1. Creativity—Major Theorists
Guilford
Torrance
De Bono
Sternberg
Gardner
Weisberg
Harpers:

2. J.P. Guilford Convergent Thinking = Intelligence Measured by IQ
1. Convergent v. Divergent
Convergent Thinking = Intelligence
Measured by IQ
Finding ‘right’ answer (e.g., hardest thing in the world: diamonds)
Associated with academic success
Divergent Thinking = Creativity
Measured by ?
Finding unusual answers (e.g., hardest thing in the world: Chinese algebra)
Associated with real world success 
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

3. Creativity—4 Psychological Views
Big Three ‘intellectual style’ factors
Fluency (e.g., tested by sheer number of objects named that are hard)
Flexibility (e.g., tested by number of uses for a brick found and variety of categories)
Originality (e.g., tested by unusualness of responses, easily quantified) 
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

4. J. P. Guilford Activity to demonstrate Guilford’s distinctions
1 Minute Test Of Fluency: List as many things as you can that are red and white
The winner is…
1 Minute Test Of Flexibility: List as many very different uses for a soda straw as you can
1 Minute Test Of Originality: Come up with the most unusual use you can think of for a broken beer bottle.
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

5. E. Paul Torrance
Professor Torrance was best known for his pioneering research in the study of creativity.
He developed a benchmark method for quantifying creativity and invented in 1974 the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, which showed that the IQ test was not the only way to measure intelligence.

6. E. Paul Torrance
Building on Guilford's work, they involved simple tests of divergent thinking and other problem-solving skills, which were scored on:
Fluency. The total number of interpretable, meaningful, and relevant ideas generated in response to the stimulus.
Flexibility. The number of different categories of relevant responses.
Originality. The statistical rarity of the responses among the test subjects.
Elaboration. The amount of detail in the responses.

7. Edward De Bono Vertical = Conventional Thinking Dig deeper
Linear thinking
Parallel to convergent thinking
Lateral = Creativity
Dig in different place
Non-linear thinking
Parallel to divergent thinking
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

8. Robert Sternberg The Three Cognitive Virtues: Creativity
Divergent thinking
Originality
Intelligence
Convergent thinking
Problem solving ability
Wisdom
Comes with age and requires previous two 
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

9. Robert Sternberg Degree of correlation between Sternberg’s Big Three
Dependent on field (e.g., physics, art, business)
Strongest correlations are between intelligence & creativity
But there are critical differences between creativity and other two for…
Creativity is associated with…
Unconventionality in thought & deed
Aesthetic taste
Flexibility
Toleration for ambiguity
Questioning of authority
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

10. Robert Weisberg
Weisberg maintains that ‘creativity’ is largely a myth!
Author of Creativity: Genius and Other Myths
Argues that creativity is simply incremental thinking based on previous learning and intelligence
Develops his arguments by careful analysis of the historical record of the creation of major artworks and scientific discoveries. 
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

11. Robert Weisberg Myth of Creativity Myth of Divergent Thinking
Sudden insight and uniqueness of genius questioned
Mechanical logical application is the explanation
Analysis of creative problem solving supports incremental thinking argument
Myth of Divergent Thinking
His critique of brainstorming
Evidence shows divergent thinking measures are not associated with productivity (e.g., art students study)
Myth of Genius
Time is ripe versus great man theory
E.g., Darwin/Wallace; Newton/Leibnitz
Evidence of training and preparation (e.g., Darwin)
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

12. Robert Weisberg
Did the insight to the ‘candle problem’ really come in a flash?
Or were you able to see how you ‘reasoned’ incrementally to it
Or used trial and error to hit on the solution?
Copyright 2007 Ken Stange

13. Howard Gardner See website: