Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creative Genii: Creative Intelligence, Insight and the Six Ps

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Handbook of Creativity & Innovation in Business

  • 2471 Accesses

Abstract

The brain is the central engine in the creativity machine. It drives all the competencies necessary for creative intelligence (CiQ). Different brains lead to different forms of creativity, and creativity is central to human life. Although CiQ is closely linked to general intelligence, imagination, adaptability, empathy and innovation, creativity is quite distinct from these intelligences. This chapter discusses the various types of minds or intelligences, and how decisions to be creative can offer incremental and disruptive contributions to innovation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    “Functional fixedness” refers to a situation whereby an individual can only think of using an object for its most common use; e.g., a paper clip can only be used to keep papers together.

References

  1. Runco MA. Creativity theory and themes: Research development and practice. Burlington MA: Elsevier Academic Press; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Eagleman D. What is happening in the brain when we’re being creative? The Creative Thinking Project. YouTube; 2018. http://www.creativethinkingproject.org/david-eagleman-happening-brain-creative/

  3. Guilford JP. Creativity. American Psychologist. 1950;5(9):444–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Guilford JP. The nature of human intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Guilford JP. Creative talents: Their nature, uses and development. Buffalo, NY: Beary; 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Wallach MA, Kogan N. Modes of thinking in young children. New York, NY: Holt, Reinhart & Winston; 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gardner H, Gardner E. Art, mind, and brain: A cognitive approach to creativity. Basic Books; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gardner H. Five minds for the future. United States: Harvard Business Review Press; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Gladwell M. Outliers: The story of success. Little, Brown; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Pillay S. Tinker, dabble, doodle, try: Unlock the proser of the unfocused mind. New York: Penguin Random House; 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  11. McKinnon DW. Personality and the realization of creative potential. The American Psychologist. 1965;20:273–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gruber HE. The evolving systems approach to creative work. Creativity Research Journal. 1988;1(1):27–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Judkins R. The art of creative thinking. London: Sceptre; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Sternberg RJ, Davidson JE. Insight. In: Runco MA, Pritzker SR, editors. Encylopedia of creativity. 2. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1999. p. 57–69.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Sternberg RJ. Handbook of creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Sternberg RJ, Lubart TI. The concept of creativity: Prospects and paradigms. In: Sternberg RJ, editor. Handbook of creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Gruber HE. On the relation between “aha” experiences and the construction of ideas. History of Science. 1981;19:41–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Dietrich A. The cognitive neuroscience of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2004;11(6):1011–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Davidson JE, Sternberg RJ. What is insight? Education Horizons. 1986;64:177–9.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Seifert CM, Meyer D, Davidson N, Patalanom AA, Yanif I. In: Stemberg RJ, Davidson JE, editors. Demystification of cognitive insight: Opportunistic assimilation and the prepare-mind perspective. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Metcalfe J. Foreword. In: Sternberg RJ, Davidson JE, editors. The nature of insights. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Schilling MA. A “small-world” network model of cognitive insight. Creativity Research Journal. 2005;17(2–3):131–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Gick ML, Lockart RS. Cognitive and affective components of insight. In: Sterneberg RJ, Davidson JE, editors. The nature of insight. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1995. p. 197–228.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Dominowski RL, Dallob P. Insight and problem solving. In: Sternberg RJ, Davidson JE, editors. The nature of insight. The MIT Press; 1995. p. 33–62.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Sternberg RJ. The development of creativity as a decision-making process. In: Sawyer RK, editor. Creativity and development. New York, NY: Oxford; 2003. p. 91–138.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Simonton DK. Origins of genius: Darwinian perspectives on creativity. New York: Oxford University Press; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Feldman DH. The deployment of creativity. In: Sternberg RJ, editor. Handbook of creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999. p. 169–86.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Sternberg RJ. The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Martinsen Ø. The effect of individual differences in cognitive style and motives in solving insight problems. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. 1994;38(2):83–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Flaherty AW. Frontotemporal and dopaminergic control of idea generation and creative drive. The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 2005;493(1):147–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Richards LG, editor. Stimulating creativity: teaching engineers to be innovators. FIE’98 28th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference Moving from ‘Teacher-Centered’to ‘Learner-Centered’ Education Conference Proceedings (Cat No 98CH36214); IEEE; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Damasio AR. Some notes on brain, imagination and creativity. In: Pfenninger KH, Shubik VR, editors. The origins of creativity. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2002. p. 59–68.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Richards R. Four Ps of creativity. In: Runco MA, Pritzker SR, editors. Encyclopedia of creativity. 1. Dan Diego: Academic Press; 1999. p. 733–42.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Csikszentmihalyi M. Creativity: Flow and the psychology of invention. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Stokes PD. Creativity from constraints: The psychology of breakthrough. New York, NY: Sprinter Publishing Company Inc; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Rubin W. Picasso and Braque: Pioneering cubism. New York: Museum of Modern Art; 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Darwin C. On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London: John Murray; 1859.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Sternberg RJ. Toward a triarchic theory of human intelligence. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1984;7(2):269–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Tigner RB, Tigner SS. Trarchic theories of intelligence: Aristotle and Sternberg. History of Psychology. 2000;3(2):168–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. De Jager C. Creative intelligence CQ@play: Shaping your future in the fourth industrial revolution. Cape Town: RSA Knowledge Resources; 2020.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Runco MA. Divergent thinking. In: Bunco MA, Prizker S, editors. Encyclopaedia of creativity. San Diego: Academic; 1999. p. 577–82.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Glück J, Ernst R, Unger F. How creatives define creativity: Definitions reflect different types of creativity. Communication Research Journal. 2002;14(1):55–67.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Mumford MD, Norris DG. Heuristics. In: Runco MA, Pritzker S, editors. Encyclopaedia of creativity 2. San Diego, CA: Academic; 1999. p. 139–46.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Cropley AJ. Definitions of creativity. In: Runco MA, Pritzker SR, editors. Encyclopedia of creativity. I. Greeenbrae, CA: Academic; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Kilgour M, Koslow S. Why and how do creative thinking techniques work?: Trading off originality and appropriateness to make more creative advertising. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 2009;37(3):298–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Baer J, Kaufman JC. Creativity research in English-speaking countries. In: Kaufman JC, Sternberg RJ, editors. The International Handbook of Creativity. 1. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; 2009. p. 10–38.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Amabile TM. Creativity in context: Update to the social psychology of creativity. Springer-Verlag; 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Gruber HE, Wallace D. Creativity in the moral domain. Creativity Research Journal. 1993;6:1–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Gruber HE. Darwin on man: A psychological study of scientific creativity. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Sternberg RJ, Lubart TI. Investing in creativity. The American Psychologist. 1996;51(7):677–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. De Bono E. Lateral thinking: A textbook of creativity. UK: Penguin; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  52. De Bono E. Serious creativity: How to be creative under pressure and turn ideas into action. Random House; 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  53. West D, Koslow S, Kilgour M. Future directions for advertising creativity research. Journal of Advertising. 2019;48(1):102–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Kilgour M, Sasser S, Koslow S. Creativity award: Great expectation? Creativity Research Journal. 2013;25(2):163–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Mumford MD, Simonton DK. Creativity in the workplace: People, problems, and structures. The Journal of Creative Behavior. 1997;31(1):1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Bean R. How to develop your children’s creativity. Los Angeles, CA: Sloan; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Solomon B, Powell K, Gardner H. In: Runco MA, Pritzker SR, editors. Multiple intelligences. Encyclopedia of Creativity; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Bailin S. The something more. In: Achieving extraordinary ends. An essay on creativity. Dordrecht: Springers; 1988. p. 109–33.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  59. Mumford MD. Where have we been, where are we going? Taking stock in creativity research. Creativity Research Journal. 2003;15(2 & 3):107–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Amabile TM. A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior. 1988;10(1):123–67.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Grigorenko EL, Sternberg RJ. Analytical, creative, and practical intelligence as predictors of self-reported adaptive functioning: A case study in Russia Intelligence. Intelligence Norwood Multidisciplinary Journal. 2001;29(1):57–73.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Sternberg RJ. Successful intelligence: A new approach to leadership. Kravis-de Roulet Leadership Conference. Claremont, CA, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  63. American Psychological Association. Creative intelligence. In APA Dictionary of Psychology [Internet]. Available from: https://dictionary.apa.org/creative-intelligence

  64. Amabile TM. Componential theory of creativity. Harvard Business School. 2012;12(96):1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  65. The Sense Network. Creative intelligence. Sense Worldwide. Available from: https://senseworldwide.com/the-sense-network/creative-intelligence/

  66. TEDGlobal. Designers – Think big! 2009.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Rouxelle de Villiers

Authors
  1. Rouxelle de Villiers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rouxelle de Villiers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Rouxelle de Villiers

CREATiViTY LABORatory

CREATiViTY LABORatory

1.1 Activity I: Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking questions from Wallach & Kogan [6]:

  • List strong things

  • List square things

  • List uses for a coat hanger

  • List functions for a brick

1.2 Activity II: Domain Intelligence

Compose a list of at least five domains in which you consider yourself to have an adequate or a high level of knowledge to act as valuable team member, when those domains come into play during creative thinking activities. Think back on some brainstorming and other creativity think tanks you were a member of over the past year. Are there any other (subject/discipline) domains you would like to develop your expertise of knowledge in? Look online for some free sources or resources (see YouTube™, TedX™ talks or visit universities to peruse online courses). Look into free community colleges or interest groups that might assist you in this quest.

1.3 Activity III: Personal Development Plan

The set of skills that the American Psychological Association (APA) set out for CiQ incorporates skills to create, invent, discover, explore, imagine, and suppose. Consider the five factors in Table 3.2 and several synonyms for each of these words, as provided by online dictionaries of your choice. (e.g., the MSWord dictionary provides synonyms for suppose as: think, guess, believe, pretend, understand). Look up some words using several online sources. If you were asked to coach someone, what might you suggest as activities or tasks to develop CiQ skills. (Perhaps after reading the entire book, you might have new ideas to update/upgrade this model.) Use the figure below to design a personal development plan for your coachee or yourself (Fig. 3.7).

Fig. 3.7
A net drawing of octagonal box with skills for C i Q. Suppose, create, discover, invent, imagine.

Coaching for CiQ

Full size image

1.4 Activity IV: Little and Big C Idea Generation Tool

Imagine you are the creative brains of a consulting firm. You have been approached by a client to suggest new uses for two products he has found to be stuck on the shelves in his warehouse. He has millions of rolls of plastic straws (in 200 m rolls of uncut straws of 10 mm diameter) and about five million red stress balls, about the size of a cricket ball. The stress balls are not branded in any way and are soft, durable and made of memory foam – indicating that once a ball has been released from pressure, it will jump back to its original form. This will last for about 300 compressions, after which it will remain flattened, or in the form of the impression that has been made on it.

Use the Creativity Product Output Space below, to list at least 25 uses for these items (Fig. 3.8).

Fig. 3.8
A graph with increasing novelty versus usefulness with an area representing creative product output space. Low usefulness, high novelty, bizarre. High usefulness, high novelty, Big C. High usefulness, low novelty, commonplace. Low usefulness, low novelty, little c, which is outside the area. There are a set of blank boxes under each category.

The Creative Product Output Space: Big-C, Commonplace, Little-c, and Wacky Products

Full size image

1.5 Activity V: Tinkertables

Dr. Pillay [10, p. 23] contrasts a timetable of frantic wall-to-wall appointments with a tinkertable. This tinkertable is your own self-created and self-managed series of timeslots that are off limits to any daily, compulsory, or routine tasks. These are non-negotiable slots in which to reflect, think, meditate and un-focus the mind. Find regular slots – he suggests 15 minutes – to do something that is undemanding to YOU. Something like doing a crossword, a Sudoko™ number puzzle, listening to music or taking a walk without your phone. Set aside bigger timeslots for once a week and longer time slots like a vacation or “staycation” (no travel, but no work either).

Your only two tasks right now are to (i) block out a slot of 2 hours a week for the next 10 weeks, where you can do exactly what YOU want to do: work, play, sit, think, relax, work hard, read, prepare. This can be ANYTHING YOU want and have utter control over. (ii) Find a pet name for this block like MYTIME or TRU2ME, and select a symbol or icon to help you recall that this is not-negotiable. My symbol is α [66]. What is yours?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

de Villiers, R. (2022). Creative Genii: Creative Intelligence, Insight and the Six Ps. In: de Villiers, R. (eds) The Handbook of Creativity & Innovation in Business. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2180-3_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation