Drawing on creative reflective practices in counselling research: an example of using mental imagery to shed light on the research process

The disciplines of counselling and psychotherapy have generated a range of innovative qualitative research methods. There is the potential for further developments, particularly in relation to methods that reveal how the researcher is implicated in the research. Practitioner-researchers could help to identify potential new methods through a willingness to engage in creative applications of clinical expertise and knowledge to their research projects. This article presents an example of applying a creative reflective method to the research process and discusses its potential for delivering insights into how the researcher is shaping the research and its findings. This particular mental imagery technique is considered in the light of conceptual metaphor theory and the possibility that representing the research project as a mental image can reveal how the researcher is cognitively structuring the research process.     

Effectiveness of a Creative Arts Summer Camp: Benefits of a Short-Term,Intensive Program on Children’s Social Behaviors and Relationships

This pilot study evaluated whether a creative arts therapy program delivered through a 2-week summer day camp benefited children’s support networks and improved their general wellness. Camp staff completed ratings on the behavior of 11 children. Eleven parents (10 mothers) completed ratings on their children’s behavior. Surveys were utilized; data were analyzed using Wilcoxon t tests. Results demonstrated that camp staff observed the most significant improvements in children’s behaviors and relationships. Results of this study indicate that a social skills therapy program delivered through a creative arts summer camp can be beneficial to young children. Furthermore, these results were found during an intense, yet brief, period of time.     

创造性认知重评在情绪调节中的迁移效应及其神经基础

认知重评在负性情绪调节中发挥着重要的作用。针对传统认知重评重构程度不够高、调节效果不明显的问题, 研究团队在先前的工作中提出了一种使消极情绪“转负为正”的高效情绪调节方法, 即创造性认知重评, 这种调节策略伴随着大脑海马的新颖联结形成和杏仁核的积极情绪唤醒。然而这些工作采用“指导式”的重评更像是对重评解读的“理解”而非主动的情绪调节; 鉴于主动情绪调节的产生难度较大, 造成创造性认知重评在实际应用上的两难困境。基于此, 本项目拟指导受试者进行创造性认知重评的学习, 通过学习将这种策略迁移并且应用到生活中的负性情绪调节事件中。具体研究内容包括：(1)行为学上, 探索创造性认知重评在大学生群体和青少年群体负性情绪调节中的迁移效应; (2)影像学上, 探索创造性认知重评迁移前后在脑认知表征模式上的变化。本项目是对已有工作基础的延伸和拓展, 为验证和推动创造性认知重评成为一种可学、可用、高效的情绪调节策略奠定理论基础。     

创造性人格与员工创造力:一个被调节的中介模型研究

本文基于动机行动和成就动机理论,构建一个被调节的中介模型以检验创造性人格对员工创造力产生的作用机理。以251套来自主管-下属配对的问卷数据为样本,实证分析结果表明:创造性人格可预测员工创造力产生,学习目标导向与绩效证明目标导向在两者之间起部分中介作用;内在动机能够强化个体目标导向对创造力的作用,并显著正向调节创造性人格对员工创造力的间接效应。最后,论文讨论了研究发现对员工创造力产生的理论和实践意义。     

Where does it come from? Collaborative emergence in creative work practices

This article presents a case in which analytical tools coming from the tradition of distributed cognition are able to account for what has been defined collaborative emergence (Sawyer & DeZutter, 2009; Sawyer 2012) in creative practices. With this article, we aim to contribute to the debate of distributed creativity by discussing an empirical case of collaborative emergence and providing the analytical tools able to account for its analysis. Introducing the concept of a creative network of interactions, we stress the importance of selecting, describing, and analysing the interactions that give rise to the collaborative emergence in creative work. Introducing the concept of collective creative imagination, we account for the collective emergence of the scene. We suggest that collaborative emergence is the result of a process of collective coordination and improvisation, emerging from moment-to-moment contingency in collective cognition and imagination. The new unpredictable outcome does not emerge from a sudden singular intuition avulsed from the environment, but it is the result of several coordinated steps made by the participants.     

Thinking “Outside the Box”: Unconstrained Creative Generation in Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Creative generation is structured around existing knowledge and task examples, yet overreliance on specific examples may limit imagination (Ward, T. B., Finke, R. A., & Smith, S. M., 1995). The constraining influence of knowledge during creative generation may be offset by conceptual expansion, a process of thinking outside traditional conceptual boundaries, which may be heightened by distractibility and mild executive dysfunction (Abraham, A., Windmann, S., Daum, I., & Güntürkün, O., 2005). The present study explored the constraining effects of knowledge in adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a disorder characterized by impaired attention and inhibitory control (Barkley, R. A., 1997). College students with and without ADHD were compared on two creative generation measures: an alien fruit invention task that required participants to imagine fruit that might exist on another planet (Ward, T.B., 1994), and a product label invention task wherein the goal was to invent product names without using elements of task examples (Kray, L.J., Galinski, A.D. & Wong, E.M., 2006). ADHD participants created alien fruit that diverged more from Earth fruit and labels that conformed less to examples, relative to non-ADHD peers. Results suggest that adults with ADHD may be less constrained by knowledge during creative generation. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical import and practical implications for individuals with ADHD.     

Investigation of Psychometric Properties of the Test for Creative Thinking—Drawing Production: Evidence from Study in Latvia

The Test for Creative Thinking—Drawing Production (TCT‐DP) is designed as an effective drawing‐based instrument for measuring creative potential. Many studies report adaptation efforts in other cultures pointing out good psychometric properties of the instrument nonetheless revealing also some trouble spots. The present study includes adaptation of TCT‐DP in Latvia and investigation of psychometric properties of the instrument such as measurement invariance between forms, sequence effect, gender differences, and factor structure of criteria employing methodology of structural equation modeling. Two samples were involved in the study—9th‐grade students (n = 300) and 15‐year‐old 9th‐grade students (n = 200). Results indicate that trained judges are able to achieve high reliability in evaluation of TCT‐DP total score and all criteria if some criteria are divided into subcategories. It was also found that TCT‐DP has measurement invariance between both forms but has small effect sizes regarding gender differences and method sequence. Observed differences of TCT‐DP total scores between the Latvian sample and relevant samples from Germany and Hong Kong could be considered as trivial. The study also revealed that, following original instructions, some test criteria had strong interdependence and therefore strategies in the evaluation process reducing interdependencies between criteria should be considered in future studies on the structure of TCT‐DP.     

Analysis of the Impact of Creative Technique on the Motivation of Physical Education Students in Dance Content: Gender Differences

The aim of this study was to learn about the effectiveness of two dance teaching techniques, the creative examination technique and the direct instruction technique, on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, the level of self‐determination, the perception of usefulness, enjoyment and effort of physical education students. Likewise, it purports to analyze the gender difference in the psychological variables addressed in agreement with the teaching technique used, to guide and personalize the treatment of these contents in physical education. A quasi‐experimental design was carried out with four natural groups from two school centers. The direct instruction technique was applied with two groups and the creative examination technique with the other two, in a total of 12 sessions. An initial and final measurement was taken in both groups, and the results revealed the complexity to motivate students after 12 sessions. However, the gender‐dependent analyses offer methodological guidelines, as the creative technique causes adaptative consequences on the male gender and disadaptative consequences on the female gender. By way of conclusion, we can highlight the need to devote more sessions to dance teaching and to apply different treatments depending on the gender.     

Creative Self-Efficacy: An Exploration of Its Antecedents,Consequences, and Applied Implications

Creativity and innovation are at the core of important outcomes such as economic and sales growth, production of articles and students' learning. Thus, it is not surprising to find research articles on creativity and innovation across different disciplines such as business, psychology, and education. Given the importance of understanding creativity and innovation, we reviewed the empirical literature examining the antecedents and consequences of creative self-efficacy in the work domain. Our review used the theory of individual creative action and social cognitive theory as guiding frameworks to place creative self-efficacy in the creativity and innovation process, define creativity and innovation, explore how creative self-efficacy has been measured, examine the antecedents and consequences of creative self-efficacy, point out gaps in knowledge and offer suggestions for future research and provide some applied implications. One important finding was that creative self-efficacy has made a significant contribution as a process variable explaining how several organizational and personal factors influence creative outcomes via their influence on creative self-efficacy.     

An Examination of the Personality Constructs Underlying Dimensions of Creative Problem‐Solving Style

This study investigated the personality facets that underpin the construct of problem‐solving style, particularly when approaching more creative kinds of problem‐solving. Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire and VIEW—An Assessment of Problem Solving Style were administered to 165 students from the Norwegian Business School. We explored relationships through correlational and regression analysis. Personality profiles were derived for each of VIEW's three dimensions and were in generally expected directions. Those with an Explorer preference were more imaginative and idea oriented, open to change, unconventional, freethinking, and flexible than Developers. Those with a Developer preference were more practical and solution oriented, more traditional, rule conscious, conservative, and respecting of traditional ideas. Those with an External preference were more group oriented, affiliative, socially bold, warm, and attentive to others than those with an Internal preference. Those with a more Task‐oriented preference were more impersonal, detached, utilitarian, and tough minded than those with Person‐oriented preference. We outlined implications and suggestions for further research.