.

Characteristics
of creative
people (6)
Adventurous
A desire to explore the
unknown, both
externally and
internally within the
mind, is also an
important ingredient of
creativity.

Other Characteristics of Creative
People
Risk-taker
Perseverance

How to measure creativity?
GUILFORDS PSYCHOMETRIC
APPROACH
TORRANCE TESTS OF
CREATIVE THINKING

Use this circle for prompt drawing.
Draw for 1 minute.

Incomplete figures
(Torrance test of
Creative Thinking by
Ellis Paul Torrance,
1960s)
You have 10 minutes
to complete each
figure.

Creative Solution

Assuming that you own a company that makes bath soaps. The bath soaps that are
ready for shipment are placed in the boxes. In the production line, what is the
cheapest and creative way to check whether or not the boxes contain soaps
without opening the boxes?

The answer is…
Powerful fan
If the box is empty, it will get blown

Try to take the creative test:
• In the morning
• At night
• When are you most creative?

Innovations

A mother who unites her deceased
child!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8HZVCZSkc

3D Printed Food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxr3boyIus

1. Negative Attitudes
■ Tendency to focus on the negative
aspects of the problem
■ Expend energy on worry
■ Find the opportunities in situations
Believe
you can
Don’t focus
on the
problems
Think what to
achieve and
how
Take different views
of situation

2. Fear of Failure
■ Fear of looking foolish
■ Fear of being laughed at
■ See failure as a learning opportunity
Helps identify your
weaknesses Helps discover what
doesn’t work

3. Stress
■ Not having time to think creatively
■ Cannot be objective
■ Ability to innovate spells success,
create growth, ROI
Provide strategic
alignment
Have cross-
functional
expertise
■ Stress reduces quality of mental
process
Challenge
assumptions
Brainstorm
always
Reward
ideas
Allow
failure

4. Following Rules
■ Conformist to accepted beliefs/rules
■ Some rules are necessary, but others
encourage mental laziness. "Every act
of creation is first of all an act of
destruction." ~ Pablo Picasso

5. Making Assumptions
■ Conscious and unconscious
assumptions restrict creative
thinking
■ Challenge assumptions
Identify and examine
assumptions you are
making
Ensure assumptions
are not excluding new
ideas

6. Over-reliance on Logic
■ Invest only on logical/analytical
thinking
■ "Innovation is not the product of logical thought,
although the result is tied to logical structure." ~ Albert
Einstein
Synergize
diversities
■ Not able to imagine things, be
intuitive, or have a sense of humour
Creative
dissatisfaction
Creative chaos
and fun

fearlessness
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/05/02/creativity-inc-ed-catmull-
book/

Reflection
Describe characteristics of
creative people
01
Discuss factors that
encourage and/or hinder
individual’s creativity
02

Lecture 6 - Encouraging Creativity.pdf

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