Rethinking Creativity

Discover how creativity depends on inside-the-box thinking-that's right, not outside the box-and a new perspective on creative thinking.

Despite more than half a century of psychological research on creativity we are still far from a clear understanding of the creative process, its antecedents and consequences and, most of all, the ways in which we can effectively support creativity. This is primarily due to a narrow focus on creative individuals isolated from culture and society. Rethinking Creativity proposes a fundamental review of this position and argues that creativity is not only a psychological but a sociocultural phenomenon. This edited volume aims to relocate creativity from inside individual minds to the material, symbolic and social world of culture. It brings together eminent social and cultural psychologists who study dynamic, transformative and emergent phenomena, and invites them to conceptualise creativity in ways that depart from mainstream definitions and theoretical models existing in past and present literature on the topic. Chapters include reflections on the relationship between creativity and difference, creativity as a process of symbolic transformation, the role of apprenticeships and collaboration, the importance of considering materiality and affordances in creative work, and the power of imagination to construct individual trajectories. The diverse contributions included in this book offer readers multiple pathways into the intricate relationship between mind, culture, and creativity, and invite them to rethink these phenomena in ways that foster creative action within their own life and the lives of those around them. It will be of key interest to both social and cultural psychologists, as well as to creativity researchers and those who, as part of their personal or professional life, try to understand creativity and develop creative forms of expression.

This book presents a new perspective on creativity: that creative innovation depends on inside-of-the-box thinking. It shows that creativity builds on what we know and how we use old ideas to produce new ones. In a highly readable format, Robert W. Weisberg uses case studies of seminal creative advances, such as Leonardo's 'Aerial Screw' and Frank Lloyd Wright's award-winning house, 'Fallingwater.' These fascinating examples are evaluated alongside cutting-edge research to present an analysis of creativity that challenges us to think differently about this intriguing cognitive ability.

A groundbreaking, scientific approach to creative thinking From entrepreneurs to teachers, engineers to artists, almost everyone stands to benefit from becoming more creative. New ways of thinking, making, and imagining have the potential to bring about revolutionary changes to both our personal lives and society as a whole. And yet, the science behind creativity has largely remained a mystery, with few people aware of the ways we can optimize our own creative and innovative ideas. Innovating Minds: Rethinking Creativity To Inspire Change offers a perspective, grounded in science, that allows us to achieve both individual and collective creative goals. Wilma Koutstaal and Jonathan Binks draw upon extensive research from brain, behavioral, and organizational sciences to present a unique five-part "thinking framework" in which ideas are continually refined and developed. Beyond scientific research, Innovating Minds also describes the everyday creative challenges of people from all walks of life, offering insights from dancers, scientists, designers, and architects. The book shows that creativity is far from a static process; it is steeped with emotion and motivation, involving the dynamic interactions of our minds, brains, and environments. Accordingly, it challenges readers to put its material into use through thinking prompts, creativity cross-checks, and other activities. Vibrant and engaging, Innovating Minds reveals a unique approach to harnessing creative ideas and putting them into action. It offers a fascinating exploration of the science of creativity along with new and valuable resources for becoming more innovative thinkers and doers.

If you think doing consistently great creative work inevitably leads to long hours, chaos and burnout, we have just one thing to say: Rethink. Rethink your priorities. Rethink your approach. And rethink your product in the process. Rethink is a one-word business plan for any company in the creative arts—from advertising, to design, to publishing, architecture or software development. Rethink is also one of the world’s most consistently awarded advertising and design agencies. Headquartered far off the beaten track in Vancouver, Rethink has been radically breaking rules for two decades, proving that you can do work that gets the world’s attention, without sacrificing efficiency and a balanced life. Now, for the first time, Rethink offers you a how-to manual of their 55 best tools for creating a sustainable, successful creative culture—tools that will help you inspire your people, boost your bottom line and take your creative product to the next level. Tried, true, constantly tweaked and consistently proven, these tools are simple and effective ways to inspire teams, boost creativity and cut through the bullshit at every stage of the process. Rethink’s step-by-step plan is radical, refreshing and relatable to any business striving for creative excellence.

Digital media are increasingly interwoven into how we understand society and ourselves today. From lines of code to evolving forms of online conduct, they have become an ever-present layer of our age. The rethinking of education has now become the subject of intense global policy debates and academic research, paralleled by the invention and promot

Discover Your Unique Gift "Creative aging is a choice.... If we remember that transition always begins with endings, moves on to a wilderness period of testing and trying, and only then do we reach the beginning of something new, then we can embrace this encore period of life with hope and curiosity, remembering always that it is our true nature to be creative, to be always birthing new ways of sharing our planet together." --from the Epilogue In a practical and useful way, Marjory Zoet Bankson explores the spiritual dimensions of retirement and aging. She offers creative ways for you to share your gifts and experience, particularly when retirement leaves you questioning who you are when you are no longer defined by your career. Drawing on stories of people who have reinvented their lives in their older years, Bankson explores the issues you need to address as you move into this generative period of life: Release Letting go of the vocational identity associated with your career or primary work Resistance Feeling stuck, stagnant, resisting change Reclaiming Drawing energy from the past, discovering unused gifts Revelation Forming a new vision of the future Crossing Point Moving from stagnation to generativity Risk Stepping out into the world with new hope Relating Finding or creating new structures for a new kind of work

Pulling together a collection of richly informative essays Rethinking Imagination addresses competing sets of ideas, oscillating between the modern and post-modern, creativity and sublimity, progress and apocalypse, democracy and redemption Enlightenment and Romanticism and reason and imagination. Aiming to thematise these debates from the perspective of the imagination, Rethinking Imagination takes two directions. The first addresses a socio-cultural interpretation in which the distinguishing figures of modernity can be viewed as continuing differentiation and autonomatization of spheres and systems that goes well beyond the divisions of labour. The second is an ongoing philosophical discourse about the imagination and its relation to reason which has been present since Enlightenment. Divided into two separate yet interconnected parts, this book is a highly significant collection of essays and a valuable contribution to the field of philosophical and socio-cultural sociology. It is a key book for undergraduate, postgraduate and academic researchers.

Creativity has become part of the language of regeneration experts, urban planners and government policy makers attempting to revive the economic and cultural life of cities in the 21st century. Concepts such as the creative class, the creative industries and bohemian cultural clusters have come to dominate thinking about how creativity can contribute to urban renewal. Spaces of Vernacular Creativity offers a critical perspective on the instrumental use of arts and creative practices for the purposes of urban regeneration or civic boosterism. Several important contributions are brought into one volume to examine the geography of locally embedded forms of arts and creative practice. There has been an explosion of interest in both academic and policy circles in the notion of creativity, and its role in economic development and urban regeneration. This book argues for a rethinking of what constitutes creativity, foregrounding non-economic values and practices, and the often marginal and everyday spaces in which creativity takes shape. Drawing on a range of geographic contexts including the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia, the book explores a diverse array of creative practices ranging from art, music, and design to community gardening and anticapitalist resistance. The book examines working class, ethnic and non-elite forms of creativity, and a variety of creative spaces, including rural areas, suburbs and abandoned areas of the city. The authors argue for a broader and more inclusive conception of what constitutes creative practice, advocating for an approach that foregrounds economies of generosity, conviviality and activism. The book also explores the complexities and nuances that connect the local and the global and finally, the book provides a space for valuing alternative, marginal and displaced knowledges. Spaces of Vernacular Creativity provides an important contribution to the debates on the creative class and on the role of value of creative knowledge and skills. The book aims to contribute to contemporary academic debates regarding the development of post-industrial economies and the cognitive cultural economy. It will appeal to a wide range of disciplines including, geography, applied art, planning, cultural studies, sociology and urban studies, plus specialised programmes on creativity and cultural industries at Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels.

Discusses the role creativity plays in success in school.