Last updated: 8/6/04
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Creativity Essay Topics

Essay 1: Creativity

Pick one of the topics below for your Essay 1. If you want to use a different topic, email it to me for approval before you start work. A topic of your own should deal in some way with the full range of creativity, as do the topics below. Essay 1 should cover your reading for Creativity. In the header for the essay, be sure to list the topic of the essay.

  1. For the purpose of illustrating what the full range of creativity is, is there a single person that you would advocate adding to the course content? What information is available in assessing or illustrating the creativity of this individual? Compare and contrast the amount and type of this information to that available in the existing texts. That is, questions such as: what do we know about the inner creative goals and conflicts within this person, what do we know about their creative process, what do we know about how they saw the field they were working in, how has their contribution influenced others in the field? While you do not need to cover all of the foregoing questions, and you may in fact cover an entirely different set of questions of your own invention, you must identify the set of questions that your essay covers, and you must compare and contrast the information you are describing with the existing texts.
  2. All of the texts have made the point that Creativity within a single individual has always been limited to a single field. That is, creative individuals may have wide-ranging interests, but their main contributions are confined to a narrow range. For several individuals you have studied in this course, describe the individual's work and how it fits this pattern. What conclusion(s) can you or the authors that you have read for this course draw from this general pattern?
  3. Some of the attributes of highly creative people are: (a) a childhood interest in the are in which the adult becomes creative, (b) some formal education in the area, (c) some early success in the area, (d) intense focus on the area, and (e) a high level of output, even if much of it is mediocre. Add to this list if you want, but apply it to an individual that you have studied in this course, and describe the specifics of your list for that person. How can you or the authors you have read fit these elements together into a more general pattern of creativity?
  4. For someone who enjoys creative work in a certain area, "going pro" is often a critical decision. That is, going pro, quitting your day job and doing what you like for a living, is often the only way to spend more time in that area. It also sets a high and challenging standard for your output and allows the time necessary to upgrade skills. What are the advantages and risks in going pro? Apply this to someone that you have read about for this course. If you want, add a second person outside of the course. Compare and contrast how this decision affected this person/these people.
  5. Why should corporations care about their level of creativity, and what can businesses do to foster creativity?
  6. In Chapter 14, Csikszentmihayi offers his own ideas on how each of us can become more creative in our own lives. Show how these ideas do or do not flow from the first part of the book, which is about his research into highly creative people. If you disagree with the author's suggestions, summarize where and why you disagree.
  7. Compare and contrast the idea of the "Creative Hero," the lone individual struggling against the field, with Csikszentmihalyi's research into the necessary and positive role that the field plays in the life of a creative individual. Does Csikszentmihalyi mention any negative or inhibiting role that the field can play? Describe any negative roles that you feel the field can play.
  8. Discuss Csikszentmihayi's theory of the triangular relationship between the creative person, the field, and the domain. How is his research consistent with this relationship? Is there any evidence that you can cite against this theory? Regardless of evidence, if you disagree with his theory, describe your disagreement and any alternate theory of your own, and also compare and contrast your own theory with the "Creative Hero" theory.
  9. Csikszentmihalyi's theory of the triangular relationship between the creative person, the field, and the domain, says that the field plays some necessary and positive roles in the life of a highly creative person. In the early development of the creative person, Csikszentmihalyi's theory says that the field introduces the domain, trains the person in the domain, and motivates the person by showing that the domain matters. Later, the field provides constructive criticism necessary for self improvement, and a sounding board for the person's creative contributions. And finally, it is the field that actually creates the reputation of the creative person and thereby brings that person to the attention of the general public. If you agree with Csikzentmihalyi's theory, provide examples from his research of how the field has helped creative people in these ways. If you disagree with the triangular relationship theory, describe your disagreement. If you have an alternate theory, describe it, and either (a) show how the roles that the field plays in Csikszentmihalyi's theory are fulfilled in alternate ways in your theory, or (b) show why you feel that these roles for the field are not, in fact necessary to the development of a creative person.
  10. Make up a fictional creative person, and describe her/his life and characteristics, to illustrate Csikszentmihalyi's conclusions from his research. If you disagree with one or more of Csikszentmihalyi's conclusions then say so, give your reasons, and alter the life/characteristics accordingly.
  11. Describe how you personally might make use of Csikszentmihalyi's suggestions for enhancing personal creativity, in Chapter 14 of "Creativity." If you would alter or change or ignore any suggestions because you disagree or for any other reason, describe that also. Here, I will look for details about how these suggestions might work out in your own life, with your own motivations and life situation. Be specific.

Essay 2: Corporate Creativity

Pick one of the topics below for your Essay 2. If you want to use a different topic, email it to me for approval before you start work. A topic of your own should deal in some way with Corporate Creativity, as do the topics below. Essay 2 should cover Corporate Creativity. Depending on your choice of topic, you will also compare or contrast this to the first book, Creativity. In the header for the essay, be sure to list the topic of the essay.

Reminder: your essay should be written for the general reader. Review the standards for essays in the assignment schedule and syllabus.

  1. Compare and contrast Creativity within a corporation as described in Corporate Creativity and individual Creativity as described in Creativity. Compare and contrast means to describe how they are similar and how they are different.
  2. After the readings for this course, what advice would you give to a supervisor or manager who wanted to encourage the development of new and improved products within her/his unit?
  3. For encouraging corporate creativity, what methods do not work?
  4. Why is managing for creativity difficult for supervisors and managers?
  5. If creativity is basically the same inside and outside of corporations - a motivated individual trying something new to solve a problem - how does it typically work out differently in the corporate setting?
  6. Some researchers say that creativity involves putting separate ideas together. What methods of managing for creativity would encourage employees to do this?
  7. Some people on the conference for this course have said that corporate creativity is primarily "small c" creatviity. What examples can you give from Corporate Creativity to support or question this claim?

Essay 3: Creating Minds

  1. Give an examples of the interaction between the individual talent, the domain and the field, from five of Gardner's case studies.
  2. Many of you have said how you like one of the texts for this course better than another. (Opinion, by the way, is definitely not unanimous.) The texts in question for this topic are the first two;  Corporate Creativity and Creativity. Compare and contrast the text that you like the most with the text that you like the least. See the note above about the meaning of "compare and contrast." In particular, is the difference in your liking a reflection in (a) the time at which you read them, (b) differences in the topics or style of the books, or (c) differences in your interests? How did each contribute to or possibly detract from your understanding of the full scope of Creativity? Why should each be continued or dropped from this course?
  3. Show how one of Gardner's four principal components in the study of creativity (pg 29) show up in at least five of his case studies.
  4. For each of Gardner's case studies, compare the acceptance of their work during their lifetimes.
  5. For each of Gardner's case studies, compare their number of major breakthroughs and the lengths of times over which they made highly creative contributions.
  6. Describe a theme or conclusion about Creativity that seems to be important to you, across at least five of Gardner's case studies.
  7. For at least two of Gardner's case studies, how has society moved beyond their breakthroughs?
  8. For five of Gardner's case studies, describe their unique contributions to the modern era.
  9. From Gardner's case studies, and your own knowledge, describe the modern era that Gardner writes about. What was new and unique about this era?
  10. Describe the personal quirks of at least five of Gardner's case studies, as found in Creating Minds.