You know, I didn't say at the beginning

that of the course that I was

going to help you develop your own
creativity
and wasn't going to focus on what
creativity is.
At the same time, it's important to have
some
understanding, so we can move forward to
move more effectively.
Research provides us with an understanding
of how
we can fully utilize and develop our
creativity.
Some of the research focuses on the
personal aspects of creativity.
Some deals with creativity
that develops as we live our lives, and we
can also
see how our organization, work place, or
school affects our creative potential.
There's a substantial record of research
in the field of creativity, but
this lecture will focus on the most
important aspects for our course.
I invite you to dig deeper into the field
and explore
the full depth of inquiry into creativity
after you complete the course.
Much of creativity theory grows from the
mid 20th century
research of Gillford and Torrence.
They often focused on the generation of
new ideas called divergent thinking.
Which is the focus on the course.
They looked at what could be called little
c creativity.
That is creativity that is used on an
everyday basis by most people.
Big C creativity, in contrast, focuses on
learning about creativity
by studying how the famous world
challenging characters have been creative.
These would include people such as
Einstein, Picasso, and Steven Hawking.
One important theory in the field of
creativity is
called Generativity theory, which was
developed by Robert Epstein.
His background is behave realist having
worked with the renown psychologist B.F.
Skinner.
He contends that people's creative output
is based on a number of factors.
They all happen in our environment, all of
which can be consciously changed.
A link to his online test is adjacent to
this lecture.
As part of this course, you should
complete that brief survey.

Your results will be emailed to you, but

won't be connected as part of this course.
The four areas that can be improved are a
propensity for creativity, are recording
our new ideas by having a notebook or
recording device with us at all times.
Seeking challenges in our lives by
subjecting yourself to difficult task.
Broadening your knowledge by learning your
fields different than your expertise.
And changing your immediate environment
and surroundings.
Each of these can help discover and retain
new ideas.
An additional theory developed by Robert
Sternberg and
Todd Lubart is the investment theory of
creativity.
Ideas are like investments they say, and
creative people often find or create
unpopular are
undervalued ideas, which through
improvement and persuasion
are better accepted and they're far more
valuable.
We can learn from this model, that through
being careful to examine
a wide variety of alternative ideas, even
though
some may at first seem unworkable, that
it's valuable.
With some slight changes, even the oddest
idea may have some value.
While creativity starts with our own
abilities.
Creativity can also be affected by our
habits, our environment, our workplace, or
educational situation.
Teresa Amabile of the Harvard Business
School has
done extensive research into the social
development of creativity.
Her component theory of creativity looks
at a blend of parts or aspects such
as personal skill and intelligence,
motivation, and
resources which can affect creativity and
innovation.
Motivation is a key component, and
internal motivation, the personal drive
and
choice is much more powerful in developing
higher levels of creativity than
is external motivation.
In short, paying people to be more
creative
has not been proven to be very effective.
Some of her writings are included in the
additional reading section of the course.
Creativity at its inception can be simply

described.
And can be advanced through simple
techniques that help in generating more
ideas, but it also has additional levels
of complexity which can be investigated.
Again, see the additional
readings list for beginning of your own
research into the topic.
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