Rethinking Creativity
Inside-the-Box Thinking as the Basis for Innovation

Discover how creativity depends on inside-the-box thinking—that's right, not outside the box—and a new perspective on creative thinking.

Robert W. Weisberg (Author)

9781108479400, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 September 2020

420 pages
23.5 x 16 x 3.5 cm, 1.1 kg

'This is a tour-de-force volume explaining the controversial view that creativity does not involve any special thought processes, just those processes that we use every day. The book conveys the timely and important message that creativity is not only for the gifted, the artistically talented, or the genius. Rather, it is something anyone can practice.' Robert J. Sternberg, Professor of Human Development, Cornell University, USA, and Honorary Professor of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany

This book presents a new perspective on creativity: that creative innovation depends on inside-of-the-box thinking. It shows that creativity builds on what we know and how we use old ideas to produce new ones. In a highly readable format, Robert W. Weisberg uses case studies of seminal creative advances, such as Leonardo's 'Aerial Screw' and Frank Lloyd Wright's award-winning house, 'Fallingwater.' These fascinating examples are evaluated alongside cutting-edge research to present an analysis of creativity that challenges us to think differently about this intriguing cognitive ability.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Setting the stage: Introduction to the study of creativity: 2. Creativity: What it is
Part II. Analytic Thinking in Creativity: 3. Problem solving
4. Case studies of creativity: the universality of creativity
5. Analogical thinking in problem solving and creativity
Part III. The Question of Extraordinary Thought Processes in Creativity: 6. How do you get to Carnegie hall? Practice, talent, and creativity
7. Insight in problem solving and creative thinking
8. The question of unconscious processes in creative thinking
9. Genius and madness
Part IV. The Psychometrics of Creativity: Can We Identify Creative People?
10. Testing for creativity: divergent thinking, executive functioning, and creative thinking
11. The search for 'the creative personality'
Part V. The Bigger Picture: 12. Two confluence theories of creativity
Part VI. The Neuroscience of Creativity: 13. The neuroscience of creativity.

Subject Areas: Entrepreneurship [KJH], Business innovation [KJD], The self, ego, identity, personality [JMS], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]