CREATIVITY

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

1996 ch.7-9

導讀者：王燦槐　老師

Social System

FIELD (Social Organization of Domain

RetainsSelectedVariants

DOMAIN (symbol system)

Produces Variation and Change

Transmits Structured Information and Action

PERSON

Genetic Pool and Personal Experiences

Culture

Csikszentmihalyi (1999)

Where is the creativity?

Cognitive flexibility,Motivation,An unusual and inspiring life experience

Part IThe Creative Process

Ch2 Where Is Creativity?• The Systems Model_ 系統模式• Creativity in The Renaissance_ 文藝復興時期的

創造力• Domains of Knowledge and Action_ 知識和行動

的領域• Fields of Accomplishment_ 成就的學門• The Contributions of The Person_ 個人的貢獻• Internalizing The System_ 將系統內化

The Systems Model_ 系統模式三項要素 :domain ， field ， individual perso

n• There is no way to know whether a thought is ne

w except with reference to some standards (domain).

• There is no way to tell whether it is valuable until it passes social evaluation (field).

• Therefore, creativity does not happen inside people’s heads, but in the interaction between a person’s thoughts and a sociocultural context.

• Creativity can be observed only in the interrelations of a system made up of three main parts.

• Domain: a set of symbolic rules and procedures. E.g., mathematics, algebra, number theory. Domain are in turn nested in what we usually call culture, or the symbolic knowledge shared by a particular society or by humanity as a whole.

• Field: All the individuals who act as gatekeepers to the domain. It is their job to decide whether a new idea of product should be included in the domain. E.g., field of visual art: art teachers, curators of museums, collectors of art, critics, and administrators of foundations and govern agencies that deal with culture.

• Person: Someone whose thoughts or action change a domain or establish a new domain (e.g., Galileo or Freud). However, a domain cannot be changed without the explicit or implicit consent of a field responsible for it.

Ch3 The creative Personality

• The Ten Dimensions of Complexity

Ten Dimensions of Complexity (Yin-Yang and paradoxical personality)

1. A great deal of physical energy, but quiet and at rest.

2. Smart, but naïve at the same time.3. Playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and

irresponsibility.4. Alternating between imagination and fantasy,

at one end, and a rooted sense of reality at the other.

5. Extroversion and introversion6. Humble and proud at the same time

7. Psychological androgyny: masculinity/femininity; aggressive and nurturant, sensitive and rigid, dominant and submissive, regardless of gender

8. Rebellious/traditional-conventional

9. Both passionate and objective.

10. Suffering and pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.

Ch4 The Work of Creativity

• The Writing of A Story• The Emergence of Problems

– Life as a Source of Problems– The Influence of Past Knowledge– The Pressures of the Human Environment

Three sources a) Personal experiences

We are a perverse race, only suffering interests us. The experiences of scientists are relevant to the

problems they deal with. b) Requirements of the domain Within or cross domains c) Social pressures

• Presented and Discovered Problems

顯現型和發現型問題 _問題發現（ problem finding）甚於問題解決（ problem solving）

PREPARATION

Problem defined:

Clear The “Aha!” ExperienceThe 99 Percent Perspiration•obstacle or

specific goal

Information from domain

INCUBATION

Parallel processing

INSIGHT

Solution to problem

envisioned

EVALUATIONSolution

attempted or applied

Interaction with field

Information from different domains

PREPARATION

Problematic situation: vague, unease, diffuse

goal

INCUBATION

Synthesis of different inputs processed in

parallel

INSIGHT

Formulation of problem

envisioned

ELABORATION AND EVALUATION

Consequences of problem derived and tested, solutions and application attempted

Interaction with different fields

Presented P

roblemD

iscovered Problem

Csikszentmihalyi & Sawyer (1993)

• The Mysterious Time -The Functions of Idle Time

The functions of idle time (incubation) The field, the domain, and the unconscious Even in the unconscious the symbol system and the social environment play important roles.

-The Field, The Domain, and the Unconscious

• The “Aha!” Experience• The 99 Percent Perspiration

Ch5 The Flow of Creativity

The concept of flow( 興致 ):

the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it (Csikszentmihalyi , 1990).

• Programmed for Creativity• What is Enjoyment?• The Conditions for Flow in Creativity

– The Clarity of Goals– Knowing How Well One Is Doing– Balancing Challenges and Skills

– The Merging of Action and Awareness– Avoiding Distractions– Forgetting Self, Time, and Surroundings– Creativity as Autotelic Experience

• Flow and Happiness• Flow and The Evolution of Consciousness

Ch6 Creative Surroundings

• Being in The Right Place• Inspiring Environments (a delightful setting)

• Creating Creative Environments Preparation and evaluation benefit from

familiar, comfortable settings and social interaction (sharing thoughts, experimenting with ideas, and asking questions of peers are important parts of individual creativity).

• Patterning Activities Patterning Activities reflecting your

needs and your tastes.

Ch7 The early years

• Childhood and Youth

• Threads of Continuity

• What Shapes Creative Lives?

Childhood and Youth

• Prodigious Curiosity

• The Influence of Parents

• Missing Fathers

• The Mirror of Retrospection

• On to School

• The Awkward Years

-Prodigious Curiosity

• No patterns• Keen curiosity about one’s surroundings:

Darwin• A burning curiosity concerning at least one

aspect of their environment• Motivated by competitive advantage

– others’ less– Superior performance– expectations

-The Influence of Parents

• Treating them like a fellow adult• Generous and help• Support and guidance• Great expectations• Sense of self-respect and discipline• Complete freedom to pursue• Tension and ambivalence• Shaping characters: HONESTY• Honesty: search for truth in your work, never hide an

error; truthfulness to own feelings and intuitions.

-Missing Fathers

• Men: 3/10 • Women :2/10• Autonomy and responsibility• The meaning they extract from the event• Enough emotional and cognitive support• Protect and comfort lf a loving mother• To work hard and succeed• Exceptionally supportive childhoods or very deprived and

challenging ones• 30% farmers, 34% professionals, 25% intellectuals, only

10% comfortably middle-class

-The Mirror of Retrospection

• To make the past consistent with the present

• Make sense of their memories in terms of the events later in life

-On to School

• Little effect

• Influential teachers: notice, believe, care, extra work and greater challenges

• Except scientists, no special relationship with a teacher

• Extracurricular activities more favorably than school subjects

-The Awkward Years

• Ages of 12-20• Special obstacles: more alone, less happy and

cheerful, less sexually aware, less independent from their families

• More time in the protected, playful stages of life for experimentation and learning

• A typical nerd• Lack of popularity: intense curiosity and focused

interest, original ways of thinking and expression• Loneliness helps protect the interests• Marginality was a common theme: Outsider role

Threads of Continuity

• The continuity of interest from childhood to later life is direct

• Intergenerational continuity

What Shapes Creative Lives?

• Not shaped by one event or deterministic one

• They shaped events to suit their purposes• A will moving across time: the fierce

determination to succeed, to make sense of the world, to use whatever means to unravel the mysteries o the universe

• Recognize, nurture, and provide opportunities

Ch8 The Later Years

• College and Profession• Supportive Partners

– The Women’s View

• The Marking of Careers• The Task of Generativity• Taking A Stand

– Beyond Careers– The Question of Succession– The Matter of Time

• The Slings and Arrows of Fate

College and Profession

• A high point• Vocation clear• Soulmates and teachers• Curiosity and Drive • Openness to outside stimuli/ inner focus• Playful and serious• Objects and ideas/ competitive and achievement• Active support of teachers • Determination and luck• Visible in a field: right place at the right time• World war II for women

Supportive Partners

• Stable and satisfying marital relationships

• Sex and songs

• Indispensable help of their spouses

• Happy/ helpful/ peace/ protective

• The Women’s View– Freedom– Mentors– Unequal gender roles: children/ envy

The Marking of Careers

• The results of a lifetime• Much longer years of training and thinking• A long-term commitment to a domain of interest• Forces to invent the jobs they will do lifetime• Create their careers• Interested in learning• A new way of doing things: open to new learning

and has the drive to carry through

The Task of Generativity

• Middle years

• Leaving one’s ideas to the next generation

• Teaching students

Taking A Stand

– involved with historical and social issues– Beyond Careers: other responsibilities

• Internal reason: runs out of challenges• External pressure: many administrative positions• Doing God’s work

– The Question of Succession• INTELLECTUALLY BRILLIANT, FISCUALLY ASTUTE, reas

onably unselfish

– The Matter of Time• As focused, efficient and committed as before• Make a life theme

The Slings and Arrows of Fate

• Hurt helped to strength their resolve.

• Let’s get on with what needs to be done

• Ignore them or dismiss them

• Self-confidence to ignore all the negative advice

• Naïve, as buffer

Ch9 Creative Aging

• What Changes with Age?– Physical and Cognitive Capacities– Habits and Personal Traits– Relationships with the Field– Relationships with Domains– Always One Peak More

• The Sources of Meaning

• Facing The Infinite

What Changes with Age?

• Physical and Cognitive Capacities– Positive attitudes twice– Fluid intelligence– crystallized intelligence increase with time– Greater experience and better understanding– Smarter and knows more

Habits and Personal Traits

• Positive :negative=2:1

• Negative: too much pressure and too little time

• Positive: diminished anxiety, less driven, more courage, confidence and risk taking, more orderly and systematic

• Women more positive than men: adapting psychologically better

Relationships with the Field

• Men: more negative: lost membership

• Women: positive and negative– Greater certainty

Relationships with Domains

• more positive

• More and different knowledge

• New interest

Always One Peak More

• Never run out of exciting goals

• Eager for the chase

• Future orientation

• Work is what makes a life full

The Sources of Meaning

• What makes you proud?

• 70% from work

• 30% from family(40% women, 25% men)

• Duality: love and work

• Work: 70% external reasons, 30% internal reasons

• Women: all external reasons, men: 40% internal

Facing The Infinite

• The future of the universe

• A broader faith

• A meaning full life with the universe