The study of Creativity is broken down into a framework that consists of 4 Ps. Person, Process, Product & Press.
In studying Creative People we attempt to identify the traits of these individuals. We try to assess different styles of creativity (adaptive vs. innovative (Kirton)). We also try and understand different learning styles of people, because we believe everyone is creative. Applications for this type of learning can be used in Team Building or fostering creativity in an individual or an organization.
There are many Creative Processes. Perhaps, the most intuative and natural is CPS or Creative Problem Solving. There are many other processes as well, however I believe the common element amongst all of them is the seperation of generating ideas and judging them. Most of us simultaneously ideate and evaluate, which can hinder creativity. Infact, most people believe that creativity comes through an "AHA moment" when the perfect idea presents itself, as opposed to creativity being the outcome of a very deliberate process. In fact, companies like IDEO use these processes to consistently and deliberatly innovate.
Creative Products are probably the least studied in the field of Creativity. They are generally looked at as the artifacts of the creative process, however more work is being performed on analyzing what makes a product creative. Consesus at the moment dictates that it has to be both novel and useful. Applications of understanding creative products can include new product development and also the development of new processes.
Press, from the Latin, refers to the Psychological Climate. Ekvall has performed extensive study in this area and has identified 10 Dimensions of Creative Climate. The 9 dimensions that support creativity are Challenge, Freedom, Idea Support, Trust / Openess, Dynamism / Liveliness, Playfulness / Humor, Debate, Risk-Taking, & Idea Time. The dimension of Conflict can hinder creativity in an environment. An understanding of these dimensions can be applied at the office, at home, or in the class room to foster creativity.
By understanding this framework we can evaluate, recognize and change our situations to have more deliberate innovation and actually feel happier and more fulfilled in life. It is my belief that being creative is our natural state and a quick look at history and human progress demonstrates this point quite well. Often times we feel unhappy and stressed when we are not being creative, see no progress and our options are limited. Understanding how to return to our natural state may be part of the key to our happiness.
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1 comment:
Very nice bro! The 4Ps by Rhodes (1961) is one of the neatest way to have a wholistic perspective to frame creativity. By Puccio et al 's systems view of creativity, the 4P structure leads to a change and I like to view that often as innovation, paradigms, new order, etc. Not forgetting too that Simonton advocated the Fifth P as Persuasion from his rich work on leadership. Runco led to his sixth P as Potential. John Yeo is thinking if he could advocate a seventh P for the 21st century as Provocation. :)
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