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)
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.
ReplyDeleteLeo 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! :)
DeleteHello Richard, reading this one year late, thanks to Memories by FB! Thank you for your compliments and suggestion.
DeleteIn 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!
Hello Richard, reading this one year late, thanks to Memories by FB! Thank you for your compliments and suggestion.
DeleteIn 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!
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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