CREATIVITY

Presented by:
Zil Shah.
 DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY
• Creativity is a mental process involving the generations of new
ideas or concepts or new association between existing ideas or
concepts.

• Creativity involves the generation of new ideas or the

recombination of known elements into something new, providing
valuable solutions to a problem.

• “Any one can make the simple complicate. Creativity is making the
complicated simple” Charles Mingis.
 OBJECTIVES OF CREATIVITY

• Main objectives of a creative thinking process is to

think beyond existing boundaries,

• to break away from rational, conventional ideas

and formalised procedures,

• to rely on the imagination, the divergent, the

random and to consider

• multiple solutions and alternatives

 CREATIVE TECHNIQUES

1. Analytical Techniques And Intuitive

Techniques.

2. Creativity In Individuals, And Techniques,

Which Generate Creativity In Groups.

3 Divergent Thinking And Convergent

Thinking.
 Main points to increase or
encourage creativity in a
company are:
 To Be Happy, To Have Fun

 Keep Channels Of Communication Open

 Trust, Failure Accepted

 Contacts With External Sources Of Information

 Independence, Initiatives Taken

 Support Participatory Decision-making And Employees’ Contribution

 Experiment With New Ideas

 The Quality Of Creative
Thinking Can Be Judged By
Three Criteria

• Productivity.

• Originality.

• Flexibility
 The 10 Mental Blocks To
Creativity
Concepts are adapted from Van Oech’s book, A Whack On The Side Of The Head.

1. One “Right Answer”.

2. Logic Can Kill Creativity.

3. Be Creative – Break Some Rules

4.Be Creative – Is That Practical?

5. Play Is Creative.
6. Make Time To Think Creatively.

7. Being Creative Is “Not My Job”.

8 Don’t Be Afraid To Be Creative.

9. Creativity…How Ambiguous.

10 Is Creativity Wrong?
 TWO PHASES OF CREATIVITY

Creativity can be divided into two

phases of thinking:

 Divergent thinking

 Convergent thinking
 DIVERGENT THINKING
• Is the ability to find many possible answers to a particular
problem. Guilford (1950).

• Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to

generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.

• Divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-

flowing manner, such that many ideas are generated in an
emergent cognitive fashion.
• Psychologists have found that a high IQ alone does not
guarantee creativity. Instead, personality traits that
promote divergent thinking are more important. Divergent
thinking is found among people with personalities which
have traits such as nonconformity, curiosity, willingness to
take risks, and persistence.
 ACTIVITIES WHICH PROMOTE
DIVERGENT THINKING

• Creating Lists Of Questions,

• Setting Aside Time For Thinking And Meditation,

• Brainstorming.

• Subject Mapping / "Bubble Mapping",

• Keeping A Journal,

• Creating Artwork, And Free Writing.

 CONVERGENT THINKING

• The term convergent thinking was coined by J.P.Guilford, a

psychologist well known foe his research on creativity.

• Convergent thinking involves the pursuit of predetermined a

goal, usually in linear progression and using highly focused
problem solving techniques.

• Convergent thinking questions are those which represent the

analysis and integration of given or remembered information.
They lead you to an expected end result or answer.
Example of thinking process

Convergent
 Using logic
 Combining what normally “belongs” together
 Being accurate
 Finding the best answer
 Playing by the rules

Divergent
 Taking risks
 Generating multiple answers
 Looking from a new perspective
 Combining what does not “normally” belong together
 Changing what is known
 Personality Assessment
Instruments Used in the
Field of Creativity
 Adjective Checklist (ACL).
 Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception
Inventory.
 Kirton Adaptation Innovation Inventory (KAI).
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
 Adjective Checklist

• PurPose: Adjectives describe a person’s

attributes, 'actual’ & ‘ideal’ self; identification of
potentially creative persons.
• struCture:300 item list of adjectives measures
37 traits.
• ADministrAtion:Self-assessment or by observer
for10 to 15 minutes.
• Age rAnge:Widely used in adults.
 Khatena-Torrance Creative
Perception Inventory.
 PurPose: Measures artistic inclination, intelligence,
individuality, sensitivity, initiative, and self strength;
imagination, appeal to authority, self confidence,
inquisitiveness, and awareness of others.
 struCture:Comprises two tests:
• Something About Myself
• What Kind of Person Are You?
 ADministrAtion: Self report 20–40 minutes
 Age rAnge: 12 years and older
 Kirton Adaptation
Innovation Inventory
 PurPose:Evaluates differences in preferred
styles of problem-solving and creativity:
adaptors improve things; innovators do things
differently.
 structure:Adaptation/ Innovation
continuum.
 AdministrAtion: 32 items.
 Age rAnge:Teens and adults.
 Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator
 PurPose:Uses the Jungian dichotomies of:
• introversion/extroversion
• sensing/intuiting
• thinking/feeling
• perceiving/judging
 structure:16 different personality types.
 AdministrAtion: 166 multiple choice items.
 Age rAnge:14 years and older.
 Conclusion

Creativity requires both divergent and convergent thinking.

This is mostly based on divergent thinking. It generates
something new or different. It involves having a different
idea that works as well or better than previous ideas.
Once a person has a knowledge base (part of convergent
/divergent thinking can take place). The knowledge base also
makes it possible for a person to vary their thoughts from the
norm and to identify a solution that may be effective