DEN 301
Building Creativity
Creativity
noun: "A phenomenon whereby something new and in some way valuable is created" Wikipedia
Research: Measuring Creativity
- Creativity Quotient (CQ) - unsuccessful
- Divergence Testing - find all possible answers instead of converging on the right one
- Psychometric Study - tests to measure creativity such as unusual uses and uncommon responses to words
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
- Fluency - The total number of relevant ideas generated in response to a stimulus
- Originality - The statistical rarity of the responses
- Elaboration - The amount of detail in the responses
Source: Wikipedia
Different Types of Tasks
- Verbal tasks using verbal stimuli
- Verbal tasks using non-verbal stimuli
- Non-verbal tasks
We're going to try each of these
Verbal Task
Verbal Stimuli
Vocabulary Game
- Pick a letter
- Pick a category
- Come up with as MANY items starting with the letter and pertaining to the category as you can
Source: Byrdseed
Vocabulary Game
- Fluency: How many did you get?
- Originality: How many are unique?
- Elaboration: Choose 1, write a detailed paragraph in 3 minutes
Alternative Uses Game
- Choose a random object nearby
- Think of as many alternative uses of that object as possible in 3 minutes
Source: Byrdseed
Alternative Uses Game
- Fluency: How many did you get?
- Originality: How many are unique?
- Elaboration: Choose 1, tell us in great detail why it is a good use in 90 seconds
Verbal Task
Non-Verbal Stimuli
Abstract Images
- Find an ambiguous or abstract image
- Come up with as many interesting titles as you can in 3 minutes
Abstract Images
- Fluency: How many did you get?
- Originality: How many are unique?
Abstract Images
- Fluency: How many did you get?
- Originality: How many are unique?
- Elaboration: Choose 1, describe the situation shown in 3 minutes
Abstract Images
- Fluency: How many did you get?
- Originality: How many are unique?
- Elaboration: Choose 1, describe the situation shown in 3 minutes
His answers:
- 4 elephants inspecting a grapefruit
- 4 very unsportsmanlike gopher hunters
Non-Verbal Task
Non-Verbal Stimuli
Drawing Game
- Start with a random squiggle
- Add to the picture as much as you can in a short time
- Can target fluency, originality, or elaboration
Source: Byrdseed
Drawing Game
Other Ideas
- Start with shapes and combine them
- Use blocks, tangrams, play-doh, sand to build
- Tear paper into a design
- Change a coloring book page to be something different
Building Creativity
- Have a purpose or intent
- Reward curiosity and exploration
- Provide opportunity for choice and discovery independently (alone)
- Encourage confidence in risk-taking
- Redefine problems (and solutions)
- Start with many ideas and expand on them without fear of failure
Hindering Creativity
- "That won't work"
- "We've never done it that way"
- "That idea isn't relevant"
- "We don't know how to do that"
- "I don't understand your idea"
- "Let's find a solution everyone agrees on first"
- Only listening to the loudest people