creativity exam 4 final

Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein (2006)

(persistent conjuring up of paracosms, often including imaginary people or beings) in creative people • These imaginary worlds often build over months/years and are quite complex • Sent questionnaires to MacArthur Fellows (people who received money awards for their exceptional creativity) and large samples of college students • RESULTS - Childhood worldplay was about twice as likely in the highly creative group (MacArthur Fellows) than in regular college students (5-26% for creatives, 3-12% for students)

True Independents

- Maintains a balance between independent thinking and the views of the group - They are contrarian not because they seek attention, but because their independent thinking often leads to it (they don't care about or agree with group opinion) - Crutchfield considers these the best creative thinkers - they are people who "can accept society without denying himself.

personality trait differences between highly-creative and less-creative architects?

- No difference among groups in SELF-CONFIDENCE - The more creative the architect, the higher in LABILITY (likelihood to change)

Counterformists

- Strive to be different "just for the sake of being different" - They seek to be "known as" a nonconformist - They are contrarian because it gets attention - He/she doesn't use their contrarianism in working toward creativity, but for other reasons

Generativity Theory: seek challenges (what causes benefit of seeking challenges? resurgence? example? Epstein's suggestions?)

2. Seek Challenges • Being challenged leads to occasional failures, which can spur creativity • Benefit of challenging oneself comes from resurgence - the recurrence of old behaviors when in challenging situation • EXAMPLE: Stuck behind a locked door - Every behavior that's ever gotten you through a door will turn up quickly - pushing or pulling doorknob, banging the door, shouting for your mom • Epstein suggests that the more behaviors RESURGE, the greater the number of interconnections and combinations, and the greater the number of possible new ideas • If you sit around unchallenged all day, you may have some new ideas, but they're likely to be mundane - you will enhance the process if you take some risks and fail sometimes

Generativity Theory: surround yourself with new combinations of objects, people and situations (how does this help? Epstein's suggestions?)

3. Surround Yourself with New Combinations of Objects, People, Situations • Epstein suggests that you can make yourself think in interesting new ways by deliberately surrounding yourself with new combinations of objects, people, and situations • He suggests inviting new combinations of friend/associates to a meeting or party, or perhaps people of different generations • New people can cause you to think in new, interesting ways • Epstein suggest putting new/crazy items on your desk - Put your kids' toys on your desk - Keep clay or Silly Putty in your top drawer and play with it when working on a tough problem - Turn pictures upside down or sideways - Stand on your desk • You can make your world diverse and stimulating through very simple actions like these, and the more diverse the stimulation, the more interesting the ideas

Generativity Theory: learn something new (how does this help? example? Epstein's suggestions? What does Epstein believe to be a reason why people seem to be less creative than they could be?)

4. Learn Something New • The more you have learned and the more diverse your training, the greater the number and range of behaviors that can become interconnected • Epstein suggests that many breakthroughs in science, engineering, manufacturing, and other field come from a blending of ideas culled from two different fields • EXAMPLE: Rubbermaid Furniture • To enhance your creativity, learn some new things • Don't take same old type of courses or read same old type of books • The new will interconnect with old in novel and potentially fascinating ways • Epstein believes that a big part of reason we sometimes feel like we've lost our creativity is the educational system. • He believes that children would be better off if they were taught to master a large number of diverse subject areas - schools generally don't have time or resources to teach skills beyond reading, writing, arithmetic. • Children are often criticized or punished for expressing/acting on new ideas • One of the worst things a child can do in school is to daydream, even though daydreaming is one of our deepest wells of creativity

differences between architects' actual self-image and ideal self-image?

Architects aren't completely self-satisfied! • Architects also checked some unfavorable adjectives as well, though much less frequently • Adjectives that highly-creative architects checked as describing their IDEAL self at least 80% of the time, but checked as describing their REAL self at least 20% less often - Wish for greater attractiveness (59% discrepancy) - Wish for greater self-confidence (32% discrepancy) - Wish for greater maturity (28% discrepancy) - Wish for greater intellectual competence (27% discrepancy)

different costs for different people? benefits of investment? types of benefits? What determines the overall likelihood and degree of investment in an individual? both internal/external costs and investments?)

The cost of investing is different for different people: • The value of time is different for different people and for same person at different times (e.g. children vs. adults - we'd expect more investments by children than adults) • Psychological costs vary - some people more emotionally drained by investing in creative potential than others (investment more costly, so we'd expect less investment by them) People will only invest in creative potential if they expect to receive a benefit Benefits may come from: • Usefulness in the person's work • Personal satisfaction and enjoyment • Social value

childlike tendencies (evidence of importance?)

While certain cultures frown on playfulness (at least in adults!), there is evidence that creative people tend to have childlike, playful qualities Adams (1974): Cultural block in western culture: problem solving is serious! Gardner (1993): Found that childlike behavior was a notable characteristic in the 7 eminent creative people he studied (Einstein, Picasso, etc)

less creative architects

architects stress good character, rationality, concern for others more DEFENSIVE than highly-creative architects scored above mean of self-control

question assumptions (what are "assumptions?" value of questioning them? 9-dot problem example? Wolfe's technique?)

assumptions - rules or ideas that we "take for granted" without question Question Assumptions • The assumptions we make about a particular problem are often not hard and fast facts or rules, and questioning them can lead to new ideas/insights • In fact, coming up with something original may require questioning assumptions (widely held beliefs) •9-Dot Problem • Nine dots on piece of paper, arranged as shown • Join all dots with only 4 straight lines (or fewer) without taking pen off paper • Many people have trouble with this problem • However, people's thinking if often limited by their assumptions Jurgen Wolff (2009) • Suggests technique for questioning assumptions • Example: You've written a book and want to get it published • 1. Write down all of your assumptions about problem/challenge: - You need an agent to bring your manuscript to the attention of publishers - Publishers generally don't look at unsolicited manuscripts - Even if your book is published, it will be difficult to get attention for it in the media if you're not famous • 2. CHALLENGING assumptions can lead to new solutions: - Do you REALLY need an agent? Who else might have a connection to a publisher? (your dentist, your gardener, university lecturer, insurance agent, etc?) What if we started asking everybody we deal with if they have any connections to a publisher? - Will publisher ONLY be receptive to our book through a personal connection? Maybe we could write an article on our topic for a major paper or magazine. - Is it REALLY impossible to get media attention without being famous? Maybe we could perform a "stunt" related to topic of our book. Maybe we could put together some kind of charity event related to our topic. • Challenging assumptions is often important for devising creative solutions

intrinsic is _____ to creativity

conducive

contrarianism (what is it? differences between "counterformists" and "true independents?" most likely to be creative thinkers?)

contrarian - one who goes against or rejects popular opinion Being a contrarian can result in creative thinking, but it doesn't guarantee creativity!

low lability

conventional, engage in routine behaviors, organized, unemotional

extrinsic is ___ to creativity

detrimental

high lability

inner restlessness, inability to tolerate routine/consistency, spontaneous, excitable, nervous

What is lability? differences in lability?

lability (likelihood to change)

paracomes

make believe words

perseverance and persistence (evidence of importance?)

perseverance: continuing one's pursuits for long periods of time or in the face of difficulties or opposition Csikszentmihalyi (1996) • Interviewed about 100 exceptional people (artists, musicians, actors, etc) • Found that a high percentage of these subjects mentioned importance of persistence and perseverance in their accomplishments • Persistence is necessary for creative accomplishment because important creative accomplishments typically demand a large investment of time.

Tactic: turn the situation upside down (what is it? how does it work? examples?)

reversing the problem or reversing assumptions about problem Example: Starting a restaurant (Michalko, 2012) • Trouble coming up with ideas? Try reversing your ideas/assumptions about problem • Common assumptions about restaurants - Restaurants have menus, either written, verbal, or implied - Restaurants charge money for food - Restaurants serve food • What if each assumption is reversed? - Restaurants have no menus of any kind - Restaurants give food away for free - Restaurants do not serve food of any kind Turning a problem upside down changes conventional thinking patterns and allows thoughts to come together in new ways

traits associated with creativity (What are they?)

self control: the ability to control one's impulses contrarian: one who goes against or rejects popular opinion Childlike Tendencies, Playfulness, Daydreaming, and Paracosms perseverance: continuing one's pursuits for long periods of time or in the face of difficulties or opposition Openness to Experience Tolerance of Ambiguity

self-control (is the "wild/uninhibited" stereotype of highly creative people accurate? How is self-control important?

self-control: the ability to control one's impulses Self-control • Stereotype: creative people are wild/uninhibited (it's usually not so!) • Great creative accomplishments require great discipline (self-control) - use time wisely, work diligently, perseverance to develop creative ideas/products fully Runco (1996) • Suggests that it is self-control (aka discretion) that separates creation of ideas that are simply ORIGINAL (and possibly useless, psychotic, extreme, inappropriate, etc) from ideas that are also useful, fitting, and valuable. • Creative people ignore conventions as a kind of strategy for getting at creative ideas, but they don't go overboard and COMPLETELY ignore ALL rules/traditions - they show self-control Frank Barron (1993) • Self-control results in a "controlled weirdness" • Creative people have the ability to be weird, but can control it with their ability to sort it out and toss away original but unfit ideas, keeping the original but more appropriate ones

highly creative architects

stress how inventive, unique, and independent they are scored below mean in SELF-CONTROL,

• Generativity Theory: capture the fleeting (what is it? How does Epstein suggest capturing the fleeting? three "B"s?)

• new, useful ideas 1. Capture the Fleeting • We all have novel ideas all the time - at least a few are worth pursuing • The problem is to seize the interesting ones before they slip away • A good idea is like a "rabbit" - It runs by very fast and sometimes you can only see its ears or tail. - To capture the rabbit you have to be READY for it • Creative people are always ready for the capture! • To catch a "rabbit" you also need to be in the right place at the right time - to catch best ideas, you need to find times/places that work for you - For most people, peace and quiet are key - Three B's of Creativity: Bed, Bath, and Bus (places where you are alone with your thoughts) - Mozart: travelling in a carriage, walking after a good meal, during sleepless night - Dali: best ideas came when drifting off to sleep, in semi-sleep "hypnagogic" state • Not every captured idea will have value, but you should CAPTURE first, EVALUATE later.

10-year rule? (what is it? Hayes, 1985 findings regarding great composers? basic pattern of productivity?)

• 10-year rule: significant accomplishment requires at least 10 years of focused effort in acquiring necessary knowledge/skills • Surveyed lives of 76 great composers, their notable works and the dates composed • RESULTS: Out of over 500 works, only 3 composed before year 10 of career • In general, he found an initial 10-year period of "silence", then rapid increase in productivity from year 10-15, then stable productivity from year 25-45, then a gradual decline (found same thing with notable painters as well)

Amabile & Gryskiewicz (1989) (what kinds of qualities were most reported by scientists? Why did this cause Amabile to look more closely at her intrinsic motivation principle of creativity? What did the results suggest? possible "additive" effect of intrinsic/extrinsic motivators?)

• Asked 120 R&D scientists from 20 corporations to report an example of high and low creativity from their work experience, and anything about events that stood out in their mind (about people or work environment) • RESULTS - Most reported: qualities of environments that promote creativity - 2nd most: qualities of environments that inhibit creativity - 3rd most: qualities of problem-solvers that promote creativity - 4th most: qualities of problem-solvers that inhibit creativity • CONCLUSIONS - Environmental factors much more salient factor in experience of creative/noncreative events - Environmental factors that inhibit creativity: constrained choice, overemphasis on tangible reward, evaluation expectation, apathy toward target project, unclear goals, distraction, insufficient resources, time pressure - However, they also found extrinsic factors that may ENHANCE creativity, which caused them to look more closely at their (possibly, too simple) Intrinsic Motivation Principle of Creativity

Amabile (1985) (what did she find regarding intrinsic/extrinsic motivation in creative writers?)

• Basic overjustication experiment, where subjects work on interesting creativity task either in presence or absence extrinsic reward • Subjects: creative writers, mostly from in English / Creative Writing programs • Induced intrinsically- or extrinsically-motivated state in subjects by having them complete questionnaire about their attitudes toward writing - "Intrinsic" questionnaire: rank items like "You get a lot of pleasure out of reading something good that you have written" and "You like to play with words." - "Extrinsic" questionnaire: rank items like "You have heard of cases where one bestselling novel or collection of poems has made the author financially secure" and "You enjoy public recognition of your work." - Control group didn't receive questionnaire • Task: write a short haiku poem (which were then judged by panel of poets) Amabile (1985) RESULTS • Writers in control group judged fairly high on creativity (as one might expect) • Writers in "intrinsic" group judged as somewhat higher in creativity than control group, but not significantly higher • Writers in "extrinsic" group judged significantly LOWER in creativity than the other groups • CONCLUSIONS - Writers entered lab with intrinsic motivation toward writing - Intrinsic motivation not raised much, but a brief and simple manipulation was able to significantly reduce the creativity of writers in the "extrinsic" group - People who had been writing creatively for years, suddenly found their creativity blocked after spending just 5 minutes thinking about extrinsic reasons for writing - Implication: extrinsic motivational statements in workplace of people being asked to be creative should be minimized and deemphasized

Private Eye Project (what is it? How does it work? tasks of child? jeweler's loupe?)

• Education program developed by Kerry Ruef • One of its main themes is developing ability to think by analogy • Program uses a jeweler's loupe (magnifying glass) and child asked to closely look at something (e.g. flower, wood, hand, etc) • First, they're taught to ask themselves "What does this remind me of?" - Maybe their hand reminds them of elephant skin, a map, lunar surface, top of dad's head, etc • Then asked to generate lists of comparisons describing ways that the object is visually/functionally similar to the things they remind them of - HOW is hand like elephant skin? HOW is it like the surface of the moon? • This process helps gain skill in recognizing analogies and spotting similarities

Zenasni, et al, 2008?

• Had 68 people take tests of creativity and of tolerance of ambiguity • Creative measured using divergent thinking task, story-writing task, and selfevaluation of creative attitudes and behavior • Tolerance of ambiguity was measured with a self-report measure called the Measurement of Ambiguity Tolerance - a high score indicates that a person is INTOLERANT of ambiguity RESULTS - Moderate, significant correlation of tolerance of ambiguity with fluency, uniqueness, and creative personality

tolerance of ambiguity (what is it? how is it important? evidence of importance? Zenasni, et al, 2008?)

• Has to do with how a person tends to perceive and deal with ambiguous situations or stimuli • An ambiguous situation is one where no framework exists to help direct one's decisions and actions: - Relevant facts may be missing - The rules may be unclear - The right procedures may be unavailable • People who are tolerant of ambiguity enjoy ambiguous situations (or can at least live with them!) • People who are intolerant of ambiguity feel constrained, anxious, or tense in ambiguous situations. • Many researchers suggest that situations that require creative thinking often involve ambiguity (ill-defined problems!) • The more a person can tolerate ambiguous things, the more they can "deal" with them - this allows them to continue wrestling with complex problems and increase the probability they will find a novel solution.

Stage 4: Idea Finding

• Here, we start looking for potential solutions for problem identified in "Problem Finding Stage" - generate as many as possible! • Then, we identify the best ideas

John L. Holland's theory of career choice , type most likely to display creativity? type most likely to be competent in interpersonal relations?)

• Identifies 6 personality types: - Realistic - Investigative - Artistic(most likely to display creativity) - Social(most likely in interpersonal relations) - Enterprising - Conventional • Believes that career choice/achievement and educational choice/achievement can be predicted by these 6 types

CPS Stage 1: Objective Finding

• Identifies target problems • First, generate list of all problems facing you in work or personal life • Then, converge on most relevant problem(s) using 3-step process: - Identify most relevant/important problem topics (HITS) - Select the one hit that is most important to you - State the HIT in the form of a problem using format "In What Ways Might I (or We)...?" • At the end of this stage, you should have identified the one problem you most need to work on next

Stage 5: Solution Finding

• In this stage, we select a solution capable of solving problem • Here, we select ideas to transform into more workable solutions • First, generate list of general criteria by which to evaluate solutions (e.g. time, cost, feasibility, etc) • Next, use criteria to select best solution(s) - use weighted "solution matrix

CPS Stage 2: Fact Finding

• Increases overall understanding of problem • First, generate list of everything you know about problem - it's suggested that you use the "5 W's: who, what, where, when, why" • Then, identify the "hits" - the most relevant facts

Amabile's Intrinsic Motivation Principle of Creativity (what is it?)

• Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity, extrinsic motivation is detrimental • People will be most creative when they are motivated mainly by interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, challenge of the task, not by external factors

MacKinnon (1963) (3 architect groups? self-image of architects? main selfimage differences between Group 1 architects and the less creative architects?

• Investigated personalities and self-images of architects • 3 groups of architects - Architects I (most creative): highly talented architects nominated by architecture professors based on unusual creativeness shown in profession - Architects II (2nd most creative): had at least 2 years work experience with Group 1 architects - Architects III (least creative): had never worked with any architects in Group 1 • Self-image and Personality data - Adjective Check List (ACL) - Real (actual) self, Ideal Self, Personality scale • RESULTS (Self-Descriptive Adjectives) - Very similar self-descriptive adjectives across groups - All commonly selected characteristics are POSITIVE qualities (they think highly of themselves!) • Adjectives listed by 80% of Architects I, but less than 80% of Architects II & III • Adjectives listed by 80% of Architects II & III, but less than 80% of Architects I

Greengross & Miller (2009) (what did they find regarding stand-up comedians and humor writers compared to general college student population? stand-up comedians vs. humor writers?)

• Looked at "Big 5" traits of 31 professional stand-up comedians, 9 amateur comedians, 10 humor writers and 400 college students (control group) • RESULTS - Professional and amateur stand-up comedians showed significantly higher openness to experience than college students - Comedy writers showed even higher openness than the stand-up comics - Researchers suggest that openness is MOST crucial for creative writing - writers devote most of their time to writing, while stand-up comedians DO write, but also focus on other things as well, like practicing their act, performing their act on stage, etc

Tactic: find or apply an analogy (can children have their analogy-finding skills improved? how?)

• Many scientific discoveries were reportedly based on analogies • However, research suggests they can be hard to find and apply in everyday life Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein (1999) • Believe that analogizing is a tactic that can be learned • From a young age, children can be taught analogical thinking by training them to see potential uses for objects originally designed for another use • Example: children should be given toys that they can use in many ways: blocks, simple dolls, paper, cloth, and household items, then encouraged to adapt them to as many different scenarios as they can imagine • A stick could be a sword, a scarf could be a river, a pair of alphabet blocks could be dice, etc • They also suggest that there are useful classroom programs like the Private Eye Project

Vocational Preference Inventory (what is it? how does it work?)

• Measure used for finding their personality type • Person indicates which of 84 occupations DO / DO NOT appeal to him/her • Person scored on the 6 scales - highest score represents their "type" • Holland believes that a person's career pathway can be determined by their dominant type, but also their 2nd/3rd most dominant types

Carl Rogers's key to dealing with fear of death (what is it?)

• Openness to experience (related to creativity!) is key to dealing with fear of death • People who are open to experience experience death with attitude of "what will be will be, and I will be able to handle whatever comes along"

openness to experience (what is it? Feist, 1998 finding regarding "Big 5" traits?)

• Performed meta-analysis concerning "Big 5" personality traits and creativity in scientists and artists • Found the strongest correlation was with openness to experience • Openness to experience: attention to inner feelings, active imagination, preference for variety, intellectual curiosity

Psychoeconomic Approach to Creativity (what is it? what is "human capital?"ways to invest in creative potential? costs of investment? types of costs?

• Proposes that creativity is a form of human capital • capital: productive resources that can be used to create desirable goods • Human capital: specific skills and knowledge a person can use as a productive resource (e.g. education, intelligence, skills, etc) • Proposes that creative potential is another aspect of person's human capital • A person's creative potential is the product of many factors (genetics, family background, personality, etc), but also on person's active investments in creative potential (e.g. reading books on creativity, taking courses, etc) • A person's investments in their creative potential have COSTS like monetary costs (paying for books, classes, etc), time costs, and psychological costs (the emotional fatigue involved in learning a new skill)

Maslow's view of relationship between self-actualization, creativity, fear of death

• Self-actualization reduces fear of death • Self-actualized people have accomplished meaningful and worthwhile things, made good use of their time, have a sense of "completeness" to life • Maslow found CREATIVITY was a major characteristic of self-actualization • So, creativity may lead to accomplishing meaningful, worthwhile goals in life, hence to a reduction in their fear of death

Hennessey, Amabile & Martinage (1989) (how was creativity of children affected when they had been "immunized" against the overjustification effect compared to if they HADN'T been immunized?)

• Showed that you can "immunize" 5th & 6th graders to the overjustification effect by showing them video of attractive children speaking excitedly about their intrinsic interests in their schoolwork (discussed in previous chapter) • However, not only did the "immunized" children not show a decrease in creativity, they actually showed an INCREASE in creativity when offered extrinsic rewards! • There was an ADDITIVE effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for them • So, while extrinsic motivations often interfere with creativity, they can also increase a person's creativity

Williams (1972) (how did she test Holland's theory? What did she find?)

• Subjects: 145 graduate students from 18 different departments • Subjects sorted into Holland's types based on departments - VPI did good job of predicting career path • CONCLUSION - Personality is generally predictive of career choice

Stage 3: Problem Finding

• Use hits from "fact-finding" to develop most productive problem definition possible. Specifically: - Review all fact-finding hits and use each hit as a stimulus to redefine your original problem statement - Use these stimuli to generate a list of problem redefinitions • Now, select best redefinitions and select one with greatest solutions potential

Lifton (1973) (symbolic immortality as creative motivation?)

• We deal with our fear of death by seeking some form of immortality - "Biological mode" of immortality - we live on through our offspring, imagining an endless chain of biological attachments - Religious/spiritual idea of "Life after death" - "Eternal Nature" - we are all part of nature and nature continues through time • "Symbolic Immortality" - achieved through "creative works" that one produces - Our contributions will not die - one's writings, teaching, influences, will "live on"

Stage 6: Acceptance Finding

•This stage helps implement your solution successfully •First, list potential implementation obstacles and ways to overcome them •Next, develop preventative actions and backup plans •Then, generate an action plan to implement your solution

Tactic: experimentation (how does it work? examples in music, writing, painting? keep good things and toss out bad?)

Clydesdale (2006) • Experimentation by the Beatles - Early on: arranged songs for "standard rock" instruments (drums, bass, 2 guitars) - 1965: started experimenting with different instruments in arrangements - "Yesterday" • Used a single acoustic guitar and string quartet • Sounded very different from anything else they had ever done - "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966) • Lots of experimental new sound techniques • Reversed recordings of cymbals, guitars • Doubled speed of voices for high-pitched "laughing" sound - Good example of coming up with creative, new ideas through simply TRYING things that they had never tried before - Experimentation involves keeping the new things that are good/desirable, then tossing out new things that are not • Poets - might try experimenting with words - Writing without adjectives? Writing without the word "the?" • Painter - Picasso would regularly experiment, producing many sketches/figures that would eventually be tossed out - took more energy and time, but likely led to more creative products

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) (what is it? how does it work? 6 stages? divergent and convergent activities? What happens at each stage? What are "hits" and "hotspots?" do we always need to go through all stages?)

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) • 6 stages - Objective Finding - Fact Finding - Problem Finding - Idea Finding - Solution Finding - Acceptance Finding • You may not need all stages, depending on how much information you have and how much time you have (e.g. you may start at "Problem Finding" or "Idea Finding" • Each stage consists of - DIVERGENT thinking activities (generating ideas/data without evaluation) - CONVERGENT activities (narrowing down ideas/data) • Hits - items you identify as important/relevant for a particular stage • Hotspots - clusters of related hits- they don't always appear, but can be used when they do (generally in the following stage)

autonomy / independence (Runco & Albert, 1985 findings?)

Creative ideas must be original - originality (doing something different from what other people do) requires some degree of autonomy or independence Runco & Albert (1985) • Asked students/parents how early children should be allowed to do certain things (see Chapter 2) • More creative children had greater feelings of independence - they felt they should be allowed to do more things on their own at a younger age Autonomy is thought to explain the correlation between creativity and nonconformity, rebelliousness, and unconventionality as well.

Generativity Theory, what is it?

Describes 4 methods for discovering and generating new, useful ideas

What determines the overall likelihood and degree of investment in an individual? both internal/external costs and investments?)

Rubenson & Runco's Psychoeconomic Model • A person's ultimate level of creativity is determined by the costs and benefits of INVESTING in their creative potential • Investment in creative potential is encouraged by things that lower the cost of investment or increase the expected benefit • Prediction: investment in creative potential likely to occur in people who are in occupations or environments where creativity is valued and rewarded • Example: employer sending employees to "creativity" seminars - This lowers the individual's cost of investing in creative potential (monetary cost, and time cost if they do it on company time) - Increases the likelihood that the employee will participate in the seminar and increase their creativity level • Summary - Creativity is increased through investment by individual - Degree to which one invests in creative potential depends on relative costs/benefits - These can be internal (personal, psychological) costs and benefits or external (environmental) costs and benefits - This is another way of looking at how extrinsic motivators CAN increase creativity - it simply depends on the relative cost/benefit of those extrinsic motivators.

paradoxical personalities (to what does it refer? relationship between these traits and creativity? Do all creative people have all these traits?)

So, there are lots of traits that correlate with creativity! Not all creative people have all these traits, and none of these traits leads directly to creativity - creativity involves a complex interaction of these traits Creative people often end up having paradoxical personalities - personalities with seemingly contradicting traits Example: MacKinnon (1962) • Architects have a very high opinion of themselves, yet this selfacceptance leads them to often be able to speak more frankly and critically about themselves as well Example: Childlike/Playful qualities vs. Self-Control (using time wisely, working diligently, etc)