Graham Wallas The Art of Thought: The Four Stages of the Creative Process

Background Born in Monkwarmouth, Sunderland, England in the Spring of 1858 Oxford graduate in Humanities Socialist Leader of the Fabian Society (an organization working to establish a liaison between the socialist and progressive members of the Liberal Party) Co-founder of the London School of Economics Defined one of the earliest models of Creativity

Accomplishments Wrote many books on social psychology and politics Best known book: The Art of Thought Taught at the London School of Economics In1894, he was elected to the London County Council where he became a member of the Education Committee. Argued for the humanizing of modern life Had large influence on socialist and political thinking in America

The Art of Thought The Four Stages of Creativity Preparation Incubation Illumination Verification Merging the Conscious with the Unconscious Based upon empirical observations and accounts of famous inventors

The Art of Thought: Preparation The problem is investigated in all directions The accumulation of intellectual resources for the individual Cultivates the mind to aid in construction of new ideas Fully conscious Entails part research, part planning, part attitude, and part attention Gives the order in which the individual approaches later elements of the theory

The Art of Thought: Incubation Totally unconscious No direct effort is exerted by the individual Two divergent elements Negative Fact: The unconscious deliberation on a problem Positive Fact: A series of unconscious mental events that relate to the problem Many great inventers and writers (e.g. T.S. Eliot, Alexander Graham Bell, and Louis Carol) were strong advocates of the Incubation Period We should deliberately build interruptions of concentrated effort into our workflow

The Art of Thought: Illumination Two-stage Period The unconscious thoughts come together to a cognizant Idea or approach Leads to a conscious “Flash” of inspiration Comes from the culmination of the Preparation and the Incubation Periods Cannot be forced to occur Wallas believes that these unconscious successive leaps of associations are the secrets of geniuses

The Art of Thought: Verification Two Parts Deliberate effort in testing the Idea Reducing the Idea to its exact form The Idea must be made in the Illumination Period Verification deduces the consequences of the Idea Refines the Idea into a more concrete form

The Art of Thought: Summation All of the stages interplay together None of the stages are isolated events Requires Conscious Will, Discipline, and Attention, and Direction  The art of thought must have some conscious thought  It is not Darwinian or based upon Aptitude The four stages of thought simultaneously occur as we explore different problems.

Implications for Education Posseted educators should pay more attention to human beings than institutions Educators should not force students to memorize facts without understanding Educators should build in time for students to leave the problem and consider other issues Educators should then circle back to the problem and see what has come from the Illumination Period in their students

Example 1: The teaching of operations with integers Students are often confused about the meaning of negative number placement Students often use incorrect values of numbers and confuse the rules for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division However, as the learning continues and instruction moves to other issues, students unconsciously consider operations with integers, especially with applications dealing with integers Students have a “flash” of understanding of value and placement of integers Then students verify their understanding and generate explanations for the rules that make sense to them

Example 2: Greek/Roman Governments and Modern Democracy Content knowledge is presented about Greek government and Roman government Students begin to unconsciously compare/contrast the two types of governments Students begin to unconsciously understand how Greek government influenced Roman government Content knowledge is presented about modern Democracy Students have “flash” of understanding of the origins of modern Democracy and how Greek/Roman governmental models still influence us, today Students verify/search for evidence of Greek/Roman models in modern Democracy

Example 3: Music Education Students learn basics of musical system Students practice scales and musical elements Students begin learning basic music and – unconsciously – recognize scales and musical elements in music Students unconsciously begin considering addition/connection of musical elements to musical pieces Students have “flash” of inspiration in how to modify music for more interest Students verify/refine their idea into a musical piece

Thank you for your attention. - James L. Fox