Epilogue: Creativity as Immersed Detachment

In this short epilogue, I reflect on a final, basic paradox when it comes to creativity: the fact that creators are simultaneously deeply immersed into their environment and their work and, at the same time, capable of taking distance from both in order to develop new perspectives on the situation or problem at hand. This particular state of “immersed detachment” is enabled by our existence as social and cultural beings, a condition that both constrains and frees our thinking and our action. Understanding this paradoxical condition and fostering it can have wide‐ranging benefits at a theoretical and practical level. Conceptually, it helps us understand why creativity depends, at once, on individuals and society, uniqueness and sameness, continuity and difference. Practically, it encourages those forms of immersion and connectivity that help rather than hinder creative agency.     

Creativity between individual insight and group support. An explorative study in the Italian fashion industry / La creatividad entre la introspección individual y el apoyo grupal. Un estudio exploratorio de la industria de la moda italiana

Abstract

Creativity has been defined across time and fields highlighting different perspectives and variables, from the power of individual insight to creative intelligence, to the role played by mind wandering. After a brief literature review, the present paper presents an explorative study on the dialogue between individual and collective creativity in the fashion industry. The research design is inspired by mix-method research. The dataset is made up of in-depth interviews with 12 Italian stylists, focused on the creative processes. Data have been analysed both in qualitative terms (metaphors analysis) and in quantitative terms (automatic content analysis supported by T-Lab software). According to our results, the creativity processes involved in the fashion industry are mainly individual with a growing role played by teamwork. Stylists present themselves as psychologists in dialogue with their audience, so that the general public, in some sense, become an additional actor in the creative process.     

Background music stints creativity: Evidence from compound remote associate tasks

Background music has been claimed to enhance people's creativity. In three experiments, we investigated the impact of background music on performance of Compound Remote Associate Tasks (CRATs), which are widely thought to tap creativity. Background music with foreign (unfamiliar) lyrics (Experiment 1), instrumental music without lyrics (Experiment 2), and music with familiar lyrics (Experiment 3) all significantly impaired CRAT performance in comparison with quiet background conditions. Furthermore, Experiment 3 demonstrated that background music impaired CRAT performance regardless of whether the music induced a positive mood or whether participants typically studied in the presence of music. The findings challenge the view that background music enhances creativity and are discussed in terms of an auditory distraction account (interference‐by‐process) and the processing disfluency account.     

融合视角下的西方创造力系统观

创造力研究领域的学者已经在大C创造力、小C创造力以及创造力过程、人格、产品、创造力社会文化环境等不同角度进行了丰富的研究与理论的建构, 但体系纷繁, 观点各异, 往往让人难以抓住问题的重点, 我们则在梳理创造力定义的基础上, 将西方创造力理论从两个大方向上进行一定的梳理与思考, 一个是发展的角度(从微C创造力到小C创造力, 再到专业C创造力, 最后到大C创造力), 另一个是从微观到宏观联系的角度(从创造力的认知神经基础到创造力过程……一直到创造力的社会文化层面), 组成一个既联系又发展的坐标分类图, 因其与星系发展的过程有类似之处, 便将其比喻为星系发展模型, 以此来分析每个理论(主要包括Kaufman的4-C创造力模型、Csikszentmihalyi的创造力系统模型、Sternberg的创造力贡献推进理论、Amabile的创造力组成成分模型、Gl?veanu的5A创造力理论)的适用范围与界限, 以期为深入理解各个理论, 树立创造力整体观及为更进一步深入研究与应用做出一定的铺垫。     

SIMPLIFYING HEURISTICS VERSUS CAREFUL THINKING: SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF MILLENNIAL SPIRITUAL ISSUES

There is ample evidence that humans (and other primates) possess a knowledge instinct—a biologically driven impulse to make coherent sense of the world at the highest level possible. Yet behavioral decision‐making data suggest a contrary biological drive to minimize cognitive effort by solving problems using simplifying heuristics. Individuals differ, and the same person varies over time, in the strength of the knowledge instinct. Neuroimaging studies suggest which brain regions might mediate the balance between knowledge expansion and heuristic simplification. One region implicated in primary emotional experience is more activated in individuals who use primitive heuristics, whereas two areas of the cortex are more activated in individuals with a strong knowledge drive: one region implicated in detecting risk or conflict and another implicated in generating creative ideas. Knowledge maximization and effort minimization are both evolutionary adaptations, and both are valuable in different contexts. Effort minimization helps us make minor and routine decisions efficiently, whereas knowledge maximization connects us to the beautiful, to the sublime, and to our highest aspirations. We relate the opposition between the knowledge instinct and heuristics to the biblical story of the fall, and argue that the causal scientific worldview is mathematically equivalent to teleological arguments from final causes. Elements of a scientific program are formulated to address unresolved issues.     

组织创新气氛的概念、测量及相关研究热点

组织创新气氛是Litwin所提出组织气氛概念中有关创新维度的深入延伸和具体阐述,是个体对其创新能力养成、发展和运用产生影响的心理认知与组织情境体验。该文在总结回顾近二十年该领域的相关研究后,对组织创新气氛的概念构建、影响因素、测量工具及相关变量的实证研究进行了系统的梳理总结与评价;同时,指出目前该领域研究中在概念建构、工具开发、相关实证研究等方面存在的问题,并就今后国内开展本土化研究所应注意的方面提出建议。     

Age,Emotion Regulation Strategies,Temperament, Creative Drama,and Preschoolers' Creativity

Based on Yeh's (2004) Ecological Systems Model of Creativity Development, this study investigated the effects that age, the use of emotion regulation strategies, temperament, and exposure to creative drama instruction have on the development of creativity among preschool children. Participants were 1164‐ to 6‐year‐old preschool children. This study categorized the emotion regulation strategies used by preschool children and developed a creativity test which includes the measurement of usefulness, an indicator of creativity that has, until now, been ignored. The main findings are that (a) 6‐year‐olds outperform 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds in terms of creativity; (b) emotion regulation strategies as well as a positive temperament have positive effects on children's creativity; (c) creative drama instruction contributes to children's creativity; and (d) age group, emotion regulation strategies, temperament, and creative drama instruction can collectively predict children's creativity.     

中国背景下建言行为研究：结构、形成机制及影响

建言行为研究伴随角色外行为研究而兴起, 对其研究顺应了知识管理等管理新理念的要求, 也与弘扬自主创新的时代主题一致。相比国外的盛行, 国内对该主题的本土化实证研究尚待加强。经对以往研究的总结分析, 结合本土化研究取向, 本研究拟采用半结构化访谈、配对成组问卷的现场研究和实验室模拟研究等方法, 以特质激活理论、社会认同理论和经济理性观为基础, 探索中国背景下企业员工建言行为的构思、形成机制及其对组织创新的影响。具体包括以下三个方面：(1)中国背景下建言行为结构研究; (2)建言行为多层次动态形成机制研究, 包括基于特质激活的个体特征对建言行为的影响研究, 基于个人认同的领导行为对建言行为的影响研究, 基于社会认同的组织因素对建言行为的影响研究, 及基于经济理性的个体与情境因素对建言行为交互影响的实验模拟研究; (3)建言行为对组织创新的影响研究。     

Fostering Client Creativity in Family Therapy: A Process Research Study

Creativity has been shown to enhance problem solving, and to increase flexibility and adaptability—qualities associated with positive therapeutic outcomes. Literature related to therapist and/or client creativity is primarily anecdotal. Empirical literature addressing how therapists can facilitate the creativity of their clients in family therapy is scarce. In this study, the researchers used process methodology to code the behavior of therapists and clients in 31 videotaped family therapy sessions. Results show a significant positive correlation between interventions that induce positive affect and the creative client behaviors of optimism and playfulness.     

时间压力、创造性激励与初中作文关系研究

实验操纵了时间压力、创造性激励2个变量,考察它们对初中作文创造性指标和作文成绩的影响,发现变量能对初中作文的创造性指标产生明显作用,但不影响作文成绩。初中作文的评价体系似乎缺乏对作文创造性的反映。