Cover Letter
I feel this capstone paper accurately captures all the thinking I have been doing throughout the year. It was very interesting to synthesize all the research I have done into a coherent working draft and see all my thinking come together and evolve into new ideas. I hope to give the readers of my paper a clearer understanding of the significance of creative cognition and its transformative effects on society. The guiding question I have used throughout this process was, “how has creativity been essential to societal growth and human advancement.” While it was challenging because creativity is such a broad, abstract term, I tried to make my paper convey a clear and concrete understanding of creativity and its crucial role in society.
The Influence of Creativity on Humanity
Humankind would not be where it is today without creativity. The human capacity for creativity has been tremendously adaptive for society and individuals. This paper will define creativity, address its critical role in society, and highlight the importance in recognizing the social factors that influence creativity. Accomplishing this will hopefully allow us to understand why the manifestations of creativity are so varied all over the world. I hope to provide information about the inner and outer influences of creativity, as well as the tension between bureaucratic control and freedom of self-expression.
It is one of humankind's most defining characteristics and has transformed the world we live in. To understand the role of creativity in the development and advancement in society, we must first establish a definition. Creativity is difficult to define because it is personal and elusive. It can be defined as imaginative activity which produces original and valuable outcomes. We can also define it as the introduction of something innovative and positive for society, that is beyond the familiar and accepted. Throughout history, evolution has favored the positive social aspects of creativity. Art is one example of a manifestation of creativity that has promoted cohesion and survival. It originated and still is a communication system, practiced only by humans, that was essential when early human groups were growing in complexity and size. The fact that humans have long displayed their capacity for creativity through art reveals many things about cognition and cultural practices.
More than anything, creativity ensures survival. Creativity cognition was initially driven by survival needs, and our creativity exists because of our instinctual nature and biological needs for survival. Animals capable of being innovative are driven by their biological need for survival, and this could have been passed down to humans and are now mixed with distinctively human creative capacities. Studying and comparing creativity in animal brains can help us understand where creativity in humans originated, as well as reveal where the human brain is unique in terms of its creative capacity. Research has indicated that the cortical association areas are important for innovative birds. Comparing this to the human brain, scientists see similarity in how this area is partly responsible for innovative and creative cognition.
Scientists have been conducting research for decades to try and identify which parts of the brain are responsible for creative cognition, both artistic and scientific. Studies indicate that the anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain responsible for creative cognition, and that artistic creativity is associated with the right lateral prefrontal cortex. While studies of scientific creativity have been rare, researchers have tried to explore the neural processes of Albert Einstein's brain, as he is regarded as one of the most creative scientific geniuses of all time. Scientists found that Einstein's parietal cortex was 15% wider than that of the average brain, and this may be responsible for his high creativity. Understanding creativity and its neurological origin can help us understand why some people are more creative than others, and how to evaluate artistic and scientific creativity.
Creativity is self-shaping and continually evolving. It is a direct product of society manifested by its members, and continues to shape society and how it functions. When thinking about creativity, it is crucial to understand the social factors that influence it. Those who have the most control and authority can determine the potential for creativity and whether it is encouraged or discouraged. While there are both inner and outer influences, creativity can serve as a reflection of both individual effort, and social structures that allow the capacity to produce creative results.
Creativity serves two main roles in society. The fist is known as the improvement role. This focuses on the large-scale impacts on society. The other, known as the expression role, impacts the creator individually. When these two roles of creativity interact, the individual and societal purposes become complementary and actually work together to help advance our world. Creativity is often used with the goal of improving the future. However, the ethics of creativity can be unclear. Some have argued that creativity is amoral, because the consequences can be truly helpful or harmful. An example would be horrifying Nazi scientific experiments, improved warfare technology, which both lead to destruction and devastation, but were still examples of creativity. When a creative manifestation is introduced to society, we cannot know its ripple effects, so we must always remind ourselves of the elusive and sometimes dangerous connection between creativity and moral responsibility. We have seen creativity lead to irresponsible and destructive consequences, and it is important we recognize the power that it holds to prevent the harm it can potentially cause.
Creativity has also been essential in education and enhancing the mind’s of the youth to fit the demands of the modern world. The concept of creativity has been emphasized in education all over the world in the past century. This is due to the need of creative and innovative thinkers in industrial nations, specifically where more traditional jobs are being outsourced. It is also because increasing a student's creativity is known to increase their ability to learn in a wide range of educational subjects. The focus on creativity in education is not new, and research on creativity in the education system has developed in many different ways. In the 1950's, the focus was on the "genius" and gifted students, and in the 60's it was based on test scores of creative cognition. In the 70's it shifted to connecting creativity with imaginativeness, and since the 80's, it has shifted towards understanding the nature of creativity and how to measure it. Now, we focus on creativity as a state of mind, in which all forms of intelligence work together. Creative content must be original and new. There are three degrees of this: individual, social, and universal. The characteristics of creative people include being flexible, unorthodox, connecting ideas, questioning accepted structures or ways of doing things. These understandings of creativity have shaped the way creative thought has been integrated in the classroom and have helped us see that while creativity is often viewed as a gift that cannot be taught, it can be encouraged and discovered through education.
The study of creativity is essential in understanding the future of humankind, as creativity is the driving force behind social progress. As our society has grown increasingly more complex, it plays a more crucial role than ever before. It has been the root of success and growth as a species, and will continue to allow society to become even more advanced. By discovering how creativity has built the past, we can look into building a more innovative and adaptive future.
It is one of humankind's most defining characteristics and has transformed the world we live in. To understand the role of creativity in the development and advancement in society, we must first establish a definition. Creativity is difficult to define because it is personal and elusive. It can be defined as imaginative activity which produces original and valuable outcomes. We can also define it as the introduction of something innovative and positive for society, that is beyond the familiar and accepted. Throughout history, evolution has favored the positive social aspects of creativity. Art is one example of a manifestation of creativity that has promoted cohesion and survival. It originated and still is a communication system, practiced only by humans, that was essential when early human groups were growing in complexity and size. The fact that humans have long displayed their capacity for creativity through art reveals many things about cognition and cultural practices.
More than anything, creativity ensures survival. Creativity cognition was initially driven by survival needs, and our creativity exists because of our instinctual nature and biological needs for survival. Animals capable of being innovative are driven by their biological need for survival, and this could have been passed down to humans and are now mixed with distinctively human creative capacities. Studying and comparing creativity in animal brains can help us understand where creativity in humans originated, as well as reveal where the human brain is unique in terms of its creative capacity. Research has indicated that the cortical association areas are important for innovative birds. Comparing this to the human brain, scientists see similarity in how this area is partly responsible for innovative and creative cognition.
Scientists have been conducting research for decades to try and identify which parts of the brain are responsible for creative cognition, both artistic and scientific. Studies indicate that the anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain responsible for creative cognition, and that artistic creativity is associated with the right lateral prefrontal cortex. While studies of scientific creativity have been rare, researchers have tried to explore the neural processes of Albert Einstein's brain, as he is regarded as one of the most creative scientific geniuses of all time. Scientists found that Einstein's parietal cortex was 15% wider than that of the average brain, and this may be responsible for his high creativity. Understanding creativity and its neurological origin can help us understand why some people are more creative than others, and how to evaluate artistic and scientific creativity.
Creativity is self-shaping and continually evolving. It is a direct product of society manifested by its members, and continues to shape society and how it functions. When thinking about creativity, it is crucial to understand the social factors that influence it. Those who have the most control and authority can determine the potential for creativity and whether it is encouraged or discouraged. While there are both inner and outer influences, creativity can serve as a reflection of both individual effort, and social structures that allow the capacity to produce creative results.
Creativity serves two main roles in society. The fist is known as the improvement role. This focuses on the large-scale impacts on society. The other, known as the expression role, impacts the creator individually. When these two roles of creativity interact, the individual and societal purposes become complementary and actually work together to help advance our world. Creativity is often used with the goal of improving the future. However, the ethics of creativity can be unclear. Some have argued that creativity is amoral, because the consequences can be truly helpful or harmful. An example would be horrifying Nazi scientific experiments, improved warfare technology, which both lead to destruction and devastation, but were still examples of creativity. When a creative manifestation is introduced to society, we cannot know its ripple effects, so we must always remind ourselves of the elusive and sometimes dangerous connection between creativity and moral responsibility. We have seen creativity lead to irresponsible and destructive consequences, and it is important we recognize the power that it holds to prevent the harm it can potentially cause.
Creativity has also been essential in education and enhancing the mind’s of the youth to fit the demands of the modern world. The concept of creativity has been emphasized in education all over the world in the past century. This is due to the need of creative and innovative thinkers in industrial nations, specifically where more traditional jobs are being outsourced. It is also because increasing a student's creativity is known to increase their ability to learn in a wide range of educational subjects. The focus on creativity in education is not new, and research on creativity in the education system has developed in many different ways. In the 1950's, the focus was on the "genius" and gifted students, and in the 60's it was based on test scores of creative cognition. In the 70's it shifted to connecting creativity with imaginativeness, and since the 80's, it has shifted towards understanding the nature of creativity and how to measure it. Now, we focus on creativity as a state of mind, in which all forms of intelligence work together. Creative content must be original and new. There are three degrees of this: individual, social, and universal. The characteristics of creative people include being flexible, unorthodox, connecting ideas, questioning accepted structures or ways of doing things. These understandings of creativity have shaped the way creative thought has been integrated in the classroom and have helped us see that while creativity is often viewed as a gift that cannot be taught, it can be encouraged and discovered through education.
The study of creativity is essential in understanding the future of humankind, as creativity is the driving force behind social progress. As our society has grown increasingly more complex, it plays a more crucial role than ever before. It has been the root of success and growth as a species, and will continue to allow society to become even more advanced. By discovering how creativity has built the past, we can look into building a more innovative and adaptive future.