Creativity

In this volume, three of the key figures in the field set out to establish some parameters for the study of creativity. After examining the earlier works on the subject, they present their current research findings, and then attempt to project where the field will be going in the decade ahead.

Although many leaders acknowledge and invest in creativity, we seldom see it hold a credible place in the business development process. Creativity at Work takes a practical approach to creativity, showing how to select practices to produce results and add value. The authors explain how to: Understand the creative preferences of organizations, departments, work groups, and individuals Identify and compare the different creativity profiles that describe specific purposes, practices, and people Produce the desired results by developing the right practices Blend creativity practices to meet the complex needs that characterize most work situations o Develop required creative abilities in a team and in oneself

The third edition of this well-known text continues the mission of its predecessors--to help teachers link research and theory regarding creativity to the everyday activities of classroom teaching. Part I (chapters 1-4) includes information on theories of creativity, characteristics of creative individuals, talent development, and motivation and creativity. Part II (chapters 5-8) includes strategies designed to explicitly teach creative thinking, to weave creative thinking into content area instruction, and to organize basic classroom activities (grouping, lesson planning, assessment, grading) in ways that support students' creativity. *Pedagogy --Within each chapter reflection questions and sample lesson plans help the reader adapt ideas to their own teaching situations. *Changes --In addition to general updating, there is new material on cross-cultural concepts of creativity, on teaching for creativity in an age of standards (including lessons tied directly to state standards), and on collaborative creativity. * Audiences --This book is suitable for any course that deals wholly or partly with creativity in teaching, teaching the gifted and talented, or teaching thinking and problem solving. Such courses are variously found in departments of special education, curriculum and instruction, or educational psychology.

From Plato, who originated the idea of inspired mania, to Beethoven, Dickens, Newton, Van Gogh, and today's popular creative artists and scientists who've battled manic depression, this intriguing work examines creativity and madness in mystery, myth, and history.

Taking as examples the lives of creative individuals through history, Genius and the Mind considers the nature of creativity and genius from a psychological standpoint. Eleven chapters, contributed by leading researchers, span the range of approaches used to understand the subject. A discussion of heredity considers the extent to which genes play a part in giftedness. The importance of social context in defining and acknowledging creativity is explored. Several chapters look at training and skill development in exceptional individuals, and a number of contributions scrutinize the links between creativity, temperament, and mental health. Mozart's precocity, Byron's mania, the personalities of the Italian Renaissance painters, and the psychoses of many celebrated writers are all discussed, making this a fascinating text for anyone with an interest in the psychology of genius and geniuses, as well as for students and researchers in the field.

How can we account for the sudden appearance of such dazzling artists and scientists as Mozart, Shakespeare, Darwin, or Einstein? How can we define such genius? What conditions or personality traits seem to produce exceptionally creative people? Is the association between genius and madness really just a myth? These and many other questions are brilliantly illuminated in The Origins of Genius. Dean Simonton convincingly argues that creativity can best be understood as a Darwinian process of variation and selection. The artist or scientist generates a wealth of ideas, and then subjects these ideas to aesthetic or scientific judgment, selecting only those that have the best chance to survive and reproduce. Indeed, the true test of genius is the ability to bequeath an impressive and influential body of work to future generations. Simonton draws on the latest research into creativity and explores such topics as the personality type of the genius, whether genius is genetic or produced by environment and education, the links between genius and mental illness (Darwin himself was emotionally and mentally unwell), the high incidence of childhood trauma, especially loss of a parent, amongst Nobel Prize winners, the importance of unconscious incubation in creative problem-solving, and much more. Simonton substantiates his theory by examining and quoting from the work of such eminent figures as Henri Poincare, W. H. Auden, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Niels Bohr, and many others. For anyone intrigued by the spectacular feats of the human mind, The Origins of Genius offers a revolutionary new way of understanding the very nature of creativity.