Lateral thinking

Abstract: Free production of variability through unfettered divergent thinking holds out the seductive promise of effortless creativity but runs the risk of generating only quasicreativity or pseudocreativity if it is not adapted to reality. Therefore, creative thinking seems to involve 2 components: generation of novelty (via divergent thinking) and evaluation of the novelty (via convergent thinking). In the area of convergent thinking, knowledge is of particular importance: It is a source of ideas, suggests pathways to solutions, and provides criteria of effectiveness and novelty. The way in which the 2 kinds of thinking work together can be understood in terms of thinking styles or of phases in the generation of creative products. In practical situations, divergent thinking without convergent thinking can cause a variety of problems including reckless change. Nonetheless, care must be exercised by those who sing the praises of convergent thinking: Both too little and too much is bad for creativity.

Abstract: Mental processes are the essence of creative endeavor. The Creative Cognition Approach extends this particular view of creativity, first proposed and developed by the editors in their earlier book Creative Cognition, to the programs and theoretical views of some of the most prominent researchers in the areas of problem solving, concept formation, and thinking. Chapters cover a wide range of approaches and processes that play a role in creative cognition, from those that have their roots in associationism (the notion that creative ideas are produced incrementally), to the Gestalt point of view (particularly insight), to current computational approaches. Each chapter deals with central issues in cognition and creativity, and many consider new ways in which creativity can be studied under controlled conditions. The Creative Cognition Approach begins with a new look at an ancient subject, dreams. It then takes up intuition and insight from a contemporary cognitive perspective, and the importance of using prior knowledge in the incremental view of creative problem solving, which is contrasted with the importance of various forms of fixation and sudden insight. Studies are presented that provide new methods for distinguishing insight problem solving from analytic problem solving, and a general description of recall, problem solving, and creative thinking is provided along with relevant experimental evidence. Numerous laboratory studies of creative idea generation are described that reveal the conceptual structures that give rise to imaginative thinking. Visual representations are considered in the context of memory distortions, and in the use of diagrams in scientific discovery. Models that help clarify the relation between comprehension and creativity are discussed, and a novel integration of ideas (primary and secondary process thinking, conditioning, genetic algorithms, chaos theory, the thermodynamics of crystallography) are brought together in a connectionist framework. A multivariate investment approach is used to study creative performance, and criteria for assessing and enhancing creative realism are detailed. A Bradford Book

Abstract: Preface. Acknowledgments. Credits. CHAPTER 1: Two Case Studies in Creativity. Beliefs about Creativity. Two Case Studies in Creativity. Creativity in Science: Discovery of the Double Helix. Conclusions: Watson and Crick's Discovery of the Double Helix. Artistic Creativity: Development of Picasso's Guernica. Structure in Creative Thinking: Conclusions from the Case Studies. Revisiting the Question of Artistic Creativity versus Scientifi c Discovery. Beyond Case Studies: Outline of the Book. CHAPTER 2: The Study of Creativity. Outline of the Chapter. Creative Product, Creative Process, and Creative Person: Questions of Defi nition. Method versus Theory in the Study of Creativity. Methods of Studying Creativity. An Introduction to Theories of Creativity. CHAPTER 3: The Cognitive Perspective on Creativity, Part I: Ordinary Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Problem Solving. Outline of the Chapter. Basic Cognitive Components of Ordinary Thinking. General Characteristics of Ordinary Thinking. Creative Thinking and Ordinary Thinking: Conclusions. The Cognitive Analysis of Problem Solving. An Example of Problem Solving. Solving a Problem: Questions of Defi nition. A Brief History of the Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving. Problem Solving: Processes of Understanding and Search. Strategies for Searching Problem Spaces. Weak Heuristic Methods of Problem Solving and Creative Thinking: Conclusions. CHAPTER 4: The Cognitive Perspective on Creativity, Part II: Knowledge and Expertise in Problem Solving. Outline of the Chapter. Use of Knowledge in Problem Solving: Studies of Analogical Transfer. Strong Methods in Problem Solving: Studies of Expertise. Outline of a Cognitive- Analytic Model of Problem Solving: Strong and Weak Methods in Problem Solving. The Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving and Creativity: Conclusions and Implications. The Creative Cognition Approach: A Bottom- Up Analysis of Creative Thinking. Skepticism about Expertise and Creativity. Practice or Talent? Expertise and Achievement: Reproductive or Productive? Expertise, Knowledge, and Experience versus Creativity: The Tension View. The Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving and Creativity: Conclusions. CHAPTER 5: Case Studies of Creativity: Ordinary Thinking in the Arts, Science, and Invention. Outline of the Chapter. Basic Components of Ordinary Thinking. The 10- Year Rule in Creative Development. Case Studies of Creativity in the Visual Arts. Case Studies of Creativity in Science. Scientifi c Creativity: Scientifi c Discovery as Problem Solving. The Wright Brothers' Invention of the Airplane. Thomas Edison as a Creative Thinker: Themes and Variations Based on Analogy. James Watt's Invention of the Steam Engine. Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin. Ordinary Thinking in Invention: Summary. Case Studies of Creativity: Conclusions. CHAPTER 6: The Question of Insight in Problem Solving. Outline of the Chapter. The Gestalt Analysis of Insight: Problem Solving and Perception. Evidence to Support the Gestalt View. The Neo- Gestalt View: Heuristic- Based Restructuring in Response to Impasse. Challenges to the Gestalt View. An Elaboration of the Cognitive- Analytic Model to Deal with Restructuring and Insight. A Critical Reexamination of Evidence in Support of the Gestalt View. Insight in Problem Solving: Conclusions and Implications. CHAPTER 7: Out of One's Mind, Part I: Muses, Primary Process, and Madness. Outline of the Chapter. Messengers of the Gods. Primary Process and Creativity. Genius and Madness: Bipolarity and Creativity. Mood Disorders and Creativity: The Question of Causality. The Role of Affect in Creativity. Genius and Madness: Schizophrenia and Creativity. Social Factors and Genius and Madness. A Reconsideration of Some Basic Data. Genius and Madness: Conclusions. CHAPTER 8: Out of One's Mind, Part II: Unconscious Processing, Incubation, and Illumination. Outline of the Chapter. Unconscious Associations and Unconscious Processing. Poincare's Theory of Unconscious Creative Processes. Wallas's Stages of the Creative Process. Hadamard's Studies of Unconscious Thinking in Incubation. Koestler's Bisociation Theory. Campbell's Evolutionary Theory of Creativity: Blind Variation and Selective Retention. Simonton's Chance Confi guration Theory. Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of the Unconscious in Creative Thinking. Unconscious Thinking in Creativity: Conclusions. Laboratory Investigations of Incubation and Illumination. Evidence for Incubation and Illumination: A Critique. Illumination without Unconscious Processing? Incubation, Illumination, and the Unconscious: Conclusions. CHAPTER 9: The Psychometric Perspective, Part I: Measuring the Capacity to Think Creatively. Outline of the Chapter. Guilford and the Modern Psychometric Perspective on Creativity. Methods of Measuring Creativity. Cognitive Components of the Creative Process: Testing for Creative- Thinking Ability. Testing the Tests: The Reliability and Validity of Tests of Creative-Thinking Capacity. The Generality versus Domain Specifi city of Creative- Thinking Skills. Testing Creativity: Conclusions. CHAPTER 10: The Psychometric Perspective, Part II: The Search for the Creative Personality. Creative versus Comparison or Control Groups. Questions about Method in Studies of the Creative Personality. A Model of the Role of Creative Personality in Creative Achievement in Science. Is It Futile to Search for The Creative Personality in the Arts and the Sciences? Creativity and the Need to Be Original: A Reexamination of Divergent Thinking and Creativity. Personality, Cognition, and Creativity Reconsidered: The Question of Openness to Experience and Creativity. Divergent Thinking and the Creative Personality: Conclusions. CHAPTER 11: Confl uence Models of Creativity. Outline of the Chapter. The Social Psychology of Creativity: Amabile's Componential Model. Economic Theory of Creativity: Buy Low, Sell High. The Darwinian Theory of Creativity. Confl uence Models of Creativity: Summary. CHAPTER 12: Understanding Creativity: Where Are We? Where Are We Going? Outline of the Chapter. Ordinary versus Extraordinary Processes in Creativity. Ordinary Thinking in Creativity. Extraordinary Processes in Creativity? On Using Case Studies to Study Creativity. Is It Possible to Test the Hypothesis That "Ordinary Thinking" Is the Basis for Creativity? On Creative Ideas and Creative People. References. Index.