The document summarizes a lecture on creativity in scientific research given on March 7, 2016. It discusses definitions of creativity, the six resources needed for creativity including intellectual abilities, knowledge, thinking styles, personality, motivation, and environment. It also outlines decisions that can develop creativity such as redefining problems, questioning assumptions, and tolerating ambiguity. The lecture assessed creative talent and thinking styles and discussed three types of creative contributions to science: those that accept, reject, or integrate current paradigms. It highlighted recent recipients of creative research awards.

1. Monday 12-2 pm. March 7, 2016
Program of scientific Research Skills
Research Center-Center for Female Scientific & Medical Colleges-
Deanship of Scientific Research
Kind Saud University
‫محاضرة‬(‫العلمي‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫في‬ ‫األبداع‬)
Creativity in Scientific Research . Dr. Amal Saadallah. Scientist/ Section Head
NSBGL. Research Center KFSH&RC-R. Clinical Pathology Consultant . PhD
Health Adminstration
Deanship of Scientific Research
Research Center-Center for Female Scientific & Medical Colleges
«‫العلمي‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫مهارات‬ ‫برنامج‬8»

2. Target Audience
• Science & Health Colleges
• Higher Education Students Master Degree, PhD Degree, and some
final years students
• Number: ~ 40
‫محاضرة‬(‫العلمي‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫في‬ ‫األبداع‬)

3. Introduction (1)
• As more knowledge brings more complex
problems to solve, more & more
creativity in needed in the scientific filed
every day. (StraightAscholar)
• IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified
creativity as the No. 1 “leadership
competency” of the future.

4. Introduction (2)
• Fact-finding & deep research are vital
stages in the creative process.
• Teaching students how to think logically
& how to think creatively & to use these
skills to build their own knowledge.
• This goes against the stereotype of
teaching sciences.

5. Creativity …
Albert Einstein said:
"Imagination is More Important than
Knowledge.
Knowledge is Limited.
Imagination Encircles the World."

6. Definitions (1)
Creativity (Noun) Creative (Adjective)
Quality of
Being Creative.
Ability to Create.
Having or Showing
Ability to Make New
Things or Think of
New Ideas.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

7. Definitions (2)
Create (Verb) Creation (Noun)
To Produce
Something New by
using Talents &
Imagination.
Act of Making or
Producing Something
that Did Not Exist
Before.
Act of Creating
Something.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

8. Synonyms of Creativity
Cleverness Creativeness Imagination
Imaginativene
ss
Ingeniousness, Ingenuity
Innovativeness Invention Inventiveness
Originality
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

9. Rejection of Creative Notions (a)
• Systems in most schools strongly tend to favor
children with strengths in memory &
analytical abilities.
• Creative notions often rejected when the
creative innovator stands up to vested
interests & defies the crowd.

10. Rejection of Creative Notions (b)
• People do not willfully reject creative notions.
Rather, they do not realize or want to realize,
that the proposed idea represents a valid &
advanced way thinking.
• Society often perceives opposition to the
status quo as annoying, offensive, & reason
enough ignore innovative ideas.

11. Resources of Creativity

12. Creativity Requires 6 Distinct but
Interrelated Resources
1. Intellectual Abilities
2. Knowledge
3. Styles of Thinking
4. Personality
5. Motivation
6. Environment
Robert J. Sternberg

13. 1. Intellectual Abilities
• See problems in
new ways &
escape the
bounds of
conventional
thinking
Synthetic
Skill
• Recognize which
ideas are worth
pursuing &
which are not
Analytic Skill
• Know how to
persuade others
on the value of
one’s ideas
Practical–
Contextual
Skill
**Flowing Together of the 3 Skills

14. If not together ..
• See problems in new
ways & escape the
bounds of conventional
thinking
Synthetic
Skill
• Result in new ideas that
are not subjected to the
scrutiny required to
improve them & make
them work.
If Used
Alone

15. If not together ..
• Recognize which
ideas are worth
pursuing & which
are not
Analytic
Skill
• Result in
powerful critical,
but not creative
thinking
If Used
Alone

16. If not together ..
• Know how to
persuade others
on the value of
one’s ideas
Practical–
contextual Skill
• Result in societal
acceptance of ideas not
because the ideas are
good, but rather,
because the ideas have
been well and
powerfully presented
If Used Alone

17. 2. Knowledge..
• one needs to know
enough about a field
to move it forward.
One cannot move
beyond where a field
is if one does not
know where it is.
On the one
hand,
• knowledge about a
field can result in a
closed & fixed
perspective, resulting
in a person’s not
moving beyond the
way in which he or
she has seen in the
past.
On the
other hand,
Knowledge thus can help, or it can hinder creativity.

18. 3. Styles of Thinking Introduction (a)
Type 1:Creativity-Generating
Legislative (Creative)
Judicial (Evaluative)
Hierarchical (Prioritizing)
Global (Holistic)
Liberal (New approach)
 Denote: higher levels of cognitive complexity
Chang Zhu & Li-Fang Zhang
Ability to switch between conventional & unconventional
modes of thinking is important to creativity. (Sternberg)

19. 3. Styles of Thinking Introduction (b)
Type 2: Norm-Favoring Tendency
Executive (Given Orders)
Local (Details)
Monarchic (One at a time)
Conservative (Traditional approaches)
 Suggest a norm-favoring tendency
Chang Zhu & Li-Fang Zhang
Ability to switch between conventional & unconventional
modes of thinking is important to creativity. (Sternberg)

20. 3. Styles of Thinking Introduction (c)
Type 3: From both Type 1 & 2
Anarchic (Whatever come along)
Oligarchic (Multiple tasks with no priority)
Internal (working on one’s own)
External (working with others)
 Depending on stylistic demands of a specific
task.
Chang Zhu & Li-Fang Zhang
Ability to switch between conventional & unconventional
modes of thinking is important to creativity. (Sternberg)

21. 3. Styles of Thinking & Creativity (a)
With regard to thinking styles, a legislative
style is particularly important for creativity
• Legislative Style: Creative
• i.e. a preference for thinking & a decision to
think in new ways.
• Note: legislative people tend to be better
students than less legislative people, if the
schools in which they study value creativity.

22. 3. Styles of Thinking & Creativity (b)
It helps to become a major creative thinker, if
one is able to think globally as well as locally
• Globally: Holistic.
• i.e. recognizing which questions are
important & which ones are not.
• Locally: Details.

23. 4. Personality Attributes
• Attributes important for creative functioning
include:
a) Willingness to overcome obstacles
b) Willingness to take sensible risks
c) Willingness to tolerate ambiguity
d) Self-efficacy
• One of the risks faced is that the evaluators
will not appreciate the creativity if it goes
against their own beliefs!

24. 5. Motivation
Intrinsic, task-focused motivation is
essential to creativity.
• People do creative work if they really love
what they are doing & focus on the work
rather than the potential rewards.
Motivation is not something inherent in a
person
• One decides to be motivated .

25. 6. Environment
Supportive & rewarding of creative ideas:
e.g. a forum for proposing those ideas
Obstacles:
Ninor, as when an individual receives negative
feedback
Major, as when one’s well-being or even life are
threatened
• Determinant of creativity growth: changing criteria
for evaluations of creativity on the part of raters.

26. Confluence of the Six Creativity Resources (1)
Creativity is more than a simple sum of the
level on each component.
1. A thresholds for some components
below which creativity is not possible
regardless of levels on other components
(e.g., knowledge) .

27. Confluence of the Six Creativity Resources (2)
2. Compensation may occur in which
strength on one component make-up
for weakness on another (e.g.,
motivation/ environment).

28. Confluence of the Six Creativity Resources (3)
3. Interaction may occur between
components, in which high levels on
both components could exponentially
enhance creativity (as intellectual
abilities & motivation).

29. Decisions to Creativity
in Research

30. Decisions to Develop Creativity (1)
(1) Redefine problems, (2) Question &
analyze assumptions, (3) Do not assume
that creative ideas sell themselves: sell
them, (4) Encourage the generation of ideas,
(5) Recognize that knowledge can both help
& hinder creativity, (6) Identify & surmount
obstacles, (7) Take sensible risks,

31. Decisions to Develop Creativity (2)
(8) Tolerate ambiguity, (9) Believe in oneself
(self-efficacy), (10) Find what one loves to
do, (k) Delay gratification, (11) Role-model
creativity, (12) Cross-fertilize ideas, (13)
Reward creativity,

32. Decisions to Develop Creativity (3)
(14) Allow mistakes, (15) Encourage
collaboration, (16) See things from others’
points of view, (17) Take responsibility for
successes & failures, (18) Maximize person–
environment fit, (19) Continue to allow
intellectual growth

33. Assessments

34. Assessments of Creative Talent
• Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
(Torrance, 1974)
• remain the most widely used
assessments of creative talent.

35. Assessments of Thinking Styles
• Questionnaire to help understand thinking
styles—how person tend to approach
situations & make decisions.
• There are no right or wrong answers.
• Think about how you actually behave &
choose the response that most accurately
describes you.
Pearson Education, Inc
http://www.thinkwatson.com/mythinkingstyles-start

36. Creativity & Science

37. Creativity & Science
Creativity is, by its nature, propulsion.
It moves a field from some point to
another.
There are 3 major types of creativity
contributions (creativity)
Types = Paradigms = Models

38. A. Creativity that Accept Current Paradigms &
Attempt to Extend Them
Replication (Stationary Motion) an attempt to show that the
field is in the right place. The propulsion keeps the field where
it is.
Re-defintion (Circular Motion) an attempt to redefine where
the field is. The current status of the field thus is seen from
different points of view.
Forward incrementation (Expected Rate) an attempt to move
the field forward in the direction it already is going.
Advance forward incrementation (Beyond Expected) an
attempt to move the field forward in the direction it is already
going but by moving beyond where others are ready for it to
go.

39. B. Creativity that Reject Current Paradigms &
Attempt to Replace Them
Redirection (Motion in a direction That diverges
from the way the field is currently moving).
Reconstruction/ Redirection (Backward to
original location then forward).
Reinitiation (Attempt to move the field to a
different, as-yet-unreached, starting point &
then to move from that point).

40. C. Creativity that Attempt to Integrate Multiple
Current Paradigms
Integration. An attempt to integrate two
formerly diverse ways of thinking about
phenomena into a single way of thinking about a
phenomenon.
The propulsion thus is a combination of two
different approaches that are linked together.

41. A Journal of Creativity Sciences & Research

42. Creativity in Research Journal
1988-Date
Capture the full range of approaches to the
study of creativity
behavioral, clinical, cognitive, cross-cultural,
developmental, educational, genetic,
organizational, psychoanalytic, psychometrics,
& social.

43. Creative Research Awards

44. Creative Research Medal 2015
Research Awards Program ©2016 University of Georgia Research Foundation,
Inc. University of Georgia Research Foundation.
Jan Westpheling Professor of
Genetics
Engineered (biofuels ) ethanol
production using
bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor
bescii using sustainable biomass
feedstocks, reducing dependence on
non-renewable fuel & limiting the
production of greenhouse gasses.

45. Creative Research Medal 2015
Research Awards Program ©2016 University of Georgia Research Foundation,
Inc. University of Georgia Research Foundation.
Scott Ardoin Professor of
Educational Psychology
Application of eye-tracking
devices, to better understand
how & why students’ reading
improves in repeated readings
(RR) intervention.

46. Lamar Dodd Award 2015
Geert-Jan Boons Professor in
Biochemical Sciences
Developed vaccine that trains immune
system to recognize & attack tumors—
shrunk tumor 80 %.
Developed method to synthesize
asymmetrical N-glycans (structures that
are essential for normal cell function).
Will allow understanding of how
complex carbohydrates function how to
fight against the diseases some of them
cause.

47. Thank you

48. Monday 12-2 pm. March 7, 2016
Program of scientific Research Skills
Research Center-Center for Female Scientific & Medical Colleges-
Deanship of Scientific Research
Kind Saud University
‫محاضرة‬(‫العلمي‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫في‬ ‫األبداع‬)
Creativity in Scientific Research . Dr. Amal Saadallah. Scientist/
Section Head NSBGL. Research Center KFSH&RC-R. Clinical
Pathology Consultant . PhD Health Adminstration
Deanship of Scientific Research
Research Center-Center for Female Scientific & Medical Colleges