Creativity In Context: Update To The Social Psychology Of Creativity

by Teresa Amabile, Mary Ann Collins

This book preserves the original content and provides some insight into recent developments in the social psychology of creativity. It begins to study the ways in which social factors can serve to maintain creativity and cognitive mechanisms by which motivation might have an impact on creativity.

Genres: Psychology

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 1996

About the author

Teresa Amabile is a Baker Foundation Professor and a Director of Research at Harvard Business School. Originally educated as a chemist, Teresa received her doctorate in psychology from Stanford University. She studies how everyday life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. Teresa’s research encompasses creativity, productivity, innovation, and inner work life – the confluence of emotions, perceptions, and motivation that people experience as they react to events at work.

Teresa’s most recent discoveries appear in her book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. The book, based on research into nearly 12,000 daily diary entries from over 200 professionals inside organizations, illuminates how everyday events at work can impact employee engagement and creative productivity. Published in August 2011 by Harvard Business Review Press, the book is co-authored with Teresa’s husband and collaborator, Steven Kramer, Ph.D. Her other books include Creativity in Context and Growing Up Creative. Teresa has published over 100 scholarly articles and chapters, in outlets including top journals in psychology (such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and American Psychologist) and in management (Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal). She is also the author of The Work Preference Inventory and KEYS to Creativity and Innovation. Teresa has used insights from her research in working with various groups in business, government, and education, including Procter & Gamble, Novartis International AG, Motorola, IDEO, and the Creative Education Foundation. She has presented her theories, research results, and practical implications in dozens of forums, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Young Presidents’ Organization annual university, and the Front End of Innovation annual conference.

As an educator, Teresa strives to teach leaders and aspiring leaders ways in which they can simultaneously achieve their most passionate career aspirations, further the success of their organizations and employees, and serve the higher aims of the societies in which they work. At Harvard Business School, Teresa has taught MBA and executive courses on managing for creativity, leadership, and ethics. Previously, at Brandeis University, she taught social psychology, organizational psychology, the psychology of creativity, and statistics. She served as the host-instructor of the 26-part series, Against All Odds: Inside Statistics, originally broadcast on PBS.

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Required text for a DePaul University course called The Creative Brain. Difficult concept to grasp - what is creativity and where does it come from?

[Chu Qiao · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very dry read overall.
Creativity is a two fold processes: personal trait and creative process which derives from domain and creative relevant skills and motivation task. Family, school, work settings can help nurture creativities.
Mental ability self :
Size up the problem, what is it you have to do?
You have to put the elements together differently.
Use different analogies.
Elaborate on ideas.
Make the strange familiar and the familiar strang
You’re in a rut - okay something new.
How can you use this frustration to be more creative?
Take a test now. When knows when the ideas will visit again
Go slow, no hurry no need to press
Realist controls let your mind wander
Free associative , let ideas flow
Relax just let it happen
Let your ideas play
Let your ego regress
Feel like a bystander through whom ideas are just flowing
Let one answer lead to another
Almost dreamlike the idea has a life of their own.

[Derrick Trimble · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the supportive research and references I needed in one place.

[Mohamed Awad · Rating 5 out of 5]

realy will help me