Creative productivity
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- Creative productivity
- Language
- English
- Source
- Volume XIX (Issue No. 2) February 1967
- Year
- 1967
- Subject
- Creative ability
- Creative thinking
- Problem solving
- Rights
-
- Abstract
- The creative faculty does not belong only to the young. It also follows with age if properly preserved through practice
- Fulltext
- ■ The creative faculty does not belong only to the young. It also follows with age if properly pre served through practice, CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY Perhaps the most outstand ing study dealing with pro blems of age and creative productivity was made by H. C. Lehman in his book Age and Achievement. On the basis of his studies he reached the conclusion that the rate of good production does not change much in the middle years and that the decline is gradual in older years. He has been careful to point out that it is not age change itself but the fac tors that accompany age change — increased family responsibilities, decrease in physical strength, content ment with past acomplishments, lack of recognition, imbedded habits of con formity, and others — that bring about a reduction in creative production. By avoiding the conditions that account for decreased creativity, an individual can continue to be creatively pro ductive throughout life. To develop creativity in himself, each has to be the engineer who charts his own course, supported by the cooperative action of colleagues. A person can explore ways of providing a more favor able environment for creative production and of develop ing feelings of adequacy. Some suggestions are: 1. Capitalize on experience of others in order to develop confidence in self. 2. Accept the challenge of an opportunity to share creative efforts. 3. Seek an opportunity to communicate ideas and dreams to a person, in whom you have great confidence, one who is a good listener and who accepts ideas expressed. 4. Be willing to experi ment with untried ways of doing things. 5. Accept needs and blocks to goals as challenges. 6. Take time to do what ever is necessary to maintain good physical health. By accepting the fact that 46 we have the capacity for creativity and that it can be developed, we become more able to encourage and foster its development in others. Many adults have grown up in an authoritarian envi ronment and have developed inadequate self-c o n c e p t s. They fear new or unfamiliar experiences. Yet, through contact with facilitating per sons they can develop more fully functioning personali ties. Individuals and groups can do many things to sti mulate and support them as they undertake new adven tures: 1. Serve as a patron or sponsor. 2. Recognize potential of the individual. 3. Listen to ideas. 4. Encourage experimen tation. 5. Suggest sources of in formation and materials. 6. Encourage persistence and new approaches when first efforts are not successful. 7. Express praise when it is deserved. 8. Provide opportunities for others to enjoy and ap preciate the products of creative efforts. 9. Provide opportunities for participation in creative group activities. 10. Recognize the impor tance of good inter-personal relationships by extending warm and friendly greetings, condolence during time of sorrow, and congratulations over joyous events. In spite of seemingly slow progress, the results of efforts in behalf of colleagues may be beyond measurement. As people experience the crea tive process, they learn to foster the development of creativity in others. — By E. E. Parker in The Delta Kap pa Gamma Bulletin. February 1967 47
- pages
- 44-45