<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In this editorial we discuss the reasons behind choosing social interactions as the theme for this CTRA special issue. We briefly describe the transition in creativity research from a paradigm centered on the individual and his/her intra-psychological predispositions to one focused on the social, systemic approach to creativity in which this phenomenon is not only facilitated or inhibited by social factors, but embedded in and multi-directionally connected to the socio-cultural and material context in which it takes place. We end with a brief description of the contributions to this special issue.</abstract>

Creativity and Social Interactions

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article explores the social essence of creativity. Two studies where interactions with others shape the development of creative processes are presented; first, theoretical perspectives on creativity as social process are discussed. The first study analyzes social aspects of creative processes developed during leisure activities. Men and women (N=150) living in Córdoba (Argentina) were interviewed in the research. The second study is a form of biographical research. The sample includes 22 Argentine personalities prominent in the scientific and artistic fields. As a main result, in the two studies we observed that links with family, teachers, peers, colleagues, mentors, tutors and disciples shape the possibilities of developing everyday creativity as well as Big-C creativity. Finally, considerations and suggestions for future research on creativity as a social process are presented. Creativity emerges from dialogues, interactions and practices with others. It is not a solitary process: it involves languages, knowledge and actions that are socially constructed.</abstract>

Creativity is Always a Social Process

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Creativity is here construed as an activity taking place in phases over time, one everywhere imbued with the social, whether the creator does much of the work alone as in fiction writing or with others where the creation itself is collaborative such as jazz improvisation. This paper considers the creation of theatrical roles, a domain in which some phases of the activity take place under solitary conditions and others involve face-to-face interaction. Grounded in a research review, the paper examines the phases of the creative process in scripted acting. It notes the kinds of social relationships in each, the roles of intention, reflection and spontaneity, the forms of interaction in terms of Schütz’s multiple realities and the ways in which those realities interact.</abstract>

Social Interaction in the Art of Acting: Forms and Phases

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Creative things are always original, but they must be more than just original. They must also have some utility, effectiveness, or value. The present research tested the psychoeconomic definition of “value” and examined how value ratings fluctuated when individuals worked in groups or alone. This psychoeconomic definition of value is very different from that found in previous studies. It was based on ratings obtained after the students participating had been told that their grades depended on their teamwork. Previous studies have used hypothetical ratings of value, but here the ratings were meaningful: there was a contingency placed on making a good decision, and that decision focused on creative teamwork. This investigation also tested the idea that originality and value are both required for creativity. Psychoeconomic theory not only offers an objective and behavioural index of value. It also offers predictions about the “social costs” of working in groups. To test these ideas individuals received two tests of divergent thinking, either while alone (no social cost), working in a small group (low cost), or working in a larger group (high cost). Social preferences were controlled, as was extraversion. Results indicate that fluency did not diminish when the social costs were present. Moreover, originality increased when participants worked in groups. Findings also demonstrated that value judgments can be reliably assessed and that the interaction of value and originality accounted for a significant amount of the variability in creativity ratings.</abstract>

Buffalo State, State University of New York,

The Social “Cost” of Working in Groups and Impact on Values and Creativity

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The ability to communicate complex meanings is a specific human ability which plays a crucial role in social interactions. A habitual example of these interactions is conversation. However, we observe that spontaneous conversation often hits an <italic>impasse</italic> when none of the interlocutors immediately produces a follow-up utterance. The existence of impasses in conversations, and the way that interlocutors overcome them provide evidence for our argument that conversation is a sequence of creative problem solving. In this work we use techniques from Conversation Analysis (CA) on publicly available databases of naturally-occurring speech and we suggest a framework to understand how impasses are reached and overcome. As a result, we hope to reveal yet another instance of the bond between language and creativity.</abstract>

Overcoming Impasses in Conversations: A Creative Business

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">What role does creativity play in the social interactions of teaching? The purpose of this brief communication is to address this question by introducing the concept of <italic>creative openings</italic>. Creative openings refer to unexpected breaks in otherwise planned teaching interactions that result in new and meaningful insights, perspectives and understandings. The concept of creative openings builds on recent work that has endeavored to explore how creative thought and action can emerge in the socio-psychological and material interactions of practice. The article opens by briefly introducing creative openings, highlights three key moment (interactional ruptures, interactional responses and interactional outcomes) that researchers can use to examine the trajectory of creative openings. The article closes with a brief example that illustrates these key moments and how they might be represented diagrammatically. Directions for future research are also discussed.</abstract>

Creative Openings in the Social Interactions of Teaching

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This paper considers the significance of the types of learning relationships developed between children and adults during a creative arts and engineering project: <italic>The Imagineerium</italic>. It focuses on data collected through observations, 18 interviews conducted during and six weeks after the pupils had been involved in the project, and 25 interviews conducted one year later. This is supported by reference to a wider data set gathered from questionnaires, field notes and journal analysis conducted with 72 pupils. A significant and recurring feature emerging from this data was pupils’ perception of the positive relationships they experienced within <italic>The Imagineerium</italic> project. The article considers the elements of the project that contribute to this relational experience. In particular, it argues the importance of this educational experience being located within a tradition of community arts, within the practice of art-making and involving adult facilitators committed to these practices.</abstract>

Imagineering: Re-Creating Spaces through Collaborative Art-Making

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The aim of the present study was to research teachers’ beliefs about creativity and possibilities for its development in Polish high schools. The study consisted of in-depth interviews. It was conducted with a group of 15 high school teachers, all of whom taught the key subjects (math, Polish and foreign languages) for the final school-leaving examination. The qualitative thematic analysis applied to the collected data revealed eight themes. Each of them concerned the teachers’ understanding of what creativity really is, their attitude towards students’ creative activity at school, aims that they formulated to stimulate their creativity, as well as the role and place of students’ creative activity at school. In addition, the themes referred to actions that had been taken by the teachers to stimulate their students’ creativity and factors that inhibited or stimulated the development of students’ creativity at school. The teachers, who were the subject of the analysis, understood creativity as creative potential, that is, the ability to think independently, to give new and original solutions to all sorts of tasks and problems, as well as creative activity oriented towards everyday innovation. Additionally, the study revealed that there exists a creativity gap between verbal support for developing students’ creativity at school and classroom practice.</abstract>

Teachers’ Beliefs About Creativity and Possibilities for its Development in Polish High Schools: A Qualitative Study

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of the Internet on distributed creativity. While the social mechanisms that are fundamental for creative expression are not radically different online, and while we want to avoid overly romanticizing the role of the Internet or falling prey to technological determinism, we argue that there are, nevertheless, significant shifts that must be acknowledged and examined. In order to achieve a more nuanced and analytical account, we suggest a simple framework centred around five questions - who, when, where, how and why - that allow for a differentiated understanding of the range of changes in creative expression in the Internet age. To model the application of this framework, we use the example of crowdsourced art (participatory online art) as a creative practice that illustrates some of these key shifts. In thinking about creativity in online spaces, we suggest that the consideration of actors (who), times (when), places (where), processes (how) and motives (why) facilitates a valuable multidimensional understanding of these significant and complex changes.</abstract>

Same but Different? Distributed Creativity in the Internet Age

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The burgeoning use of new digital media (NDM) platforms for social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has consistently been associated with out-group prejudice, less prosocial behaviour, less fulfilling friendships, and lower levels of moral reflection, integrity, and subjective well-being. But the context of NDM use is often neglected when examining its psychological effects. Moreover, such studies are limited to retrospective accounts and can benefit from examining episodic experiences of flow, boredom, apathy, and anxiety. Drawing on data collected using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), this study assessed the psychological impact of social networking on low and high media users. Participants (<italic>N</italic> = 65) were signaled six times per day for seven days and asked to respond to brief surveys about subjective momentary experiences. Findings indicated that high media users, on average, reported less positive moods, and also reported being significantly less creative and less energetic each day. Further, high media users reported deriving less meaning from daily activities, and were marginally less satisfied with the overall quality of their week than their low media user counterparts. When comparing all media users across flow quadrants, creativity, meaning, engagement, and energy levels were highest in flow, and substantially decreased across the remaining quadrants. Notably, self reported mood was slightly higher during instances of boredom than flow. However, a more nuanced comparison of these outcomes revealed that high media users reported being marginally more creative and engaged during boredom, thereby identifying differences in how the two groups approached social media.</abstract>

New Digital Media and Flow: A Study of Experience

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This study provides preliminary data on the dynamic role of participants’ agency-communion orientation in their perception of fictional students’ agency, communion and creativity, depending on descriptions of stereotypical and unstereotypical traits and behaviours. I propose that a stereotypically masculine description (i.e. more agentic) will boost the male’s - but not the female’s - perceived creativity. Polish students majoring in computer science (N = 108) read short stories about male and female interns at an IT company. Participants assessed the interns’ agency, communion and creativity. The results demonstrated that the image of the agentic man as well as the participants’ agentic-orientation are significant predictors of a male’s perceived creativity. The findings are discussed in terms of the gender-based nature of the agency-communion concept.</abstract>

From Big Bang to Big Gap? Potential Links Between Agency-Communion Orientation and Perception of Creativity in Computer Science

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This study explored how much participants in the United States (US) and India loved activities that are inherently flow producing (Frequent Flow Activities) versus those that are not (Low Flow Activities). Frequent Flow Activities (FFA) typically possess the three antecedents of flow, namely clear and proximate goals, immediate feedback and a perceived balance of challenge and skill. By contrast, Low Flow Activities (LFA) are typically relaxing or enjoyable but not underpinned by these antecedents. In addition, this study explored whether love for FFA/LFA differed by age, gender and nationality, and whether love for FFA/LFA was positively related to various measures of wellbeing. Results indicate that neither age nor gender affected love for FFA/LFA. However, nationality did make a difference, in that Indian but not US participants loved FFA more than LFA. Finally, both FFA/LFA were significantly and positively related to a number of wellbeing measures. Implications and applications are discussed.</abstract>

Love for Frequent and Low Flow Activities in the United States and India

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This study examined the mediation effect of creative self-concept on the relationship between Openness to Experience and creative behaviours among university students. Participants in the study completed self-report measures of Openness to Experience, creative behaviours and creative self-concept. Structural equation modelling revealed that, as predicted, Openness to Experience was indirectly related to creative behaviours through creative self-concept. Implications for future research and limitations of the present findings are discussed.</abstract>

The Creative Self-Concept as a Mediator Between Openness to Experience and Creative Behaviour

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 11 (2024): Issue 1 (January 2024)

Volume 10 (2023): Issue 1-2 (December 2023)

Volume 9 (2022): Issue 2 (December 2022)

Volume 9 (2022): Issue 1 (June 2022)

Volume 8 (2021): Issue 2 (December 2021)

Volume 8 (2021): Issue 1 (June 2021)

Volume 7 (2020): Issue 2 (December 2020)

Volume 7 (2020): Issue 1 (January 2020)

Volume 6 (2019): Issue 2 (December 2019)

Volume 6 (2019): Issue 1 (June 2019)

Volume 5 (2018): Issue 2 (December 2018)

Volume 5 (2018): Issue 1 (September 2018)

Volume 4 (2017): Issue 2 (December 2017)

Volume 4 (2017): Issue 1 (June 2017)

Volume 3 (2016): Issue 2 (December 2016)

Volume 3 (2016): Issue 1 (June 2016)

Volume 2 (2015): Issue 2 (November 2015)

Volume 2 (2015): Issue 1 (June 2015)

Creativity. Theories – Research - Applications

 The journal aims to provide a forum for the discussion of human creativity in all of its complexity - its recognition, correlates, determinants, possibilities for its encouragement and development - analyzed from the point of view of education, psychology, sociology, aesthetics, etc. Moreover, the journal will discuss issues of creative potential as well as actual creative achievements (everyday and eminent creativity). It will also consider methodological and statistical issues regarding quantitative and qualitative creativity studies in various countries. The journal is a platform for positive confrontation of the various ways of perceiving and investigating creativity and encouraging the interparadigmatic and interdiscursive dialogue of the representatives of distinct theoretical and methodological options.  Rejection Rate   65%  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 