Thursday, October 16, 2014

4 Measures of Creativity


What are the measures of creativity and how do we know if a person is creative? According to Ellis Paul Torrance (8th October 1915 – 12 July 2003), also known as ‘The Creativity Man’, there are four measures of creativity: originality, fluency, flexibility, and elaboration.

Originality is the ability to come out with new ideas. Artists produce original works of art, composers produce original music pieces, poets write original poems, investors come out with original inventions and students come out with original essays. Even teachers do write original testimonials and reports.

Fluency is the ability to come out with lots of ideas whereas flexibility is the ability to produce lots of different kinds of ideas. A fluently creative person can produce hundreds of ideas, for example, on how to make money, on the uses of a paper-clip and on designing a dress. With flexibility not only can he think of ideas of the same kind but ideas of many different kinds.
As illustration, fluency in thinking of ways to get money include ideas such as selling books, magazines, toys, cakes, drinks, flowers, bookmarkers, stamps, coins, etc. Flexibility in thinking of ways to get money would include not only selling all the items above but also exchanging the items, making various items of sale, working for money, borrowing money, getting sponsors, soliciting donations, organizing a fiesta, jogathon, walkathon, etc.

 Elaboration is the ability to get into fine and minute details as in drawing things in detail, describing incidents at length and in explaining ideas and concepts in depth. A person who possesses all four skills is more creative than one who does any one, two or three of the skills of creativity. Do you have all four skills? If not, don’t be discouraged. Remember: creativity is a talent we are all born with and it is also can be learned and developed overtime. You are creative!

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for acknowledging that these are taken from my book entitled "On Creativity: Awakening the Creative Mind" published in 2006 by Pelanduk. The book is still available in good bookshops like Kinokuniya, MPH and Borders.

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    Replies
    1. Leo Ann Mean, when I first read your book, I was so mad that I couldn't find it in any of the bookstores that I went to. Guess where I found your book? In Sarawak State Library! You need to get the publisher to re-print the book and add more colors and graphics to it... This book is great, but you can make it more awesome! :)

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    2. Hello Richard, reading this one year late, thanks to Memories by FB! Thank you for your compliments and suggestion.

      In the publishing business the one and only criterion of any publisher is profit! Each have their own strategy and they do have quite some say in how a book appears. Every author would love colors and graphics but alas the publisher has the last say.

      I read somewhere that the author of the Harry Potter series was rejected by 17 publishers before she finally found one who agreed to publish her first book!

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    3. Hello Richard, reading this one year late, thanks to Memories by FB! Thank you for your compliments and suggestion.

      In the publishing business the one and only criterion of any publisher is profit! Each have their own strategy and they do have quite some say in how a book appears. Every author would love colors and graphics but alas the publisher has the last say.

      I read somewhere that the author of the Harry Potter series was rejected by 17 publishers before she finally found one who agreed to publish her first book!

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    4. Hi Dr. Leo Ann Mean, I listed your book as one of my Top 17 Book on Innovation and Creativity Lists. You may check it out (and comment too if you like) my list :) http://wordspeakstoday.blogspot.my/2014/12/my-top-17-book-on-innovative-and.html

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