Resources for Creativity
Li-fang Zhang
The University of Hong Kong
The first resource for creativity is intelligence. Three types of intelligence are particularly important: (a) the synthetic intelligence to see problems from new perspectives and to think outside the box, (b) the analytical intelligence to recognize and decide which of onersquo;s ideas are worth pursuing and which are not, and (c) the practical intelligence to know how to persuade others of the value of the newly proposed ideas (Sternberg, 1985a).The confluence of these three types of intelligence is equally important. Analytical intelligence used in the absence of the other two types of intelligence may result in critical, but not creative, thinking that produces new ideas. Synthetic intelligence used in the absence of the other two types of intelligence may result in new ideas that are not subjected to adequate scrutiny to ensure their quality. Practical intelligence in the absence of the other two types of intelligence may result in acceptance of ideas, not because the ideas are good, but because the ideas have been presented persuasively. For example, throughout history, charismatic politicians, through the sheer force of their personalities, have persuaded followers to accept sometimes destructive ideas.
The second resource for creativity is knowledge. There are two sides to being knowledgeable about any subject matter or field. On the one hand, without knowledge, one has nowhere to begin in being creative. Creative ideas and behaviors typically derive, in part, from something that one already has known from past knowledge or experience. On the other hand, being too knowledgeable about a certain subject or field may stifle an individualrsquo;s creativity—the individual may get so absorbed in a particular way of seeing things that he or she tends not to think in novel ways. In a study of expert and novice bridge players, Frensch and Sternberg (1989) showed that expert bridge players were slower to adapt to experimentally created fundamental changes in the rules of the game than were novices.
The third resource for creativity is intellectual style. Intellectual styles are preferred ways of using onersquo;s abilities. Among the 13 intellectual styles described by Sternberg (1988, 1997), three are particularly important for creativity: the legislative, global, and liberal styles. The legislative style is a preference for doing things onersquo;s own way of thinking, rather than merely thinking the way others do. The global style is a preference for thinking with a holistic picture of a situation in mind. Global thinking is important for creativity because one needs to know the general situation of a field (or subject matter) in order to identify important ideas to pursue. The liberal style is a preference for thinking in new ways. Liberal thinking is important for creativity because to be creative, one needs to think outside the box, rather than merely to follow the established ways of doing things .In their review of the literature on styles, Zhang and Sternberg (2009) identified much research evidence suggesting the important role of these intellectual styles in creativity
The fourth resource for creativity is personality. To be creative, one needs to be willing to overcome obstacles, be willing to take reasonable risks, and be willing to grow (Sternberg amp; Lubart, 1995). Likewise, to be creative, one needs to be tolerant of ambiguity, open to new experience, and to believe in what one is doing (Feist, 1998).In particular, buying low and selling high typically means going against the crowd. Therefore, if one wants to think or act in creative ways, one has to be willing to stand up to conventions. Numerous studies (Barronamp; Harrington, 1981; Feist, 1998; Glover, 1977; Golann,1962; Silvia, Nusbaum, Berg, Martin, amp; Orsquo;Connor,2009; Thompson et al., 2009) have supported the importance of these personality traits in creative work. All creative people encounter obstacles to the expression of their creativity. The important thing is that they persevere in the face of those obstacles.
The fifth resource for creativity is motivation. To be creative, one needs to have intrinsic, task-focused motivation. The importance of such motivation for creativity has been shown in the research of Amabile (1983) and of others (Herman, 2009; Kreitler amp; Casakin, 2009). Existing research also suggested that people rarely do truly creative work in an area unless they really love what they are doing and focus on the work, rather than on the potential rewards.
The sixth and final resource for creativity is environment. One could have all the internal resources needed to think creatively. However, without an environment that is supportive and rewarding of creative ideas, the creativity that an individual has within him or her might never be displayed. Creativity needs to be nurtured. An environment can be supportive in at least three ways: helping spark creative ideas, supporting creative ideas, and serving as a basis for evaluating and improving creative ideas. However, environments typically are not fully supportive of the use of onersquo;s creativity. Therefore, one must decide how to respond to the ubiquitous environmental challenges to the display of onersquo;s creativity.
According to the investment theory of creativity, creativity requires the aforementioned six resources to converge. Moreover, the theory posits that creativity involves more than a simple sum of an individualrsquo;s level on each resource. Instead, not all resources are necessarily fully involved in every exhibition of creative thinking or action. Some of the personality attributes (e.g., tolerance of ambiguity) may matter more for long-enduring creativity than for short-term bursts of creativity. Furthermore, not all the interactions among resources are linear. For example, no matter how legislative an individualrsquo;s intellectual style may be, w
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创造力的来源
Li-fang Zhang
香港大学
创造力的第一个要素就是智力。其中，这三种智力模式尤其重要：1.综合智力。综合智力就是从全新的角度看待问题并且跳出固有的模式去看待问题。2.分析智力。分析智力就是对综合智力给出的问题解决方法进行分析加工，分析其方法的正确性和适应性并进行调整加工。3.实践智力。实践智力就是去如何劝说大家去接受新的方法和观点，将自己的创意进行加工包装后去推销给其他人，这是一种将自己的方法创意进行包装的能力，以及对进行中的反馈信息实现及时处理的能力。这三种智力的影响力是同等重要的。在综合智力和实践智力这两种智力因素缺乏的情况下，分析智力的作用也可以能使非常重要的，尽管创造性缺乏，但是也能产生新的想法。在实践智力和分析智力缺乏的情况下，只有分析智力的存在的话，可能会产生有创造性的新想法，但是不能对这一个新想法进行审视和检查，不能确保新想法的质量优劣。在分析智力和综合智力两种智力缺乏的情况下，只依据实践智力会产生令人接受的想法，但其被大家所接受的原因不是因为它的创意性和质量，而是因为大家被说服了。举个例子来说，纵观历史长河，一些有魅力的政治家，有时只需凭借其独有的人格魅力就能说服其追随者接受那些看起来甚至是具有破坏性的想法。总之, 智力过程贯穿于创造过程的始终, 从新主意的构思(综合智力) 到较成熟产品的加工(分析智力), 直到把创造产品推向社会并吸收反馈信息以完善创造产品( 实践智力), 都有智力过程的参与。
创造力的第二个要素就是知识。知识量的充沛对于人们所在的领域极具重要性。究其原因，一方面如果知识量的缺乏就会难以使人产生创造力。创造力来源于人们过去所学到的知识和获得的经验。另一方面，如果人们在特定的学科或领域积淀足够的知识，有系统的了解可能会从其自身的视角出发，形成极具个人特色的创造力——这一创造力是无法单单从课本知识上习得的，是极具个人特色的。斯滕伯格的一篇研究表明，在对专业的桥牌选手和业余的桥牌选手进行调查中发现，当桥牌的游戏规则进行改变的时候，专业的桥牌选手适应规则需要比业余的桥牌选手更多的时间来进行调整，融入比赛的进程更慢。投资理论认为, 知识本身并不等于智力, 它只是智力加工的材料, 任何领域的创造行为都必须以知识为基础。投资理论把知识区分为两种: 正式知识和非正式知识, 两者截然不同, 但对于创造力来说却是同等重要的。正式知识( 如书本知识) 往往与专业或领域创造力相关, 两者之间并非正比关系, 而是呈现出一种倒“U”型相关。非正式知识指的是那些教科书上学不到的知识, 如常识、意会知识等,具有较强的任务相关性; 对于创造力而言, 重要的是如何以别人意料不到的方式运用非正式知识; 另外, 非正式知识对于解决启发式任务有着重要的意义。
创造力的第三个要素就是思维风格。思维风格就是指个人能力的运用。立法风格对创造力很重要，因为要有创造性，就必须发展自己的思维方式，而不仅仅是思考别人的方法。整体性思维更倾向于在脑海中形成一个完整系统的画面。整体性的思维对于创造力来说是非常重要的，因为只有当研究者对课题或某个领域有一个全局性的观念才能证实他的创造性思维的重要性从而进一步进行探讨。而发散性思维更倾向于用不同的方法去思考问题。发散性思维对于创造性来说是非常重要的，因为对于创造性来说，他所需要的特质就是个体跳脱思维的盒子，即跳出原有的思维模式而不仅仅是跟随固有的思维模式进行思考。思维风格作为心智自我管理方式, 指个体在解题过程中运用智力能力与知识的倾向性。这种相对持久、稳定的风格, 在很大程度上是社会化的结果; 虽然人们的确在所有的任务上( 或场合) 都表现出同样的风格, 但这种风格并非终生不变的; 不同个体在思维风格上的差别, 既有本质上的不同, 又有程度上的差异; 不同思维风格对于创造力的影响, 会随着时间地点的不同而不同。至于思维风格的具体类型, 则与三侧面模型中的智力风格基本相同。
创造力的第四个要素就是人格。想要具有创造力，就必须拥有面对障碍时的坚韧性；愿意承担合理范围内的风险；具有超越自我的意愿；容忍模糊的状态；乐于接受全新的经验；坚持自我的信念。
创造力的第五个要素就是动机。动机是引导个体行为的驱动力量或刺激因素, 通常情况下可划分为外在动机和内在动机两种。投资理论认为, 内在动机与外在动机并非截然对立的, 两者在个体的创造行为中可彼此互补, 协同作用。内在动机无疑更有益于创造力的发挥, 但外在动机在某些情况下也可变成有益因素, 前提是个体必须不被外在动机所提供的诱惑迷住。影响创造力的关键性因素, 不在于动机本身到底是内在的还是外在的, 而在于动机以何种方式影响个体对任务的注意力。只要动机能引导个体把更多的精力投人到创造行为上, 就有可能作出创造性的成绩。环境与人们想要富有创造力往往与其内在动机和目标导向动机离不开关系。研究表明，创造力的产生更多取决于内部动机而不仅仅是外部刺激。
创造力的第六个要素就是环境。一个人只有在这些因素共同作用下才会富有创造性。如果单单离开了环境这一要素，在缺乏环境这一支持下，缺乏对于创造性想法的支持与鼓励，那么创新想法也是难以被展示出来的。创造力离不开环境的滋养。一个对创造力有力的环境包含以下三个方面：首先是能够有助于激发创意，其次对创新的想法提供各方面支持，最后是对创新的想法进行评估与改进提供服务。然而，环境通常不完全支持使用的创造力。因此，人们必须决定如何应对无处不在的环境挑战，以显示一个人的创造力。
根据创造性的投资理论，创造性需要以上六种要素的融合才能迸发出创造的活力，发挥创造力的作用。进一步来说，创造性投资理论认为创造力需要这六种要素并且每种要素都不仅仅只有一类团体。相反，并非所有的资源都必须充分参与创造性思维的每一次活动中去。投资理论承认, 创造行为是个体与环境相互作用的结果, 并归纳出影响创造力的一系列环境变量, 如工作环境、任务限制、评价、竞争、合作、家庭氛围、角色模式、学校与公司的气氛以及整体社会环境等, 恕不在此一一赘述。另外，不管一个人的思维风格是怎样的，如果没有足够的智力，创造力也是不会被激发出来的。以上成分的汇聚方式。投资理论认为, 只有认知成分、人格一动机成分和环境成分协同出现时, 才能产生创造力, 但创造力绝非各种成分简单相加的结果。如果个体任一种成分的水平接近于零, 其创造力水平无论如何也不会高; 不同成分间的互补是可能的, 但其薄弱成分必须满足某种可接受的最低标准。创造就是把自己的心理资源投人到那些新颖的、高质量的主意( ideas ) 上去。正如在股票投资市场里, 要想赚钱就必须“ 贱买贵卖”一样, 创造作为观念世界里的“ 投资” 行为, 也必须遵循“ 贱买贵卖” 的原则。“ 贱买” 意味着专注于这样一些主意: 它们虽然被大多数人视为不合时宜的、愚蠢的而不屑一顾, 但却有极大的发展潜力; “ 贵卖” 意味着必须努力向社会推销自己的主意, 并且在得到社会普遍认可后急流勇退, 把填补细节的工作留给别人去做, 及时转向新的研究领域。用于向创造力投资的心理资源包括智力、知识、
思维风格、人格特征和动机, 这五种心理资源与环境因素结合在一起, 共同决定着创造力。由此可知, 投资理论仍属因素分析模式, 这与三侧面模型、内隐理论甚至智力三元理论均无原则差别, 但在内容上却更为丰富。各种成分间有可能通过相互作用而增强创造力, 如果个体在两种成分(如智力与动机)上都达到很高水平, 就有可能对创造力形成一种超乎寻常的推动力量。但斯腾伯格也承认, 关于各种成分间的汇聚方式以及相互作用的机制, 还有待于将来的研究作更为深入、细致的探讨。另外根据所需创造力的不同，这六种要素所占的比例也会根据情况发生改变。
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