What is the creativity?

Of simple form, can define creativity like the capacity to generate several solutions to a same problem. It is the process by which create  new ideas or original products. Classical authors like Guilford (1967), first in speaking about the creative people, understand the creative thought like a form to think different, to which called divergent thought, since it is a thought that goes in different directions generating multiple solutions. On the contrary that the convergent thought that only requires of an only answer and that is used to to be the most evaluated in the conventional test.

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Can develop  the creativity?

The creative thought can be learnt, until some limits, and therefore it can teach  to be more creative. All the people have in elder or lower degree creativity, as if it treated  of a spectrum in which each one finds  in one or another extreme, from the lowest until the highest extreme, known like genialidad. The genii are the people with the most extreme creativity, by what stand out in his fields of performance of way more efficient.

Now well, we do not have to forget the hereditary character of the creativity like constructo typical of the personality of each which. However, in the behaviour and creative thoughts exists innate part and part learnt inside some favourable surroundings (family, work, friendships, social context, interactions…). Another important factor that influences in the creativity is the cognitive style of each person. By what work it, promote it and keep our systems of processing of active information will facilitate the development of our creativity. That is to say, a creative is also work and no alone innate talent.

10 characteristics of the creative people.

The creative people have a series of common characteristics from which are able to create ideas or new products, impredecibles, only, unprecedented, of surprising and unexpected way able to adapt  to the circumstances. These people have in common these 10 main characteristics:

1. Intellectual coefficient and intellectual flexibility.
2. Thought no conventional.
3. Independence and autonomy.
4. Perserverancia.
5. High motivation of attainment.
6. Big sense of the humour.
7. Autodisciplina And self-supervision.
8. Big amplitude of interests.
9. Preference by complex tasks.
10. Tolerance to the ambiguity.

Be creative turns us into people abler to adapt us to the circumstances, to all would like us be more creative. We can be more creative?

How we can develop the creativity?

To be able to develop a creative thought and his consistent creative behaviour have to fulfil  two basic criteria:

1. Minimise or delete the barriers that prevent the expression of the creativity and create a climate that stimulate his expression. It treats  to free to the person of emotional blockades that prevent the stimulation of the fluidity, flexibility and originality of the creative process.
2. Train the skills and characteristic of the creative people through strategies and technical that facilitate the creative process.

“The creativity requires the prowess to shelve the certainties.”

Erich Fromm (1900-1980)

Authors like Klausmeier (1993) indicate that to teach the creativity have to take into account 5 appearances:

1. Has to cater  big variety of materials instruccionales and forms of expression
2. Develop favourable attitudes to the creative realisation: be receptivo to new ideas.
3. The professor has to encourage continuously to the spontaneous creative expression.
4. Has to promote  the productivity encouraging to the transformation of creative ideas in final products.
5. Feedback. The feedback and assistance to the person that instruct in creativity contributing him technical to solve problems of creative form and make constructive criticisms that do to grow the interest and boost the creation of new ideas.

Strategies and technical for the promotion of the creativity.

Brainstorming Or storm of ideas.

The first author that contrived the technician of the storm of ideas was Osborn (1954) that based his idea in four fundamental principles:

1. Differ or postpone the trial. That is to say, separate the phase of generation of ideas to the one of the evaluation.
2. Leave fly the imagination. All the ideas are accepted.
3. Produce the greater number of ideas. Those that more ideas more possibilities that some was brilliant.
4. Combine and improve the ideas of ones and others.

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The idea has like aim create a so long list as it was possible of possible solutions even determinate  problem for finally value them and select those that they are better or more brilliant in base to the suppositions (debatable) that the quantity ocasiona quality and that the thought in group is upper to the individual thought. It divides  in three phases:

1. Approach of the problem.
2. Discovery of the ideas: express ideas.
3. Discovery of solutions: assessment of the ideas proposed, modification and election of the best.

Development of a session of brainstorming.

There are some practical appearances to take into account when doing a session:

• Choose a secretary that annotate the ideas, to be able to be write them in a paper for his visualisation in group. In the case of an individual session can generate  a map of ideas. A
• Choose a moderador. Especially  for the cases of the groups of more than 4 people. Somebody that limit and sort out to the debate.
• Keep the environment relaxed and cheerful. To boost this environment before initiating the main subject can pose  the resolution of a more platitudinous problem in tone of humour as for example: like opening a walnut only with a palillo.
• Limit the session. It is contraproducente that the session last more than 30 minutes.
• Do copies. Happen to clean the ideas generated.
• Add and evaluate. The next day, no the same day, the group will have to go back to find to go back to review the ideas annotated and evaluate them to develop the most notable ideas.

Idea Checklist or lists of comprobación.

The technician of lists of comprobación is similar to the technician of the storm of ideas, and bases  in the preparation of questions that help to stimulate the generation of ideas.

7 they are the suggestions to elaborate these lists of comprobación:

1. Adapt: take ideas of other sources and modify them. For example, nourish of ideas to existent.
2. Modify: take the idea selected and modify his appearance. From the basic idea moldearla to give him new forms.
3. Substitute: change attributes of the idea or product created.
4. Diminish: remove attributes of the idea.
5. Increase: expand the attributes of the creative product.
6. Invest: special case of reorganisation of ideas.
7. Combine: joint several ideas that seemed to not to relate in a principle.

Attribute Listing Or list of attributes.

According to this technician, the creative ideas arise when they modify  the essential qualities of the product created. It involves therefore a series of successive steps that modify the qualities of the object or idea or transfer him  a quality and another object. The technician bases  in two processes:

• Modification: identification of the main characteristics of the object and realisation of a listing to generate afterwards contrive that they modify each one of the characteristics for to continuation observe which sucede with this change.
• Transfer: it uses  the analog thought to find ideas or objects  more or less similar  to the that want to modify to identify in this the attributes that want to transfer to our idea. They incorporate  and it observes  what sucede with the result.

Synectics Or sinéctica.

The aim of this technical is to resolve the problems using different analogies. In a first phase converts  the odd in familiar, for this has to relate  the oddest characteristics of an idea with the known. To continuation happens  to convert the familiar in odd to be able to it contemplate from another point of view. For this exist four main mechanisms:

1. Personal analogy: identify with the problem to turn into  part of the same.
2. Direct analogy: think in problems seemed of other fields of performance to see as they resolve .
3. Symbolic analogy: use objective images to resolve the problem.
4. Fantastic analogy: imagine solutions moved away of the reality to resolve a problem, for later adapt it to the real need.

In definite, create a climate that favour the expression of the creativity accompanied of technicians of promotion of ideas are the basic pillars for the work of the creativity and his development so much of individual form as in group.

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References:

Guilford, J.P. (1967). The human nature. 

Klausmeier, H. J. Goodwin, W. (1993) Human Skills and Learning. Educational psychology. Publisher Harla. Mexico.

Osborn, To. (1954). Applied Imagination.