The ideas presented in this book have been incubating for over 25 years. I was in the first grade, I believe, when the ideas that eventually developed into this social psychology of creativity first began to germinate. The occasion was art class, a weekly Friday afternoon event during which we were given small reproductions of the great masterworks and asked to copy them on notepaper using the standard set of eight Crayola® crayons. I had left kindergarten the year before with encour agement from the teacher about developing my potential for artistic creativity. During these Friday afternoon exercises, however, I developed nothing but frus tration. Somehow, Da Vinci's "Adoration of the Magi" looked wrong after I'd fin ished with it. I wondered where that promised creativity had gone. I began to believe then that the restrictions placed on my artistic endeavors contributed to my loss of interest and spontaneity in art. When, as a social psy chologist, I began to study intrinsic motivation, it seemed to me that this moti vation to do something for its own sake was the ingredient that had been missing in those strictly regimented art classes. It seemed that intrinsic motivation, as defined by social psychologists, might be essential to creativity. My research pro gram since then has given considerable support to that notion. As a result, the social psychology of creativity presented in this book gives prominence to social variables that affect motivational orientation.

An integrative introduction to the theories and themes in research on creativity, the second edition of Creativity is both a reference work and text for courses in this burgeoning area of research. The book begins with a discussion of the theories of creativity (Person, Product, Process, Place), the general question of whether creativity is influenced by nature or nurture, what research has indicated of the personality and style of creative individuals from a personality analysis standpoint, and how social context affects creativity. This wide-ranging work then proceeds to coverage of issues such as gender differences, whether creativity can be enhanced, if creativity is related to poor mental or physical health, and much more. The book contains boxes covering special interest items, including one-page biographies of famous creative individuals, and activities for a group or individual to test or encourage creativity, as well as references to Internet sites relating to creativity. - Includes all major theories and perspectives on creativity - Consolidates recent research into a single source - Includes key terms defined and text boxes with interesting related material - Single authored for clarity and consistency of presentation

In Understanding Creativity, authors John S. Dacey and Kathleen H. Lennon offer a thorough examination of the three factors - biological, psychological, and social - that contribute to the creative process. In clear and lively language, this book explores a breadth of topics on creativity including: how creative people operate as successful and imaginative problem solvers, the essential role self-control plays in realizing creative potential, and the most current discoveries about how the brain works on the neuronal and chemical levels. Most important, the book presents an innovative model that integrates the biological, psychological, and social elements and reflects the most significant advances in current creativity research.

How do social influences affect such outcomes as creativity, innovation, originality, and inventiveness? While major advances have been made, many questions regarding the impact of contextual and social factors on creativity and innovation remain. This collection examines a rich array of contextual factors that affect these processes, discussing group, organizational, and situational attributes that both facilitate and impair creativity and innovation. The papers present insights into the conceptual underpinnings of those relationships and provide empirical evidence illuminating those relationships.

Brings together the research programs and findings of the twenty-four psychological scientists most cited in major textbooks on creativity.

Creativity can be viewed as the first stage of the overall innovation process, an important dimension of the entrepreneurship and new venture creation processes, and as such, it is considered to be a cornerstone of organizational competitiveness in this global, knowledge-based economy. Research on creativity has increasingly become multilevel, with most work conducted at the individual or team level of analysis. At the same time, there is a large body of research being conducted at the organizational level of analysis on innovation, and there has been a significant amount of entrepreneurship research at the individual level, with an increasing focus on organizational entrepreneurship. However, these three research streams have developed independently, and there has been very little knowledge transfer between the three areas. Because entrepreneurship is often said to be a process that is required to convert innovation into business ventures that will deliver benefits to stakeholders, it is typically driven by an individual or small group of individuals. Creativity research, innovation research, and entrepreneurship research have the potential to inform each other, enriching our knowledge of each area, particularly with regard to the cognitive processes and behaviors that are most effective. This Handbook includes contributions from the leading scholars in these three research areas, who integrate contemporary research findings on organizational creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship and provide fruitful new research directions."

Creativity is being recognized as an important source of competitive advantage because a single creative idea that is both novel and useful may take an organization in a profitable new direction. This work aims to promote the burgeoning interest in group creativity by identifying new questions that will drive future research in this area.