Creativity (2023) by Mark Runco is an academic textbook that summarizes research on the development, expression, and enhancement of creativity and divergent thinking.

Creativity [much like information architecture] is an important and fascinating topic of study, but difficult to define. (xi)

The distinction between divergent and convergent thinking implies a dichotomy. Very likely, divergent thinking and convergent thinking are actually two ends of a continuum. (4)

Analogical ability is one of the more accurate predictors of creativity. (10)

As we experience things, we organize our thinking. (11)

Because metaphors can serve as vehicles for contemplating concepts at higher levels of abstraction, they make category membership more flexible. (11)

One way we structure our thinking and make our lives easier is to classify people, objects, and experiences into categories and other cognitive structures. (12)

The up-side of categorical thinking is that our thinking is more efficient, and the downside is that our thinking is sometimes too efficient. [we miss details and make assumptions] (12)

The suddenness [of insight] is just in the awareness of the solution, not in the [unconscious] discovery or construction of it. (25)

[Insight involves an] unexpected connection between disparate mental representations. (25)

Insight might occur [when] a schema is completed, information is reorganized, a problem analog is found, information is recombined. (25)

[Individuals with synaesthesia scored higher on creativity tests] (34)

Creativity is deviance because it involves statistically infrequent behavior. (50)

There is no one “seat” of creativity in the brain, no one responsible location or even hemisphere. (117)

The cerebellum handles ideas the way it handles movement and sensation. (130)

[Scientists are now using] chaos theory to describe both the working of the brain and creativity. (131)

Creativity does not result from cognition alone. [it depends on feelings, motivation, attitude, interest] (132)

[Creativity requires courage, motivation, experience, mindfulness] (135)

[Creativity is enhanced by walking outside] (147)

Overinclusive thinking allows the individual to relegate cognitive structures and think without classifying. (179)

The Zen precept [suggests] that individuals accept experiences as they are, without attempting to classify them. (179)

Humor [is] strongly correlated with creativity. (190)

Creative people change the way that others think. (195)

The inhibition of creative thinking in groups may be greater than it first appears. (209)

Squelchers [are] the things we say to ourselves and to others that inhibit creative thinking and behavior. (228)

[Authoritarianism] precludes creativity or at least makes it difficult. (301)

What seems to be best for creative thinking is psychological androgyny. (347)

Pigeons [and porpoises] can solve insightful problems. (369)

[Tactics for creativity include] turn the situation upside down, find or apply an analogy, explore the natural world, simplify, experiment, amplify deviations, persist, travel, question assumptions, redefine the problem or situation, change the level of analysis, zoom in or out, embrace controlled weirdness, incubation, contrarianism. (384-407)

Some analogical thinking may depend on bodily intelligence. Here, the physical feeling or action is one part of the analogy. It is a kind of proprioception, which is visceral or kinesthetic. (386)

Merely being in the presence of plants was enough to improve creative thinking. (389)

Problems can be changed by altering the way they are represented. (398)

An obvious example of the benefits of changing the medium is that of drawing a map. (398)

Creativity relies on the ability to forget and misremember. (407)

Book Notes

I’m interested in everyday creative problem solving. For instance — “what to do, when and how, why and with whom” — is a universal problem. We redefine and reorder tasks constantly. We make mistakes and can’t be perfect but can get better.

As categories are connections, classification is the root of creativity. In divergent thinking, we find new ways to lump-split boxes, and make new arrows by analogy.

An insight flashes into consciousness days after a butterfly flaps her wings in the unconscious. Creativity is like a fungus. Most of the action occurs underground.

As I work on Natural Information Architecture, I’m sharing notes and quotes from my sources of inspiration and provocation. As always, your questions and suggestions are welcome.