John Baer

Recent research findings have challenged the idea that creativity is domain-general. Domain Specificity of Creativity brings together the research information on domain specificity in creativity -- both the research that supports it and answers to research arguments that might seem to challenge it. The implications for domain specificity affect how we move forward with theories of creativity, testing for creativity, and teaching for creativity. The book outlines what these changes are and how creativity research and applications of that research will change in light of these new findings. Summarizes research regarding domain specificity in creativity Outlines implications of these findings for creativity theory, testing, and teaching Identifies unanswered questions and new research opportunities

Domain Specificity of Creativity

Do general-purpose creative-thinking skills -- skills like divergent thinking, which is touted as an important component of creative thinking no matter what the task domain -- actually make much of a contribution to creative performance? Although much recent research argues against such domain-transcending skills -- including several new studies reported in this book -- the appeal of such general skills remains strong, probably because of the theoretical economy and power such skills would provide. Divergent thinking, in particular, has had an incredible staying power. Despite its many flaws, divergent thinking remains the most frequently used indicator of creativity in both creativity research and educational practice, and divergent thinking theory has a strong hold on everyday conceptions of what it means to be creative. Reviewing the available research on divergent thinking, this book presents a framework for understanding other major theories of creativity, including Mednick's associative theory and a possible connectionist approach of creativity. It reports a series of studies (including the study that won APA's 1992 Berlyne Prize) that demonstrate the absence of effects of general creative-thinking skills across a range of creativity-relevant tasks, but indicate that training in divergent thinking does in fact improve creative performance across diverse task domains. The book then ties these findings together with a multi-level theory, in which a task-specific approach to creativity is strengthened by recasting some divergent-thinking concepts into domain- and task-specific forms. This book fills the gap between divergent-thinking theory and more recent, modular conceptions of creativity. Rather than advocate that we simply discard divergent thinking -- an approach that hasn't worked, or at least hasn't happened, because of many attacks on its validity and usefulness -- this book shows how to separate what is useful in divergent-thinking theory and practice from what is not. It shows that divergent-thinking training can be valuable, although often not for the reasons trainers think it works. And it offers specific suggestions about the kinds of creativity research most needed today.

A Task-Specific Approach

Creativity and Divergent Thinking

James C. Kaufman

This book explores the development of cognitive skills related to reasoning and creativity, two strands that can intertwine to work together at times but may also be at odds. Spontaneity and freedom from constraint, characteristic of the thinking of young children, may be essential to creativity, which has prompted many to question how much we lose as we progress through childhood. Research and common sense tell us that effort, practice, and study are necessary for the highest levels of creative accomplishment, yet such intentional exertions seem antithetical to these hallmarks of creativity. In this revised and expanded second edition, leading scholars shed new light on creativity's complex relationship to the acquisition of domain-based skills and the development of more general logical reasoning skills. Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development will be an essential reference for researchers, psychologists, and teachers seeking to better understand the most up-to-date work in the field.

Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development

Creativity Across Domains: Faces of the Muse sorts through the sometimes-confusing theoretical diversity that domain specificity has spawned. It also brings together writers who have studied creative thinkers in different areas, such as the various arts, sciences, and communication/leadership. Each contributor explains what is known about the cognitive processes, ways of conceptualizing and solving problems, personality and motivational attributes, guiding metaphors, and work habits or styles that best characterize creative people within the domain he or she has investigated. In addition, this book features: *an examination of how creativity is similar and different in diverse domains; *chapters written by an expert on creativity in the domain about which he or she is writing; *a chapter on creativity in psychology which examines patterns of performance leading to creative eminence in different areas of psychology; and *a final chapter proposing a new theory of creativity--the Amusement Park Theoretical Model. This book appeals to creativity researchers and students of creativity; cognitive, education, social, and developmental psychologists; and educated laypeople interested in exploring their own creativity.

Faces of the Muse

Creativity Across Domains

Roy F. Baumeister

Do people have free will, or this universal belief an illusion? If free will is more than an illusion, what kind of free will do people have? How can free will influence behavior? Can free will be studied, verified, and understood scientifically? How and why might a sense of free will have evolved? These are a few of the questions this book attempts to answer. People generally act as though they believe in their own free will: they don't feel like automatons, and they don't treat one another as they might treat robots. While acknowledging many constraints and influences on behavior, people nonetheless act as if they (and their neighbors) are largely in control of many if not most of the decisions they make. Belief in free will also underpins the sense that people are responsible for their actions. Psychological explanations of behavior rarely mention free will as a factor, however. Can psychological science find room for free will? How do leading psychologists conceptualize free will, and what role do they believe free will plays in shaping behavior? In recent years a number of psychologists have tried to solve one or more of the puzzles surrounding free will. This book looks both at recent experimental and theoretical work directly related to free will and at ways leading psychologists from all branches of psychology deal with the philosophical problems long associated with the question of free will, such as the relationship between determinism and free will and the importance of consciousness in free will. It also includes commentaries by leading philosophers on what psychologists can contribute to long-running philosophical struggles with this most distinctly human belief. These essays should be of interest not only to social scientists, but to intelligent and thoughtful readers everywhere.

John Baer

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