Adapt or Die: A Critical Examination of System Theory, Everyday Creativity, and Ethics and Creativity
Who is a creative individual? What are the acceptable limits under which she or he can exhibit and practice creativity? Is creativity a moral or amoral concept? A creative individual is one who is able to adapt to everyday challenges through ingenious ideas and focused actions. As a specie, we are where we are today because of everyday creativity, not necessarily due to big ideas alone. Of the countless art forms and practices that have been created, cuisines, fashions, architecture, healthcare, medicine, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, fisheries etc., few were eminently created. Everyday Joe Blow creates majority of art forms and practices that affects our day-to-day living.
Csikszentmihalyi (1996) asserted that creativity is not merely new and valuable ideas or actions. There has to be a form of sociocultural evaluation for new ideas and actions to be deemed creative, and measured against acceptable standards with the field (1996). I contend with Csikszentmihalyi assertion because it subjects the works of the creative individual to peer review; more importantly to their approval. Notwithstanding my reservation, one thing is clear sociocultural evaluation (or peer review and approval), is important because it sets parameters or socially acceptable limits for the practice of creativity.
Any creativity that falls outside prescribed social limits or standards
The summary and critical reflection of the book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be creative" is presented as follows (Robinson, 2011)
The beauty of creativity is that it is abstract, yet ubiquitous: in art, music or how one decides to compose an essay. However, creativity has recently been declining among the human population. According to an article, named, “The Creativity Crisis,” by Newsweek.com in July 2010, authors, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, state, “the Torrance Test … indicates that the public’s “creativity quotient” has steadily crept downward since 1990” (Prompt 1). Bronson and Merryman report that the test, which evaluates one’s creativity, had been dispensed to myriads of people across the globe, and have concluded that creativity has been slowly diminishing. Kyung Hee Kim, professor at the College of William and Mary, also comments that this is most prevalent and grave among students from kindergarten through sixth grade (Prompt 1). Consequently, society, or in this case, the world fears that current students and future generations will not be nourished with the creativity required to thrive as individuals, affecting the world as a whole. Ultimately, this poses the question whether a creative thinking class, which solely focuses on the education of creativity, should be taught in the school. This school should impose a creative thinking class, due to the fact creativity is a vital element for the future and is the solution to the creative crisis.
In the context of creativity’s stated definition, we will proceed to group our arguments into three themes of factors: cognitive ability, expertise training, and environmental conditions. The human brain is highly adaptable and can continue to develop new cognitive abilities, even past adulthood (Norman, 2015). Proper cognitive expertise and training can help workers produce and operate in ingenious ways (Ginamarie, Lertiz & Mumford, 2004). Finally, the working environment can both motivate or stifle creative output. Managers can influence all three components: expertise, thinking skills, and motivation (Amabile, 1998).
One is called creative when you have the ability to think on your own. Someone who has an idea, method, or plan that is obscure and continues to press through society’s definition of ordinary. This is how I would summarize Hayakawa’s definition of being creative. Someone who envisions an idea, is confident with it, and is willing to risk it all to achieve the expected outcome. I will use three of Hayakawa’s criteria from his article to support my summarization of what it means to be creative.
In this particular class we had been drilling specific type of problems and they teacher wanted us to do it their way. This caused many issues for several if not most of the student in the class, because not everyone’s mind processed and worked things out the same way as the teacher. Thus several students’ had questions on the material. Instead of elaborating upon it in a different way, the teacher explained it again, and again using the same method. Now when the quiz rolled around many kids had deciphered the method and began to understand it. I was fortunate to be one the kids who understood it, but instead I made a hybrid between something that would work for me and method forced upon us; yet despite me showing my work as well as the correct answers I received a D+ why?; because I didn’t follow the method exactly. Even organizations’ that America and even the world hold high in esteem have found a lack of creativity. “NASA and Boeing are finding that recent graduates can technically render in two dimensions but can no longer think in three.” The Creativity Crisis: Why American Schools Need Design, published in The Atlantic, then goes on to state, “Ideal job candidates at these companies must now show they can ””think with their hands”” by having expertise or a second major in a musical instrument, auto repair, or sculpture.”. These passages show the importance of creativity is in the real world, and that
Creativity is often more about the process rather than the end project, it is useful for many reasons:
The author of this article examines creative culture and societal changes that are making organizations rethink their view on creativity as well as to integrate knowledge of the creative procedure to their own frame of reference, focusing on exploring the 3 primary areas; social trends, creativity and advocacy, whilst also exhibiting deliberation for the intermingling of said themes and exhibits a clear-cut view that creativity and the creative procedure are imperative to the enrichment of the person, corporation and humanity, especially in current times.
The first framework, Creative Contexts finds itself within Teresa Amabile’s theories. Amabile’s definition of creativity is ‘A product or response is creative to the extent that appropriate observers independently agree it is creative.’ (Amabile 1983, cited in Taylor and Turner 2016). Although Amabile too believes that certain people are born with certain talents, she also believes that creativity can be ‘encouraged and fostered’ (Taylor and Turner 2016b) Amabile has also distinguished
Muffled pop music shakes the thin walls, sweat-drenched zombies cross the greenways, and I, I sit in the living room with the lights off experiencing a mild existential crisis, with pen in hand. I consider what I think I am, how I think I accomplished great tasks, and what creativity might be. I searched in for more complex relationships, but that failed. I turned to the simple, and found the answer to all three of my questions: being different. To be creative is to be different. I am different, I attribute my progress in life to acting different, and I consider creativity as simply being different.
Creativity is the ability to reconfigure what you know, often in the light of new information and come up with an original concept or idea. In order to be creative, a person must be critical, selective and generally intelligent.
The author makes a strong case for being a non-conformist. This book is an interesting read for both a casual reader as well as one looking for keen insights and research into the topic of being an original. The author has taken every opportunity to cite references.
The term creativity is used for the purpose of describing the ability that is concerned with the process of creating something new or valuable. This ability allows a person to surpass the rules, practices, methods, forms or similar kind of activities that the traditional society may be performing at that time. Creativity is one of the most important things that have allowed the people of the society to move forward and urge for development. All the development that has been made in various aspects of human life can be directly connected with the creativity. All the industry leaders of the world have secured this place because of the level of creativity and innovation that they showed. They used this creativity for creating something new that has allowed them to develop completely new methods for this purpose.
Some people applaud the idea of creativity! For example, Ken Robinson. In his Ted Talk, Robinson talked about how taking chances is a key aspect of creativity, stating “"What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original — if you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity”. So, creativity isn’t doodling a small picture in the corner of your test, it’s taking chances! Innovating! Taking instructions with a grain of salt! And that’s what's rewarded in the world. People who stand out take chances and go for what they
Creativity research asserts that creativity occurs within the realm of a domain. However, all domains, and all creativity, occur within the larger framework of culture. A term as broad as culture can be difficult to define. In the late 19th century, anthropologist Edward Tylor proposed one of the first definitions: “Culture…is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” As Tylor proposed, culture is the larger sphere within which domains occur, and a culture shapes creativity through the ways it shapes domains. Within any domain, culture plays a large role in the manifestation of creativity. Different cultures hold different views of creativity, creative works, and creative people, based on the culture’s values. The values of a culture influence
To be creative a person must have expertise, creative-thinking skills, and motivation. I see creativity as having new and fresh ideas. A person does not have to be an expert to be creative, only to be original. To be original is different from being creative. I do agree that some personalities have better ideas and are more suitable for the artist lifestyle. Some people do struggle with creative skills because they lack the motivation and interest.