Creativity is an activity that results in a product that is original. Now they are starting to move away from this definition and consider creativity in the broad and narrow sense of the word.
V broad sense creativity is defined as the creation by man of an actively transformed reality.
Those., special person creates a specific new discovery for himself when he builds his world and uses his abilities, knowledge and skills in the process of this construction. In this case, the novelty that a person creates does not lie in an objectively new end result, but in independent creation system of relationships with the world, in the transformation of this world. The world is understood not necessarily as a material world, but, first of all, as a social world of activity, a world of relations. Thus, creativity becomes a central link in human development. And every person creates
V narrow sense, Creativity is an activity that results in creation of new material or spiritual values.
How creativity differs from objective activity. The main sign of activity is the correspondence of the result of the activity to the goal, and the creative act is characterized by a mismatch between the idea and the result. Creativity can arise in activity as a by-product. The main thing in creativity is not external activity, but internal.
Signs of a creative act:
1) unconsciousness;
2) spontaneity, suddenness;
3) uncontrollability by will and mind;
4) altered state of consciousness;
5) excitement.
Personal aspect of creativity. A person has abilities, motives, knowledge and skills, thanks to which she creates a product that is distinguished by novelty, originality and uniqueness (uniqueness). The study of these abilities, knowledge and motives made it possible to identify the most important of them for the creative process: 1. Imagination. 2. Intuition. 3. The need of the individual for self-actualization.
Imagination creativity by its very nature.
Intuition(from lat. Inueri - closely, attentively, look) - knowledge that arises without awareness of the ways and conditions for its receipt, due to which the subject has it as a result of "direct discretion". Intuition is treated as a specific ability (for example, artistic or scientific intuition); and as a "holistic coverage" of the conditions of the problem situation (sensory, intellectual intuition); and as a mechanism for creative activity (creative intuition). Intuition presupposes the ability to single out at an unconscious level the most essential properties of the studied phenomena, objects, hidden from direct observation.
The need of the individual for self-actualization. For some authors, it is transformed into a need for meaning, and even a need for the meaning of life. It either does not occur at all, or occurs at any age. If it does not arise, there is no impetus for creativity. In a broad sense, a person is forced to create, but in a narrow sense he does not want to. It is the need of the individual for self-actualization, when satisfied, that allows the individual to expand its creative possibilities.
Many creative individuals note a special mental state called inspiration as a necessary component of creativity.
Types and functions of creativity
There are different types of creativity:
- production and technical
- inventive
- scientific
- political
- organizational
- artistic
- everyday household, etc.
in other words, the types of creativity correspond to the types of practical and spiritual activity.
Vitaly Tepikin, a researcher of the creative factor of man and the phenomenon of the intelligentsia, singles out artistic, scientific, technical, sports-tactical, and military-tactical creativity as independent types.
Creativity as an ability
Creativity as a process (creative thinking)
Stages of creative thinking
G. Wallace
The description of the sequence of stages (stages) of creative thinking, which was given by the Englishman Graham Wallace in 1926, is best known today. He identified four stages of creative thinking:
- Training- formulation of the problem; attempts to solve it.
- Incubation- temporary distraction from the task.
- insight- the emergence of an intuitive solution.
- Examination- testing and/or implementation of the solution.
However, this description is not original and goes back to the classic report of A. Poincaré in 1908.
A. Poincare
They were especially willing to come ... during the hours of a leisurely ascent through the wooded mountains, on a sunny day. The slightest amount of liquor seemed to scare them away.
It is curious to note that stages similar to those described by Poincare were singled out in the process of artistic creativity by B. A. Lezin at the beginning of the 20th century.
- Work fills the sphere of consciousness with content, which will then be processed by the unconscious sphere.
- Unconscious work represents a selection of the typical; “but how that work is done, of course, it cannot be judged, it is a mystery, one of the seven world mysteries.”
- Inspiration there is a "shifting" from the unconscious sphere into the consciousness of a ready-made conclusion.
Stages of the inventive process
In the most acute form, the connection between the personal and the creative is revealed by N. A. Berdyaev. He's writing:
Creativity Motivation
V. N. Druzhinin writes:
Creativity is based on the global irrational motivation of human alienation from the world; it is directed by a tendency to overcome it, it functions according to the type of "positive feedback"; a creative product only spurs the process, turning it into a pursuit of the horizon.
Thus, through creativity, a person is connected with the world. Creativity stimulates itself.
Mental health, freedom and creativity
N. A. Berdyaev adheres to the following point of view:
The creative act is always liberation and overcoming. It has an experience of power.
Thus, creativity is something in which a person can exercise his freedom, connection with the world, connection with his deepest essence.
see also
Notes
Literature
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- Ananiev BG Psychology and problems of human knowledge. Moscow-Voronezh. 1996.
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- Berdyaev N. A. Experience of eschatological metaphysics// Creativity and objectification / comp. A. G. Shimansky, Yu. O. Shimanskaya. - Minsk: Ekonompress, 2000.
- Berdyaev N.A. The meaning of creativity// Philosophy of creativity, culture and art. - M.: Art, 1994.
- Winnicott D. Game and reality. Moscow: Institute for General Humanitarian Research, 2002.
- Druzhinin VN Psychology of general abilities. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002.
- May R. Courage to create: Essay on the psychology of creativity. - Lviv: Initiative; Moscow: Institute for General Humanitarian Research, 2001.
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- Rubinshtein S. L. Fundamentals general psychology, - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2005.
- Sabaneev L. L. Psychology of the musical and creative process // Art, 1923. - No. 1. - P. 195-212.
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- Psychology and poetry Carl Gustav Jung
- On the psychology of inventive creativity // Questions of Psychology, No. 6, 1956. - P. 37-49 © Altshuller G. S., Shapiro R. B., 1956
- Psychology of children's creativity (part 1) Ella Prokofieva
What is creativity? A landscape painted on canvas, or a poem filled with emotional experiences, a new architectural masterpiece or delicious dish prepared by the chef? Creativity inspired by the impulse of the soul is expressed in different things, it is unique and invaluable not only for the author, but sometimes for all mankind.
Creativity - what is it?
Uniqueness is the main criterion of this concept. The very concept of "creativity" implies the process of human activity, which creates certain values, both material and spiritual. Such a result can only be achieved by the author of this work. This fact adds value to the final result. At the same time, in the process of producing creativity, the author expresses his personal aspects.
Psychology of creativity
Science, technology, the arts, an ordinary day in everyday life - all these can be areas in which a person manifests his uniqueness. A whole branch of psychology studies the creative activity of a person. Psychology actively studies creativity and inspiration, imagination, individuality and intuition. Long years of studying these areas have not given clear answers to the questions of what creativity is and how to implement it in life. ordinary people. The psychology of creativity is based on the relationship that develops between the author and the product.
Philosophy of creativity
A person has no limit in the world of desires and fantasies. An egoist desires everything that other people do not have, a person who is obsessed with a dream desires something that does not exist in nature, a rational person's thirst for creativity results in. The whole philosophy of creativity is aimed at the fact that harmony and beauty were created, and the created masterpieces served for the benefit of civilization.
Types of creativity
A creative person can seek the realization of his ideas, plans, flights of fancy in different types activities:
- Scientific creativity- various kinds of discoveries, the end product is knowledge.
- Technical creativity- practical or technological development, the final product is a mechanism or design.
- Artistic creativity- the aesthetic basis of the world, the desire for beauty. The final product is an artistic image (poem, painting, sculpture).
- co-creation is the perception of works of art, their interpretation.
- Children's creativity- the process of the child's imagination, his fantasy.
- Pedagogical creativity- a special approach to teaching knowledge, its goal is to teach something new.
What develops creativity in a person?
No one can give a clear, definite answer to the question posed. In order to discover and develop a person must answer for himself the question, what is creativity specifically for him? Harmony can contribute to the development of human abilities in creativity, it is worth trying to look at the familiar world with different eyes, from a new angle. Having cleared your consciousness, it is much easier to scoop up something new that the world will offer. The real creator lives in every person.
What encourages creativity?
tolerance for the environment and inner peace is the foundation of the creative process. It is easier for a person open to the world, devoid of stereotypes and prejudices, to feel the subtlest matter of creativity, to feel the light breath of the muse behind him:
- Worth finding a tune that renders positive influence to the creative process.
- Writing by hand rather than using a computer encourages creativity.
- Meditation - The best way relax put your thoughts in order.
- Practicing free association will awaken the imagination.
- Do not get hung up, it is sometimes worth thinking about something far away. For example, how to meet New Year in 2030.
- Blues and greens influence creativity.
- A change of scenery can encourage creativity.
- Laugh, even through force. This will have a positive effect on the brain.
- Do something with your hands.
- Train. During sports, not only the body is strengthened, but also the brain is largely liberated.
- Try something new. Life and creativity are closely connected, new emotions can bring, for example, a trip abroad, conquering mountains, diving to the depths of the sea.
- Sleep, that very “morning is wiser than the evening” really works.
Where does any creativity begin?
An idea or an idea is the beginning of any work of an artist, composer, writer, inventor, fashion designer. The creative process begins with a figurative sketch, the concept of the whole work. For each individual, this process takes place in its own way, but is always divided into three stages. Without compliance with such a plan of action, the idea will be born spontaneously and not always implemented.
- cognition and creative processing of impressions;
- the emergence of an artistic concept;
- implementation of the idea.
Creativity and imagination
New images are created on the basis of the reality of the surrounding world. But seasoned with imagination, they make creativity truly unique. allows you to get an idea about something at the same time without coming into contact with it. Creativity in human life is always associated with the imagination, examples of which can be seen when studying the process of creation. For example, when creating fabulous creatures and various items special methods are used.
- displacement - the subjective transfer of an object to new, unusual situations;
- typification - assignment of an object to a specific type;
- analogy - creating an image by analogy with another;
- exaggeration or understatement;
- giving - new functions and properties are attributed to the object;
- agglutination is the creation of an image from two different ideas.
Creativity and creativity
Often, most people perceive these concepts as one whole. But such a comparison is wrong. The word "creativity" in the late 80s came to the business community, and after that it began to be used in wide circles. Creativity is the ability that a person can show in non-standard, creative thinking, his ability to advance unique ideas. Creativity implies the activity of creating, the ability to overcome stereotypes, this is the motivation for the new. Creativity and creativity are closely related, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate them from each other.
How to develop creative abilities?
Striving for more is a normal human development in any field. a person is unlimited, and with proper training, he can surprise the owner, who doubted the presence of at least some creative rudiments in his personality:
- Morning ritual. Waking up, immediately take a pen, notebook and write. About what? About everything! The main thing is to write, you don’t have to think too much. You should write at least 750 words.
- We ask a question to any object or action: “What if?”. For example, what if dogs could talk? What if everyone in the world were silent? This method is called .
- Fragmentation and connection of different words. This method will surely force the brain to turn off habitual thinking and turn on fantasy. You need to take two different words break them up and put them together. For example, pillow + blanket = blown, curtains + tulle = curtains.
- The Torrens method is based on the same type of doodles, which are also called doodles. On a sheet of paper it is worth drawing the same symbols (several circles or squares, crosses, rhombuses, and so on). We turn on the fantasy and draw using the drawn figures.
- Method of focal objects. We "take" a random object, for example, a pencil, a comb, the sky and open a book (newspaper, magazine) on any page. We “grab” random 5 words, associate them with the subject in the story.
Creative crisis
Fantasy does not turn on, inspiration does not come, everything around is gray and gloomy and clearly does not contribute to the birth of a new idea or masterpiece. can affect any person whose activity or life is somehow connected with creativity. What is the problem with creativity? You should not look for answers in the world around you, without understanding yourself. Finding answers to the questions “What is creativity? How to start creating again? Where can you find creative inspiration? will be fruitless if a person does not find the strength in himself to find peace.
- It is necessary to create (write, draw, design, and so on) in the same place.
- It is worth taking the same time for creative activities.
- Before starting work, it is worth listening to the same song.
- Use the same things for work, for example, for writing the same text editor, for drawing familiar brushes and an easel.
- You should work every day, the weekend destroys the order most of all.
Books about creativity
Drawing inspiration from books, many are inspired by the life of heroes, examples of their lives. The world of creativity is unusual, bright and passionate, presented in many works of famous authors:
- "Steal Like an Artist" Austin Kleon. The author tells readers about how to discover creativity in yourself.
- "Muse, where are your wings?" Yana Frank filled with inspiration and written for people who have decided to devote their entire lives to creativity.
- "The Embodiment of Ideas" by Scott Belksy will tell you how to overcome doubts, prioritize and achieve results.
- "Genius Made to Order" by Mark Levy offers unusual way find a solution to a problem - freewriting.
- "Create and sell" S. Voinskaya. The book tells how to sell your creation.
CREATION. Creativity is usually understood as artistic, scientific and technical creativity. But the creative element takes place in any kind of activity: in business, sports, games, in a simple thought process, in daily communication, as the famous physicist, academician P. Kapitsa says, wherever a person does not act according to instructions. The essence of creativity is in the discovery and creation of a qualitatively new, having some value. In scientific creativity, new facts and laws are discovered, what exists, but what was not known. Technical creativity invents something that was not there, new devices. In art, new spiritual, aesthetic values are discovered and new artistic images, new artistic forms are created, “invented”. Philosophical creativity combines the features of scientific and artistic creativity.
Different types of creativity differ in results, products of creativity, but obey the same psychological laws. Any process of creativity presupposes a subject of creativity, a creator motivated to creativity by certain needs, motives, incentives, possessing certain knowledge, skills, and creative abilities. Common are the main stages of the creative process: preparation, maturation (“incubation”), insight (“insight”) and verification.
The natural inclinations of creative abilities are inherent in every person. But in order to reveal them and develop them to the full, certain objective and subjective conditions are needed: early and skillful training, a creative climate, strong-willed qualities of a person (perseverance, efficiency, courage, etc.).
The biggest enemy of creativity is fear. Fear of failure stifles imagination and initiative. Another enemy of creativity is too high self-criticism, fear of mistakes and imperfections. Anyone who seeks to develop creative abilities should remember that dissatisfaction is the ferment of the new. She renews creativity. Mistakes are common and inevitable companions of achievement. From the point of view of drawing lessons, the shortcomings are even “more interesting” than the merits, they are devoid of the same perfection, they are diverse, they reflect the personality of the creator. Being able to find your mistakes is just as important as keeping the good in your work. The third serious enemy of creativity is laziness and passivity. Even a small task must be completed with full dedication.
The core of creativity, the peak of the creative act is “enlightenment”, insight, when it penetrates into consciousness, it is generated (generated) new idea- scientific, philosophical, technical or artistic. But this often leads to a long path of preliminary work, during which the prerequisites for the birth of the new are created.
One of them is vigilance in search of problems, the ability and desire to see what does not fit into the framework of previously learned. This is a special observation, characterized by a fresh look. The basis of such observation is the verbalization of visual (or auditory) experience, that is, its expression with the help of words or other information codes.
It can be important to capture the whole picture, the whole chain of reasoning, to “fold” to one generalizing concept or symbol with one glance. Economical symbolic - whether it is a scientific or artistic symbol - the designation of information is the most important condition for creative, productive thinking.
Of essential importance is the ability that can and should be trained, to apply the skill acquired in solving one problem to solving another. It is necessary to develop generalizing strategies and algorithms. For example, in chess creativity, this is facilitated by the solution of chess problems and the analysis of etudes. It is useful to seek analogies. For example, in technical creativity, a whole trend called "bionics" is based on the use of samples taken from wildlife. The myth of Daedalus speaks of his nephew, who invented the saw, taking the backbone of a bony fish as a model.
Analogy widely distributes attention, creates conditions for "lateral thinking", the ability to "think about", to see the path to a solution using "outside" information. The analogy is successful when the problem becomes a stable goal of activity, its dominant.
Purpose, i.e. the question of the task is an important factor distant association, establishing links between distant areas and concepts. The ability to “link” concepts and images is important and necessary for creativity, but it must be balanced by the ability to tear observed facts from habitual associations. On the one hand, one must be able to combine newly perceived information with what was previously known, to include them in an already established system of knowledge, but on the other hand, to be able to get rid of the pressure of prior knowledge. This facilitates the generation of new ideas, eliminates inertia, rigidity of thinking. Inert, inflexible thinking gets used to the normal functioning of things. The transition to other possible functions is difficult for him. In this case, enumeration exercises are useful. possible ways using everyday items such as a hammer, brick, canned food, etc.
For creative thinking, the ability to break away from a consistent, logical consideration of facts and combine the elements of thought into new holistic images is important. This allows you to see the new in the long-familiar. Logical thinking- a tool for analysis, dismemberment of incoming information into elements and connecting them into mental chains. This discursive way of processing information is determined by the work of the left ("speech") hemisphere of the brain. This hemisphere governs right hand. Other, right hemisphere processes information not in parts, but holistically with the help of images. It controls the left hand. Each person, as a rule, is dominated by one or the other hemisphere, and people are divided into "right-handed" and "left-handed". Creativity is carried out as a result of the work of both hemispheres, but the "right-handed" are inclined and more "suitable" for logical, analytical, scientific thinking. "Left-handers" operate more successfully in the sphere of figurative, holistic, artistic thinking. It is important for a person to know what type of mental activity he belongs to. According to the classification of I.P. Pavlov, people are divided into mental and artistic types. Knowing yourself, you can better choose a more successful area of creative activity. When "left-brain people" (thinking type) think about the answer to a question, their gaze deviates to the right, for "right-brain" people - to the left. “Right-brained” people perceive music better; in speech, not only the meaning of words is important for them, but especially intonation.
The path to solving the problem, as a rule, is not direct and unambiguous. You have to choose between many alternatives. Some psychologists generally reduce creativity to the selection and enumeration of options. But the selection process requires a transition from one search "field" to another, sometimes a radical change in point of view. This is where the feedback principle comes into play to change the direction of the search. Creativity consists of a certain number of cycles, and each subsequent one involves an assessment of the success of the previous one. The ability to evaluate is an extremely important ability to evaluate an idea before it is tested. Among the evaluation criteria, one can single out logical consistency, compliance with previously accumulated experience, as well as aesthetic criteria for elegance, simplicity and cost savings.
The ability to evaluate is inextricably linked with the central creative ability - creative fantasy. The most important significance of this ability lies in the fact that it makes it possible to imagine the future result of a creative search before the end of the activity, as if to foresee it. The presentation of the expected result fundamentally distinguishes human creativity from the search activity of animals, which is mainly instinctive in nature. ()
In addition to abilities, motives are the most important side of creativity. Creative skills by themselves do not translate into creative achievements. To get results, you need desire and will. Motives are divided into external and internal. The former include the desire for material benefits, to secure one's position. This also includes “pressure of circumstances”, the presence of problematic situations, the presentation of a task, competition, the desire to surpass colleagues and comrades, rivals, etc.
Much more important are internal motives, which, of course, are connected with external circumstances and manifest themselves due to them. The basis of internal motives is an innate need for search activity, a tendency to novelty and innovation, the need for new experiences. For people who are creatively gifted, the very search for something new brings much more satisfaction than achieved result and especially its material benefits.
According to psychoanalysis, the most important motive for creativity is unsatisfied actual desires that cause tension in the psyche. For example, artists, writers, poets seek to solve some personal problem in their work, reduce tension within the psyche, overcome any internal conflict. Dissatisfaction also arises on the basis of a constant desire for clarity, simplicity, orderliness, completeness.
The leading motive of creativity is also the desire for self-expression, or self-actualization, the desire to assert one's personality, to defend one's self. This is also connected with the desire of some people to act contrary to the existing and generally recognized, the tendency to the opposite, to opposition.
As a natural, innate, creative principle in man, it opposes technical rationalism, the technical activity of design. This was clearly manifested in attempts to model creative processes on a computer (heuristic programming). It turned out that the creative processes themselves cannot be formalized in the form of an algorithm.
The bearer of creativity as a socio-cultural phenomenon is the human personality. It is evidence of the spiritual and personal nature of creativity. In creativity, personality manifests itself as something free, integral, indivisible and unique.
In a concentrated form, creativity is present in artistic, scientific and technical creativity. Here, creative activity goes beyond the profession and becomes a vocation, often the ideal of life and destiny. Successes and failures become here the main events of life. In creativity, a person is, as it were, "more than himself." The larger the creator, the more clearly universal, general cultural tasks and problems are manifested in his work.
Evgeny Basin