creativity flow deg 3 04

7/29/2019 Creativity Flow DEG 3 04

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Creativity: Flow and the Psychology

of Discovery and Invention by M.

Csikszentmihalyi

Summary by David E. Goldberg

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

[email protected]


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Text

Csikszentmihalyi, M.

(1996). Creativity: Flow

and the psychology of

discovery and invention.

New York: HarperCollins.

Was professor of

psychology at University

of Chicago. Now atClaremont College.


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Creativity Too Big a Term

Three senses:

Those who express unusual thoughts.

Those who experience world in novel ways.

Those who have changed culture in some

important respect.

Two other terms: talent and genius.


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Process

1990-1995 Videotaped interviews with 91

exceptional individuals

Make a difference to culture and >60 years old. 275 contacts. 1/3 declined, 1/3 accepted, 1/3 did

not respond

14 Nobel prizes. Rejections as interesting.

Too good to be true?


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Creative Process

Where is creativity?

The creative personality

The work of creativity

The flow of creativity

Creative surroundings


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Systems Model of Big C Creativity

3 elements:

Domain: symbolic rules and procedures.

Field: individuals who are gatekeepers to the domain. Person: the creative one.

Creativity defined: Creativity is any act, idea, or

product that changes an existing domain, or that

transforms an existing domain into a new one.


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Consequences of the Theory

Not a personal theory.Domain+Field+Person important.

Must know the domain. Must take place in extant domain-field.

Depends upon environment: Renaissance

example. Surplus of time bought by wealth as

necessary.


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Domains Help or Hinder?

3 Dimensions:

Clarity of structure

Centrality within culture

Accessibility

For example, Clarity: youth in preeminence.


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Field as Filter

Art example: 500,000 artists. How much

art becomes part of culture.

Competition among memes is fierce.

Incompetent fields taking over domains:

Lysenko example, Church and Galileo.


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Person

Individual contribution as both under- and

overrated.

Luck as a factor.

Must internalize the system.


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Creative Personality

Genetic predisposition doesnt hurt.

Curiosity, wonder, and interest.

Access to a domain.

Access to a field: Bottlenecks.

Complexity as key.


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10 Dimensions of Creative Complexity

1. Physical energyversus quiet at rest

2. Smart and nave3. Disciplined and

playful.

4. Fantasy versus

reality.5. Extroversion versus

Introversion

6. Humble and proud

7. Masculine and

feminine.8. Conservative and

rebellious

9. Objective and

passionate.10. Suffering and

enjoyment


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Work of Creativity

Extended Wallas framework: preparation,

incubation, insight, evaluation, elaboration

Emergence of problems.

Sources: personal, domain requirements,

social pressures.

Presented versus discovered problems

Incubation as the mysterious time.


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Theories of Incubation

Freudian: pursuit of acceptable versus

unacceptable sexual desire.

Cognitive theories: associative and parallel

processing.

Field, domain, and unconscious thought:

Need to take stand against received wisdom.


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The Flow of Creativity

The joy of invention.

Flow experience:

Clear goals

Immediate feedback

Balance between challenge and skills

Actions and awareness merged.

Extractions excluded

No worry of failure.

Self-consciousness disappears.

Distortion of time

Activity feeds on itself (autotelic).


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Pleasure in the Right Things

Flow and complexity.

Aristotles definition of the good.

Living a life of intricate complexity.

Richness of variety.


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Creative Surroundings

Place matters.

Pager experiments: Most creative when

walking, driving, or swimming.Semiautomatic state.

Complex sensory stimuli as diversion.

Rhythm: patterns of work can be important.

creativity flow deg 3 04

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