The ideas presented in this book have been incubating for over 25 years. I was in the first grade, I believe, when the ideas that eventually developed into this social psychology of creativity first began to germinate. The occasion was art class, a weekly Friday afternoon event during which we were given small reproductions of the great masterworks and asked to copy them on notepaper using the standard set of eight Crayola® crayons. I had left kindergarten the year before with encour­ agement from the teacher about developing my potential for artistic creativity. During these Friday afternoon exercises, however, I developed nothing but frus­ tration. Somehow, Da Vinci's "Adoration of the Magi" looked wrong after I'd fin­ ished with it. I wondered where that promised creativity had gone. I began to believe then that the restrictions placed on my artistic endeavors contributed to my loss of interest and spontaneity in art. When, as a social psy­ chologist, I began to study intrinsic motivation, it seemed to me that this moti­ vation to do something for its own sake was the ingredient that had been missing in those strictly regimented art classes. It seemed that intrinsic motivation, as defined by social psychologists, might be essential to creativity. My research pro­ gram since then has given considerable support to that notion. As a result, the social psychology of creativity presented in this book gives prominence to social variables that affect motivational orientation.

Inhalt

I. Understanding and Assessing Creativity.- 1. The Case for a Social Psychology of Creativity.- A Gap in Creativity Research.- Some Social Psychological Stories.- A Recurrent Theme: Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation.- 2. The Meaning and Measurement of Creativity.- Previous Approaches to Creativity Definition.- Previous Approaches to Creativity Measurement.- A Consensual Definition of Creativity.- A Conceptual Definition of Creativity.- 3. A Consensual Technique for Creativity Assessment.- The Consensual Assessment of Artistic Creativity.- The Consensual Assessment of Verbal Creativity.- A Summary of Major Findings.- Comparison with Previous Techniques.- Limitations and Future Possibilities.- A Wider Context.- 4. A Theoretical Framework.- Preliminary Assumptions and Observations.- The Components of Creative Performance.- A Componential Framework.- The Intrinsic Motivation Hypothesis of Creativity.- II. Social and Environmental Influences.- 5. Effects of Evaluation on Creativity.- Intrinsic Motivation, Creativity, and the Nature of the Task.- The Basic Research Paradigm.- Impact of Evaluation Expectation.- Impact of Actual Evaluation.- Summary.- 6. Effects of Reward and Task Constraint.- Previous Research.- Effects of Reward of Children's Creativity.- The Interaction of Reward and Choice.- Choice in Aspects of Task Engagement.- Summary.- 7. Social Facilitation, Modeling, and Motivational Orientation.- Social Facilitation Theories: Implications for Creativity.- Evidence on the Social Facilitation and Inhibition of Creativity.- Modeling Influences on Creative Individuals.- Experimental Studies of Modeling.- Motivational Orientation: A Theoretical Analysis.- Motivational Orientation: An Empirical Demonstration.- Summary.- 8. Other Social and Environmental Influences.- Educational Environments.- Work Environments.- Family Influences.- Societal, Political, and Cultural Influences.- Other Influences on Creativity.- Summary.- III. Implications.- 9. Implications for Enhancing Creativity.- Direct Attempts: Creativity-Training Programs.- A Review of Social Influences on Creativity.- Implications for Education and Child-rearing.- Implications for the Arts, the Sciences, and Industry.- 10. Toward a Comprehensive Psychology of Creativity.- Social Psychology of Creativity: Current Status.- Social Psychology of Creativity: Future Directions.- Integrating Theoretical Perspectives.- References.- Author Index.