Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development
- Introduction
- COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES
- 1 Expertise and Reason in Creative Thinking: Evidence from Case Studies and the Laboratory
- 2 Creative Genius, Knowledge, and Reason: The Lives and Works of Eminent Creators
- 3 Dynamic Processes Within Associative Memory Stores: Piecing Together the Neural Basis of Creative Cognition
- 4 The Creativity of Everyday Moral Reasoning: Empathy, Disgust, and Moral Persuasion
- 5 Reasoning and Personal Creativity
- 6 Alternative Knowledge Structures in Creative Thought: Schema, Associations, and Cases
- 7 The Role of the Knowledge Base in Creative Thinking
- 8 The Role of Domain Knowledge in Creative Problem Solving
- 9 Creative Thinking and Reasoning: Can You Have One Without the Other?
- 10 From Alexithymia, Borne of Trauma and Oppression, to Symbolic Elaboration, the Creative Expression of Emotions, and Rationality
- 11 Opening up Creativity: The Lenses of Axis and Focus
- DEVELOPMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
11 - Opening up Creativity: The Lenses of Axis and Focus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development
- Introduction
- COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES
- 1 Expertise and Reason in Creative Thinking: Evidence from Case Studies and the Laboratory
- 2 Creative Genius, Knowledge, and Reason: The Lives and Works of Eminent Creators
- 3 Dynamic Processes Within Associative Memory Stores: Piecing Together the Neural Basis of Creative Cognition
- 4 The Creativity of Everyday Moral Reasoning: Empathy, Disgust, and Moral Persuasion
- 5 Reasoning and Personal Creativity
- 6 Alternative Knowledge Structures in Creative Thought: Schema, Associations, and Cases
- 7 The Role of the Knowledge Base in Creative Thinking
- 8 The Role of Domain Knowledge in Creative Problem Solving
- 9 Creative Thinking and Reasoning: Can You Have One Without the Other?
- 10 From Alexithymia, Borne of Trauma and Oppression, to Symbolic Elaboration, the Creative Expression of Emotions, and Rationality
- 11 Opening up Creativity: The Lenses of Axis and Focus
- DEVELOPMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
For a long time, creativity was viewed within psychology as a single undifferentiated capacity. A new mathematical formulation, an arresting work of visual art, and an innovative business strategy were all seen as undergirded by a common creative capacity. More recently, scholars investigating creativity have focused on the variability among creative individuals and among the circumstances that foster creative accomplishment (Csikszentmihalyi 1996; Feldman, 1999; Gardner, 1993). On this account creativity emerges in an interactive system involving the individual (the creator), the symbol system she or he is engaged in (the domain) and the surrounding social system (the field) (Feldman, Csikszentmihalyi, & Gardner, 1994). Creative breakthroughs in one domain may thus be distinguished from breakthroughs in other domains.
The issue becomes yet more complex when we look within domains. Compare, for example, two species of lawyers: (1) a small-town lawyer who works on fairly routine legal tasks, but at the same time needs to understand the dynamics of his local community and address the gamut of personal, legal, and financial issues presented by each of his clients; and (2) a mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) lawyer who collaborates with dozens of associates in developing specialized and innovative strategies for high-stakes business negotiations. These two subdomains of law draw on different types of creativity and expertise.
In this chapter we introduce a new way of looking at this intersection of creativity and expertise. Donning two lenses of “axis” and “focus,” we characterize differences and similarities in the nature of creative work within and across domains.
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- Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development , pp. 202 - 218Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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