This chapter dealt mainly with the many different misconceptions about creativity. The author suggests that in order to promote creativity, it is essential to understand the main elements/phases of the creative process, which include the following:
1. The importance of the medium.
2. The need to be in control of the medium.
3. The need to play and take risks; and
4. The need for critical judgement.
He also suggests that creative abilities lie within all of us. There aren't certain 'special people' who are known as being more creative than others. This suggests that these people are set apart from the rest of the world by having extraordinary gifts. To some degree, some people do seem to have more natural creativity than others but it doesn't mean that creative people are a special breed of people.
A large misconception is that creativity is reserved only for those who take part in certain types of activities, mainly the arts. This is not true either. The daily work of visual artists, for example, involves much more than "surfing on a constant tide of inspiration". The creative work they do involves a huge amount of practical routine and control of materials and techniques. Anyone can be creative in the work they do. "It is not a specific type of activity but a quality of intelligence."
Free expression is another misconception in the world of creativity. The image the author shares is of children running wild and knocking down furniture; being spontaneous and unihibited than focused and serious. Brainstorming is a very good creative tool, if used properly.
Creativity involves doing something. People cannot be creative in the abstract, but they can be creative in doing something-- math, engineering, writing, music, business, etc. However, creativity is also different than imagination. Creativity begins with imaginative thought, with envisioning new possibilities but continues to go further. "You might be lying motionless on your bed but in a fever of imagination. Private imaginings may have no impact in the public world at all [but] creativity does." Creativity isn't just a mental process. It involves action. A first definition of creativity could be "imaginative processes with outcomes in the public world."
Other factors in the creativity processes include originality, values, perception, imagination, and even language. Different modes of understanding (verbal language versus pictures), symbols (formal symbols mean something) and schematic forms are are used in functional ways to get the world's business done. I found it interesting that if we tried to speak the language we use today in Shakespeare's time, he would only be able to understand on average, five out of nine words in our vocabulary. And- we both speak English!
Great summary, Laura! I liked the part where he talked about the process of creativity as involving unconscious workings as we are doing other things, even while sleeping. Often, it does seem that our minds are more efficient when relaxed and not under direct pressure to solve a problem. Then when a great idea surfaces, we need to take conscious control and bring it to practical application.
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