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If You Are Creative, Are You Also Intelligent?

If You Are Creative, Are You Also Intelligent?
According to an article in Newsweek , here in the United States we apparently have a creativity crisis . According to Kyung Hee Kim at the College of William and Mary, scores on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking have been decreasing since the 1990's. The same article mentions that China is making a push to move away from rote memorization and adopt a more problem centered learning approach, perhaps like that of America. Contrast this with the results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which examines 15-year-old students in 65 countries. The U.S. scored about average in science, above average in reading, and below average in math. According to the New York Times , Mark Schneider , a former commissioner of the U.S. Which clearly raises the question: Why is China trying to emulate America's educational system if they are already doing so well? Let's consider another perspective, that of Bill Gates. Stefani Germanotta before becoming Lady Gaga

Creative thinking with creative geniuses like you! Mad Genius, Eccentric Behavior & Creative Process Kristi Tencarre : Mad Genius Eccentric Creative Beings By Kristi Tencarre What is madness, except for non-conformity to the norm? Majority makes up the norm, therefore their definition of madness becomes the marker signaling the labeled to watch out for and stay away from. Madness has been officially defined as mentally unstable. However, it has also been officially defined as great folly, enthusiasm, or excitement which can be marked by frenzied behaviour. One characteristic of success in any creative endeavor is to not conform to the norms, mores and expectations of society. Eccentric is a positive term used to describe creative madness, which can also be called creative genius. To be creative one must have a smidgen of rebellion in the soul. What would people say if you quit your job to stay at home and get creative? So what if people label us as "mad" because we are pursuing our heart's desire. © 2006 Kristi Tencarre

A Creative Buzz - Ideas Market By Christopher Shea People who like to write in cafes are onto something, it seems: A moderate level of noise—the equivalent of the background buzz of conversation — prompts more-creative thought, according to a study. Across several experiments involving more than 300 people, participants worked on a series of exercises demanding mental flexibility, including word-association games and practical problems. People in the moderate-noise groups scored higher on the objective word-association test, and their answers to the other problems were rated, subjectively by peers, as more creative. A final experiment involved having students answer questions about consumer products at a computer station located in a public space. The study adds to research suggesting that small doses of distraction — including hard-to-read fonts — prompt the mind to work at a more abstract level, which is also a more creative level. Source: “Is Noise Always Bad?

The Inspiration Paradox: Your Best Creative Time Is Not When You Think A bus company in China has launched a new “safe driving” campaign by suspending bowls of water over their drivers. To avoid getting wet, drivers must drive gently. In today’s technology-obsessed world, this solution is elegantly primitive. You might imagine that this simple yet ingenious idea was conjured by someone functioning at their very best, that such “aha insights” come when innovators are at their peak. Not so. Numerous studies have demonstrated that our best performance on challenging, attention-demanding tasks - like studying in the midst of distraction - occurs at our peak time of day. In a study I conducted, for example, participants were given three related cue words (e.g., SHIP OUTER CRAWL), and were required to find their common link (SPACE). But distraction is not all bad, and Wieth and Zacks have demonstrated that we can use our increased susceptibility to distraction at off-peak times to our advantage. Insight problems involve thinking outside the box.

thinking skills There is no logic in connecting an office copier with 'nose'. That is to say, there is no 'logic' in our normal undertanding of logic. This understanding is based on passive surface information systems. There is, however, the logic of active surface information systems, and that is the logic of a patterning system. In such a system, the putting together of 'copier' with the random input 'nose' is perfectly logical. At the same time, the juxtaposition is a logic of action. JUXTAPOSITIONAs many readers will know, the random juxtaposition is one of the many tools of lateral thinking. • What has smell to do with a copier? Smell is a sensation. • What could smell be used for? When copiers run out of paper or toner, there is usually a light signal - perhaps a red light. SMELL SIGNALWhat about a 'smell signal'? There could be different smells for different things. MOVEMENTThe above example illustrates the process of 'movement', which can be practised until a skill is built up in this operation.

List of creative thought processes The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to thinking: Essence of thinking[edit] Main article: Thought Types of thought[edit] Classifications of thought[edit] Williams' Taxonomy Properties of thought[edit] Fields of study[edit] History of thinking[edit] Main articles: History of thought and History of reasoning General thinking concepts[edit] Brain and brain biology[edit] Intelligence[edit] Nootropics (Cognitive enhancers and smart drugs)[edit] Psychometrics (measuring intelligence and cognitive traits)[edit] Artificial thinking[edit] Organizational thinking[edit] Personal thinking[edit] Awareness and Perception[edit] Creative processes[edit] Decision making[edit] Emotional intelligence (Emotionally-based thinking)[edit] Erroneous thinking[edit] Learning and Memory[edit] Reason and reasoning[edit] Teaching methods and skills[edit] Other[edit] Organizations[edit] Publications[edit] Positive Thinking Magazine Scholars of thinking[edit] See also[edit] Thinking Reasoning Lists

The Creative Thought Process - Part One | Event Experts One of the big parts of being an Event Designer is the creation of an event. By this I mean the ability to take what your client says to you and translate that into something amazing, dazzling, inspiring and ultimately something that represents what your client had in mind. I say that with tongue in cheek as most of our clients don’t actually know what they want and that is where you come in. They may have a product they wish to launch, a conference they want to spice up or even an awards presentation that needs that extra something. So, as the designer how do you take your client’s mumblings and musings and turn them into a spectacular event. I have personally used two different software programs for this process and the first is Inspiration and the second is Mindjet. For the purposes of this exercise I have decided to use Mindjet as my brainstorming tool and given myself the task of coming up with a theme for the launch of a new perfume.

How Creativity Connects with Immorality In the mid 1990’s, Apple Computers was a dying company. Microsoft’s Windows operating system was overwhelmingly favored by consumers, and Apple’s attempts to win back market share by improving the Macintosh operating system were unsuccessful. After several years of debilitating financial losses, the company chose to purchase a fledgling software company called NeXT. Along with purchasing the rights to NeXT’s software, this move allowed Apple to regain the services of one of the company’s founders, the late Steve Jobs. However, despite the widespread positive image of Jobs as a creative genius, he also has a dark reputation for encouraging censorship,“ losing sight of honesty and integrity”, belittling employees, and engaging in other morally questionable actions. In a recent paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers at Harvard and Duke Universities demonstrate that creativity can lead people to behave unethically.

A Little Weird? Prone to Depression? Blame Your Creative Brain Whenever you want to do something extraordinary, risky, or scary in your life (something that you know in your heart that you need to do, but it would really be more convenient to ignore it and just not do it), it’s essential to surround yourself with inspiring, encouraging, like-minded people. If they’re leaders in their own right who to a certain degree have done what you long to do, even better. I first met Gwyneth Leech last summer at my nephew’s first birthday party in Brooklyn (she’s my sister’s husband’s cousin). We were chatting idly until the moment she mentioned that she, a lifelong artist, had “accidentally” started creating art on used coffee cups, drawing to pass time in PTA meetings. I get as excited about a great story as some women get about shoes, and my story sensors started shrieking immediately. Gwyneth has become a close friend and a beacon of inspiration and encouragement in my life as I contemplate great leaps of faith and creation. Can you relate to this? Dr.

Abstraction Abstraction is a process by which concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal ("real" or "concrete") concepts, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" is the product of this process—a concept that acts as a super-categorical noun for all subordinate concepts, and connects any related concepts as a group, field, or category.[1] Abstractions may be formed by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose. Origins[edit] Thinking in abstractions is considered[by whom?] Abstraction involves induction of ideas or the synthesis of particular facts into one general theory about something. Thales (c. 624 BC – c. 546 BCE) believed that everything in the universe comes from one main substance, water. Thought process[edit] Cat on Mat (picture 1) For example, many different things can be red. Referents[edit] Instantiation[edit] Physicality[edit] Compression[edit]

Creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed, such as an idea, a scientific theory, an invention, a literary work, a painting, a musical composition, a joke, etc. Scholarly interest in creativity involves many definitions and concepts pertaining to a number of disciplines: psychology, cognitive science, education, philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), technology, theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies, songwriting, and economics, covering the relations between creativity and general intelligence, mental and neurological processes, personality type and creative ability, creativity and mental health; the potential for fostering creativity through education and training, especially as augmented by technology; and the application of creative resources to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Definition[edit] Aspects[edit] Etymology[edit] History of the concept[edit] Ancient views[edit] The Enlightenment and after[edit] J. J.

Convergent and divergent production Convergent and divergent production are the two types of human response to a set problem that were identified by J.P. Guilford (1967). Guilford observed that most individuals display a preference for either convergent or divergent thinking. Others observe that most people prefer a convergent closure. Divergent thinking[edit] According to J.P. There is a movement in education that maintains divergent thinking might create more resourceful students. Divergent production is the creative generation of multiple answers to a set problem. Critic of the analytic/dialectic approach[edit] While the observations made in psychology can be used to analyze the thinking of humans, such categories may also lead to oversimplifications and dialectic thinking. The systematic use of convergent thinking may well lead to what is known as Group think—thus one should probably combine systematic use with critical thinking. References[edit] Guilford, J. (1967). See also[edit]

Divergent thinking Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It is often used in conjunction with its cognitive opposite, convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a ‘correct’ solution. By contrast, divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. After the process of divergent thinking has been completed, ideas and information are organized and structured using convergent thinking. Traits associated with divergent thinking[edit] Psychologists have found that a high IQ (like Albert Einstein) alone does not guarantee creativity. Promoting divergent thinking[edit] Playfulness and divergent thinking[edit] Effects of sleep deprivation on divergent thinking[edit] 1.

Alcohol Benefits the Creative Process Creative thought is something we often aspire to. Whether it’s in terms of artistic products, scientific discoveries, or business innovations, creative accomplishments drive advancement in much of what we do. But what sorts of things enhance creativity ? A popular belief is that altered cognitive processing, whether from sleep , insanity, or alcohol use, sparks creativity among artists, composers, writers, and problem-solvers. Why might being intoxicated lead to improved creativity? Think about the flip side of the coin. When people with lots of baseball knowledge, for example, are asked to come up with a word that forms a compound word with “plate,” “broken,” and “shot,” they are pretty bad at this task. So, could being intoxicated really help people to think more creatively? They recruited people (ages 21-30) who drank socially, via Craigslist, to come into their lab and, well, they got some of them drunk. For more on the link between brain power and performance, check out my book .

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