How cognitive psychology explains human creativity Conventional wisdom holds that creativity is a mysterious quality present in a select few individuals. The rest of us, the common view goes, can only stand in awe of great creative achievements: we could never paint Guernica or devise the structure of the DNA molecule because we lack access to the rarified thoughts and inspirations that bless geniuses like Picasso or Watson and Crick. Presented with this view, today's cognitive psychologists largely differ finding instead that "ordinary" people employ the same creative thought processes as the greats. Though used and developed differently by different people, creativity can and should be studied as a positive psychological feature shared by all humans.Creativity: Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, Science, Invention, and the Arts presents the major psychological theories of creativity and illustrates important concepts with vibrant and detailed case studies that exemplify how to study creative acts with scientific rigor.Creativity includes: Two in-depth case studies-Watson and Crick's modeling of the DNA structure and Picasso's painting of Guernica- serve as examples throughout the text Methods used by psychologists to study the multiple facets of creativity The "ordinary thinking" or cognitive view of creativity and its challengers How problem-solving and experience relate to creative thinking Genius and madness and the relationship between creativity and psychopathology The possible role of the unconscious in creativity Psychometrics-testing for creativity and how personality factors affect creativity Confluence theories that use cognitive, personality, environmental, and other components to describe creativity Clearly and engagingly written by noted creativity expert Robert Weisberg, Creativity: Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, Science, Invention, and the Arts takes both students and lay readers on an in-depth journey through contemporary cognitive psychology, showing how the discipline understands one of the most fundamental and fascinating human abilities."This book will be a hit. It fills a large gap in the literature. It is a well-written, scholarly, balanced, and engaging book that will be enjoyed by students and faculty alike." -David Goldstein, University of Toronto

Preface p. xi
Acknowledgments p. xvii
Credits p. xix
Two Case Studies in Creativity p. 1
Beliefs about Creativity p. 4
Two Case Studies in Creativity p. 6
Creativity in Science: Discovery of the Double Helix p. 6
Conclusions: Watson and Crick's Discovery of the Double Helix p. 31
Artistic Creativity: Development of Picasso's Guernica p. 34
Structure in Creative Thinking: Conclusions from the Case Studies p. 51
Revisiting the Question of Artistic Creativity versus Scientific Discovery p. 54
Beyond Case Studies: Outline of the Book p. 57
The Study of Creativity p. 59
Outline of the Chapter p. 59
Creative Product, Creative Process, and Creative Person: Questions of Definition p. 60
Method versus Theory in the Study of Creativity p. 72
Methods of Studying Creativity p. 73
An Introduction to Theories of Creativity p. 90
The Cognitive Perspective on Creativity, Part I: Ordinary Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Problem Solving p. 104
Outline of the Chapter p. 105
Basic Cognitive Components of Ordinary Thinking p. 106
General Characteristics of Ordinary Thinking p. 108
Creative Thinking and Ordinary Thinking: Conclusions p. 118
The Cognitive Analysis of Problem Solving p. 119
An Example of Problem Solving p. 121
Solving a Problem: Questions of Definition p. 123
A Brief History of the Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving p. 128
Problem Solving: Processes of Understanding and Search p. 135
Strategies for Searching Problem Spaces p. 141
Weak Heuristic Methods of Problem Solving and Creative Thinking: Conclusions p. 152
The Cognitive Perspective on Creativity, Part II: Knowledge and Expertise in Problem Solving p. 153
Outline of the Chapter p. 154
Use of Knowledge in Problem Solving: Studies of Analogical Transfer p. 155
Strong Methods in Problem Solving: Studies of Expertise p. 168
Outline of a Cognitive-Analytic Model of Problem Solving: Strong and Weak Methods in Problem Solving p. 178
The Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving and Creativity: Conclusions and Implications p. 180
The Creative Cognition Approach: A Botton-Up Analysis of Creative Thinking p. 183
Skepticism about Expertise and Creativity p. 189
Practice or Talent? p. 191
Expertise and Achievement: Reproductive or Productive? p. 198
Expertise, Knowledge, and Experience versus Creativity: The Tension View p. 203
The Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving and Creativity: Conclusions p. 207
Case Studies of Creativity: Ordinary Thinking in the Arts, Science, and Invention p. 209
Outline of the Chapter p. 210
Basic Components of Ordinary Thinking p. 210
The 10-Year Rule in Creative Development p. 212
Case Studies of Creativity in the Visual Arts p. 223
Case Studies of Creativity in Science p. 237
Scientific Creativity: Scientific Discovery as Problem Solving p. 254
The Wright Brothers' Invention of the Airplane p. 255
Thomas Edison as a Creative Thinker: Themes and Variations Based on Analogy p. 261
James Watt's Invention of the Steam Engine p. 275
Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin p. 278
Ordinary Thinking in Invention: Summary p. 280
Case Studies of Creativity: Conclusions p. 280
The Question of Insight in Problem Solving p. 282
Outline of the Chapter p. 286
The Gestalt Analysis of Insight: Problem Solving and Perception p. 286
Evidence to Support the Gestalt View p. 291
The Neo-Gestalt View: Heuristic-Based Restructuring in Response to Impasse p. 302
Challenges to the Gestalt View p. 308
An Elaboration of the Cognitive-Analytic Model to Deal with Restructuring and Insight p. 325
A Critical Reexamination of Evidence in Support of the Gestalt View p. 330
Insight in Problem Solving: Conclusions and Implications p. 339
Out of One's Mind, Part I: Muses, Primary Process, and Madness p. 341
Outline of the Chapter p. 342
Messengers of the Gods p. 342
Primary Process and Creativity p. 343
Genius and Madness: Bipolarity and Creativity p. 356
Mood Disorders and Creativity: The Question of Causality p. 363
The Role of Affect in Creativity p. 368
Genius and Madness: Schizophrenia and Creativity p. 371
Social Factors and Genius and Madness p. 375
A Reconsideration of Some Basic Data p. 382
Genius and Madness: Conclusions p. 384
Out of One's Mind, Part II: Unconscious Processing, Incubation, and Illumination p. 386
Outline of the Chapter p. 386
Unconscious Associations and Unconscious Processing p. 387
Poincare's Theory of Unconscious Creative Processes p. 389
Wallas's Stages of the Creative Process p. 397
Hadamard's Studies of Unconscious Thinking in Incubation p. 398
Koestler's Bisociation Theory p. 399
Campbell's Evolutionary Theory of Creativity: Blind Variation and Selective Retention p. 400
Simonton's Chance Configuration Theory p. 402
Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of the Unconscious in Creative Thinking p. 407
Unconscious Thinking in Creativity: Conclusions p. 413
Laboratory Investigations of Incubation and Illumination p. 414
Evidence for Incubation and Illumination: A Critique p. 428
Illumination without Unconscious Processing? p. 433
Incubation, Illumination, and the Unconscious: Conclusions p. 445
The Psychometric Perspective, Part I: Measuring the Capacity to Think Creatively p. 447
Outline of the Chapter p. 448
Guilford and the Modern Psychometric Perspective on Creativity p. 448
Methods of Measuring Creativity p. 451
Cognitive Components of the Creative Process: Testing for Creative-Thinking Ability p. 461
Testing the Tests: The Reliability and Validity of Tests of Creative-Thinking Capacity p. 470
The Generality versus Domain Specificity of Creative-Thinking Skills p. 483
Testing Creativity: Conclusions p. 487
The Psychometric Perspective, Part II: The Search for the Creative Personality p. 488
Creative versus Comparison or Control Groups p. 489
Questions about Method in Studies of the Creative Personality p. 492
A Model of the Role of Creative Personality in Creative Achievement in Science p. 496
Is It Futile to Search for The Creative Personality in the Arts and the Sciences? p. 504
Creativity and the Need to Be Original: A Reexamination of Divergent Thinking and Creativity p. 506
Personality, Cognition, and Creativity Reconsidered: The Question of Openness to Experience and Creativity p. 508
Divergent Thinking and the Creative Personality: Conclusions p. 515
Confluence Models of Creativity p. 517
Outline of the Chapter p. 517
The Social Psychology of Creativity: Amabile's Componential Model p. 518
Economic Theory of Creativity: Buy Low, Sell High p. 534
The Darwinian Theory of Creativity p. 552
Confluence Models of Creativity: Summary p. 570
Understanding Creativity: Where Are We? Where Are We Going? p. 572
Outline of the Chapter p. 572
Ordinary versus Extraordinary Processes in Creativity p. 573
Ordinary Thinking in Creativity p. 575
Extraordinary Processes in Creativity? p. 586
On Using Case Studies to Study Creativity p. 592
Is It Possible to Test the Hypothesis That "Ordinary Thinking" Is the Basis for Creativity? p. 594
On Creative Ideas and Creative People p. 596
References p. 600
Index p. 613