Course Description
Exploration of how creativity is defined psychologically, and its relationship to personality, intelligence, motivation, and expertise. Discussion of current debates in creativity science, including tradeoffs between quantity and quality, the meaning of creativity across cultures, and methods for improving creativity through education.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be additionally required to complete a written article critique. In this assignment, they will select a peer-reviewed article published in one of four refereed journals (Journal of Creative Behavior; Thinking Skills and Creativity; Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts; or Creativity Research Journal) and write a critique of that article. Critiques will focus on the theoretical viewpoint, methodology, and implications of the study. Critiques will be written in APA style and will be at least 1,000 words.
Athena Title
Psychology of Creativity
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in EPSY 4320E or EPSY 6320E
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to: • Explain the basic psychological mechanisms underlying creative thinking. • Discuss how creativity relates to personality, motivation, intelligence, and expertise. • Recognize the tradeoff between quantity and quality of ideas in creative thinking. • Identify the meaning of creativity across collectivist and individualistic cultures. • Describe educational methods that can be used to potentially improve creativity.
Topical Outline
• Ubiquity and importance of creative thinking in human life • Psychological definitions and theories of creativity • Cognitive mechanisms and processes for creative thinking • Misconceptions about creativity and why they are not valid • Interactions among creativity and personality, intelligence, motivation, and expertise • The quantity-quality tradeoff in creativity • Cultural influences on the meaning and enactment of creativity • Educational methods for improving creativity
Syllabus
Public CV