Enhancing Creativity

This article thoroughly explores multiple assumptions about creativity, with the author, Raymond Nickerson, explaining his views how what creativity is along the way. Nickerson first inquires the multiple definitions of creativity and explores the many characteristics often attributed to the trait. Then, after debating skills which shown to directly correlate with creativity, he goes on to question whether or not creativity can actually be enhanced.

This article, Enhancing Creativity, investigates the multiple assumptions about the creative process in relation to individuals. The author, Raymond Nickerson, explains his views how what creativity is along the way. Two main points he tries to focus on are whether or not creativity can be enhanced, and if yes, how. To do this, he first seeks to define creativity and what it entails. From a general standpoint, Nickerson assumes that creativity is defined as a “result of activity”. This creative activity results in the production of “creative products”, identified as having useful and novel qualities, or having some other sort of social value. This criteria would include products such as inventions and scientific theories as well as poems, paintings and other liberal creations as long as they are acknowledged to be valuable.

After establishing this loose definition based on multiple sources, Nickerson lists more examples in the arts such as music, and then goes on to list examples in maths and sciences. He ponders how sometimes creativity can be attributed to a creator or creation well after its formation. For example, many inventions of today were thought as useless or absurd at their date of creation. The author goes on to disprove points of this previous definition using more sources, claiming favor over the idea that creativity need only be original or novel to the individual involved for it to be considered a creative experience.

After debating the base definition of the words “creativity”, Nickerson goes on to list more qualities of creativity and seeks to answer whether or not creativity can be enhanced.

The first methods of possibly doing this involved familiarizing instructors with the process of creative problem solving. Nickerson comes to this conclusion as insight is often associated with creativity. As brought up in the article, “students who have been taught to explore different ways to define problems may engage in more creative problem solving over the longer term,” (Baer, 1988). Others methods include recognizing the potential of the combination of critical thinking and creative thinking where Nickerson expresses that one cannot be effective without the other, giving various examples.

While resorting back to critiquing the definition of creativity, Nickerson points out that there must varying levels of degrees. This opposes traditional views something being labeled either creative or simply uncreative. Nickerson distinguishes the difference between three types of people: those expressing unique thoughts, those experiencing the world in new ways, and those who bring significant changes in society/culture.

In the rest of the article, Nickerson goes on to list particular techniques used by individuals that have proven to be effective in enhancing traits that are known to correspond to nurturing creativity. However, whether there is an all-encompassing method that directly increases the level of creativity in students is never said to be wholly possible, though there are studies that lean toward it.