-
In this lecture video,
-
we're going to look at
the variety of ways in
-
which creativity has
been conceptualized.
-
By the end of this lecture,
-
you should be able
to do the following.
-
First, you should be able to
-
recognize some of the myths that
-
surround creativity and
know the realities therein.
-
You should also know the
five Ps of creativity,
-
and then finally you
should understand the four
-
Cs or magnitudes of
creative output.
-
David Burkes identified
several myths and
-
realities around people's
understanding in creativity.
-
Let's explore some
of the person myths
-
versus person realities.
-
The first myth is that
only certain kinds
-
of people can be creative,
-
creativity is some sort
of personality trait.
-
Actually the reality is, yes,
-
certain traits and
characteristics can make
-
it easier to engage in some
types of creative behavior.
-
But traits are malleable
and the kind of behaviors
-
needed for creativity
are wide and varied,
-
and so it's open to everyone.
-
Another myth surrounding
creativity is that,
-
innovative solutions are only
-
found by highly trained experts.
-
The reality is, while
-
expertise is important
in a particular area,
-
expertise can sometimes limit
-
the way that people think about
-
problems and think
about solutions,
-
and that sometimes
blocks creativity.
-
Another myth is that
most creative ideas
-
come from the lone creator.
-
When in fact the reality is that
-
most breakthrough ideas come
from teams of collaborators,
-
which is why place is one
of the Ps of creativity.
-
Now let's examine
some process myths
-
versus process realities.
-
The biggest process
myth is that creativity
-
only requires brainstorming
to find great ideas.
-
In fact the reality is
that brainstorming or
-
idea generation
is just one stage
-
in the creative process.
-
In the creativity research lab,
-
we've identified five
key creative behaviors
-
in the creative process.
-
As you can see, these behaviors
-
are problem finding/formulation,
-
information gathering,
idea generation,
-
idea evaluation,
and prototyping.
-
In order to be really creative,
-
you have to find a
good problem to solve.
-
You should understand
as much as you can
-
about that problem by gathering
all kinds of information.
-
Then idea generation,
it is important,
-
but to me, idea evaluation
is just as important.
-
Because I come up
with lots of ideas,
-
most of them are not very good,
-
and so you need to be able to
-
separate out the good
from the poor ideas.
-
Then the last stage
is prototyping.
-
That is developing a model of
-
your idea to test it out to
-
see if it will actually work,
-
so creative process is more
than just brainstorming.
-
Next, let's talk about
-
place myths versus
place realities.
-
The biggest myth
around what it looks
-
like to be a part of a
creative team is that,
-
creative teams don't
fight amongst themselves.
-
In fact, in reality,
-
the best creative teams have
lots of healthy conflict.
-
The only way that
you can achieve
-
creativity is to have
different ideas,
-
different opinions,
different perspectives,
-
and to share those
with your teammates,
-
which will lead to a
lot of disagreement,
-
and so creative teams
use their cohesion,
-
use their connections
with one another to
-
have that healthy conflict
and disagreement.
-
If your teams aren't
having disagreement,
-
chances are you're
not maximizing
-
your creative potential.
-
Let's talk about product myths
versus product realities.
-
One of the more commonly
accepted definitions
-
of creativity is that for
something to be creative,
-
it has to be both
original or novel,
-
and useful as well.
-
One of the myths surrounding
creativity is that
-
creative ideas need to be
wholly original concepts.
-
When in fact the reality is,
-
is that creative
ideas often build
-
incrementally on existing ideas.
-
Take the example here on
your screen of Morse code,
-
which is made up of dots,
spaces, and dashes.
-
To a bar code,
which is made up of
-
thin and thick lines and spaces,
-
to a QR code which is made up of
-
squares and other
shapes and spaces.
-
Ideas typically progress
along this way.
-
My favorite example of this is,
-
in the old West as
they were moving from
-
stagecoach transportation
to train transportation,
-
originally conductors
on a train sat
-
outside up front on the
top of trains to steer.
-
Why? Because that's how you
did it in the stagecoach.
-
Well, once enough
people fell off to
-
their deaths on these trains,
-
they decided maybe
we better move them
-
inside to steer
where they're safer.
-
Products typically build on
themselves incrementally
-
instead of seeing really
large leaps of originality.
-
Finally, let's look at
-
persuasion myths versus
persuasion realities.
-
Another method around
creativity is if you have
-
a great idea with
-
the phrase being if you
build a better mousetrap,
-
the world will come and
readily embrace your idea.
-
The reality is that
most great ideas
-
are rejected at first
as J.K. Rowling,
-
author of Harry Potter,
-
who had to go to at least
17 different publishers
-
before her idea was accepted.
-
One of the things
that you need to
-
be if you want to be very
creative is you have
-
to have the ability to
persuade other people
-
to embrace and to
try out your ideas.
-
Let's put it all together and
-
look at the reality
of creativity.
-
The reality of
creativity is that
-
it's a complex,
multi-dimensional phenomenon.
-
You can become more creative,
-
anybody can become more creative
-
by focusing on a number
of different areas.
-
One is, you can enhance
-
your own creative
potential by building
-
your knowledge in a particular
area and becoming expert,
-
by building a wide range of
-
knowledge so that you
have more information and
-
are able to make connections
-
amongst thoughts in your head
that other people can't.
-
You can also work to develop
-
your cognitive abilities
so that you are able
-
to think in certain
ways and able to
-
connect ideas that wouldn't
normally be connected.
-
You can enhance your
creative behavior.
-
There are all kinds of
-
training opportunities
where you can develop
-
different idea generation
skills and problem
-
finding skills and idea
evaluation skills,
-
so that you can be
-
better at engaging in
creative behavior.
-
Working effectively with others
-
is also something
that you can improve.
-
I teach a class in the
psychology of teamwork,
-
where it is aimed at how
to help people learn
-
how to work in teams to
-
maximize creativity
and innovation.
-
It is possible to learn
these teamwork skills.
-
Finally, you want to work on
-
enhancing your powers
of persuasion,
-
because now for most of
-
the rest of your
life in your jobs,
-
you're going to be
trying to convince
-
other people why they
-
should do things the way that
-
you think that they
should be done.
-
Knowing how to persuade
people with this way,
-
knowing some of
-
the psychological
techniques behind that,
-
can be very useful.
-
What are the 5 P's
of creativity?
-
They are person and
here we're really
-
talking about an individual's
creative potential,
-
process or the
different behaviors
-
that people engage in
when being creative.
-
Place, the environment in
-
which people are
working and here we're
-
really talking about
-
team creativity because
most creativity,
-
contrary to popular belief,
-
happens when people are
working with other people.
-
The fourth P is product or
-
what people are able to come up
-
with as a function
of their potential,
-
their process in that
particular environment,
-
and the last P is persuasion.
-
In these next slides,
-
we're going to talk about
each of these P's in turn.
-
Before we start, I want to
say one thing, and that is,
-
these next couple of slides
are going to outline for you
-
the various topics and
-
information that we're going
to cover in the course.
-
Let's start with the
first key of creativity,
-
and that is person or
creative potential.
-
There are several elements
-
that go into your
creative potential.
-
The first element that goes
into creative potential
-
is basically knowledge.
What do you know?
-
If creativity is coming up with
-
original and useful ideas
-
usually by combining some
different things together,
-
that means you
have to start with
-
what's already in your head.
-
When we look at
-
somebody's creative potential
relative to knowledge,
-
we typically look at two things.
-
We look at expertise
and we look at range.
-
The general rule of thumb
is you want to find
-
somebody who is T-shaped,
-
and I'm going to
explain that now.
-
Let's start with expertise.
-
An expert is somebody who
has a tremendous depth of
-
knowledge in a
particular subject area.
-
For example, I have
expertise in psychology.
-
Not all psychology though.
-
My expertise is specifically
-
in areas of like leadership,
-
and teamwork, and creativity,
-
and I spent a lot of
time reading about it,
-
I spent a lot of
time practicing it,
-
I spent a lot of
time researching it,
-
and so I have a lot of
depth of knowledge.
-
If we just stop there,
-
if you think of just a long
vertical tube on the T,
-
I would be like an I.
-
But that's not good because I
-
want to have that
top part of the T,
-
and that comes from range.
-
While expertise is knowing
a lot about a little,
-
range is knowing a
little bit about a lot
-
and it puts that cross
piece on the top of the T.
-
Knowing a little about a lot
is one of the ways in which
-
you can make these connections
-
and come up with these
different ideas.
-
If you're not aware of
-
certain kinds of
technologies, or techniques,
-
or just other little tidbits
of knowledge and trivia,
-
you can't make connections
that other people can.
-
It's not just a matter of study.
-
It's also a matter of get out,
-
experience, learn,
-
and just put everything
that you can into
-
your head so that your brain
can make those connections.
-
There's another value
to be in T-shaped,
-
and that is, if you have a lot
-
of experts who are just Is,
-
who are just that
vertical column,
-
there's no way or no
real easy way for
-
people to share and
blend their expertise.
-
The top part of your T,
-
knowing a little
bit about a lot,
-
allows you to make
connections with
-
other people in some of those
trivial types of things.
-
When you can make
those connections,
-
then it's easier for
-
expertise to be transferred
from person to person.
-
My point I think here is,
-
if you want to enhance
your creative potential,
-
you're going to want to focus on
-
building both of these things,
-
both your expertise
and your range.
-
To be maximally creative,
-
you really need to be a
Rick and not a Morty.
-
Rick, if you're familiar
with that show,
-
is supposed to know everything
there is to know in
-
the universe while
Morty not so much.
-
But there's also other aspects
to creative potential,
-
so you don't want to
be exactly like Rick.
-
The next thing we're
going to look at
-
is personality and attitudes.
-
Research has looked at a lot
of different personality,
-
characteristics as well as
different kinds of attitudes
-
towards various objects that
-
people deal with
when being creative.
-
This list that you're seeing
is by no means exhaustive.
-
It's just to give
you a flavor of
-
the different things that
people have found to
-
be associated with creativity.
-
Also we're not saying
that having a lot of or a
-
little of these attributes
makes you more creative.
-
The relationship is probably
-
significantly more
complex than that.
-
It's just that these things
are associated with that.
-
When we get to the
section of the class,
-
we're going to
talk about some of
-
these different types of
-
personality characteristics
and attitudes,
-
and you're going to measure
yourself on these to
-
get a sense of where you are.
-
The final aspect of
-
creative potential has to do
with cognitive abilities.
-
Things like working memory
and executive functioning.
-
How well do you think?
-
What are some ways that we can
-
measure how well
that you can think?
-
There's a lot of different
cognitive strategies
-
that you can use to
be more creative.
-
Again, we're going to talk about
-
those as a part of this class.
-
Your cognitive ability,
-
the ability to
manipulate information,
-
and objects, and
-
visualizations within
your working memory,
-
your ability to
focus on things or
-
inhibit certain kinds of
behaviors or thoughts,
-
and being able to intentionally
direct your attention to
-
places has been associated
-
with greater levels
of creativity.
-
There are things
that you can do to
-
build all of these aspects
of your creative potential.
-
Let's move on to the next P.
-
The third P is the team climate,
-
or the team environment.
-
To give you an example
of why that's important,
-
I'm going to use a
Dilbert cartoon,
-
and it starts with the
pointing-eared boss saying,
-
"We need creative ideas
for our next product."
-
He turns to Wally and says,
-
"But not from you,
your ideas are awful."
-
He goes, "And don't suggest
-
something that's
already been done,
-
that just puts your
ignorance on public display.
-
I don't want to
hear any ideas that
-
costs money or increased risk.
-
As usual, I'll
evaluate each idea by
-
repeating it slowly while I
look at you with disdain.
-
If you come up with a good idea,
-
I'll let you take that on
-
that project in addition
to your existing work.
-
Who wants to go first?"
-
Then later he's
complaining to Catbert,
-
"How did I hire so many
people who have no ideas?"
-
And Catbert goes,
"Probably bad luck."
-
I think when you see
it is not bad luck.
-
The boss has created an
environment and a lot of
-
disincentives for people
to share their ideas.
-
If you think about what
creativity is then it's coming
-
up with original ideas,
-
which means things that other
people haven't thought of,
-
which means things
that are strange,
-
things that are different,
things that are weird.
-
How comfortable are you
sharing your weird strengths,
-
different ideas with
people you don't know?
-
Especially if you think
they're going to look
-
at you with disdain or disgust.
-
It's really important to
set an environment that
-
allows people to feel
comfortable enough to
-
engage in the
creative behaviors.
-
You're going to have
a number of social
-
forces at your command.
-
You can build cohesion
in your team so that
-
your team members like one
-
another and want to be
a part of the team.
-
You can create structure by
-
setting goals that
everybody agrees with
-
and by having
everybody understand
-
what their roles and what
their strengths are.
-
You're going to take the
creative behavior survey that
-
measures you on
the four creative
-
behaviors we just talked about.
-
Everybody on your team
will have a sense of
-
what are they good at when
it comes to creativity,
-
and everybody can find
-
their niche and find
their role in the group.
-
Then norms as well.
-
How are we going to operate and
-
act in this group so that we do
-
things in a way that we can
maximize our creativity?
-
If you do this right,
people will feel safe.
-
They'll feel safe to share
-
their different
weird strange ideas.
-
You guys will share
the same vision,
-
so people will share
the same goals.
-
They'll know where they fit in,
-
they'll know what their team
is trying to accomplish.
-
You'll set norms of
-
supporting innovation
in your group and being
-
oriented to getting the job done
-
in the most creative
way possible.
-
This is the third P place.
-
The fourth is product.
-
Product emerges as a
function of the other 3Ps,
-
of the person or their
creative potential or
-
people in their creative
potential times
-
the process where the
-
creative behaviors that were
used to reach this endpoint
-
and the environment in which
people operated as well.
-
Now that we hear product,
-
one of the questions
becomes how do we
-
judge how creative
something really is?
-
How this endpoint really is?
-
That's what brings us to the
4Cs of creative magnitude.
-
To describe each of these
levels of creative magnitude,
-
I'm going to use as an example
of the movie Ratatouille.
-
If you haven't seen it,
you could watch it.
-
I'm going to start at
the top instead of
-
the bottom and work my way down.
-
The first level of creative
magnitude we're going to talk
-
about is what they
call big C creativity.
-
I'm exemplifying big C
creativity with Remy the rat.
-
In the movie for those
who have seen it,
-
Remy while he's a rat,
-
he loves food and he
wants to be a chef.
-
He does everything he can to
learn how to be a good chef.
-
He watches chefs on
-
TV when he can sneak into
a house and look at that,
-
he can read and watch TV.
-
He understands
English, it's a movie.
-
Get over it.
-
He does everything,
and then when he gets
-
his chance to be a chef,
-
he does things at
-
such a level that he
changes the way that
-
people think about and
conceptualize and experience food.
-
People who are working
at the big C level,
-
people like Picasso, people
like Freud, people like BF.
-
Skinner in psychology, they
are working at this level.
-
They basically
change their field
-
from the products that
emerge from their work.
-
Most of us are not going
to hit that big C level.
-
There's another level to talk
-
about with creative
magnitude and that is
-
pro C. Think of it
-
as professional level
creative magnitude.
-
In the movie, there's
another character,
-
Colette, who works
in the kitchen.
-
She helps a third
character in the movie
-
Linguini learn what he
-
needs to know to be
an effective chef.
-
She's really good at her job,
-
she's able to teach
him a lot of things,
-
she's good at making food,
-
and she's functioning at
that professional level.
-
But she's not functioning at
-
that big C level
where she'll probably
-
be known for changing and
-
revolutionizing the
field of cooking.
-
The next level of
-
creative magnitude is
what was referred to
-
as little C. Little C
and in the final one,
-
mini C can be difficult
for people to
-
understand because it has
-
to do with more of at an
individual level of creativity.
-
For example, with quarantine
people stuck in the house,
-
a lot of people started baking
-
and engaging in different
craft products.
-
They were learning
and growing in that.
-
As I'm making new dishes
and experimenting around,
-
trying new ingredients and
mixing and matching things.
-
I'm being creative.
I've never done this,
-
I've never tried this.
-
Let's experiment,
see what happens.
-
That's little C creativity.
-
That's why I'm exemplifying
-
that with Linguini
from the movie.
-
He could barely cook, but
he could make some eggs,
-
he could learn to
do some things,
-
but he is not operating at
-
the pro level and
-
he's operating higher
than the mini C level.
-
The mini C level
I thought I would
-
exemplify with Remy's
brother Emile.
-
Emile is another rat.
-
Emile is just, food is food,
-
garbage is food, am happy
he's happy eating garbage.
-
He doesn't understand what
Remy is trying to do.
-
Remy is trying to convince
him to expand his horizon.
-
Just shaking some salt
-
on a piece of garbage
before he eats it
-
that would be mini C.
-
The subjective level of
trying something new for him.
-
For the rest of us, it's
like that's not creative.
-
But for Emile it
-
is because he's never gone
to that place before.
-
We have these four
different levels
-
at which people can operate.
-
Since most of us are never
going to work at big C,
-
a lot of us will
function at pro C,
-
hopefully in our jobs.
-
For this class, I'm hoping
for people's projects,
-
they will work at the
level of little C
-
because 10 weeks is not
enough time to really get up
-
to that level of pro
C. I'm hoping we
-
move past mini C up
into the little C area,
-
pushing on the pro
C door, as it were.
-
I'm sorry, the fifth
P in all of this,
-
and I don't have a slide
-
for this, is persuasion.
-
Here's the deal.
-
Once you have a product that
emerges from person, place,
-
and process, if it is creative,
-
it's going to be original,
-
it's going to be different,
it's going to be strange.
-
As a part of that,
-
you need to be able to convince
-
people this is something
that is useful for them.
-
This is something that's
-
better than what it is
that they're already
-
using or a better
way of doing things
-
in the way that they are
already doing that thing.
-
When things are new,
-
people are going to be a
little bit hesitant to adopt.
-
Your job is with the
fifth P to persuade
-
people you should
do it this way,
-
you should use this product,
-
you should use this
process instead
-
of the way that we've
been doing it before.
-
You need to be
really persuasive.
-
Now for this week's module,
-
you do have an assignment.
-
Your assignment is to
reimagine creativity as
-
some other type of
-
process with which you
have more experience.
-
This is to get you thinking
about how do all of
-
these elements create
-
a potential creative
behavior, team, environment,
-
and creative output
work and come
-
together by coming up
with some analogy for it.
-
Excuse me. My analogy for this,
-
and you can't use this one,
-
is creativity
reimagined as a pond.
-
Imagine a very deep pond,
-
and in this deep pond you
-
have all kinds of
different fish.
-
The different fish are
really different ideas.
-
There's lots of potential for
-
different combinations
of fish to
-
form new types of fish
and new types of life.
-
This pond is not only deep.
-
You have shallow fish
-
and medium depth
fish and deep fish.
-
But there are all these
-
interconnecting streams
coming in that bring
-
other kinds of fish and
life forms into the pond,
-
increasing its potential for
creating new kinds of fish.
-
Now creative behavior
is the intermingling of
-
these fish from these
different depths
-
and from these different places,
-
from the streams coming in to
create all of the new fish.
-
The environment then needs
to be one as such that
-
allows the fish to
-
intermingle with all
kinds of different fish.
-
Deep fish need to
be able to come
-
up and intermingle
with shallow fish,
-
and stream fish coming into
-
the pond need to be
able to intermingle.
-
There needs to be a place,
-
maybe a cool reef for
everybody to hang out and
-
just do their thing,
-
be not worried about
predators, that kind of stuff.
-
Then the creative output
is the new life forms,
-
the new type of fish.
-
Your job for this
module is to both
-
come up with and draw
-
your reimagination of
the creative process.
-
You cannot use my pond
-
one because clearly
I've already said,
-
that you wouldn't be original.
-
You also can use reimagine
creativity as making a cake
-
or growing something
like a flower or
-
some crops or a tree,
been done to death.
-
None of those are original.
-
Your job is to come up
with original way of
-
reimagining creativity
that includes
-
covering all four
of these elements.
-
You have to show how is
-
creative potential
reimagined in this scenario?
-
My creative potential
was the depth
-
of the pond and the
variety of fish.
-
How can you show
creative behavior?
-
The intermingling of
the fish to creating
-
new fish and the environment
that the water is warm,
-
and welcoming and
there's lots of
-
opportunities for fish to
-
mingle at a reef
where there's food,
-
and how does that relate
to creative output,
-
coming up with new,
-
original fish when
different species
-
combine to new things.
-
That's your job.
-
Can't use ponds and fish,
-
can't use trees and
flowers and crops,
-
can't use making a
cake or a pie or
-
any other kind of dessert
that involves a recipe,
-
or any kind of
food that involves
-
a recipe, that's
been done to death.
-
You need to be more original,
-
and coming up with
your assignment,
-
you can see the details of this
-
posted up in Moodle as well.
