> From: "Bilak Alexandra" <AB495@psy.soton.ac.uk>
> Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 12:26:13 GMT
>
> The issue of creativity seems to be a complex one, because it
> involves a number of conditions and definitions. It seems to fit
> Pasteur's definition that "chance favours the prepared mind", i.e.
> creativity suggests something novel and rare, but at the same time
> involves some sort of preparation (learning, to achieve some sort of
> VALUE relative to what is already known) in order to achieve "raw
> materials" for an original contribution. Its outcome must be
> unexpected.
> Creativity therefore appears to be something rare and unusual
> (take for example artistic creativity, not everyone possesses this
> skill), and can be contrasted with intelligence. It would seem that
> intelligence involves a right-wrong answer, because it examines
> something specific and easily measurable. The most common form of
> measurement of intelligence is IQ tests, that involve high scores
> predicting a high level performance. It would seem however impossible
> to measure creativity in the same way because of the more diverse and
> rare nature of the matter. Because it is so hard to define, divergent
> thinking tests of creativity would be open-ended ( as opposed to IQ
> tests), and therefore would provide no correst answer.
> It would seem that the element of subjectivity in creativity is
> important aswell : because every individual is different and unique,
> there is no way of measuring a creative performance objectively.
> The predictiveness of objective tests such as IQ ones contrasts
> with the unpredictable element in creativity.
Good. For an A, relate to algorithms or the giftedness issue.
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