Creativity, a sub discipline of

psychology

Left-right brain

Discovered by Roger Sperry and Ornstein in 1960 - The Split Brain Theory.

4 quadrants of brains or Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument, discovered by Ned Hermann in 1975.

Quadrant Left (L) or Right (R) Brain

Function

A L

B L

C R

D R

Albert Einstein died at 1:15 am on April 18, 1955 at Princeton Hospital in New Jersey. Later that day, Princeton Hospital pathologist Dr. Thomas Harvey performed an autopsy on

Einstein and removed Einstein's brain. Harvey cut the brain into 240 pieces. He was very protective of the brain and kept

it jars at his house. Over the years, Harvey gave several pieces of the brain to different researchers including Dr.

Marian Diamond (UC Berkeley), Dr. Britt Anderson (University of Alabama) and Dr. Sandra Witelson (McMaster University,

Hamilton, Ontario). Harvey moved around the country and he always brought the brain with him. Eventually, Harvey moved back to New Jersey. In 1996, Harvey brought the remaining

pieces of Einstein's brain to Dr. Elliot Krauss, chief pathologist at Princeton Hospital

The Conclusion

The authors concluded that the greater number of glial cells per neuron might indicate the

neurons in Einstein’s brain had an increased "metabolic need" - they needed and used more

energy. In this way, perhaps Einstein had better thinking abilities and conceptual skills.

More synaptic connections => better associations => higher creativity.

Loreta

Low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography.

A few techniques

The techniques are used to study brain and neural system.

EEG.ERP.fMRI.

Stage Overview

Sensorimotor period (birth - 1-1/1-2 years)

This is the period is characterized as presymbolic and preverbal. Intellectual development is dependent on action of the child's senses and response external stimuli. Child is engaged in action schemes such as grasping and reaching for distant objects. Characteristics include: reflex actions, play, imitation, object permanence, nonverbal.

Preoperational period (2-3 to 7-8 years)

Child's thought is based on perceptual cues and the child is unaware of contradictory statements. For example child would say that wood floats because it is small and a piece steel sinks because it is thin. Characteristics include: language development, egocentrism, classification on single feature, irreversibility.

Concrete operational period (7-8 to 12-14 years)

Logical ways of thinking begin as long as it is linked to concrete objects. Characteristics include: reversibility, seriation, classification, conservation (number, substance, area, weight, volume).

Formal operational period (older than 14)

Students are able to deal logically with multifaceted situations. They can reason from hypothetical situations to the concrete. Characteristics include: theoretical reasoning, combinatorial reasoning, proportional reasoning, control of variables, probabilistic and correlational reasoning

Eysenck & 3 variables

Hans J. Eysenck (1995): Three variables that influence the development of scientific creativity; cognitive, environment and personality.

Cognitive: Education, intellectual intelligence etc.

Personality: Motivation, confidence, creativity etc.

Environment as a determination factor.

Amabile & 3 components

Teresa Amabile (1983?): Three compulsory components in individual creativity. Specialist; in certain discipline e.g. science,

mathematics, botany, engineering etc. Creative thinking skill; creativity and imagination

capability.Motivation; intrinsic motivation.

The components are influenced by the work environment which inspired by teacher, employer, friends and others.

Intrinsic motivation

Collins dan Amabile (1999): “Studies of personalities of highly creative people have described them as being totally absorbed in and devoted to their work and people who doing what they loved were more creative in their pursuits.”

Csikszentmihalyi & 3 components

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (1999) studied 91 creative persons (politician, scientist, businessman, artsr and novelist) from 1990 until 1995 and developed a model system of individual creativity, that consists of three components:

1. Culture.2. Domain.3. Social recognition.

Feldman (2000): “…the person who is creating must master the domain, must acquire expertise.”

Piirto (2004): “people don’t make genuine contributions to a domain unless they have mastered the domain.”.

3

2

1

2 - DOMAIN

Evaluate your creative personality

‘Minnesota Multiphasic Personality’ by Frank Barron (1969).

‘The Psychoticism Scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire’ by Eysenck (1995).

Robert Alan Black and 32 Traits of Creative People.

“Persistent - Charles Goodyear (discover & inventor of vulcanized rubber) and Chester Carlson (inventor of electrostatic copying, the Xerox process: xerography) are two of the best examples of this trait in creative people. Both of them worked over 30 years trying to make a solution they discovered work. Creative people do not give up on things that mean a lot to them.” (Robert Alan Black)

Socio-cultural factors

French sosiologist, Pierre Bourdieu (1980) in Csikszenmihalyi (1996) said that socio-cultural factors as the cultural capital could inspired the development of individual creativity.

Socio-cultural factors include:Educational background.Language.Recognition.Government support.

Political stability.Good facilities.Creativity group.

Psychology = ‘ilm an-nafs

'Psyche' according to the Oxford dictionary means the spirit, soul or mind; thus it corresponds with the Arabic word 'Al-Nafs' and its various senses.

In Islamic psychology, chapters on spirit, soul, and mind are utmost important, Should lead to fulfill the purpose life of man and the responsibility of man (as ‘abid and khalifah).

Ancient muslim scholars has studied human’s soul extensively in the Islamic philosophy so that man can reach the ultimate soul; the true servant of God and khalifah.

It also dealt with therapy towards a healthy soul and body. Ibn Qayyim for example wrote on spirit and soul, besides that he

wrote on medicine such as Tibb an-Nabawi.

The aim of psychology (as well as creativity) definitely must be

determined by the Islamic law and philosophy based

on the revealed knowledge.

Creativity in Islam

Its aims are determined by shari’ah.Should not contradict with Islamic law.Should lead more knowledge about God.Should lead to fulfill the purpose life of man

and the responsibility of man (as ‘abid and khalifah)

Should lead the clarity of the Islamic message to be spread all over the world (through education, da’wah and jihad).