Explaining Creativity The Science of Human Innovation

by Sawyer, R. Keith

• ISBN13: 9780195161649
• ISBN10: 0195161645
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the last 50 years, psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists have increasingly turned to studying creativity, so we now know more about it than ever before. However, until about a decade ago, creativity researchers focused only on highly valued activities, such as creating masterpieces in art and making highly significant discoveries in science. In Explaining Creativity , R. Keith Sawyer extends the study of creativity by examining not only these endeavors, but also movies, music videos, cartoons, video games, hypertext fiction, stage performance, business innovation, and advances in computer technology. Sawyer uses the sociocultural approach to creativity that was pioneered by Howard Becker, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and Howard Gardner, allowing him to move beyond the individual to consider the social process. Taking into account the interdisciplinary nature of creativity, Sawyer integrates psychological data with anthropological research on creativity in non-Western cultures and sociological studies on the situations, contexts, and networks of creative activity. For more information, see www.explainingcreativity.com.

Author Biography

R. Keith Sawyer is Associate Professor of Education at Washington University. He is the author of many books on creativity, including Improvised Dialogues, Creating Conversations, and Group Creativity.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Conceptions
Chapter 1 Introduction	3	(6)
Chapter 2 Conceptions of Creativity	9	(26)
INTERLUDE 1 Defining Creativity	35	(4)
Part II Individualist Approaches
Chapter 3 Personality Psychology	39	(18)
Chapter 4 The Second Wave: Cognitive Psychology	57	(20)
Chapter 5 Biology	77	(20)
Chapter 6 Computational Approaches	97	(16)
INTERLUDE 2 From Individual to Context	113	(4)
Part III Contextualist Approaches
Chapter 7 Sociology	117	(20)
Chapter 8 Culture	137	(18)
Chapter 9 History	155	(18)
INTERLUDE 3 Applying Individualist and Contextualist Approaches to Creativity	173	(4)
Part IV Artistic Creativity
Chapter 10 Visual Creativity	177	(28)
Chapter 11 Writing	205	(18)
Chapter 12 Music	223	(20)
Chapter 13 Acting	243	(16)
INTERLUDE 4 Goodbye to Our Creativity Myths	259	(4)
Part V Everyday Creativity
Chapter 14 Science	263	(18)
Chapter 15 Business Creativity	281	(14)
Chapter 16 How to Be More Creative	295	(20)
Epilogue	315	(4)
References	319	(28)
Index	347