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Unlocking creative potential beyond ideas: Creativity as a psychological orientation

Jennifer Lynch | jlynch@london.edu

Research question: Is creativity confined to the arts and intellectual domains OR is it possible to do anything in a creative way?

Uncertainty is a prerequisite for creativity: There is no scope for novelty to emerge in an environment of certainty and predictability

Definition: An uncertain situation is experienced as having either an open option set, an open outcome set or both (Packard, Clark, & Klein, 2017; Knight, 1921) open = “infinite”

Uncertainty is psychologically threatening: experienced as an aversive state (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Heider, 1958); uncertainty reduction is considered a primary psychological motive (e.g., Berlyne, 1962; Festinger, 1954; Kagan, 1972)

Threat appraisal process yields different responses:

Threat appraisal theory: The transactional theory of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984): 2-stage process

• Primary appraisal: assess the potential harm presented by environmental demands
• Secondary appraisal: assess ability to cope with the anticipated danger
• What if a creative orientation results from a positive appraisal of uncertainty?

Creative orientation definition: an open and engaged approach to interacting with an uncertain situation

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Artistic

Intellectual

Make a novel and meaningful aesthetic object or experience

Make a novel and useful idea or solution to a problem

Creative making

Creative thinking

Creative orientation

Interpersonal

Make a novel and meaningful interpersonal resource – e.g. connection with another person

Creative relating

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Uncertainty appraisal process

Is this uncertainty potentially relevant to me?

Scripts, routines, habits, heuristics

Can I influence the situation?

Collapsed orientation

Creative orientation

Passive orientation

Control orientation

Do I anticipate harm or benefit?

Is it worth it for me to try to influence the situation

Closed approach

Primary appraisal motivational relevance

motivational congruence

Secondary appraisal

Evaluation of response options and resources (and likelihood of success)

Yes

No

Yes

Harm

Benefit

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Reappraisal

Open approach

Exploration and experimentation

Problem-oriented coping

Emotion-oriented coping

Approach to uncertainty

Orientation Associated behaviors

Is this situation uncertain?

Engaged

Disengaged

Purpose of the project

Model of creativity orientations

Propositions and definitions

Creativity in the interpersonal domain

Openness

defined

Engagement

defined

Definition: an approach to a person-situation interaction

characterized by access to a wide range of available stimuli and response options

Engaged awareness: consists of available awareness-related resources (i.e. attention and other mental resources (Shimamura, 2000)) and motivation to deploy those resources in attuning to a given situation

• Amount of attention: e.g. freedom from distractions
• Motivation to invest attention: e.g. curiosity

Conclusion

Contributions:

• Focus on phenomenology of creativity
• Explains intra-individual variation in creativity
• identifies creativity-control tradeoff (beyond creativity-routine tradeoff previously identified)
• Clarifies distinctions between creative domains and creative products
• Introduces new domain of creativity in the context of interpersonal interactions

Creativity is an interaction: Creativity is a complex person-situation interaction (Woodman & Schoenfeldt, 1990, Woodman, Sawyer & Griffin, 1993)

Definition: Creativity is the production of ideas or products that are:

• Novel, and
• Useful/appropriate/meaningful (Amabile, 1988)

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Results in

Is applied to

Which yields

Open awareness: like visible spectra; the range of domain-specific stimuli that are accessible in a given situation. It refers to both breadth—how many colors are discernable—and depth—sensitivity to the subtle variations within colors

Open responsiveness: like the range of motion, the repertoire of domain-relevant behaviors that are accessible in a given situation. It refers to both breadth—the number of possible kinds of responses—and depth—the level of precision possible w/in a given type of response

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Dimensions of open responsiveness: broader responsiveness = more novelty + more appropriateness

• Flexible-assertive: e.g. cognitive flexibility + autonomy
• Scripted-spontaneous: domain-specific knowledge + improvisation

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Dimensions of open awareness:

broader awareness = more novelty + more appropriateness

• Present-future: e.g. knowledge + imagination
• Inner-outer: e.g. self-awareness + aesthetic sensitivity
• Similarity-difference: e.g. paradoxical thinking, metaphorical thinking; cognitive complexity

Definition: an approach to a person-situation interaction characterized by availability and investment of personal resources

Engaged responsiveness: consists of available response-related resources (e.g. energy, skills, time) and motivation to deploy those resources in responding to a given situation

• Amount of resources:
• how much of one’s self is invested—physically, cognitively, emotionally (Kahn, 1990)
• perceived resources and capacity available e.g. self-efficacy
• Motivation to invest resources: e.g. proactivity and persistence

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Outcomes both novel and appropriate

Appropriateness of connection: How effective the connection is at satisfying interpersonal needs (e.g. for belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 ); relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000); self-verification (Swann, 1983))

Novelty of connection: How surprising or unexpected

• Deviation from scripts: particularly noticeable in highly scripted interactions (e.g. with a waiter; taxi driver)
• Distance: when dyad members belong to distal social categories (e.g. SCOTUS Justices Ginsburg & Scalia)
• Depth: level of intimacy achieved or intensity (e.g. as when traveling, no shadow of the past/future)

Interpersonal outcomes: Interpersonal resources: e.g. trust, closeness, liking, respect. I focus on high-quality connection (Dutton & Heaphy, 2003; Stephens, Heaphy & Dutton, 2012)

e.g. non-judgmental unconditional positive regard, psych safety

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e.g. non-defensiveness fully-functioning person

e.g. curiosity/interest, empathic concern

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e.g. compassionate responding: acting to alleviate suffering

Engaged

Open

CONCEPTUAL PAPER

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Future research directions:

• Develop empirical measure for creative orientations
• Examine interpersonal creativity in an empirical setting to identify ‘interpersonal arts’
• Explore additional domains, e.g. intrapersonal/identity