Dimensions of Creativity

by Boden, Margaret A.

• ISBN13: 9780262522199
• ISBN10: 0262522195
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-09-01
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

Dimensions of Creativitybrings together original articles that draw on a range of disciplines-from the history and sociology of science, psychology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence-to ask how creative ideas arise, and whether creativity can be objectively defined and measured. Margaret Boden and her colleagues Simon Schaffer, Gerd Gigerenzer, David N. Perkins, Howard Gardner, Colin Martindale, and Hans J. Eysenck demonstrate that creativity requires not only challenging new ideas but their acceptance by some relevant social group. Although some new ideas can arise as novel associations, others are generated by exploiting structural features of an existing conceptual space. Strong motivations often drive the creators and those who evaluate and perpetuate their work. The seven essays-although very different-are complementary. The book can serve as an up-to-date introduction to the study of creativity in various disciplines. The many references provide a way into the relevant literature. A Bradford Book

Table of Contents

Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Making Up Discovery

Perspiration and Inspiration

The Man on the Clapham Omnibus

In Search of the Source

The Ends of Discovery

Acknowledgments

References

Where Do New Ideas Come From?

Probabilistic Functionalism

New Tools: The Inference Revolution

New Ideas: The Cognitive Revolution

Causal Reasoning: Mind as Statistician

Practical Context versus Mathematical Structure

Sensory Detection and Discrimination: Mind as Statistician

The Mind as Intuitive Statistician

Conclusions

Institutionalized Rituals of Scientific Justification

From Institutionalzed Tools to Compelling Theories

Which Comes First, Discovery or Justification?

References

What Is Creativity?

The Definition of Creativity

Exploring and Transforming Conceptual Spaces

The Relevance of Computational Psychology

Conceptual Spaces in the Visual Arts

Modeling Musical Creativity

Literary Spaces

Analogy

Transformation in Models of Scientific Discovery

Genetic Algorithms

Can Creativity Be Measured?

References

Creativity: Beyond the Darwinian Paradigm

Adaptive Novelty and Klondike Spaces

The Evolutionary Creative System

The Meme Creative System

The Inventor Creative System

Can We Measure Creativity?

The Evolution of Invention

Acknowledgment

References

The Creators' Patterns

Approaches to Creativity

The Present Approach

E. C.: An Exemplary Creator

Cognition

Other Psychological Dimensions

Domain

Field

Fruitful Asynchrony

Two Unexpected Findings

Final Reflections

Note

References

How Can We Measure a Society's Creativity?

A Psychological Theory of Aesthetic Evolution

Aesthetic Variability

Selection Criteria

Hedonic Selection

The Direction of Aesthetic Evolution

General Predictions

Strong and Weak Versions of the Theory

Retention Mechanisms

The Timing of Stylistic Change

Empirical Investigations

The Evolution of British Poetry

Sampling

General Method

Programs

Arousal Potential

Primordial Content

Stylistic Change

Tests of the Strong versus Weak Versions of the Theory

Specificity of the Trends to Poetic Language

Conclusions

Sociocultural Correlates of Creativity in Great Britain

References

The Measurement of Creativity

The Definition of Creativity

Creativity as a Trait

Creativity as Achievement

The Creative Personality

The Creative Personality and Preference for Complexity

Psychoticism and Creativity

Psychoticism and the Creative Process

Discussion and Summary

References

Index

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