CreativityPsychology of Personal Decision-Making

Agenda

Exercises – ▪ Try to relax▪ Paper airplanes▪ Some questions▪ Drawing

More TED! – ▪ Adora (lectured to by a 14 year old!)▪ Derek Sivers “The reverse is also true!”▪ Tim Brown on “Play and Creativity” (12:06-on)

Openness Flow Creativity and Decisions

Airplanes!

Questions

How many of you: Can sing? Dance? Draw?

Personality & Creativity

Eysenck (1995) – Creative achievement: Cognitive Environmental Personal

“Opening the door” to Creative Thought?

Facets of Openness: Imagination (“world is often too plain and ordinary”) Artistic interests (“love beauty in art and nature”) Emotionality (“aware of own feelings”) Adventurousness (“eager to travel”) Intellect (“playing with ideas”) Liberalism (“ready to challenge authority”)▪ Love ambiguity and chaos

Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)

Flow “Poetry”

“It’s like opening a door that’s floating in the middle of nowhere and all you have to do is go and turn the handle and open it and let yourself sink into int. You can’t particularly force yourself through it. You just have to float. If there’s any gravitational pull, it’s from the outside world trying to keep you back from the door”

Flow “How does it feel?”

Completely involved in what you’re doing – focused, concentrated

A sense of ecstasy- of being outside everyday reality

Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done and how well we’re doing

Knowing the activity is doable – that our skills are adequate to the task

A sense of serenity- no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of the ego

Timelessness – thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes

Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces flow becomes its own reward

When flow happens (Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)

Another neighborly exercise!

Getting flow!

What are you really good at (even sometimes) that is also challenging?

What can you add to this to make fireworks?▪ Have you ever combined the two?▪ If yes, When was last time you did this? Tell us! What

else could you add?▪ If no, When can you?

Creative Thinking

1) Is this a new idea? 2) Is it useful?

Enemies of Creativity

Fear of new ideas (associated rejection feelings) We don’t want to feel bad/incompetent

Inability to think of new ideas Automatic Processes▪ Patterns of data everywhere▪ Perspectives can be like a “broken record”

Priming▪ A set way of thinking about things to “help

us” be more efficient thinkers

Stimulus Variation!

Stimulus Variation

Answers might be in places you wouldn’t really think to look first Penicillin Recipes Large Hadron Collider

Activates long term memory to create stupid ideas

Force Fit

Turns stupid ideas into workable solutions

Force Fit

Ask: What is “good” about this stupid idea? Avoid negative criticism▪ Simply stops thoughts

Try keeping your thought stream open

What this looks like (use for BIG

picture problems)

Stupid Idea “Stepping

Stone”

Don’t Judge

Only Positive Though

ts

Potential Solution

Evaluate Solutions

Positive and

Negative Thoughts

Forc

e Fit

Select

ion

5 Stimulus Variation Techniques Mood Observation Creative Conversation

Devil’s advocate▪ Corrects groupthink

Giant fighter’s strategem Networking▪ Who else should I talk with? Who would disagree?

Breaks Checklists

How transformational leaders foster creativity at work

Articulating a future vision: Expressing an idealized picture of the future based on organizational values

Inspirational communication: Expression of positive messages about the organization. (Builds motivation)

Supportive Leadership: Expressing concern for followers and takes their needs into account.

Intellectual stimulation: Encouraging employees to think about problems in new ways

Individual consideration: Praise and acknowledgement of effort for achieving specific goals.

Lead yourself to creativity!

Articulate a future vision:▪ Express an idealized picture of the future based on YOUR

values Inspirational communication: Write positive

messages about YOU. ▪ Builds motivation

Support your circle: Express concern for your close friends, ▪ Takes their needs into account, and they’ll do what they can

to return the favor. Intellectual stimulation: Put yourself in situations

which force you to think about problems in new ways▪ Travel!

Individual consideration: Reward yourself for achieving specific goals. ▪ Skydiving??