Activating Creativity - Essay Example

ACTIVATING CREATIVITY Introduction Creativity is a phenomenon that has been described to be challenging and thought provoking, involving a series of activities that take place in the brains of a person. Interestingly, everyone has some capacity of undertaking thorough creative process and so it is said that the activation of creativity is possible in all people (Langan, 2001). Sadly though, not all people will go about this process in the same manner and with the same level of success and experience. In Rossman’s creativity model (1931), evidence of the different levels of activities and tasks involved in the activation of creativity is showed in a manner that depicts that there are as many as seven different processes that needs to be considered in a typical creative thinking process. The rate of success associated with each process determines that overall success with the activation of creativity. From his model, the processes are given as observation of a need or difficulty, analysis of the need, a survey of all available information, a formulation of all objective solutions, a critical analysis of solutions, the birth of the new idea (invention), and experimentation to test out the most promising solution (Rossman, 1931). Similarly, Wallas (1926) touches on a creativity process in a manner that gives an indication that creativity is not an event that takes place in a one off moment but undergoes the achievement of a series of tasks, which comes together to be collectively known as the creativity process. He though gives the process as indicated below. Through the outline above, seven major tasks will have to be completed including orientation, preparation, analysis, ideation, incubation, synthesis and evaluation. It is based on the foundations of these two major models that four series of assessments were carried out and presented in the following journal. With a different task to fulfil in each of the assessments, the various creativity processes that went into the fulfilment of each of the tasks have been completed below. Assessment 1 Assignment 1 was on conceptual photography and involved the taking of a photograph that was used in depicting more than what was seen in the image of the picture. That is to say that, conceptual photographs are used to express generalised concepts of events and process that take place and happen all around us (Keller-Mathers, 2004). To accomplish this task, a picture of two people running a change of baton race was taken. The concept that was being examined in the photograph was the symbolism of the power of two. It is said in a Chinese proverb that if two people carry a single load, it does not hurt. What this means is that it always pays off to have a helping hand in any project or activity that a person is undertaking. It is not surprising that it is said in an England parable that two heads are better than one. When two people team up to accomplish a common task, there is much effectiveness and efficiency (Grivas, 1996). This is because there is the sharing of ideas and thoughts in a manner that makes exchanges of knowledge rapid and forthcoming. Studying the picture critically, it would be noted that a total of 400 meters was supposed to be completed in the race. Meanwhile, due to the limitation of the human ability in running such a distance, it would be difficult for any person to end the 400 meter race with the same level of speed that was started. But in completing a 100 meter race by the same person, the tendency to maintain the start up speed or even improve on it is higher. To this end, instead of allowing one person to do the entire 400 meters, four people team up to run 100 meters each. As a proof of the fact that team spirit brings results, the finishing time in the change of baton is better than when one person alone run the entire 400 meters. Assessment 2 Assignment 2 was carried out by the use of divergent thinking. That is, there was the use of exploration of many different possible solutions (Gonzalez, 2003). In essence, the resolve for a solution was not viewed or taken from only one perspective of thinking but from as many options as possible. The idea of divergent thinking was activated when the writer had to examine what the impact on aesthetic appearance would be if there were only two creases made on given piece of paper to produce a 2D or 3D image. There was going to be a selection of the most interesting outlook of picture and so there was the need to have as many folds as possible. In order to ensure that the judgment on the best folds in 3D was effective, outdoor photographs were taken on the folds that were made and each was assessed based on common principles of design including balance, complement, colour and harmony (Gonzalez, 2001). The resulting photographs are shown below. From the two folds, the first fold from the left will be selected as the most outstanding, given the fact that it fulfils many of the known elements of design and thus produces a better aesthetic quality. In effect, as noted in the Fritz model, there is much productivity in the first fold. This is because in terms of shape, it can be noted that the first fold produces a well coordinated shape that rightly forms the shape of a cone. In the second fold however, there i no clear cut understanding of what the exact shape of the fold is. In effect, the second fold is haphazard and without form. What is more, the first shape is more simplifying than the second one because there are not too many outlines and line forms found in it. In effect, simplicity and form are important phenomena in achieving productive products. Assessment 3 Assignment 3 made use of pragmatic creativity, backed by brainstorming and research in order to complete the given task. What this means is that the task was very challenging and therefore needed a series of trial and error approaches to come to a fulfilling end. The task was to dismantle a staple machine and form the shape of a robot or human being out of it. To successfully do this, brainstorming was activated as brainstorming gives credence to the collection and gathering of general ideas so as to sieve out the ideas to come out with specific ideas (Dutcher, 1997). Therefore, in order to successfully accomplish this task a lot of mistakes were made at the initial stage before the ideal task could be accomplished. The first stage was to get a staple machine as shown in the picture below This machine was then dismantled into individual components. It must be emphasised a lot of learning took place here because before the dismantling was done, the writer had no idea that the staple machine was made up of as many components as was realised. The dismantled section is showed below. Then was the time for the actual research to begin in getting the needed shape. As part of the research, a number of toy shapes were drawn. After each drawing, an attempt was made to shape the parts into the drawn toy. After a series of brainstorming, the final product was got as shown below. In the final product, it would be noted that every part of the dismantled machine was used. This is an indication of the possibility of an all inclusive project. That is, no one is useless if only the right role will be found for the person to play. Assessment 4 The forth assignment also have a lot of creative touch with the creation of a Haiku. It would be noted that a Haiku is a form of poetry common among the Chinese and Japanese and involving the creation of a piece of poem that follows the 5-7-5 format where there are three lines with the first having 5, second having 7 and third having 5 syllabi (Dillon-Bartz, 2004). The lines do not have to rhyme but must be independent of the message that each of them presents. As a way of accomplishing this all important goal, three kinds of activities that commonly take place in society were perceived. In this instance, convenient thinking was used in order to ensure that ideas were taking from different sources and brought together for the achievement of a common goal. The three events of human activity that were taken were people who meet together to chat, friends who have fun through games, and finally the atmosphere after these friends have left their various scenes to their homes. The picture used in this case is shown below. The Haiku poem that can be created in the picture is as follows: “Good old friends met yesterday Having fun and games was the deal It ends we are home” This is a depiction of a typical life event where socialisation is seen as an important factor in the life of all people, whereby the need to meet together and have fun is always tagged as a tool for achieving cordiality and friendliness. Conclusion Creativity has been found to be the birthright of all people. However depending on the different ways in which different people activate creativity, different results are going to be recorded. For a person to be perceived to be a very creative thinker, the fellow ought to undergo the performance of a series of activities in a single creative process. These processes have been identified to be backed by models of creativity and creative process as showed in Rossman (1937) and Wallas (1926). By inculcating the models in the performance of the four major assessment tasks that were given, the writer can confidently say that a very challenging but most successful creativity journey has been completed. Through this journey, the need to give credence to details has been established. That is, the writer was able to subject himself to the critical observation of events in order to come out with all necessary details that will be needed in accomplishing given tasks. Without such credence to details, not much can be achieved in terms of thorough success. Through the completion of the four assessments, it has been learnt that mediocrity is only present when there is room for non-coherent and haphazard reasoning (Moynihan, 2001). But in a state where attention will be given to details, nothing short of success is produced. In a personal reflection, it has been resolved that the completion of the four assessment tasks is going to pave a way where all other activities of the writer are going to be carried out in a manner that is backed by the need for evidence based and critical reasoning. The practice of doing things without much investigation to understand the pragmatic ideas that back the actions that are taken is going to be a thing of the past. Finally, it is resolved that under no circumstance would mediocrity be taken as an option in the field of creativity. REFERENCE LIST Dillon-Bartz, C. (2004). Developing a book proposal for a memoir of my life. State University of New York: International Center for Studies in Creativity. Dutcher, A. J. (1997). Understanding the relationship of vision to creative climate and leadership practices. State University of New York: International Center for Studies in Creativity. Gonzalez, D. (2001). The art of solving problems: Comparing the similarities and differences between CPS, Synectics and Lateral Thinking. Toronto: Amazing Press Limited. Gonzalez, M. (2003). Implicite theories of creativity across cultures. Tokyo: Landan School Press Grivas, C. C. (1996). An exploratory investigation of the relationship of cognitive style with perceptions of creative climate. Tokyo: Landan School Press Keller-Mathers, S (2004). A qualitative study of women of extraordinary creative achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Argosy University/Sarasota, Sarasota, FL. Langan, P. J. (2001). The IDEAS project; Inquiring to determine evidence of achievement in styles. Unpublished masters thesis, State University of New York College at Buffalo; Center for Studies in Creativity, Buffalo, NY. Moynihan, P. L. (2001). Organizing and disseminating knowledge about creativity: Themes in the 1999 Journal of Creative Behavior. New York: Ultimate Printing Press Read More