Managing Creativity and Innovation – Part 2

THEORIES OF CREATIVITY

Wallas Model of the Creative Process

As it accords to the process, it would follow the logic order, whether the main point or the contents inside. In Wallas Model, it consists of 4 parts; preparation level, incubation, illumination and verification level respectively (Yuan and Shen, 2016).

 

 

Figure 1: The sequence of Wallas Model of Creative Process (Velikovsky, 2012)

 

Preparation Level

The level finds personal needs and desires, collects background information and seeks the solutions as well as focuses on the opportunity and tries to seek for a better quality of opportunities.

When Leonardo da Vinci was working in the restaurant, he found the problem of transporting food to the kitchen and to the customers, inventing conveyor belts. Also, when Duke ordered the food from the restaurant, it was cooled down. According to it, he contrived the large oven. As to ensure the safety in the restaurant, he invented sprinkler system. All the items were innovated, based on the need and desire; the criteria of acceptability are to meet its crucial target (Sullivan, 2011).

Incubation Level

After reviewing the problems, solutions and opportunities, the mind start processing all the information, that information internalised unconsciously but nothing appears outside. So, our mind contemplates and works it through. The time for this step is unknown, depends on individuals works.

When people around Da Vinci gave up thinking and performing, he still continued to think something new, some changes for the painting, after ages of struggling, he covered the famous painting-Mona, Lisa.

Illumination Level

Our mind will provide the basis of a creative response and idea briefly and also will flash into your mind to be awareness.

Verification Level

The idea and test implemented into activities that are held to demonstrate the individuals’ needs and criteria defined. The solutions are verified, elaborated and then applied to the physical behaviour (Wallas, 1949).

 

Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Creativity is the vital factor for future success, scholar achievement and plays a beneficial role in the development of the life-cycle process. There have been written a quite big number of articles about creativity, however, the interpretation of the definition is multiple and still not unique (Soghra, 2011). Different kinds of theories interpret the creativity as psychological mechanism, which forms authentic and relevant opinions, including Guilford’s psychometric theory released in 1950, Wertheimer’s Gestalt theory in 1959, Mednick’s and Eysenck’s associational theories in 1962 and 1995 correspondingly, Campbell’s Darwinian theory in 1960, social-psychological theory of Amabile in 1983, investment theory of Sternberg and Lubart’s in 1995, and cognitive theory by Martindale’s in 1995. Those theories help to develop and learn, and interpret our perception about creativity. Yet, the significant idea of contemporary understanding of creativity have been started in the 1950s by researcher Joy Paul Guilford, and in 1967 when he provided differences among divergent and convergent theories (Soghra, 2011).

Divergent thinking

Divergent thinking is a significant part of creative thinking. It doesn’t necessarily bring you the right and best solution, however by producing and contributing to a greater number of multiple solutions, some new thoughts may come to your attention. It’s may also be defined as a mind thinking technique used to create thoughts by sorting and handling a lot of relevant ideas (See Figure 2) which basically generated in an instinctive, random and unplanned, free-flowing way that is dissimilar to convergent thinking, which is well-organized and compelling. In a lack of time, there are a variety of decisions and alterations are generated and unanticipated contacts are drawn. Divergent thinking includes personality characteristics such as curiosity, nonconformity, persistence and risk taking, etc.

 

 

Figure 2.1: Divergent Thinking (Clayton, 2008)

 

Guilford’s described divergent thinking as the capability to comprehend views and ideas from a broad range of areas of inspection in order to obtain better perceiving of the external environment and world. Moreover, it’s been outlined four the fundamental aspects he accomplice creativity with fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration (Soghra, 2011).

As an example of divergent thinker, we may say about Albert Einstein. He practised with having an intellectual training session on simple and ordinary questions. For instance, sometimes he imagined himself riding on a beam of light. Throughout the wide number of research experiments, he became to a conclusion of a theory of relativity. Such logic experiments are imagined a sequence of events to realise the idea of things are (Carlson, 2012).

Convergent thinking

Convergent thinking is a definition proposed again by Guilford in 1967, which has reverse meaning to divergent thinking. Convergent thinking is the mechanism of discovering a sole final decision of a problem that we are willing to settle. A lot of exams and quizzes that are being used at a school level, like as MCQ, spelling, math, and standardised tests, are a variety of convergent thinking (Williams, 2003).

 

Figure 2.2: Convergent Thinking (Clayton, 2008)

 

Thinking about one of the convergent thinkers of all the times we can say about Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character of author Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective history, who used his mind in and deductive and sequence way of thinking by sorting, investigating, and analyzing a number of different facts so that in the end it resulted in a very logic answering of certainly asked questions. (Soul Fields, 2013). Thus, creating of such smart character by the actor we may even suppose of his convergent thinking abilities to generate a number of ideas and problem solutions.

Peter Henlein was a locksmith expert in the area of watchmaking, the main invention of whom was a producing of springy strips of steel for clocks. In this situation, he tried to find out the best and final solution for multiple ideas and information generated by him throughout the process.

Summarising up all points that are stated above, we can say that both convergent and divergent thinkings are ‘two children of one family’ and play a key role in every day’s life. The difference I may conclude that convergent thinking is a mainly straight forward type of problem-solving decision, as our minds do not necessarily need our brain to be stressed much, while divergent thinking is more intensified and brainstorming way of thinking.