Creative activity - what is it in psychology. Its types

Psychology of creativity: the essence of science, the subject of study

Psychologists study the products of human activity created in the fields of science, technology, and art. In addition to the products themselves, psychologists are also interested in the components of the creation process: the role of thinking, imagination, intuition, and individual personality traits.

Within the framework of psychology, the personalities of great creators are examined: they study the biography, background, and role of giftedness. According to psychologists, all people have creative abilities and they can be developed. But it is important to distinguish giftedness from genius - the highest form of manifestation of creative activity. Genius is considered a rare innate quality, which is why there are few geniuses.

Two levels of activity

There are many types of activities that differ both in nature and in their product. But creativity cannot be called one of these types; rather, it can be considered as a level or stage of development of any sphere of human activity.

Reproductive activity

The first or lowest level is considered to be the reproductive or reproduction level. It is associated with the processes of mastering activity skills and learning. But for many people, their activities, including professional ones, remain at this level. Not because they study all their lives, but because reproductive activity is simpler and does not require much mental effort.

This level involves repeating techniques and actions developed by other people, creating a product based on a model. Let's say, a person who knits a sweater according to a pattern is engaged in reproductive activities, a teacher who uses the teaching methods proposed in teaching aids is also at this level, as is a housewife who prepares salads according to recipes found on the Internet.

And this is normal, for this purpose society accumulates and carefully preserves experience so that people can use it. Most people spend the bulk of their time engaged in reproductive activity, mastering social experience and using ready-made knowledge. True, reproductive activity in its pure form occurs mainly in the learning process. People tend to strive for something new and very often they introduce something of their own, original into other people’s schemes, developments, recipes, that is, they introduce creative elements into reproductive activity, thereby increasing social experience.

Creativity level

Unlike the reproductive level, the creative level involves the creation of a new product, new knowledge, and new ways of activity. It is this kind of activity that is the basis for the development of human civilization.

The creative level is theoretically accessible to every person with normal mental development, since everyone has creative potential. In fact, not everyone develops it, and the need for creativity inherent in children does not persist in all adults either. The reasons for this are very different, including the peculiarities of upbringing and the limitations of a society that does not need too many active creatives.

Creative activity, even with high potential, is impossible without reproductive activity. Before writing a symphony, the composer must master musical notation and master playing a musical instrument. Before writing a book, a writer must at least learn the letters, spelling and style rules. All this is done on the basis of assimilating ready-made experience, the knowledge that has been accumulated by other people.

History of the development of the industry: the formation of science, role in society

As a science, the psychology of art was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. It had not yet been defined as a separate field, since it considered only one area: biography, literary works. By analyzing the material, scientists studied the nature of the creation process and personality traits.

With the beginning of the development of experimental psychology, research methods have changed. Psychologists began to work not only with heritage, but also with contemporary authors. They used questionnaires, experimental methods, and interviews.

The scientific and technological revolution influenced the quality of the study of art and posed new challenges for psychologists. The need for employees who are able not only to complete a task, but also to offer creative ideas, take on more responsibility, and make independent decisions has increased. In this regard, a new direction has emerged that studies creativity as a component of science and technology.

Basic concepts of creativity psychology

Lecture 1. Introductory lecture. Basic concepts of creativity psychology

The processes taking place in the modern world - globalization, informatization of society - bring to the fore more and more new problems. There is an intensive growth in the volume of information, new scientific directions and technologies are constantly emerging. In this situation, the role of scientific and technological development of youth in the formation of personnel for innovation becomes a priority.

Today, the choice of profession by an individual (optant) is inextricably linked with familiarity with new technologies, therefore scientific and technical programs are implemented not only in institutions of additional education, but also in vocational guidance centers and educational institutions. The main issue that modern teachers face is the issue of developing the engineering and technical abilities of the individual. How to identify the inclinations of invention in a person and help in their development?

The wonderful Russian writer N.A. Teffi has a story “Laziness”, which absolutely seriously proves that technology has always been invented by those who did not want to work.

“When the steam engine was invented, it was a bright holiday for lazy people of all countries...

When electric motors were invented, lazy people staged a whole bacchanalia around them...

Laziness has taken over the entire globe. They covered the earth with rails (too lazy to walk), telegraph wires (too lazy to write), installed antennas for wireless telegraphy (too lazy to pull the wire)… It is this that moves humanity along the path of progress.”

The question of why and how technical devices were created, what factors influenced this, remains unexplored. If you imagine the history of mankind in the form of a road, where one millimeter of travel is a year, then the entire time from the invention of the first technical devices (stone tools) to the present day will be approximately three kilometers. Agriculture, cattle breeding, ceramic dishes, bronze items, and writing will appear only on the last ten meters of this path. The great tombs of the pharaohs (pyramids in Egypt), metallurgy and the iron ax will appear only a few meters before the final path - our time. The fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages will be located one and a half meters from modern times, and the emergence of printing is a little further than half a meter. At a distance of about 25 cm, J. Watt's patent for the universal steam engine he invented will appear. The emergence of mass engineering and the use of machines in industry is only the last 20 cm in the school of historical development of society. Differential and integral calculus became the basis for technical calculations in mechanical engineering, and led to the emergence of the professions of engineer and designer. Remarkable changes in technology have occurred in the last century - a period that, by historical standards, is extremely short. 10 cm from our time on the scale of history, J. Thomson discovered the electron. The appearance of light bulbs by Edison, Lodygin, Yablochkov, Benz and Daimler cars, the Wright brothers' airplane, Popov and Marconi radios, vacuum and semiconductor devices will be located on a segment 5 cm long. And already on a ruler with millimeter divisions it will be necessary to enter the dates of the creation of personal computers, compact disks, space flight, lunar rover, invention of Pentium processors, the World Wide Web, iPhone, iPad tablet computer.

If you analyze the information in Appendix 3 (Chronology of Human Inventions), it is easy to discover that the closer to our days, the denser the marks on technical inventions are. It is also clear that inventions are becoming more complex. So, let’s try to briefly consider the main points concerning engineering creativity.

Specifics of human creativity

1. Creativity involves the interaction of many variables, so the product of natural biological creativity is always unique and inimitable;

2. The incentive to creativity is the non-standard nature of the stimulus, the interaction of different forces and the presence of some catalyst;

3.Change, transformation and the emergence of new creativity.

The driving forces of creativity

1. The stimulus for awakening creativity was not only a momentary external need, but also the anticipation of possible changes in the future.

2. The process of formation of a new one takes place in the interaction of different forces that determine the change, transformation of one of the objects of interaction, which is in a weaker position.

3. The process of change, transformation, combination of different forms of matter is characterized by a common quality - the creation of a necessary, previously non-existent result.

Creativity (from the English creativity) is the level of creative talent, the ability to create, constituting a relatively stable personality characteristic. Initially, creativity was viewed as a function of intelligence, and the level of intelligence development was identified with the level of creativity. Subsequently, it turned out that the level of intelligence correlates with creativity up to a certain limit, and too high an intelligence interferes with creativity. Currently, creativity is considered as a function of a holistic personality that cannot be reduced to intelligence, depending on a whole complex of its psychological characteristics.

Creativity (from the Latin creatio - creation, creation) is a creative, constructive, innovative activity.

Creativity is an activity that generates something qualitatively new and is distinguished by uniqueness, originality and socio-historical uniqueness. Creativity is specific to a person, because it always presupposes a creator - a subject of creative activity. Creativity is not utilitarian. The result of any, even the most insignificant creative process, is a certain new value. Creative activity is the process of creating material and intellectual values, albeit in accordance with established technologies, accepted norms or existing principles.

Creativity is understood as the embodiment of creative human thought in traditional spheres of life, but in unconventional ways and in an unusual form. The secret of creativity lies in the very methodology of creating value, which is innovative and is beyond existing technologies, generally accepted norms and rules. If a person creates something new that goes beyond traditional public perception, it will not be accepted immediately. Humanity will need time to understand and appreciate such an intellectual breakthrough, scientific discovery, innovative achievement. But the result of creativity is clear, traditional, and easily and quickly assessed. The way to achieve this result is unconventional, and this is where the effect lies. This means that creativity is, first of all, a contradiction, a conflict.

Creativity is the ability, the property of an individual, to overcome the utilitarianism of traditional methods of production, social perception, consciousness, behavior, foundations in order to achieve socially significant values.

The demand for creative solutions is growing due to tougher competition. Many entrepreneurs see the success of their company in creativity, which will allow their product to immediately stand out from the market offerings. To do this, it is not enough to create a competitive business - you need to present it effectively: create the ordinary in an unusual way, reach the traditional in an unconventional way.

It is necessary to understand what is the nature of the creativity of authors who invent non-traditional technologies while creating traditional values.

Rice. 1. The essence of a creative and creative approach to creation

If we explain creativity in philosophical categories, then creativity (creativity) is a process of creation and development, based on the principles of the development of quantitative changes into qualitative ones according to the revolutionary leap-like law, at which the moment comes to overcome the measure, i.e. the limit of accumulation of quantitative characteristics, experience, problems, attention - as a result, decisions appear that refute existing principles and foundations. Looking ahead, it can be argued that the carriers of creativity are individuals who translate social problems into the plane of personal perceptions, endowed with a heightened sense of harmony.

Creativity exists at the level of ideas, the formation of principles, methods, and technologies. The creative process takes place at the level of implementing an idea, forming a certain product (Fig. 2). Creativity precedes the creative process, determines the direction, outline, style, plot, although it does not always accompany it. Creativity is the rule of applying strokes to a non-existent portrait. The main property of creativity is the rejection of existing technologies. Creativity is accompanied by conflict, scandal, and increased attention.

Rice. 2. Dynamics of the innovation process (Level 1)

The authors of creative solutions can be:

• individual individuals who are quite integral and independent in their essence and nature;
• groups of individuals working and creating collectively;
• individuals in groups who use these groups as an environment for the formation of their own creativity or who seek a creative way out of the social injustice they experience.

To understand the essence of creativity, it is necessary to understand that when the author is busy developing a non-trivial idea and its subsequent creative implementation, he must abandon the usual moral, informational and other stereotypes, limiting norms and prevailing laws.

CATEGORIES OF SOURCES OF CREATIVITY

There are three categories of sources of creativity (Fig. 3) of the individual.

Social (socio-psychological source) - the desire for extraordinary solutions and ideas is formed under the influence of contradictions between the individual and society. This impact can be quite long-lasting and have different sources (contradictions that arise during work, contradictions that arise in the everyday sphere, contradictions to established norms of behavior and established laws), and its localization is quite extensive - starting from the behavior of a trusted person (loved one, relatives) , friends) and ending with national borders and public policy. The state of contradiction in which a person finds himself, infringed by external or pseudo-external influences, encourages him to change his consciousness, contributes to the formation of thoughts that are critical of official norms and principles, and is aimed at preserving his own personal integrity.

Rice. 3. Classification of manifestations of personal creativity

It is clear that complete satisfaction with one’s own condition and the position of society does not contribute to the emergence of creative ideas. The state of satisfaction does not lead to the search for new, let alone creative, ways and solutions. The law of conservation of life, as a special case of conservation of energy, does not have free energy for innovative models, especially for starting transformations.

Personality is based on the physiological characteristics of a person, from physically obvious to psychoneurological, at first glance hidden. Personal creativity can be innate or acquired, and will depend on the characteristics of the constitution of the human body, brain, endocrine system, and can also be transformed from prolonged exposure to a socio-psychological source, for example, turning neurotic states into neurosis and, thereby, creating an internal stimulant of inadequate behavior.

Situational is based on a change in the state of the subject caused by short-term external influences or circumstances, internal needs for change, moods, ideological needs or their consequences, learned information, events or participation in them. All this can be a serious incentive to intensify mental activity, change its direction, and ultimately lead to abandonment of the previous way of thinking. Thus, the root of creativity should be sought in the human condition and in his way of thinking. A creative personality can also be hidden under the image of a passive, taciturn and unprofessional employee. This is most likely due to the fact that the contradiction of such a person with his environment can be so great that he puts himself in a position of greatest safety. Understanding the sources of creativity as contradictions (often temporary) between the individual and the individual or the individual and society allows us to draw an unexpected conclusion that creativity can both serve to benefit society, changing and breaking ossified foundations, and lead to destabilization and collapse of management, especially if society is not yet ready to form something new that is adequate to the emerging requirements.

Creative solutions have different directions: social, personal, situational (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Direction of creative solutions

Socio-psychological types of creativity (2 UR)

Psychoneurological creativity arises on the basis of deep mental abnormalities, its natural state contradicts the utilitarian behavior of society and pursues two goals: to find the shortest path to the most comfortable one’s own psychological state and to demonstrate protest against the circumstances responsible for the occurrence of the disease. The magnitude and quality of creativity depend on the depth of the psychological state and the intellectual potential of the author. Heightened feelings push to extraordinary, decisive ideas and actions. This is how outstanding works of art emerge.

Synergistic creativity overcomes the utilitarianism of consciousness by the energetic and psychological characteristics of a person’s behavior in a group - it removes the restrictions imposed on a person’s thought processes either by himself or by current social norms (among which there are image, status, ambitious, and information restrictions). The collective solution of a certain problem replenishes the knowledge of the participants with new information, and each person’s personal experience with new psychological states. This allows you to go beyond the established behavioral stereotype, apply previously unused forces to solve the problem and find original intellectual solutions.

Methodological creativity arises when overcoming the utility of recognized technologies, legalized norms and rules. Everyone knows the process of creating something new from familiar things arranged in a different way. Modern artists and designers use old things that have fallen into disrepair to create their works. Methodological creativity, aimed at overcoming fixed utilitarianism in all spheres of life, creates a different way of organizing familiar processes and things. The formalized order will push to new solutions already in the process of formalization. Methodological creativity is based on modeling. To build a model of the situation, it is necessary to look “from above”, “from a bird’s eye view”. Original and unexpected ideas for military maneuvers arose with a clearly depicted disposition of forces and on a well-drawn map. In order to find a creative solution, you must go from induction to deduction.

Status creativity arises at the moment of overcoming the utilitarianism of consciousness when the author changes his social position. The effect of implementing decisions under the influence of status creativity arises from the position of the author, which distinguishes him in the surrounding society. In this case, his assessments, ideas and decisions run counter to traditional ethical opinion. Here it is appropriate to recall the cry of a child from Andersen’s fairy tale: “But the king is naked!” But it is not only low social status that determines the creativity of solutions. Being higher than the average person, breaking the traditions of society and overcoming obstacles is a necessary condition in order to think differently, freely. And the statement that “money comes to money” is incorrect; the status creativity of a successful entrepreneur gives rise to new creative projects and schemes.

Individual-subjective types of creativity

Genetic creativity is a set of author’s achievements based on the author’s rich natural data. A certain physiological feature that distinguishes a creative person from other people can and should create masterpieces. Mozart, Van Gogh, Leonardo, Archimedes, Marx, Nietzsche and thousands of other geniuses and talents who filled the collection of the best creations of human thought, imagination and achievements. Genetic creativity is what is called talent.

Physiological creativity does not have such deep structural roots as genetic creativity, and its manifestations are based rather on temporary deviations in the state of the author’s body. It is known that consumption stimulated creative activity. The patient's body, working under enormous stress in the struggle for survival, sharpens sensory abilities and stimulates intellectual activity. This happens on a physiological level, but a different mode of brain functioning gives rise to creative ideas that were previously unavailable in a calm and balanced state. By the way, even alcohol can lead to some creative discoveries, but managing goals in such a state is difficult and anecdotal. Physiological creativity manifests itself not only in diseases; on the contrary, a change in lifestyle aimed at positive changes - sporting events, giving up bad habits, changing the daily routine - will inevitably entail conditions that will give rise to creativity. This form of creativity includes the results of human activity, when, regardless of his desire, a change in brain activity, the sequence and order of brain processes, a change in the ratio of the activity of the right and left hemispheres, as well as a change in emotional and rational states occur involuntarily. It is physiological creativity that is trained in creative trainings, where utilitarian processes are revealed through a change in the ratio of emotional and rational perception of them.

Intellectual creativity overcomes utilitarianism without any physiological deviations or problems. It is close to methodological, but has an attachment not to the process, but to the author. A large information reserve, an internal catalog of various situations and ways to resolve them, allows you to maneuver in familiar circumstances in an unusual way and invent something new. Of course, intellectual creativity implies a high intellectual level of development of the author. Narrow specialization in a certain area when making decisions helps to achieve optimal results.

Role creativity arises at the moment of overcoming the personal behavioral utilitarianism of consciousness when the author changes his role position. Much becomes clear if you put yourself in the place of another. Role-playing creativity is often taught in business game training. Role creativity, unlike status creativity, is less connected with real social impact, is more manageable and can be created artificially to resolve current production situations.

Situational types of creativity

Spatial creativity. After relaxing in another place, problems that previously seemed insoluble are often easily solved, and things that previously caused headaches and insomnia become apparent. Travel and a change of environment bring new perspectives, new ideas and solutions. Finding himself in unusual conditions, among unfamiliar people and subject to other laws and rules of behavior, a person becomes different, his thoughts and feelings change.

Everyday creativity is in many ways identical to role and status, but can be of a more local, individual nature. The environment, hobbies, family members and their actions are sources of sudden, although well-founded, creative solutions. Often the mood improves, and therefore utilitarianism at work is overcome, if, for example, a vacuum cleaner or toaster was purchased the day before. And moving to a new apartment is like getting a promotion.

Worldview creativity often depends on the influence of the environment, agitation, circumstances and education. How many revolutions have been accomplished thanks to worldview creativity. When a leader convinces a subordinate by explaining the specifics of his plans, he thereby prepares the listener’s worldview for new actions in accordance with his own understanding of what is happening.

Stimulus creativity often manifests itself under the pressure of external influences, threats, stimulation, or with internal changes in the author’s life motives. A striking example is the so-called sharashkas - secret research institutes and design bureaus subordinate to the NKVD / Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, in which imprisoned engineers worked. The results of this creativity are used so often that this way of searching for ideas is not even considered creative. However, any threat of loss of a comfortable utilitarian state evokes a creative desire to preserve it. Successful variants of stimulus creativity can develop into a worldview, then into an intellectual one, and a utilitarian person will turn into a creative person.

The processes of creating states that lead to creative decisions and actions can be controlled (actively controlled creativity), by preparing situations and environments conducive to achieving results, or passively controlled, adjusting the situation of creativity in individuals or groups (controlled), or passively agree with the author (uncontrolled , serviced). Below is a table of creativity classification.

Table 1. Classification of creativity by degree of controllability

Actively managed	Controlled	Uncontrolled, serviced
Socio-psychological
Synergistic	Status	Psychoneurological
Methodological
Individual
Intelligent	Physiological	Genetic
Role-playing
Situational
Stimulus	Household
Worldview	Spatial

The emergence of creative individuals and groups inevitably leads to a split in society and aggravation of relations, even if temporary. Moreover, it is not difficult to identify creative authors, since the desire to embody creative ideas forces them to be active. Creative individuals are vulnerable because the field of their creative process is outside acceptable technologies, rules, laws, therefore, they are asocial. A creative solution presented in a new form is, to a certain extent, often a challenge to society and breaks established norms. Therefore, militant utilitarianism easily reveals the creative instigators of the instability of their own existence and creates conditions for the triumph of order and law. The remedies are well known to everyone. But creativity is a short-lived phenomenon, however, it leaves a deep mark on the life of society and the authors themselves. A company inviting creative authors to cooperate must clearly understand the consequences of using creative solutions and be prepared for them. By abandoning previous, albeit ineffective, but familiar and manageable positions, you can become unstable for a long time if you do not understand the essence of the process that has begun. The creative flow of ideas and solutions is like a chain reaction and is poorly controlled.

Levels of the creative process

1. On the unconscious, subconscious, conscious and superconscious.

2. An acute desire to realize a plan proceeds in the search for means for its implementation and ends in finding them, making a decision regarding specific methods of implementation.

3. Unconscious initial stages of any type of creativity, the birth of brilliant guesses, sudden insights.

The first phase of the creative process

1. Characterized by intellectual initiative or the ability to independently see and pose problems.

2.Analysis, synthesis, abstractions and generalizations, as well as inferences - aimed at understanding reality, lead not only to the discovery of new patterns in it, but also to invention, to the creation of some product.

3.Creativity at the subconscious level, which develops on the basis of individual experience and mental constructors developed in the brain during life, integrating unconscious experience, formed skills and needs.

Second phase of the creative process

1. It begins with a strong desire to realize the plan, proceeds in the search for means for its implementation and ends with finding them, making a decision regarding specific methods of implementation.

2.Unconscious components, based on the biologically determined need for creativity, are transformed into needs in a certain form of activity, turning into a conscious goal for a person, which contributes to the inclusion of the superconscious.

3. Contact with the environment and activation, regulatory and information blocks of the brain. They determine the needs for certain forms of activity.

The third phase of the creative process

1. Implementation of what was planned in actions, monitoring intermediate results and correcting methods of implementation, critical evaluation of the product.

2.Creativity at the subconscious level, which develops on the basis of individual experience and mental constructors developed in the brain during life, integrating the unconscious experience of early childhood.

3. Formed skills and needs, dictated by natural inclinations, learned social norms and the nature of interaction with the environment, passed through consciousness.

Structure of the first phase of the creative process

1. Consciousness is the highest form that encourages transformative, creative activity and at the same time the main force inhibiting it. This is determined by the very nature and function of consciousness in the human psyche of controlling behavior in interaction with the environment.

2. The conscious form of creativity has its own special tool - logical operations. These operations - analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization, as well as inferences - aimed at understanding reality, lead not only to the discovery of new patterns in it, but also to invention. To create some new product.

3. Activities that can be performed in a standard manner, but creativity can be introduced into it on individual initiative - invention, improvement of a method of action.

The main products of creativity are

1.Creating a new form of matter, starting with materials such as metals and ending with a work of art.

2. Formation of a sense of the viewer and constant control with him during the performance process.

3. Overcoming the professional template in the executive phase is the ability to freely experiment and improvise in the process of implementing the plan.

Creative direction

1. Creation of new, previously non-existent forms of matter, including in products of artistic creativity.

2. Changes and transformations of the earth's surface due to spontaneous processes.

3. Chemical compounds and reactions underlying the formation of various types of substances.

1. “Geo-creativity” includes

1. The formation of new forms of matter (such as oil and other minerals), arising under a combination of certain conditions.

2. Convey new meaning to familiar objects and phenomena.

3. Convey what is planned unexpectedly and accurately.

2. The process of “Bio-creativity”

1. The evolution of living matter indicates the inclusion of creativity mechanisms in the process of origin, maturation and functioning.

2. Destruction of the “old world” and construction of a new one in its place.

3.Change, update, transform and improve existing creativity.

3. Specifics of human creativity

1. Creativity involves the interaction of many variables, so the product of natural biological creativity is always unique and inimitable.

2. The incentive to creativity is the non-standard nature of the stimulus, the interaction of different forces and the presence of some catalyst.

3.Change, transformation and the emergence of new creativity.

Rice. 5. The creative process of creating an invention

The driving forces of creativity

1. The stimulus for awakening creativity was not only a momentary external need, but also the anticipation of possible changes in the future.

2. The process of formation of a new one takes place in the interaction of different forces that determine the change, transformation of one of the objects of interaction, which is in a weaker position.

3. The process of change, transformation, combination of different forms of matter is characterized by a common quality - the creation of a necessary, previously non-existent result.

Social needs of creative individuals

1. Achieve a certain social status through the products of your creativity - artistic discoveries, inventions, ideas, the creation of works of art, conquering the space and time of your influence on people in an effort to penetrate into the essence of the fundamental laws of the world.

2. The need to save energy, a creative search for means to make work easier, both physical and mental.

3. Spontaneous desire for self-knowledge, knowledge and mastery of the surrounding world, for independent, creative activity.

Biological needs of creative people

1. Conquering an audience of viewers, readers, listeners. Individual differences lie in the space that the artist is trying to conquer: one creates “for himself and loved ones,” another for “selected connoisseurs,” the third focuses on all of humanity.

2. The need for connection and emotional contact with other people, finding one’s role and the individual meaning of one’s existence in society, as well as one’s status, which is determined by the number of influences exerted on others.

3. An internal need for independent performance of any activity and actions, free mastery of them.

Spiritual Needs

1. Actions for others, including through creativity. Creativity always includes actions for others, and therefore is considered as the main spiritual need that should be cultivated in people.

2. The need to conquer and expand living space.

3. The need for food, reproduction, items necessary to preserve life, the need to save energy, the need to multiply and develop space as a source of vital resources.

Creative type of artistic creativity

1. It involves the mandatory introduction of novelty into the product of activity. This requires constant in-depth knowledge of reality, the development of the need for knowledge and improvement.

2. Optimal development of all potential possibilities of individuality and personality.

3. The need to be a unique individual, free, but joining the universal through the products of one’s creativity, harmoniously combines individual and socially significant interests.

Formation of the creativity function

1. It is necessary, first of all, to know the mechanisms of inclusion, the flow process and the conditions necessary for the realization of a person’s creative potential as a general personal quality.

2. It is necessary to know the specifics of the product of artistic creativity, which lies in the equal probability of its negative and positive influence.

3.Imaginative thinking is always based on metaphor, symbolism, a combination of generality and concreteness, thoughts and feelings.

Main components of the creative process

1. The ability to contact, interact with the world and independently see and pose problems and themes in art and intellectual initiative.

2. The social abilities necessary for creativity combine individual originality with a special type of contact with the environment. Where individual and common interests merge into one common need for creation and perfection.

3. Socio-spiritual abilities (personal block).

Thinking and creativity.

1. Processes that are closely intertwined with each other, although they pursue different goals and use different mental operations. Thinking is aimed at understanding the really existing world, and creativity is aimed at restructuring, updating and improving it.

2. The ability to mentally change, transform specifically perceived objects and situations in the present.

3. The emotional and rational beginning, all cognitive processes, combines visual-figurative perception of reality with reproduction and transformation in memory, building a model of the required future.

Social factors blocking the realization of individual creative potential

1. Lack of a sufficient amount of sensory experience, immediate environment, collective education, training, vocational training.

2. Creative thinking integrates all the main types and operations of cognitive, operational and creative thinking.

3. The product of cognitive thinking is the discovery of subjectively or objectively new patterns, entities, the nature of objects and phenomena.

External factors contributing to the actualization of creative potential

1. Expectation of adults, inclusion in a socially and individually significant need.

2. Traditional form of training aimed at obtaining the knowledge, skills and abilities provided for by the program.

3. Special higher education, especially when teaching artistic and creative professions.

The main objects of creativity development

1. These are those that are not formed automatically and require directed efforts for their formation.

2.Individual development is initiated by the subject himself at an unconscious and conscious level.

3. The main laws of development are manifested in the course of the creative process at all its phases.

Conditions for the development of creativity in the learning process

1. Awakening the adaptation reflex. Independent search in mastering a professional skill or solving a visual task, and its assessment includes an indicator of creativity.
2. 2. In the creative consciousness there must be faith that with the help of the language of art you can create any world, convey any thought.
3. To manage the creative process, it is necessary to automatically turn it on, which is developed if you constantly adhere to the attitude that doing nothing is pointless.

The role of creativity in antiquity, the opinion of philosophers

Antiquity is the first period in human history marked by the accelerated development of science. Considering various manifestations of the surrounding world, philosophers have identified creativity as a separate sphere. They divided it into human and divine. Human manifestation included arts and crafts. The phenomenon of the creation of the cosmos was considered a divine manifestation.

Aristotle denied God's intervention in the creative process, calling it an act of activity - the creation of something new. Plato viewed creation as a process of contemplation—the new is born from observation.

Creative people – who are they?

When it comes to people involved in creative work, people usually immediately think of artists, musicians, poets, writers, and less often of scientists. And since these types of activities, due to specific abilities, are not available to everyone, it seems that creativity is some kind of unique gift.

But is it? Try to answer the question yourself: is creativity possible in other types of activities? For example, in pedagogy. Can't a teacher be creative? And the cook? What about the manager, engineer, plumber? Agree that creativity is possible in a wide variety of activities, and it is accessible to everyone. The question is: will everyone take advantage of the opportunity to be a creative person? To understand this, it is worth understanding what creativity is.

Psychological characteristics of creativity

In psychology, creative activity is defined very simply. This is the creation of something new: paintings, music, scientific theories, buildings, mechanisms, culinary recipes, teaching methods, methods of activity, etc. That is, creativity is not a special activity, but its form or level. There are reproductive activities - replication, performing operations according to a model learned by a person during the learning process. And if a person invents something of his own, does it in a new way, then this is already creativity.

Yes, there is artistic creativity associated with specific types of activities that are united under the general concept of “art.” But a musician can also play in strict accordance with a score written by a completely different person - the composer. And the painter can masterfully make copies of paintings. And this is not considered creativity.

But, being possible in any field of activity, creativity requires special qualities and abilities from a person. First of all, these abilities are associated with the cognitive sphere, especially with thinking.

Cognitive sphere of a creative personality

The question of the uniqueness of creative thinking has been of interest to psychologists and philosophers for a long time. But only in the 20th century did they begin to study it seriously. This was due to society's urgent need for creative individuals. Such a need has always existed, but only by the beginning of the last century did society realize that creativity can be effectively used not only in the field of art and science, but also in all other areas of life, including marketing, the creation of new goods and services, and in management etc.

The result of this increased interest was the development of the psychology of creativity and the development of the theory of creative thinking. Thanks to the research of such scientists as J. Guilford, E. de Bono, G. Altshuller, S. Mednik, T. Buzan, Y. Ponomarev and others, the main characteristics of this unusual type of thinking were identified.

• Divergent character. From the point of view of J. Guilford, divergence (direction in different directions) is the main sign of creative thinking. This distinguishes it from convergent, unidirectional logical thinking.
• Imagery. Creative thought is born in the form of an image, as A. Einstein drew attention to. Creative ideas are put into words only in the process of developing and communicating them to other people. Therefore, creativity is most clearly manifested in the field of art, which operates with images.
• Associativity. Associations are connections that arise in the brain between different elements or blocks of information. They help to connect to thinking the most diverse areas of our experience, knowledge, and ideas. The more such associations arise, the more interesting and original thoughts are born.
• Spontaneous activity of the imagination. A creative person not only thinks in images, they are born in his brain spontaneously, without much effort, thanks to his developed imagination.

In addition to special thinking, figurative memory plays an important role in the cognitive sphere of a creative person, helping to retain a lot of useful information, and the ability to focus on one’s activities. Well-controlled, developed attention, combined with imagination, allows creative people to notice the unusual, surprising in the world, something that others do not see.

The role of the volitional sphere

Along with the concept of “creative personality,” the term “creative” is often used. This word itself comes from the English noun creativity - creativity, creative talent. Despite the obvious similarity of these two concepts, there is a difference between them. Creatives are people who are creative, active, and not just endowed with the ability to create.

For people, even with high creative potential, such activity is not always typical. Often the creative process occurs at the level of consciousness, and its results are not always realized in practice. So you can come up with an original, fascinating plot, but you will never write a book. Lying on the couch, you can develop a project for your own business, but never implement it. And if you knew how many brilliant ideas, inventions and artistic masterpieces remained “on the couch”!

To become a creative, active person, creative thinking alone is not enough; you also need strong-willed qualities. After all, you need to develop a brilliant idea, show persistence in proving it, high efficiency in its implementation, not be afraid of difficulties, not give up in the face of failures and be ready for criticism, ill-wishers and envious people. Will in the creative process often plays an even greater role than ability, level of creativity and intelligence.

Area of ​​interest

How are new ideas born and new solutions to complex problems found? In fact, our brain cannot come up with anything completely new; for example, we cannot imagine something that we have never seen if there is no description of it. Creativity is a combinatorial activity, that is, the transformation and combination of elements of previous experience, knowledge, ideas, etc. stored in memory. The information stored in our memory is a building material, and the more it is and the more diverse it is, the better the conditions for creativity .

For a creative person, not only the volume, but also the variety of knowledge is important. This allows you to connect them to solve a variety of problems. And if associative thinking is also well developed, then combining information creates almost unlimited opportunities for creating new things. Thus, creatives are distinguished not only by creative abilities, but also by diverse interests and erudition.

Now the time has come when it would seem that there is no longer any need to remember and store large amounts of information. After all, there are colossal Internet databases where you can find everything. Yes, but they are located outside of our brain, which means they do not participate in the process of creativity, which is largely spontaneous and unconscious. This means that erudition and diverse interests have not lost their importance. Unless, of course, you want to be a creative person.

Theories of creativity: different approaches, concepts of perception

The phenomenon of creativity was examined by psychologists from different schools. Among them are:

1. Depth psychology. Freud considered two aspects: unconscious components and motivation. Creativity is the sublimation of sexual energy, which an individual realizes in a socially acceptable manner. Jung viewed it as the result of the influence of archetypes - manifestations of collective images. Creativity for analytical psychology is a means of expressing deep experiences, unity with the collective unconscious.
2. Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology is characterized by considering art as a product of the thinking of a developed personality.
3. Cognitive theory. According to cognitive scientists, creativity is the essence of the life process. Each individual uses accumulated experience throughout his life to create his own worldview model.
4. Humanistic theory. For humanists, creativity is an act of self-expression. The ability to create distinguishes a meaningful personality from animals and is innate.
5. Development of a creative personality. Altushler viewed the creation process as a consequence of self-improvement. To develop creative abilities, a person needs not only innate data, but also suitable conditions.

Modern science combines different approaches, studying the process of art development comprehensively.

Lesson Introduction to the psychology of creative activity. Part 1

Lesson 3. Introduction to creative psychologyactivities. Part 1. Great people are not separated from ordinary people by an impassable abyss, but only discoverparticularly strong development of individual qualities,to a lesser extent inherent in other people.Wilhelm Ostwald What is the psychology of creative activity
By studying the nature of creativity, they find the relationship between creativity and personality. They say that a person acts in life, first of all, as a doer, creator and creator, regardless of what activity he is engaged in.
Psychology of creativity (creative activity)
- this is a branch of psychology that studies the creation by man of something new and original in various fields of activity, primarily in science, technology, art, as well as in everyday life; formation, development and structure of human creative potential.

The psychology of creativity is one of the difficult branches of psychology due to the vagueness of the criteria for new

and
original
, strictly speaking, all
life
is
creativity
, because
You cannot enter the same river twice, perform the simplest movement twice in the same way, or pronounce the same word in the same way. Every moment of human life is not only unique, but also a new beginning. Structure of creative activity
In the general structure of creative activity, the following subsystems are distinguished:

1) product of creative activity

– this is what was created. These are not only material products - buildings, cars, etc., but also new thoughts, ideas, solutions that may not immediately find material embodiment.

2) process of creative activity

- how it was created.
 Remember what stages the creative process includes?
3)
the personality of the creator
- who creates (characterized by mental abilities, temperament, age, character, etc.),

4) environment and conditions

, in which creativity occurs (physical conditions, team, stimulants and barriers to creative activity, etc.).
Environment for creative activity

Are special conditions needed for creative activity?
If necessary, which ones? In what conditions would you want to create? Many researchers pay attention to the so-called background of creativity, i.e. conditions in which a person creates. What helps or hinders the creative process. In this case, the following are distinguished:

— "thank you" background of creativity

, i.e. a person creates effectively when the surrounding conditions are favorable and have a stimulating effect. For each creator, the incentives are different: one needs a cup of coffee, another needs pleasant music, a third, on the contrary, silence...

— casual creativity background

, i.e. For creativity, an environment characterized by the absence of threat and coercion, acceptance and stimulation of any ideas, freedom of action and lack of criticism is important.

— “contrary” background of creativity

(opposite to the previous one), i.e. It happens (and history knows many examples) when a person creates not “thanks to” but “in spite of” external circumstances. In times of severe reaction and repression, there were nevertheless people who were creative with renewed energy.

— random creativity background

, i.e. The stimulus for the emergence of an idea can be the most ordinary case that evokes a certain association.

Most likely, this stimulus, like a seed, falls on the soil already prepared by long preliminary reflections, when the genius is about to “overshadow” the creative head.

Many of the famous discoveries and inventions were made by accident.

• Thus, there is a well-known story about Archimedes, who came up with the idea of ​​solving a problem while he was taking a bath.

• Physicist Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity when he discovered that a photographic plate wrapped in black paper lying next to uranium salt was overexposed.

• Marile discovered the method of chemically cleaning fabric by accidentally dropping a suit into a barrel of turpentine, and when he took it out, he discovered that the dirty stains had disappeared.

• Long ago, raindrops fell on the hot stones of the fireplace through a leaking roof. A fragrant heat immediately reigned in the house. People liked it, and... they perfected the “accidental invention”. This is how, according to legend, the bathhouse was invented.  Do you know any other examples of “accidental” discoveries and inventions?

—
background of optimal motivation
(desire to do something, change something).
 What can a person’s internal desire to create depend on? The personality of the creator.
The influence of creative activity on the development of personality traits 
How would you characterize a creative person?
What impact does creative activity have on a person? What motivates people to create something? The biographies of the creators indicate that in the overwhelming majority this is not a desire to get rich. Russian inventors Cherepanovs, I.I. Polzunov, I.P. Kulibin and many others were poor people. Often the basis of creativity is the desire to come up with a means to make work easier, save resources, and, not least, the creation of artistic values. Creativity and creativity are the properties of a person striving for self-improvement. For most creative individuals, creativity is not a whim or a hobby, but a need.

A creative person, according to scientists, is capable of solving non-trivial, complex problems, operating with contradictory information, and discerning the deep meanings of what he perceives. He constantly feels the need for knowledge, for new information. Creative people tend to enjoy the process of solving a problem. Creating a new product evokes positive emotions. This emotional state serves as a reward for the creative process and stimulates the person to act in the same direction.

A person needs creative activity for self-realization; in the process of creativity, he uses personal capabilities to create something new, unique. American psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that the need for creativity and self-expression is inherent in human nature.

Creativity is purposeful, persistent, hard work. It requires mental activity, intellectual abilities, strong-willed, emotional traits and high performance.

In activity, especially in creative activity, the wealth of the spiritual and mental world of the individual is revealed: the depth of the mind and experiences, the power of imagination and will, abilities and character traits.

Therefore, it is important to develop in a person the need for creative activity, the desire for self-expression, self-actualization through creativity.
Individual techniques that activate creativity in various activities and special creative activities can help achieve this goal. Qualities of a creative personality
Elementary statistical analysis shows that not every person reaches creative heights or becomes famous thanks to creative activity. This fact gives reason to assume that for successful creativity the subject must have a certain set of qualities.

The concept of a creative personality in literature is almost always revealed through a description of its qualities. Numerous attempts have been made to create a “psychological portrait” of a creative personality, to determine the block of qualities that characterize it. For example, one of the major American managers A.E. Brown provides the following list in his article:

1. Creative people are curious
   and constantly ask “why?” "what if?";
2. show flexibility
   and
   openness
   to the perception of new information (in other words, they never reject an idea on the grounds that “we’ve already tried it and it doesn’t work”;
3. are able to see a problem
   where others do not see it and clearly formulate it;
4. show high sensitivity to needs and requirements
   , noticing them earlier than other people;
5. are able to connect and combine
   various information in the most unexpected way;
6. unorthodox
   and anti-authoritarian, boldly questioning familiar and generally accepted ideas;
7. show mental restlessness
   , strong
   motivation
   and
   emotional involvement
   in what they do;
8. more inclined to solve problems
   rather than master new facts and phenomena, focused on achieving goals rather than applying methods;
9. are not necessarily
   distinguished
   by high intelligence
   , because people of average intelligence sometimes have great creative potential

And a mandatory quality of a creative person is high performance

and
perseverance
, as expressed in the words of the famous inventor Thomas Edison:
“ I have never failed.
I just found 10,000 ways that don't work .
Barriers to creative activity

What can prevent a person from engaging in creative activity, showing creativity in ordinary work?
When performing creative activities, there are often many obstacles that must be overcome.
Barriers to creativity
(obstacles in creative activity)
are inhibitory influences and actions of the external environment and the individual himself, which reduce the effectiveness of creative activity or make it unsuccessful.
Barriers are divided into two main classes:

1) Domestic

, caused by internal reasons of the creative personality itself (lack of knowledge, conservative upbringing, psychological characteristics of the individual, lack of motivation, etc.).
Internal obstacles include psychological barriers
- psychological states that manifest themselves in a person’s inadequate passivity, which prevents him from performing certain actions. The mechanism of psychological barriers consists of strengthening negative emotions and attitudes (shame, guilt, low self-esteem, etc.) that are associated with the action being performed or the task being solved. For example, stage fright.

The main way to reduce and overcome internal barriers is associated with the development of a creative personality in the process of education and training.

2) External

, related to the influence of the external environment on a person (lack of funding, low technical level, outdated equipment, lack of support, lack of like-minded people, etc.).
Knowledge of barriers is necessary for consciously reducing or overcoming their influence and increasing the effectiveness of creative activity.  What personal qualities of a person interfere with creative activity and do not provide the opportunity to show one’s creativity?
How can these barriers be overcome? Let's talk in more detail about the internal (psychological, personal) obstacles to creative activity:

• Lack of self-esteem .
  It manifests itself either in a lack of self-confidence and high self-criticism, or self-confidence or arrogance. This prevents you from taking the first step to solve a creative problem and increases the risk of harm in realizing your dream. To solve this problem, a person needs to develop self-confidence.
• Too much self-criticism .
  There must be some balance between giftedness and self-criticism, because too picky self-esteem can lead to a creative dead end.

• Laziness and weak will, unwillingness to develop your creative potential.
  They also prevent you from starting the creative process and overcoming psychological inertia. To minimize them, it is necessary to train self-discipline and pay more attention to activities.

• Fear of failure, failure.
  Fear of failure stifles imagination and initiative. It is a consequence of a lack of experience, past failures and the presence of uncertainty in the result. An increase in self-confidence or help (consultation) from a more experienced person who can give a correct assessment of the risks of the proposed action and provide timely support helps to overcome this obstacle.

• Lack of organization .
  Having too many things to do and thoughts makes it difficult to understand which ones are important and what to do first. This is one of the main obstacles in the development of truly creative activity. To remove this obstacle, you need to organize your personal goals and activities into a single, reliable system (this is where creativity comes in handy). Such an organization will allow you to free your memory and consciousness from constant, repetitive thinking about these matters, which complicates the process of generating new creative ideas.

• Congestion of consciousness .
  After filling the mind with all possible knowledge that can help solve the problem, it needs to be allowed to rest and relax. But often this is not done and consciousness begins to be used to solve other problems. Increased mental congestion reduces the rate of idea generation. To overcome this, you need to consciously take breaks to speed up the process of creative activity.

• Conformism .
  The desire to be like others; fear of expressing your own opinion, looking funny; accepting other people's opinions and experiences without criticism or analysis. This personality trait is characterized by agreement with everything that is in the environment, without assessing whether it is right or wrong, whether it is optimal or can be improved. To overcome this obstacle, you need to develop critical thinking; you need to approach everything new with the questions “why, why, for what …”.

• Impatience, impulsiveness of thought .
  Desire to find an answer immediately; ill-considered, inadequate decisions that arise with strong motivation. But to immediately find a solution to a problem, you need a large amount of source material (knowledge, ideas) and a high level of intellectual development. But when a solution is not found in a short period of time, then the person simply stops working on this problem and switches to another, easier one. To overcome this obstacle, you need to train self-discipline, and especially perseverance.

• Rigidity .
  Stereotypical thoughts, the habit of solving typical problems in a standard way, firmness and steadfastness in the means used to make decisions and achieve goals. Limits a person from using new means that may be more effective and reliable. To overcome this obstacle, you need to develop flexibility of thinking, learn about the emergence of new tools and apply them to solve problems with creative activity.
• Psychological inertia .
  Predisposition to any particular method and way of thinking when solving a problem, ignoring all possibilities except the only one encountered at the very beginning

So this is a habit, you say.
And you'll be right. A person does many things in life out of habit. He gets up early in the morning, washes his face, brushes his teeth, puts on his shoes, goes to work (usually the same way). Habit helps us, but only in everyday life. But “thinking out of habit” is no longer always the best way to act, especially when it comes to creativity. Psychological inertia can manifest itself in the denial of a new idea, in the use of an old operating principle when switching to fundamentally new equipment, the inability to see the possibility of using existing or obtained solutions in areas other than solving the problem, etc.
Examples of psychological inertia: On May 7, 1895, St. Petersburg physicist Alexander Popov made a report at the Physicochemical Society demonstrating a radio device he had created for recording atmospheric vibrations. The world community greeted the new method of transmitting radio waves with indifference. Not long before, the London post office rejected the idea of ​​a telephone on the grounds that the messengers had not yet been transferred. The famous ancient scientist and philosopher Aristotle wrote in one of his treatises that a fly has eight legs. And this was not questioned for almost two millennia, until it occurred to someone to count the legs of a fly. There were six of them! This is what the authority of a scientist means! The first steamboat had a brick chimney and oars sticking out on the sides to scoop up the water. One of the first cars with a steam engine was made in the form of a carriage; the steam engine itself resembled a horse in appearance and was controlled by reins. Task 2.
Tasks to overcome psychological inertia.

1. How to build 4 triangles from 6 matches?

2. A hairdresser in one of the outskirts of London is better off cutting the hair of two foreign visitors than one from here. Why?

3. The pilot radios to the dispatcher: “There is not a drop of gasoline in the tanks!” The dispatcher replies: “Everything is clear. In a few minutes everything will be all right." There were no casualties. Explain the situation.

The answers can be found at the end of the lesson text.  What personal qualities of yours prevent you from engaging in creative activities. Think about how this can be overcome?

Removing all these obstacles is guaranteed to increase the efficiency and success of creative activity.
This in turn will speed up the process of human self-realization. New concepts:
psychology of creativity (creative activity), environment of creative activity, barriers to creativity (internal, psychological, external), rigidity of thinking, psychological inertia.
Practical tasks Attention! These tasks are required! 1. Overcoming psychological inertia of thinking
If, when solving a problem, only long-known solutions that do not suit you come to your mind, and not a single fresh thought, this means that psychological inertia is preventing you. There are different methods of psychological activation of creative thinking aimed at eliminating psychological inertia. You will learn many of these techniques in subsequent classes. Today, try to solve several problems, overcoming your psychological inertia of thinking.

1.1. Choose one of the three suggested questions and suggest some original ones

solution options:

A. How to bring together a large number of people in a short time?

B. How can you remember all your plans for the week?

Q. How to find a person in a big city?

1.2. Choose one of two problems and suggest some original ones

solution options:

A) A problem appeared in one theater. The female spectators did not take off their hats, which, according to the fashion of that time, were quite high. This made it difficult to watch productions and reduced theater attendance. How can a theater director solve this problem without infringing on anyone's interests and showing a polite attitude towards women?

B) Cleopatra liked fishing. One military leader who was in love with her wanted to make an impression. While fishing, a special person put a fish on his hook. The queen quickly guessed this and decided to reveal the deception, but this had to be done very cunningly. What should Cleopatra do?

Try to come up with two solutions to

: 1) original, but real, which can be used now;
2) original, but unrealistic. These methods cannot be used in modern conditions, but who knows, maybe in the near future this will turn out to be quite real. 2. Barriers to creativity.
Fill out the table “My Barriers to Creative Activity” by entering into it those obstacles that prevent you from being creative and fully engaging in creative activity.
At the same time, remember that all people have creative abilities, there are no uncreative individuals. My creativity barrier

How does it manifest itself?	How can you overcome
External barriers
Internal barriers

Test questions
1. Make a dictionary of the 5 main concepts of this lesson. Please indicate which concept is most difficult for you to understand?

2. Do you agree with the opinion that conditions are necessary for the manifestation of creative abilities and creativity? Explain your answer.

3. Fill out the diagram “My environment for creative activity”:

4. Describe how creative activities affect a person.
Literature and sources

1. Ilyin E.P. Psychology of creativity, creativity, giftedness. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2009.
2. Molyako V.A. Psychology of creative activity. - K.: Knowledge, 1978.
3. Ponomarev Ya.A. Psychology of creativity. – M.: Nauka, 1976.
4. Kozhevnikov D.A. Science technology. – M.: Nauka, 2002.
5. Technical creativity: theory, methodology, practice. Encyclopedic dictionary-reference book / Ed. A.I. Polovinkina, V.V. Popova. – M.: NPO “Inform-System”, (Japan), 1995.
6. Altshuller G.S. Find an idea. Introduction to TRIZ - the theory of solving inventive problems. – M: Alpina Business Books, 2007. 208-212 https://vk.com/doc226271447_305178994?hash=5a83444f0ab6935f76&dl=1a60713c342c8d376e
7. Luk A. Creativity // Science and life. – 1973. – No. 1, 2. – https://www.metodolog.ru/00021/00021.html
8. Tolmachev A.A. Diagnosis: TRIZ. – St. Petersburg: Company COSTA, 2004 https://rus.triz-guide.com/assets/files/triz_rtv_library/diagnoz_TRIZ.pdf
9. https://geniusrevive.com/ru/ - site about geniuses and creativity
10. https://www.elitarium.ru/2006/07/05/preodolenie_barerov_razvitija_kreativnosti_i_tvorcheskikh_sposobnostejj.html - Hayem A. Overcoming barriers to the development of creativity and creative abilities
11. https://vikent.ru/enc/132/ — Qualities of a creative personality according to G.S. Altshuller

This is interesting to know Giftedness and pathology
Plato, Horace, and Cicero wrote about the fact that a high ability for creativity (genius) coexists with pathology (“insanity”). Therefore, it is no coincidence that in the history of psychiatry, a high ability for creativity has always been associated with certain forms of mental disorders - epilepsy, neuroses, psychoticism, etc. Therefore, there is reason to believe that creative people may be more susceptible to mental disorders.

The study of the connection between genius and insanity began at the end of the 19th century. One of the most famous works is Cesare Lombroso's book Genius and Madness. He believed that giftedness is a symptom of hereditary degeneration of the epileptoid type.

Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Petrarch, Moliere, Napoleon, Flaubert, Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy. Rousseau and Chateaubriand suffered from melancholy. George Sand, Michelangelo, Byron, Goethe were psychopaths, and Descartes, Plato, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Darwin, Kant, Emerson, Nietzsche, James suffered from schizophrenia. Byron and Goncharov had hallucinations. Socrates, Seneca, Handel, Poe, Musset, Kleist, Yesenin, Faulkner, Hendrickson and Morrison suffered from alcoholism and were drug addicts.

The convergence of views on genius and insanity was facilitated by the fact that the thinking of both had the same characteristics. Thus, the ability to produce distant associations, highlight the function of an object and propose its new use is inherent in the thinking of both patients with schizophrenia and creative people. At the same time, Lombroso wrote: “Now let us ask ourselves, is it possible, on the basis of the above facts, to come to the conclusion that genius in general is nothing more than neurosis, insanity? No, such a conclusion would be erroneous. True, in the stormy and anxious life of brilliant people, there are moments when these people show great similarities with crazy people, and in the mental activity of both there are many common features - for example, increased sensitivity, exaltation (high mood), giving way to apathy, originality of aesthetic works and the ability to discover, unconsciousness of creativity and the use of special expressions, strong absent-mindedness and suicidal tendencies, as well as often abuse of alcoholic beverages and, finally, enormous vanity. True, among brilliant people there were and are madmen, just as in some madmen illness caused glimpses of genius; but to draw from this the conclusion that all geniuses must necessarily be mad would mean falling into a huge error. If genius was always accompanied by insanity, then how can one explain to oneself that Galileo, Kepler, Columbus, Voltaire, Napoleon, Michelangelo, Cavour, people undoubtedly brilliant and, moreover, subjected to the most difficult tests during their lives, never showed signs of insanity? In addition, genius usually manifests itself much earlier than madness, which for the most part reaches its maximum development only after the age of 35, while genius is discovered in childhood, and in youth it manifests itself with full force: Alexander the Great was at the height of his fame in 20 years old, Charlemagne at 30, Charles XII at 18, D’Alembert and Bonaparte at 26.”

V. Hirsch noted that people tend to classify as painful everything that bears the imprint of the unusual. What genius and insanity had in common was “comparative rarity and difference from the vast majority of people.” It is incorrect to make a clinical diagnosis based on the absurd and strange behavior of geniuses. Sometimes the most seemingly ridiculous actions can find a simple psychological explanation. A man of genius is too busy with his internal processes, his imagination, his work, to pay attention to external trifles. He appears before us as he really is, which the average person usually does not do, and therefore possible oddities and special inclinations are more noticeable in him than in the latter.

S. Richet, after a painstaking study of the facts of the similarities between a genius and a madman, came to the conclusion that genius is not madness. N.N. Bazhenov, analyzing the works of C. Baudelaire and P. Verlaine, came to the conclusion that they were mentally ill. Bazhenov believed that what makes writers not only literary, but also psychological geniuses is their own illness, their own experience of suffering. He believed that some descriptions (the description of pleasure from murder by G. De Maupassant) and images (Stavrogin by F. M. Dostoevsky) could only be reproduced due to the combination of great talent in the author with great mental suffering. The formula of genius according to N. N. Bazhenov: a combination of great talent with great mental suffering.

Disputes on this issue continue in our time. D. Carlson, for example, believes that a genius is a carrier of the recessive schizophrenia gene. However, D. Simonton revealed that among geniuses there are no more mentally ill people than among the general population (about 10%). It's just that geniuses attract more attention from society.

There is a point of view according to which creative achievements are associated with neuroses. Conclusions about high anxiety and poor adaptation of creative people to the social environment are presented in a number of studies. For example, F. Baron states: in order to be creative, you need to be a little neurotic; hence: existing emotional disturbances distort the “normal” vision of the world and create the preconditions for a new approach to reality.

In resolving the issue of the connection between giftedness and genius and mental pathology, there is a lack of serious statistical evidence, which could not be a description of individual cases, but data on comparing two samples - outstanding and ordinary people - revealing the percentage

among those and other people with mental disorders. Otherwise, we will come to the same false conclusion regarding left-handers, that geniuses are more common among them than among right-handers (a conclusion drawn on the basis of individual cases - I.P. Pavlov, Napoleon, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.). The data presented only shows that left-handed people can be talented.

The only statistical evidence so far in favor of the fact that giftedness is a form of insanity is a study by American psychologists who found that in the group of creative individuals they examined, compared to the control sample, there were 10% more mental illnesses. But even if this is so, the ten percent prevalence of cases with mental disorders does not give reason to talk about a pronounced tendency to connect talent and genius with mental pathology. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that creative development by its nature is based on a healthy psyche.

Ilyin E.P. Psychology of creativity, creativity, giftedness. –

St. Petersburg: Peter, 2009. – pp. 226-230.
Answers to Task 2.
1. Usually they try to solve the problem in a plane. The solution lies in space - a pyramid, at the base of which lies a triangle.

2. Better value for money.

3. The plane has not taken off yet.

Catalog:

fr -> Social studies a Determine the correct fr -> Topics of coursework 20 Approximate topics of tests 21 thematic plan for studying the discipline 24 appendices 27 Appendix 1 27 fr -> Educational, methodological and information support of the discipline fr -> Methodological recommendations for students in the discipline “Psychology” pedagogical diagnostics of the development of persons with disabilities" fr -> Types of communications fr -> Bernard Verber The tree of the possible and other stories fr -> Early diagnosis and correction fr -> Memo for the head of an organization carrying out educational activities in general education programs when admitting children arriving from the territory of Ukraine fr -> Problems of a young family in a transforming society The concept of “transgressiveness” fr -> Conflicts in a modern family: causes, analysis
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Ponomarev's concept: nature, features of the creative process

Ya. Ponomarev considered the process of creating art as the result of life experience. He distinguished between logical and intuitive experience:

1. The part of experience responsible for creativity is in the hidden part of consciousness; in order to gain access to it, you need to choose an approach.
2. The key to unlocking experience is action. Intuitive execution of actions leads to the desired experience.
3. The formation of intuitive experience does not require the participation of consciousness.

In the structure of creativity, Ponomarev identifies three approaches:

• self-expression;
• socially useful creation;
• the solution of the problem.

Ponomarev's concept considers creativity as the result of the interaction of a subject and an object or a subject and another subject.

Psychological traits and characteristics of a creative personality

Psychological literature contains two main points of view on the creative personality. According to one of them, creativity or creative ability is inherent to a certain extent in every person, being the same integral feature as the ability to speak, think and feel.

The realization of creative potential, regardless of its scale, makes a person mentally normal. Deprivation of this opportunity can cause neurotic states in him.

In accordance with the second point of view, not every (normal) person can be considered a creator (creative personality). This position refers to a different understanding of the nature of creativity, when, in addition to the unprogrammed process of creation, the value of a new generally significant result is taken into account.

Finished works on a similar topic

• Course work Psychological characteristics of a creative personality 450 rub.
• Abstract Psychological characteristics of a creative personality 240 rub.
• Test work Psychological characteristics of a creative personality 210 rub.

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An important feature of a creative person is represented by a strong and stable need for creativity. He is not able to live without creativity and sees in it the main goal and the main meaning of life.

The concept of “creativity” can indicate the activity of an individual and the values ​​formed by him, which from facts of fate can become facts of culture. Scientists identify the following main features of a creative personality:

• The tendency to take risks, the courage to think differently;
• Presence of imagination;
• Problem vision;
• Ability to find contradictions;
• Ability to transfer knowledge and experience to a new situation;
• Independence and flexible thinking;
• Alternativeity;
• The ability to manage oneself.

Creative activity, which is associated with a change in state of consciousness, exhaustion and mental stress, can cause disturbances in mental regulation and behavior. Creativity and creativity are not only a great gift, but also a great punishment.

Almost all researchers noted large differences in the psychological portraits of scientists and artists. Thus, R. Snow noted the pragmatism of scientists, and for writers he noted a tendency towards emotional forms of self-expression. Scientists and engineers are considered more reserved, less socially courageous, more tactful and less sensitive than artists.

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In accordance with his creative manifestations, the activities of a businessman are more similar to the activities of a scientist. On average, scientists and businessmen have better control over their own behavior and are less sensitive than artists.

Concept, stages of the creation process: development of the creator’s thoughts

The definition of the term “creativity” is an activity as a result of which an individual translates inspired images into reality. Products of activity: scientific discoveries, books, films, any works of art.

There are 4 stages in the process of creating an object of art:

• Preparation;
• thinking about an idea;
• development of an action plan;
• final design.

The creative process belongs only to the creator, and its products belong to the culture.

Difficulties in perceiving various types of creativity: problems of the psychology of art

The main problems of the psychology of art are determined by the relationship between subject and object:

• the study of personality occurs through consideration and perception of aesthetic values;
• artistic perception of art changes depending on the level of development of the individual’s personality;
• art influences the behavior and motivation of an individual, changing his worldview.

The specifics of the problem depend on the types of creativity in psychology. In psychology, there are separate forms of manifestation of creative activity:

• scientific - discovery of real world phenomena in order to obtain knowledge;
• artistic - mastering the surrounding world through aesthetic rethinking, the desire to create;
• technical - transformation of reality using imaginative thinking, development of structures and mechanisms;
• co-creation - interpretation of the results of art, joint work of the creator and the viewer;
• pedagogical - searching for new methods and forms of presenting material in order to improve the learning process;
• The nursery is a necessary condition for the child’s thought process, which manifests itself in play and other activities.

Studying the problems of art helps to simplify the understanding of the creative process and make it more accessible to science and people.

Psychology of creativity.

Author: Popko Evgeniya Alievna

Psychology of creativity.

1. Psychology of abilities

Experimental psychology of abilities arose at the end of the 19th century, the founder of which was Francis Galton [6], who identified a number of problems and methodological approaches:

– development of abilities and their determinants (relationship of heredity and environment),

- the relationship between special and general abilities,

-creation of methods for measuring abilities,

- ability and activity.

“Ability” is one of the most general psychological concepts, but, despite its long-standing and widespread use in psychology, it is interpreted ambiguously by many authors.

S. L. Rubinstein understood abilities as “... a complex synthetic formation that includes a whole range of data, without which a person would not be capable of any specific activity, and properties that are developed only in the process of a certain way of organized activity.” Considering the structure of abilities, he identifies two main components:

1) “operational” - a streamlined system of those methods of action through which activities are carried out;

2) “core” - mental processes that regulate operations: the quality of the processes of analysis and synthesis [10]

B.M. Teplov meant by abilities certain individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another, which are not reduced to the existing stock of skills and knowledge that a person already has, but determine the ease and speed of their acquisition [12]

Ability – determined by V.D. Shadrikov [13] as a property of functional systems that implement individual mental functions that have an individual degree of expression, manifested in the success and qualitative originality of mastering activities, which allows us to solve the problem of correlating inclinations and abilities. If abilities are the properties of a functional system, then aptitudes are the properties of the components of this system.

V.G. Krysko gives the following definition of abilities: “Abilities are a mental property of a person, reflecting the manifestations of such characteristics that allow one to successfully engage in and master one or more types of activities” [7, P. 172]

A.G. Maklakov in the textbook “General Psychology”[9] analyzes the currently existing three types of approaches to the study of abilities:

– this is a set of all kinds of mental processes and states;

– this is a high level of development of general and special knowledge, skills and abilities that ensure the successful performance of various types of activities by a person;

– this is something that does not boil down to knowledge, skills and abilities, but ensures their rapid acquisition, consolidation and effective use in practice.

Human abilities are usually divided into general and special, theoretical and practical, educational and creative, which coexist, mutually complementing and enriching each other. Academic abilities determine the success of learning, creative abilities determine the success of creativity.

V.N. Druzhinin provides an analysis of three main approaches to the problem of creative and intellectual abilities [6]:

1. There are no creative abilities as such.

Intellectual talent acts as a necessary, but not sufficient condition for the creative activity of an individual. The main role in determining creative behavior is played by motivations, values, and personality traits (A. Tannenbaum, A. Olokh, D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya, A. Maslow and others). These researchers include cognitive talent, sensitivity to problems, and independence in uncertain and difficult situations as the main traits of a creative personality.

D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya introduces the concept of creative activity of the individual, believing that it is determined by a certain mental structure inherent in the creative type of personality. Creativity, from Bogoyavlenskaya’s point of view, is a situationally unstimulated activity, manifested in the desire to go beyond a given problem. A creative personality type is inherent in all innovators, regardless of their type of activity: test pilots, artists, musicians, inventors [3].

2. Creative ability (creativity) is an independent factor, independent of intelligence. (J. Guilford, K. Taylor, G. Gruber, Ya. A. Ponomarev). In a “softer” version, this theory states that there is a slight correlation between the level of intelligence and the level of creativity.

The most developed concept is the “intellectual threshold theory”

E. P. Torrens: if IQ is below 115-120, intelligence and creativity form a single factor; with IQ above 120, creative ability becomes an independent value, that is, there are no creatives with low intelligence, but there are intellectuals with low creativity.

3. A high level of intelligence development implies a high level

creative abilities and vice versa.

There is no creative process as a specific form of mental activity. This point of view was and is shared by almost all experts in the field of intelligence (D. Wexler, R. Weisberg, G. Eysenck, L. Theremin, R. Sternberg and others).

It is impossible to understand the nature of creative abilities without understanding the essence of creativity, although there are many contradictory judgments, opinions, and theories on this issue. Experts have great difficulty even defining creativity.

2. The Essence of Creativity

Not only in everyday consciousness, but also in the scientific literature, creativity is widely defined not by the procedural side - the mechanism, but by the result - the product (the creation of something new).

When turning to dictionaries, we will come across the following definition of creativity: “an activity that generates something qualitatively new and is distinguished by uniqueness and cultural-historical uniqueness, originality... Creativity is specific to a person, because presupposes a creator—a subject of creative activity” [NES].

In his book “Professional Education: Humanization and Technologies of Creativity” V.V. Likholetov [8, pp. 117 – 118] gives an extensive overview of the signs of creativity.

Creativity, being the highest manifestation of the “Man” phenomenon, is the least studied due to the specifics of its own nature: the spontaneous nature of creativity makes it elusive for natural scientific methods.

3. Imagination as the basis of the creative process

The human mind by its nature has heuristic, creative functions. In creativity, the productive and reproductive components of thinking are closely intertwined and transform into each other. This ensures that intelligent systems are evolutionary, reproducible, analytical, and constructive. Any complex developing system has contradictory properties. This fully applies to intelligent systems operating in creative search mode [4]. The creative process relies on the same mechanisms that are involved in the formation of ordinary images of the imagination.

Imagination, standing apart from other mental processes, at the same time occupies an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory, and influences organic processes and movements. The specificity of this form of mental process is that imagination is characteristic only of humans, it is capable of changing the world, transforming reality and creating something new. It is characterized as a creative act due to its connection with thinking. They are interconnected and mutually determine each other in cognitive acts. The role of imagination in the process of creative cognition can be defined as one of the ways of using a person’s existing knowledge to obtain new knowledge, as the transfer of knowledge from one area to another, the properties of which must be studied to solve cognitive problems. Participating together with thinking in the creative process, imagination transforms the visual content of the problem, thereby contributing to its resolution. As the basis of all creative activity, imagination is equally manifested in all aspects of cultural life, making artistic, scientific and technical creativity possible. In addition to actions aimed at transforming the external environment, a person carries out actions aimed at himself, at self-awareness and self-development. Man, the subject of his actions, is the creator of himself. This is true creativity, beginning at birth and continuing throughout life.

Thanks to imagination, a person creates, intelligently plans and manages his activities. It is an essential manifestation of personality. According to V.V. Davydov, “...the main stages of the development of a child’s personality are inseparable from the development of his creative abilities and, consequently, from the development of imagination”[5, P.126].

4. Creativity and personality.

Many of the researchers reduce the problem of human abilities to the problem of a creative personality: there are no special creative abilities, but there is a personality with certain motivation and traits characteristic of most creative people. A.I. Savenkov gives his list of such qualities: curiosity, hypersensitivity to problems, supra-situational activity, high level of logical thinking, increased interest in “divergent” tasks, originality, flexibility, “productivity” of thinking, ease of association, ability to predict, high concentration of attention, excellent memory, ability to evaluate, characteristics of inclinations and interests, desire for self-actualization, perfectionism, independence, social autonomy, egocentrism, leadership, competitiveness, humor, etc. [11] The author sees the leading role in the development of creative abilities in the child’s research activities.

The creators of the life strategy of a creative personality, Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller and Igor Mikhailovich Vertkin [2], having analyzed over 1000 biographies of creative personalities, identified six, although unequally developed in each of them, basic qualities characteristic of all creators without exception:

1. The ability to boldly choose a Worthy Goal and make it the main vector of your life.

2. The ability to see problems whose solution is necessary and sufficient to achieve a Worthy Goal.

3. The ability to work systematically, regular monitoring of the implementation of these plans.

4. High performance.

5. Good technique for solving creative problems included in the problem.

6. The ability to defend your ideas and developments under all circumstances, the ability to “take a hit.”

D.B. Bogoyavlenskaya speaks in the best possible way about the role of creativity in the development of personality: “the ability to be creative is the way to develop abilities and become a personality, because it is not predetermined and is constantly being built. Step back and you are unable to create. Self-sufficiency and self-indulgence are prerequisites for a creator” [3, C. 302].

5. Development of abilities

Abilities, believed B. M. Teplov [12], cannot exist except in a constant process of development. An ability that does not develop, which a person stops using in practice, is lost over time. Only through constant exercise do we maintain and develop the appropriate abilities.

V.D. Shadrikov [13] identifies several stages in the development of abilities:

• development of a functional system that implements a specific function in the totality of its components and connections;

• development of operational mechanisms;

• development of efficiency in the system of functional and operational mechanisms;

• mastery of the subject's abilities through reflection in specific activities.

Rubinstein in his works also talks about the path of development of ability, during which it is differentiated, formed and practiced.

The initial prerequisite for this development of abilities is innate

makings.[10]

The development of abilities in children occurs in the process of education and training. The child’s abilities are formed through mastering the content of material and spiritual culture, technology, science, and art during the learning process. The initial prerequisite for this development of abilities is innate inclinations. In the effective contact of a child with the world around him, in the process of gradually mastering the achievements of the previous historical development of mankind, inclinations - both common to all people, and at the same time different for each person - are transformed into diverse and increasingly perfect abilities. At the same time, each ability that begins to take shape is, as it were, a deposit for the further development of abilities. Each ability, when manifested, at the same time develops, moves to a higher level, and its transition to a higher level opens up opportunities for new, higher manifestations.

There is a very close relationship between the comprehensive development of abilities and interests: on the one hand, the development of abilities occurs in activities that are stimulated by interests, on the other hand, interest in a particular activity is supported by its success, which in turn is determined by the corresponding abilities.

The development of creative abilities is possible only in creative activity, in the process of mastering the technology of creativity - TRIZ, the goals of which are described by the author of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving:

“The first goal: to develop (at the most favorable age for this) a taste for creativity. Open the world of creativity, instill basic skills of behavior in this unusual world, instill creative passion, develop elements of a culture of creative thinking" [1]

Bibliography:

1. The theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) as the basis for the development of students’ creative thinking. //New values ​​of education: TRIZ-pedagogy.-2003.- No. 1(12).- P. 3 – 12.

2.Altshuller G.S., Vertkin I.M. How to become a heretic. Life strategy of a creative personality. - Petrozavodsk: Karelia. 1991. – 365 p.

3.Bogoyavlenskaya D.B. Psychology of creative abilities: Proc. A manual for students. Higher Textbook Establishments. – M.: Publishing house. Cent "Academy", 2002. – 320 p.

4. Bush G.Ya., Markov V.A. Uncertainty and probability in the structures of creative thinking // Theory and practice of teaching scientific and technical creativity: Ed. V.Ya. Lyaudis. – M., NPO “Poisk”, 1992. – P. 143 – 150.

5. Davydov V.V. Theory of developmental training. - M., 1996.

6.Druzhinin V.N. Psychology of general abilities. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. – 368 p.

7.Krysko V.G. Psychology and pedagogy: Schemes and comments. - M.: VLADOS - PRESS, 2001. - 368 p.

8. Likholetov V.V. Professional education: humanization and creativity technologies. - M.: MGIU, 2001. - 230 p.

9. Maklakov A.G. General psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. - 592 p.

10. Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003.-713 p.

11. Savenkov A.I. Gifted children in kindergarten and school. - M.: Academy, 2000. - 232 p.

12. Teplov B.M. Problems of individual differences. – M., 1961.

13.Shadrikov V.D.
Human abilities. – M.; Voronezh. 1997. comments powered by HyperComments

Signs of a creative personality: how to develop innate talents

Creative people differ from others in their worldview and approach to everyday affairs. They can be distinguished by the following characteristics:

• developed imagination;
• thirst for activity;
• constant emergence of new ideas.

To develop innate abilities, you need to overcome internal doubts. As a child, every child engages in art for his own pleasure. He does not think about the result, enjoying the positive experiences that arise during the activity. Growing up, an individual faces criticism of the results of creativity. If he has low self-esteem, he withdraws into himself and stops trying to create.

You can get rid of external pressure by refusing to evaluate your activities through the eyes of other people. Exercises to develop creativity will help awaken creative energy: anti-stress coloring books, modeling, finger painting.

Personality, talent and creativity.

And finally, in everyday consciousness, personality phenomena are firmly associated with the abilities and originality of the intellect, giftedness and talent. It is when assessing a person’s independence, firmness of decisions, and his creative potential that they say about him with respect: “What a personality!” Sometimes a sign of identity is directly placed between “personality” and “talent”. If we accept these phenomena as the only genuine and intimate manifestations of personality, then the builder of a statue of personality must first of all endow it with talent and give unlimited freedom of creativity. But here is an episode from AC Pushkin’s drama “Mozart and Salieri”:

Salieri

What did you bring me?

Mozart

No - yes; trifle <…>

(Plays.) Salieri

You came to me with this And could stop at the tavern And listen to the blind fiddler! - God!

You, Mozart, are unworthy of yourself [14].

AC Pushkin, through the mouth of Salieri, sharply separates the “talent” of a person from his “I”. Mozart as a “personality,” according to Salieri, is unworthy of such a great gift as his “talent.” Naturally, without studying the phenomena of creativity and talent, personality psychology will lose important features of the existence of the individual, and the statue of the individual will not come to life. And yet, reducing personality to creativity or talent is again an important but

“
one-dimensional
”
personality characteristic.

* * *

Thus, acquaintance with various manifestations of personality shows that on the way to creating a picture of ideas about personality from a mosaic of different phenomena, all sorts of difficulties arise. Each of these phenomena, taken by itself and attributed to an individual existing in isolation, cannot be qualified as a phenomenon related to the field of study of personality psychology.

Largely for this reason, personality psychology has been divided into the psychology of motivation, the psychology of emotions, the psychology of will, and the psychology of individual differences, which are often studied and taught independently of each other. In addition, different manifestations of personality, depending on the position of the researcher, are taken as the main material from which personality psychology is built.

Thus, drives, needs, motives and values ​​are analyzed in most detail in such areas of psychology as psychoanalysis and humanistic psychology; the facts of external behavior are mainly studied in different versions of behaviorism; Cognitive psychology feels confident in the field of studying the knowledge and beliefs of an individual

In other words,
the position of the researcher determines the choice of facts regarded as manifestations of personality, and the choice of methods for studying these manifestations.
The recognition of whether a certain phenomenon exists as a fact or whether it is a figment of the researcher’s own imagination generally depends on the methodological attitude of the scientist.

L.S. Vygotsky notes that “psychoanalysis, behaviorism and subjective psychology operate not only with different concepts, but also with different facts. So, undoubtedly, real well-known facts like the Oedipus complex of psychoanalysts (unconscious sexual attraction of a boy to his mother and ambivalent attitude towards his father. - AA

), simply do not exist for other psychologists; for many it is the wildest fantasy.
For V. Stern... psychoanalytic interpretations, as commonplace in the school of S. Freud and as undoubted as measuring temperature in a hospital, and therefore the facts whose existence they claim, are reminiscent of palmistry and astrology of the 16th century. For Pavlov, the claim that the dog remembered the food when the bell rang is also nothing more than a fantasy. Also, for the introspectionist, there is no fact of muscle movements in the act of thinking, as the behaviorist claims" [15]. What is an indisputable fact and the object of numerous studies for some theories of personality is rejected out of hand by representatives of other approaches. That is why the listed phenomena and facts illustrate the versatility of the manifestations of personality phenomenology and force us to address the question of how to study personality in psychology.
The question is how, in what way, to study personality in psychology

,
is a question about method in the original meaning of the word, method as a path of knowledge.
The solution to this issue lies in the study of the possibilities of applying different levels of methodology to personality psychology. That is why identifying the place of any fact in the life of an individual involves considering different levels of methodology as a system of coordinates that outlines the scope of studying manifestations of personality in psychology and reveals the connection between personality psychology and other areas of social and natural sciences about man.

Functions of philosophical methodology and human science

The highest level of scientific methodology is philosophical methodology, which sets a general strategy for studying the principles of cognition and constructing a categorical apparatus in sociology, history, philosophy, ethnography, archeology, anthropology, cultural studies, semiotics, human biology - in short, in any specific field of human science, in including in psychology.

The role of philosophical methodology for studying man with the development of specific sciences does not decrease, but increases. Any specific science, depending on the tasks facing it, sees its objectively

the existing layer of manifestations of human life and from it sometimes tries to get an idea of ​​life as a whole.
So, for example, general biology sees in man an organism
that has a number of features that bring man closer to any other manifestations of life on earth: metabolism, the presence of a genetic program transmitted from generation to generation, etc. Human biology aims to study specific characteristics
of an individual
as a representative of the species Homo sapiens, which has a number of significant differences from any other biological species.

Cybernetics - the science of systems and methods for controlling machines and living organisms - studies humans as an adaptive self-regulating system

, which has analogues in both living and inanimate nature.

Philology, which studies, in particular, man in ancient tragedy, talks about the hero

, not burdened with the burden of internal experiences and doubts, but performing actions and deeds prescribed by fate. If we imagine that specialists from various specific sciences set their common goal to find out what a person is, then despite all their efforts, a holistic, integrative image of a person will never emerge. And the point here is not only the difference in the languages ​​of science and research procedures, the nature of the tasks facing different branches of human science. The main difficulty is that in each objectively existing subject of a specific science about man, only elements of a certain whole are used, which are sometimes taken for this whole itself: an organism, a biological individual, an ancient hero become the strongholds for constructing a single image of a person.

Meanwhile, the task of interdisciplinary synthesis of ideas about man

is invariably posed in science and is not at all of a purely abstract cognitive nature. Representatives of different branches of human science sooner or later face the need to cooperate with each other. In some cases, the need for such cooperation is obvious: general biology and cybernetics mutually enrich each other, describing the universal patterns of regulation of living systems. In other cases, the task of interdisciplinary synthesis—the synthesis of biology and art—may seem far-fetched. However, if we remember the outstanding Florentine sculptor Michelangelo, who risked his life to study the anatomy of the human body, then the search for the relationship between human biology and art ceases to seem like idle curiosity.

Integrative function

in the knowledge of man is carried out by the philosophical methodology of science, which highlights
the development of man in nature and society
as the subject of philosophical knowledge.

Realizing the integrative function of philosophical methodology, the founders of Russian psychological science - first L.S. Vygotsky and S.L. Rubinstein, and then B.G. Ananyev, P.Ya. Galperin, B.V. Zeigarnik, A.N. Leontyev, A.R. Luria, B.M. Teplov, D.N. Uznadze – warned against methodological carelessness. When posing general questions of psychology, they went beyond the scope of a specific science and rose to the level of philosophical methodology for studying personality, communication, activity, the unconscious, consciousness, and the subject of psychology as a whole. Examples include the works of L.S. Vygotsky “The Historical Meaning of the Psychological Crisis” (1926), S. L. Rubinstein “Man and the World” (1973), A.N. Leontiev “Problems of mental development” (1957), “Activity. Consciousness. Personality" (1975), etc.

In one of the latest works by B.G. Ananyeva - “On the Problems of Modern Human Science” (1977) directly states that solving the human problem requires going beyond the boundaries of psychology.

He identifies three features of the development of science that indicate the emergence of human knowledge: “The first of them is the transformation of the problem of man into a general problem of all science as a whole, all its sections, including exact and technical sciences. The second feature is the ever-increasing differentiation of individual disciplines and their fragmentation into a number of more specific teachings. Finally, the third feature of modern scientific development is characterized by a tendency to combine various sciences, aspects and methods of human research into various complex systems, and to construct synthetic characteristics of human development.

These features are associated with the emergence of new scientific disciplines and the connection through their many previously distant areas of natural science and history, the humanities and technology, medicine and pedagogy” [16].

The counter-movement in the study of human development in nature and society by representatives of philosophical methodology and concrete scientific methodology is a prerequisite for the progress of human knowledge.

However, this kind of counter-movement only becomes meaningful and productive when representatives of specific sciences rely on philosophical methodology, recognizing its function as an integrator, an architect in the construction of the subject of science and the implementation of interdisciplinary research, and philosophers do not shy away from new discoveries in specific sciences and do not replace the movement ideas by the movement of words.

In the latter case, the philosophical methodology of science slides into the sphere of formal logic

, starting, for example, to establish, when studying a person, connections between the concepts “man”, “organism”, “individual”, “
personality
”, “
individuality
” based on arbitrarily taken external characteristics of a person.
At the same time, the idea of ​​the real relationships behind these concepts and the manifestations of human development in nature and society is partially captured. Then the concept of “man” becomes the broadest concept in scope, graphically depicted by a larger circle. The concept of “organism” is placed next to or inside the concept of “man,” expressing the biological principle in man. The concept of “individual”, depending on the addition of the epithets “biological” or “social” to it, reflects the biological or social-role characteristics of an individual indivisible representative of the human race. The concept of “personality” preserves the social characteristics of a person. The concept of “individuality” conveys the idea of ​​the “biosocial” nature of man, which distinguishes one person from all other members of human society. Such logic [17], listing a set of external signs of a person and mechanically connecting the content of the concept “person” by adding concentric circles of different scope of concepts - “organism”, “individual”, biological plus social, etc., creates the illusion of integration between the sciences and finds himself in the grip of stereotypical thinking. Thus, it comes into conflict with the second function of philosophical methodology – the critical-constructive function ( E.T. Yudin
).

Critical-constructive function

philosophical methodology questions the achievements of science or worldview of a certain historical period accepted as axioms, initial postulates, limiting categories, which are elevated to the rank of unshakable, eternally existing truths.
These truths, which become the foundation of certain scientific teachings and worldviews, often turn into cultural stereotypes, supraconscious attitudes, and schematisms of consciousness.
They unite communities of scientists who are guided by them, ceasing to be aware of the historical and cultural origin of these stereotypes. And only when developing scientific knowledge leads to the emergence of various kinds of paradoxes, internal contradictions, and a flow of facts that do not fit into the old schemes, the postulates that hinder the development of science come into the focus of philosophical methodology.

Thus, the naturalness of Ptolemy’s system, which asserts that the Sun revolves around the Earth, led to the elevation of this system to the rank of a worldview and official ideology. The facts contradicting this system, and above all the difficulties in using it in various types of practice, prompted Copernicus to question the very foundation of the Ptolemaic system and deprive the Earth of its position as the center of the Universe.

The history of psychological science is no exception in this regard. In traditional psychology, accumulated new facts, in particular manifestations of human activity, his unconscious drives, came into conflict with the postulate of spontaneity

, according to which objective reality directly affects the psyche of the subject and unambiguously determines the manifestations of his psyche and behavior that arise after this influence.
The postulate of immediacy was introduced by D.N. Uznadze during the analysis of introspective psychology of consciousness and behaviorism. The postulate of immediacy is based on the two-term scheme of analysis of the psyche inherent in mechanistic determinism: the impact on the subject’s receptive systems - response phenomena
(
subjective or objective
)
caused by this impact.
The postulate of immediacy was expressed most clearly in the central stimulus-response scheme of
behaviorism
. The adoption of the postulate of immediacy leads to the fact that the subject’s activity either falls out of sight of psychologists of these directions, or is explained by the intervention of special subjective factors, various manifestations of the mysterious personal principle.

The postulate of immediacy was a supraconscious mindset ( M.G. Yaroshevsky

), which was characteristic of the thinking of the natural sciences, in particular of classical physics and traditional physiology. Recognition of the scheme of mechanistic determinism - the postulate of immediacy - determined that representatives of traditional psychology, focused in their research on the experiences of an individual or facts of behavior, sharply isolated the sphere of psychological reality from reality and found themselves either in a vicious circle of consciousness or in a vicious circle of behavior. In both cases, the person found himself isolated from the world. Only a revision of the initial supraconscious attitudes of the scientific thinking of psychology could eliminate the obstacles that stood in its way. Such a revision is possible only by going beyond the boundaries of empirical facts and special problems of a particular science and turning to the analysis of its methodological foundations, to the philosophical methodology of science.

The critical-constructive function of philosophical methodology played a serious role in the study of human development, destroying “methodological isolationism” in the knowledge of man and placing the development of human existence in the world at the center of human knowledge.

The third function of philosophical methodology is the ideological normative-axiological function

(
E.G. Yudin
). It consists in the ethical assessment of general scientific and specific scientific constructions and the creation of those ideals and value norms to which the image of man in the scientific picture of the world must correspond.

When the ideological function of philosophical methodology is ignored, specific sciences begin to develop their own images of a “bad” or “good” person, which are taken as natural properties of his nature. Thus, the American psychologist E. Staub, for example, precedes the study of personality by discussing assumptions about whether a person is by nature initially “good” or “bad.” He points out the diversity of opinions on this issue.

For example, Socrates believed that a person is potentially perfect and through self-knowledge can come to the good principle hidden in his nature. Some philosophers of the past believed that a person is initially altruistic, that is, he is immediately born “good.” Modern representatives of humanistic psychology A. Maslow and K. Rogers admit that a person is “good” by nature, and psychotherapy should help more fully reveal the good principle hidden in the depths of a person, the desire for love and creativity, and acceptance of other people.

Psychologists of other directions, for example the founder of psychoanalysis, S. Freud, adhered to the assumption that a person is initially aggressive and selfish, and society curbs his selfish impulses. In other words, man is “bad” by nature. Meanwhile, according to E. Staub, accepting one point of view or another does not allow an equal number of facts testifying to both manifestations of aggression and goodwill in very early childhood.

A different approach to the “bad” or “good” nature of man belongs to E. Staub, who stands on the position of the socio-behaviorist concept of exchange of the sociologist and social psychologist J. Homans. According to this concept, a person in a social group looks out for his own interest: if he is paid in kind for his deeds, in exchange for this he is “kind”; if he does not have any tangible profit, then he would rather be “bad” than “good” in such a situation. In other words, a person by nature has various potentials, which, under the influence of the environment, result in selfish or altruistic behavior.

In what situations does creativity negatively affect a person?

When bringing ideas to life, a creator may encounter problems caused by the desire to do everything perfectly. The imagination creates a picture that he wants to realize, but the level of skill development or technical data does not allow this to be done. The result is unsatisfactory. If this happens constantly, a person becomes disappointed in his abilities and may completely abandon art.

The psychological impact of the torment of creation can greatly harm the individual, cause depression, and the development of destructive habits: alcoholism, drug addiction, and other types of addiction. But overcoming the crisis also has an equally strong impact. Coming out of a depressed state, he experiences an inner uplift, his view of the world changes. The highest form of unity between art and the creator—catharsis—can completely change an individual’s life and his views.

How to develop creativity?

Like any other skills, creative abilities can also be strengthened and developed. First, you should understand your skills and interests. Secondly, practice more in this activity. For example, it’s stupid to go to dances if you want to learn how to draw, or vice versa. Thirdly, never stop there and improve all the time. Fourth, surround yourself with equally passionate people. Fifthly, believe in your strength and your talent.

If you follow these simple recommendations, you can easily develop your creative abilities and achieve more in your chosen activity.

Creativity helps people become more fulfilled, cope with daily tasks more effectively, and differentiate themselves from others. A creative person will always achieve success, no matter what type of activity she chooses. That is why you should always develop your creative abilities, without neglecting them in favor of other life priorities. A person must develop harmoniously and creativity is an important part of this process.

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The problem of creative crisis: how to overcome fear and laziness

A creative crisis occurs when an individual loses interest in creating. He may come up with new ideas, but constantly postpone implementation. The fear of failure is paralyzing, so a person decides that it is better to do nothing than to make a weak, uninteresting product. You can get out of this state by reconsidering your attitude towards art.

The main goal of the process of implementing an idea is to have fun.

Practicing art is influenced by the general mood: if an individual is depressed or going through a difficult life situation, it is difficult for him to tune in to productive activity. Internal negativity should be channeled into a creative direction, getting rid of the influence of external and internal problems. Distraction from the world and focus on the process helps to overcome the stupor that arises as a reaction to external pressure.

CREATIVE PERSONALITY

CREATIVE PERSONALITY.

There are two main points of view on a creative personality.
According to one, creativity or creative ability is, to one degree or another, characteristic of every normal person. It is as integral to a person as the ability to think, speak and feel. Moreover, the realization of creative potential, regardless of its scale, makes a person mentally normal. To deprive a person of such an opportunity means to cause neurotic states in him. Some psychoneurologists see the essence of psychotherapy in curing neuroses by awakening a person’s creative aspirations. M. Zoshchenko in his autobiographical story talks about how, thanks to his creativity, he recovered from depression. Also on topic:
MIND

The view of creativity as a universal human personality trait presupposes a certain understanding of creativity. Creativity is supposed to be the process of creating something new, and the process is unprogrammed, unpredictable, sudden. At the same time, the value of the result of the creative act and its novelty for a large group of people, for society or humanity are not taken into account. The main thing is that the result is new and significant for the “creator” himself. An independent, original solution by a student to a problem that has an answer will be a creative act, and he himself should be assessed as a creative person.

According to the second point of view, not every (normal) person should be considered a creative person, or creator. This position is associated with a different understanding of the nature of creativity. Here, in addition to the unprogrammed process of creating something new, the value of the new result is taken into account. It must be universally significant, although its scale may be different. The most important characteristic of a creator is a strong and persistent need for creativity. A creative person cannot live without creativity, seeing in it the main goal and main meaning of his life.

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INTELLIGENCE

There are professions - they are called “creative professions” - where a person is required as a necessary quality to be a creative person. These are professions such as being an actor, musician, inventor, etc. It is not enough to be a “good specialist.” You need to be a creator, not a craftsman, even a very qualified one. Of course, creative individuals are also found among other professions - among teachers, doctors, trainers and many others.

Currently, creativity is becoming more and more specialized and acquiring an elitist character. The level of strength of creative need and energy required for professional creativity in most spheres of human culture is such that most people remain outside of professional creativity. There is a point of view that a creative person has excess energy potential. Excessive in relation to the costs of adaptive behavior. The opportunity for creativity, as a rule, appears when a person does not need to solve adaptation problems, when he has “peace and will” at his disposal. He is either not busy with worries about his daily bread or neglects these worries. Most often this happens in his spare time, when he is left to his own devices - at night at his desk in Boldinskaya autumn, in a solitary confinement cell, in a hospital bed.

Also on topic:

CREATION

Many people, even creatively gifted ones, lack creative competence.

Three aspects of such competence can be distinguished. Firstly, how ready a person is for creativity in the multidimensional and alternative conditions of modern culture. Secondly, to what extent does he speak the specific “languages” of different types of creative activity, a set of codes that allow him to decipher information from different areas and translate it into the “language” of his creativity. For example, how a painter can use the achievements of modern music, or an economist can use discoveries in the field of mathematical modeling. According to the figurative expression of one psychologist, creators today are like birds sitting on distant branches of the same tree of human culture, they are far from the earth and barely hear and understand each other. The third aspect of creative competence is the degree to which an individual has mastered a system of “technical” skills and abilities (for example, the technology of painting), on which the ability to implement conceived and “invented” ideas depends. Different types of creativity (scientific, poetic, etc.) have different requirements for the level of creative competence.

The inability to realize creative potential due to insufficient creative competence gave rise to mass amateur creativity, “creativity at leisure,” and hobbies. These forms of creativity are accessible to almost everyone, people who are tired of monotonous or extremely complex professional activities.

Creative competence is just a condition for the manifestation of creative ability. The same conditions include the presence of general intellectual and special abilities that exceed the average level, as well as passion for the task being performed. What is creative ability itself? The practice of creative achievements and testing leads to the conclusion that the psychological basis of creative ability is the ability of creative imagination ( see

. FANTASY), understood as a synthesis of imagination and empathy (reincarnation). The need for creativity as the most important feature of a creative personality is nothing more than a constant and strong need for creative imagination. K. Paustovsky insightfully wrote: “...be merciful to the imagination. Don't avoid it. Don’t pursue, don’t pull back, and above all, don’t be ashamed of him like a poor relative. This is the beggar who hides the countless treasures of Golconda.”

The determining factor for creative fantasy is the direction of consciousness (and the unconscious), which consists in a departure from present reality and the real Self into the known relatively autonomous and free activity of consciousness (and the unconscious). This activity differs from direct knowledge of reality and one’s Self and is aimed at their transformation and the creation of a new (mental) reality and a new Self.

What prompts a creative person to constantly turn to creative imagination? What is the leading motive in the behavior of a creative person? To answer these questions means to come to an understanding of the essence of a creative personality.

A creative person constantly experiences dissatisfaction, tension, vague or more specific anxiety, discovering in reality (external and internal) a lack of clarity, simplicity, orderliness, completeness and harmony. It is like a barometer, sensitive to contradictions, discomfort, disharmony. With the help of creative fantasy, the creator eliminates in his consciousness (and in the unconscious) the disharmony that he encounters in reality. He creates a new world in which he feels comfortable and joyful. That is why the creative process itself and its products give the creator pleasure and require constant renewal. Real contradictions, discomfort and disharmony seem to find themselves in a creative personality. This explains why creative people constantly live in two modes, replacing each other: tension and relaxation (catharsis), anxiety and calm, dissatisfaction and joy. This constantly reproduced state of duality is one of the manifestations of neuroticism as a personality trait of creative individuals.

Neuroticism and increased sensitivity are the norm for a creative person, just as emotionality (lack of indifference) in any type of activity is the norm for an ordinary normal person. But neuroticism, the duality of a creative personality, is close to the line beyond which psychopathology begins. It should be recognized that creativity can be combined with some psychopathological traits. But, firstly, this is not the norm and, moreover, secondly, it does not provide grounds for the conclusions that Lombroso’s followers make about the relationship between genius and madness.

The duality of the creator presupposes the phenomenon of “natural splitting of the Self” into the real Self and the creative (imaginary) Self. Even in the strongest impulse of inspiration, the creator does not lose the feeling of the real Self. For example, (as Stanislavsky noted), not a single actor fell into the orchestra pit and rests on the cardboard backdrop of the decoration. And yet, the activity of the creative Self, “forcing” the creator to remain in the world of imaginary, conditional reality - verbal, depicted, symbolically-conceptual, stage-embodied, etc. – explains the presence of traits and characteristics in a creative person that distinguish him from an ordinary person. The behavior of the creator in everyday life often seems “strange”, “eccentric”. And there is an explanation for this.

A strong need for imaginative activity and concentration on it, which is inextricably linked with curiosity and the need for new impressions (new ideas, images, etc.), gives creative individuals traits of “childhood.” For example, Einstein's biographers write that he was a wise old man with all-understanding eyes. And at the same time, there was something childish about him; he forever retained in himself the surprise of a five-year-old boy who saw a compass for the first time. The “game” component in the act of imagination apparently explains the frequent love of creators, as well as children, for games, pranks, and jokes. Being immersed in their imaginary creative world sometimes makes their behavior in everyday life not entirely adequate. They are often said to be “not of this world.” A classic illustration is “professorial” absent-mindedness.

Children's or “naive” creativity differs from the creativity of an adult; it has a different structure and content than the cultural creativity of a creative person. Children's creativity is a child's natural behavior in the absence of stereotypes. A child’s fresh look at the world comes from the poverty of his experience and from the naive fearlessness of his thoughts: anything really can happen. Naive creativity is a characteristic of age and is inherent in most children. On the contrary, cultural creativity of creators is far from a mass phenomenon.

The fearlessness of the creator's thoughts is not naive; it presupposes rich experience, deep and extensive knowledge. This is the fearlessness of creative courage, audacity, and willingness to take risks. The creator is not afraid of the need to doubt what is generally accepted. He bravely goes to destroy stereotypes in the name of creating something better and new, without fear of conflicts. A.S. Pushkin wrote: “There is the highest courage: the courage of invention.”

Creative courage is a trait of the creative self, and it may be absent from the real self of the creator in everyday life. Thus, according to the wife of the famous impressionist Marche, the brave innovator in painting was a rather timid person in life. Such duality can be found in relation to other personal qualities. For example, a creator who is absent-minded in life is “obliged” to be focused, attentive and precise in his work. Creative ethics is not identical to the ethics of the real self. The artist Valentin Serov often admitted that he did not like people. Creating portraits and looking closely at the person, each time he was carried away and inspired, but not by the face itself, which was often vulgar, but by the characteristics that could be made of it on canvas. A. Blok writes about specific artistic love: we love everything that we want to depict; Griboedov loved Famusov, Gogol loved Chichikov, Pushkin loved the stingy one, Shakespeare loved Falstaff. Creative personalities sometimes come across in life as slackers, outwardly undisciplined, sometimes careless and irresponsible. In creativity, they reveal great diligence, inner honesty and responsibility. A clearly expressed desire for self-affirmation of the creative self can take unpleasant forms at the level of behavior in real life: jealous attention to other people’s successes, hostility towards colleagues and their merits, an arrogantly aggressive manner of expressing one’s opinions, etc. The desire for intellectual independence, characteristic of creative individuals, is often accompanied by self-confidence and a tendency to highly evaluate one’s own abilities and achievements. This tendency is about teenagers. The famous psychologist C. Jung argued that a creative person is not afraid to reveal in his behavior the opposite traits of his nature. She is not afraid because she compensates for the shortcomings of her real self with the advantages of the creative self.

Creativity as a specific ability of a creative person is rooted in the innate talent of a person. But the realization of this ability and talent depends on the development of the individual as a whole and, in particular, on the development of other general and special abilities. It has been established that intelligence should be above average. Developed memory is of great importance, and it is adapted to one or another area of ​​creative activity: musical memory, visual, digital, motor, etc. The physical, anatomical and physiological properties of a person, often innate, also matter. Thus, Chaliapin’s singing talent was greatly facilitated by his amazing vocal cords - powerful and flexible. At the same time, there has not been a stable correlation between the level of creative ability and the characteristics of the character and temperament of the real self. People with any character and any temperament can be creative individuals.

Creative individuals are not born, but made. Creative ability, which is largely innate in nature, acts as the core of a creative personality, but the latter is a product of social, cultural development, the influence of the social environment and the creative climate. That is why the modern practice of testing creative ability as such cannot satisfy the social order that arose with the beginning of the post-industrial phase in the development of society to identify creative individuals. A creative personality is characterized not just by a high level of creative ability, but by a person’s special life position, his attitude to the world, to the meaning of the activity being carried out. The spiritual richness of the individual’s inner world and its constant focus on creative action in the outer world are important. The problem of a creative personality is not only a psychological problem, but also a humanitarian and socio-cultural problem.

Evgeniy Basin

The purpose of creativity: the benefits of art for the individual and society

Art classes are useful for people, regardless of age and field of work. Creative execution of routine daily work helps to avoid a crisis. A person is constantly developing, his thinking works faster than that of other people. Art affects health by increasing the body's ability to withstand stress.

In a global sense, art is a way of transforming the world, changing the destinies of peoples and countries. With the help of books, paintings, films, millions of people change their opinions about important phenomena. In many ways, significant changes in society occur under the influence of artists. Thus, the speech of M. L. King became the reason for the overthrow of racism in America, the books of V. Lenin created the basis for the revolution in Russia, the ideas of Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci changed the world of science and art.