Creativity and Development

by Sawyer, R. Keith; John-Steiner, Vera; Moran, Seana; Sternberg, Robert J.; Feldman, David Henry; Gardner, Howard; Nakamura, Jeanne; Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly

• ISBN13: 9780195149005
• ISBN10: 0195149009
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What is creativity, and where does it come from? Creativity and Development explores the fascinating connections and tensions between creativity research and developmental psychology, two fields that have largely progressed independently of each other-until now. In this book, scholarsinfluential in both fields explore the emergence of new ideas, and the development of the people and situations that bring them to fruition. The uniquely collaborative nature of Oxford's Counterpoints series allows them to engage in a dialogue, addressing the key issues and potential benefits ofexploring the connections between creativity and development. Creativity and Development is based on the observation that both creativity and development are processes that occur in complex systems, in which later stages or changes emerge from the prior state of the system. In the 1970s and 1980s,creativity researchers shifted their focus from personality traits to cognitive and social processes, and the co-authors of this volume are some of the most influential figures in this shift. The central focus on system processes results in three related volume themes: how the outcomes of creativityand development emerge from dynamical processes, the interrelation between individual processes and social processes, and the role of mediating artifacts and domains in developmental and creative processes. The chapters touch on a wide range of important topics, with the authors drawing on theirdecades of research into creativity and development. Readers will learn about the creativity of children's play, the creative aspects of children's thinking, the creative processes of scientists, the role of education and teaching in creative development, and the role of multiple intelligences inboth creativity and development. The final chapter is an important dialogue between the authors, who engage in a roundtable discussion and explore key questions facing contemporary researchers, such as: Does society suppress children's creativity? Are creativity and development specific to anintelligence or a domain? What role do social and cultural contexts play in creativity and development? Creativity and Development presents a powerful argument that both creativity scholars and developmental psychologists will benefit by becoming more familiar with each other's work.

Table of Contents

Authors	ix
Introduction	3	(9)
R. KEITH SAWYER
1. Emergence in Creativity and Development	12	(49)
R. KEITH SAWYER
2. Creativity in the Making: Vygotsky's Contemporary Contribution to the Dialectic of Development and Creativity	61	(30)
SEANA MORAN and VERA JOHN-STEINER
3. The Development of Creativity as a Decision-Making Process	91	(48)
ROBERT J. STERNBERG
4. The Creation of Multiple Intelligences Theory: A Study in High-Level Thinking	139	(47)
DAVID HENRY FELDMAN, with the collaboration of HOWARD GARDNER
5. Creativity in Later Life	186	(31)
JEANNE NAKAMURA and MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
6. Key Issues in Creativity and Development	217	(26)
Prepared by all authors
Index	243