Creativity

Creativity means the ability to produce a new and useful idea. It is not only about art or writing. We use creativity when we find a new way to solve a problem. For example, a teacher wants students to understand democracy. Instead of only giving a lecture, the teacher creates a classroom election. This is a creative way to teach the idea.

Psychologist J. P. Guilford played an important role in the study of creativity. In his 1950 APA speech, he encouraged psychologists to study creativity more seriously.

He focused on divergent thinking—the ability to think of many possible answers to one problem. For example, if you ask, “What can we do with a newspaper?” one person may say “read it,” while another may think of many uses such as wrapping, drawing, or making a paper model.