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International Journal ofAdolescence and YouthPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rady20

Creative Potential inAdolescenceEileen Pickard aa Department of Psychology , RoehamptonInstitute , LondonPublished online: 27 Mar 2012.

To cite this article: Eileen Pickard (1990) Creative Potential in Adolescence,International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2:3, 157-164, DOI:10.1080/02673843.1990.9747674

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International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 1990, Vol. 2, pp. 157-164 0267-3843/90 $8 © 1990 A B Academic Publishers Printed in Great Britain

Creative Potential in Adolescence

Eileen Pickard

Department of Psychology, Roehampton Institute, London

ABSTRACT

There is no well established developmental theory of creative development, though there are claims that in adolescence creativity, like a number of other aspects of human development peaks and comes to fruition. In this paper transformational activity, which is not synonymous with creativity but is argued to underpin it, is examined in pre-adolescents and adolescents. Differences between the 2 groups are considered and the nature of adolescent creativity discussed.

In many of the major theories of human development adolescence is construed as a kind of arrival point. For Erikson (1963, 1968) the period was significant in terms of identity formation. Bios (1962) saw it as characterised by a profound re­organisation of the emotional life and in cogniti\;'e developmental psychology adolescence is associated by some with particular changes in ways of thinking about and acting upon experience (Piaget 1968). According to Gruber (1980) the emotional and cognitive changes that come about in adolescence herald a new phase in the creative activity of the individual. Though Gruber claims that creativity comes to a new level of ·expression in adolescence there are few systematic developmental studies to support his claims. Freud (1958) was particularly interested in inner creative processes but he made no attempt to examine their development. Piaget (1971) was interested in the formation of novelties but his extensive studies of the development of knowledge included no explicit or systematic investigations of creativity. A consideration of the literature soon reveals that whilst creativity is regarded as an important aspect of humari development, systematic, developmental studies of it over the years have been few (e.g. Mearns 1931, Griffiths 1945, Torrance 1965, Feldman 1974) and, as a consequence, its emergence and

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changing expressions are still poorly understood and poorly related to other aspects of human development.

Gruber's (1980) theorising on creativity in adolescence was rooted in Piagetian thinking. He argued that the prime importance of operational ability was the freedom it gave to the adolescent to escape from the confines of reality. Gruber claimed that this cognitive freedom liberates the emotional life of the adolescent who can now construct imaginary worlds and enjoy them. Bound up with these developments is the adolescent's realisation of self as a potentially creative person.

Pickard (1979, 1989) also explored creativity within a Piagetian framework carrying out a series of developmental studies and examining the mature expression of creativity in adolescence and beyond. Creativity was construed not in quantitative, product terms, but as the growing ability to transform. Transformational activity is seen as distinct from learning. It is a self-directed activity and the insights of the individual are central to it. Transformational activity is not synonymous with creativity, but creativity is one possible outcome of it. In everyday activity we change or transform objects, events and ideas and some of the transformations extend our experience. We might add to things, remove parts, synthesis·e objects, re-organise component parts or place objects and events in new relationships. Sometimes the outcomes are predictable and familiar; from time to time they may be regarded as novel or creative because they extend our experience or knowledge.

Pickard (1990) identifies two levels of creativity. 'Personal creativity' which extends the knowledge or experience of the person responsible for the transformation and 'public creativity' which extends the experience of others. According to Pickard, the ability to transform develops with age and experience and it is during adolescence that the potential to contribute to 'public creativity' emerges and develops.

In the studies reported in this paper transformational activity was studied in groups of pre-adolescents and adolescents. The studies demonstrate differences in transformational competence between the two groups.

STUDY ONE

Subiects: 100 children aged 9.2 years to 10.7 years and 14.4 years to 15.9 years participated in the first study. The children came from

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Inner London Schools and were selected by their teachers who rated them independently on the following three point scale:

a. above average on overall classroom performance. b. average on overall classroom performance. c. below average on overall classroom performance.

Children rated as either (a) or (b) by at least two of their three teachers were included in the study.

Procedure: Each child was asked to consider and develop the following idea:

"Imagine what the world might be like if we discovered that the petals of daisies could help us to live longer".

The children wrote their responses and worked to no strict time limit. They were told not to worryy about spelling and punctuation. Though the task was an adaptation of Guildford's (1959) Consequences Test the objectives of the task were different as indicated in the following section of scoring.

Scoring The objective was not to score responses as creative or otherwise in terms of their social value but to examine and classify changes in the transformational activity responsible for them.

The classification categories were developed on the basis of earlier studies (Pickard 1979, 1989). Three independent judges classified responses which were allocated to a category when at least two of the judges were in agreement.

The following categories were employed:

1. response composed of several independent and poorly de­veloped suggestions which remained unrelated one from another.

2. response indicated some evidence of an attempt to construct a coherent alternative.

3. a coherent and well developed response with evidence of good conceptual control and appreciation of implications and inter­relatedness.

Results nnd Discussions: As anticipated on the basis of earlier findings (Pickard 1979) it was the oldest children who were the most capable of envisaging and developing the implications of their transformations. Catherine, aged 14.8 years suggested:

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"First of all I think the daisy which is a very common flower would become very valuable. I think we would set up daisy farms and the countries where daisies grow would be well off. In dessert (sic) areas for example it would be more difficult. They would export them. I think some people would try to control the world with daisies. They would become like a bomb. They would have power. They might try to kill our enemies by keeping daisies away from them. I think it would be sad if such a pretty thing did this. We wouldn't enjoy it any more. It would be easier really if it has no value like now". (Category 3)

For the most part it was the younger children who offered responses composed of isolated suggestions of unclear impli­cation. For example,

and

"You could live for ever or you could stop wrinkels (sic) in your face. Hair wouldn't drop out for men. You'd eat them and live for as long as you wanted. Maybe some people wouldn't like the taste and die. Maybe you would be sick". (Nigel. 9.10 Category 1).

"If daisies could make us live for ever doctors would buy them and we could get them from the chemist. They'd turn them into pills which would be yellow with white on. Health food people and people like that would live more because they eat things like that. You wouldn't just be able to pick them anymore. They'd be very valuable. Everyone would want them". (Robert. 10.3 Category 2).

Similarly, the younger children were less reflective about their own ideas and less able to translate their free fantasy based thinking into more reality-adjusted alternatives. James aged 9.4 months, for example, suggested that:

"We'd grow into daisies. We'd have green bodies with a yellow face. We would get to like worms and things and live in the grass". (Category 1)

Nicky (aged 14.5 months), on the other hand, developed the potential of her fantasy thought through her imagination:

"Daisies are a youth drug. I'm full of light. The world is a bright summer. All young people. No old. We are ageless. The field is prescious (sic). No towns. Death is rare. Birth is rare. We live the age we are. We create babies by heavy doses of our youth drug. And what has happened to God and to life and death. And heaven?". (Category 3)

The relationship between age and transformational competence was examined. The analysis was conducted ignoring the sex of the subject. The frequencies of levels of transformational competence are shown in table 1 below.

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TABLE 1

Frequencies of levels of transformational competence according to age groups

age group

9-11 years 14-16 years

Category 3

9 40

Category 2

26 10

Category 1

IS 0

Application of a Chi-squared test of Association indicated the relationship between age and transformational competence to be highly significant (Xz = 41.72. p < 0.01).

STUDY TWO

This study was carried out to enable further examination of transformational activity in pre and adolescent children through focus upon a different form of transformation. The first task had concentrated upon consequences of specified changes. This second encouraged elaboration.

Suhjects: 80 children aged 9.4 years to 10.9 years and 14.2 to 15.7 years served as subjects in this second study. They also came from Inner London Schools and were selected according to the criteria reported in the first study.

Procedure: The task used in this second study was based upon Torrance's Product Improvement Item (Torrance 1973). Once again the objective was to examine changes in transformational activity rather than assign values to the ideas proposed.

The children were asked to:

"Develop a new and better kind of bicycle".

They were told that they could introduce any development they wished. Again the responses were written and the children worked to no strict time limits. All of the children had owned or currently owned a bicycle.

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Scoring: Responses were classified according to the criteria reported in the first study. Again, three, independent judges were employed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

As in the first study it was the older children who demonstrated the ability to transform in a coherent way. Not only did they demonstrate a conceptual control not often found amongst the younger children but they were also more likely to draw upon specialist knowledge. Paul, aged 14.6 years, suggested:

"The bike I would make would be made of a special plastic. Hard and light. It would be fully telescopic so it would have as many bits as possible that would push in. A button would activate the mechanism like on an umbrella. The whole thing would fit into a bag or case like a thin shopping trolley. It would have to have small wheels. To get speed on the small wheels the bike would have a rapid gear mechanism so the wheels would whizz round even though you didn't pedal fast. A motor device could be used. There would be four wheels to keep the balance. Like a buggy. The seat would be canvas". (Category 3).

Paul's response is in striking contrast to Katherine's (aged 9.4 months) who wrote:

"My bike would be pink and silver. I'd put stickers all over it. If I wanted to go fast it would have wings like in the film.lt could jump over houses if I wanted it to. It would have a bell like music". (Category 1).

Katherine transformed her bike but she made no attempt to translate her fantasy into a reality. Without doubt, fantasy can be a breeding ground for innovation if the insights of fantasy can be appreciated, developed and translated but this younger child was less able to build and translate them. In his response Paul attempted to develop an alternative bike and in so doing he inter­related his knowledge. At first sight his suggestion may appear to be less imaginative than Katherine's but his thinking is more reality adjusted and underpinned by abilities which could contribute to some level of innovation (Gardner 1982).

As in the first study the relationship between transformational ability and age was examined ignoring the sex of the subject. The frequencies of levels of transformational competence are shown in the following table.

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TABLE 2 Frequencies of levels of transformational competence according to

age groups

age-group

9-10 years 14-15 years

Category 3

11 24

Category 2

17 13

Category 1

12

3

The application of a Chi-squared test of Association indicated the relationship between age and transformation competence to be highly significant (Xz = 10.76, p < 0.01).

Concluding Discussion: In the studies reported here changes in transformational competence were examined through written tasks and significant differences in competence noted between the pre-adolescent and adolescent groups. A similar developmental pattern was found in earlier studies (Pickard 1979, 1989) when a battery of verbal and non verbal tasks was used. Transformational activity is not synonymous with creativity. Through transformational activity individuals effect change, imagine alternatives and invent. Some of these outcomes are sometimes deemed creative. Whilst young children engage in transformational activity which can extend their own experience they are less likely than adolescents and adults to contribute to public creativity through their trans­formational activity for they lack the abilities needed to transform in a coherent way. Further, they are less likely to grasp the significance of their own transformations in relation to public creativity or to work at the frontiers of experience or in specialised knowledge contexts. In defining creativity Johnson-Laird (1988) speaks of the creator's ability to make choices from options specified by criteria. Gruber (1980) claimed that the advent of formal operational was critical to creativity in adolescence not only because it allows the adolescent to invent and explore new worlds and ideas but because it enables the person to perceive herself or himself as potentially creative. Pickard (1990) argues that the ability to engage in more complex and abstract transformations encourages the view that knowledge and experience are open to transformation and the understanding that "I" can create. It would appear from claims of this kind that the potential to be creative reaches a new level of development in adolescence.

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