Measuring Creativity

1. Presented by:-
Husnara Ansari

2.  Definition and assessment of creativity have long been a
subject of disagreement and dissatisfaction.
 Creativity can be identified with particular, specifiable features
of products or person or thought processes.
 Creativity defined by the quality of the response that a product
elicits form an observer.

3.  Earliest definitions of creativity focus on the creative process.
 John Watson’s definition is perhaps remarkable：
“How the new comes into being: One natural question often
raised is : How do we ever get new verbal creations such as a
poem or a brilliant essay? The answer is that we get them by
manipulating words, shifting them about until a new pattern is
hit upon.”

4.  Koestler(1964) proposed creativity involves a “bisociative
process”-the deliberate connecting of two previously unrelated
“matrices of thought” to produce a new insight or invention.
 Most explicit definitions have used the creative product as the
distinguishing sign of creativity.

5.  If you were alone in a dark cabin, with only
one match and a lamp, a fireplace, and a
candle to choose from, which would you light
first?

6.  You would light the match first. Without it,
you couldn’t light any of the other appliances.

7. Time
Hard work
Mental energy

8. How are they different?
 Personality Traits
 Cognitive Creativity Skills
 Domain-specific Knowledge
 Intrinsic Motivation

9. Illumination Incubation
Verification
Preparation

10.  Stage One: Preparation (the conscious state)
 In this stage the aim is to acquire more information
about the problem than you already possess. You might
brainstorm, read, collaborate with others, gather your
own past experiences, anything that can help you move
towards solving the problem at hand.

11.  The stage of preparation may vary in length from a few
minutes, as in the case of a brainstorming session, to
months or years, as in the preparation for an invention
or a crucial experiment where more research needs to
be done.

12.  Stage Two: Incubation (the subconscious state)
 Stop thinking of the problem and turn your attention to
anything else. Go for a run, a walk, play with your kids,
read or maybe build that fence you have been meaning to
finish.
 Do anything that stimulates your mind, but does not involve
solving your problem. You are going to give your
unconscious mind time to digest all the material you
gathered in the preparation stage. This is the same principal
used to solve “mental block” or “writers block”. The
incubation stage can last from a few minutes to years.

13.  For example, a writer working on a book may write for
4 days straight, then not write for months. After
incubating, go back to your problem and begin crafting
a solution or idea.
 At the end of this stage, the idea, which has been
incubating, is more clearly defined than it was at the
beginning. The stages of preparation and incubation
might overlap, but that’s ok.

14.  Stage Three: Illumination (The “Ahaaa!” Moment.)
 This is where the idea, which has been incubating,
assumes definite form. Better known as the “Ahaa!
Moment”.
 This is the feeling you get when you have been
struggling with your thoughts and can’t quite put your
finger on what is missing.
 The idea will appear suddenly and comes with a feeling
of certainty. You will typically have an emotional
reaction of joy, knowing you have found an idea, a
solution.

15.  Stage Four: Verification
 This is where you challenge the idea that came to you
in the Illumination stage. Does your solution work
and/or does it need revision?
 For example, a musician plays his composition on the
appropriate musical instrument to see what notes and
chords should be changed.

16.  Brainstorming Rules
 Expressiveness - Say whatever ideas come to mind
without focusing on constraints
 Non-evaluation - No criticism allowed; all are valuable
 Quantity - Produce as many ideas as possible
 Building - Expand on other people’s ideas

17.  Brainwriting
 Hybrid of both individual and group brainstorming
 Produces more ideas than brainstorming

18.  1. Accept that you can be creative
 2. Question traditional assumptions
 3. Expand your problem-solving styles
 4. Employ creativity techniques
 5. Practice thinking in new ways
 6. Learn when your creative thinking is best

20.  Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)

21.  In the early 1940s, E. Paul Torrance, nicknamed “the father of
creativity”, began researching creativity in order to improve
American education. The problem is that, as any good
scientist, Torrance first needed to be able to quantify, measure
and analyze creativity.

22.  That’s how he came up in the 60′s with the set of tests
named Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (or TTCT) where
Torrance claims to be able to measure what he calls “divergent
thinking”

23.  Oral, written, or drawn responses
 It can be scored separately by category
 Teachers given the tests in a group to children
 Four criterion components : fluency, flexibility, elaboration,
originality

24.  Three categories : nonverbal tests, verbal tests using nonverbal
stimuli, verbal tests using verbal stimuli
 The time limit for each test is 3 mints
 The subject is expected to complete the picture and write the
name

27.  History of the test
 During World War II, psychologist J.P. Guilford
developed tests that selected certain individuals to enter
a pilot’s training program. His interests on isolating
different types of thinking for different tasks continued
after the war as he sought to understand human
intelligence and talent.

28.  His work led him into researching IQ tests, and he soon
hypothesized that these tests did not measure creativity
– an unpopular belief during the middle of the last
century.
 In fact, for most of the 20th century, psychologists
believed that IQ and creativity were linked: a high IQ
meant high creativity, and conversely, a lower IQ meant
lower creativity.

29.  In 1967, creative psychology pioneer J.P.
Guilford developed a test to measure
divergent thinking, calling it Guilford’s
Alternative Uses Task.

30.  Test takers list as many possible uses for a
common object, such as a cup, paperclip, or
a newspaper. Scoring is comprised of four
components: originality, fluency, flexibility,
and elaboration.

31.  Originality is based on each response compared to the
total amount of responses from a specific group of test
takers. Responses that are given by 5% of the group are
unusual (1 point), responses that are given by only 1%
of the group are unique (2 points).
 Fluency scores relevant answers.
 Flexibility is based on the difference of categories.
 Elaboration is based on the amount of detail given in
the response. (i.e. 0= a brick as a bed versus 2= a brick
used as a bed for a child’s dolls when the child is
playing outside)

32.  A study conducted by Westby & Dawson(1995)examine
teachers perceptions of creative students.
 Elementary school teachers were asked to rate their
favourite and least favourite students
 They found that there was a significant difference between
the teachers judgements of favourite and least favourite
students
 Judgement for the favourite students were negatively
correlated with creativity ;judgements for the least favourite
students were positively correlated with creativity