CREATIVTY AND AESTHETIC

Ab. Aziz Shuaib

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Creativity can be described as ABILITY, an ATTITUDE or a PROCESS (Robert, 2012)

• ABILITY: To generate new ideas by combining, changing or reapplying existing ideas

• ATTITUDE: Willingness to play with ideas and possibilities (enjoying the good while looking for ways to improve it )

• PROCESS: Changing a symbolic domain in culture.

THE HUMAN MIND

……. average human being has over 12,000 different thoughts each day.

12%

88%

Total Mind’s Capacity

Conscious Mind

Subconscious Mind

The Power of Subconscious Mind

Is a storehouse of one’s knowledge and prior experience

Is a power awareness that lies underneath the layers of critical thought function of the conscious mind (Henri, 1970)

It controls all of the things we do not have to think about, such as, our heart beat, breathing organs and glands

Thus, it can be a great ally in achieving success in life by establishing a working relationship with it

THE COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY

(Amabile, 2012)

EXPERTISE: Relevant skills which include knowledge (AESTHETIC), technical skills, intelligence and talent in a particular domain

MOTIVATION: Intrinsic motivation is an inner passion to solve problems while extrinsic motivation result from pursuit of external rewards.

CREATIVE-THINKING SKILLS: This determines how flexibly and imaginatively we approach problems

MotivationEmotional & SpiritualIntelligence

Creative ThinkingSkill

ExpertiseCognitive;Aesthetic

CREATIVITY

The creative process occurs most readily when the mind is relaxed and the imagination roaming freely

Creativity Vs Subconscious Mind

However, the more interested we are in solving a challenge, the more likely our subconscious will generate ideas.

THE COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE FOR CREATIVITY

Meditation & Prayer: Involves focusing the mind, quieting it, and allowing you to harness it

Example of fruitful meditation is closing the eyes; still the chattering mind and focusing on one specific thought or entering complete stillness in the void

Self-Awareness: A non-judgmental form of watching one’s daily actions and thoughts in the present moment in a detached frame of mind

……. can create the necessary gap between the ego and the self and great clarity of mind unfolds (Read, 1997)

Soft-Focus: Being aware of everything around you without focusing on any one thing

This helps to set aside ego temporarily and the subconscious mind where inner creativity abounds can come to the surface.

Light-Heartedness: It keeps the personality ego from getting a rigid hold on the psyche and stifling creative thought (Read, 1997)

This helps to perceive the intuitive and original moments that otherwise go unnoticed when we act from habitual behavior patterns.

Exercise: According to (M. John, 2008), exercise boost brain power; gives higher self-esteem, less depression, less anxiety and makes us allocate more cognitive resources to a task

Motion is essential for life if not essence of life; thus, a less motion leads to stagnation in our thought process (Yakel, 2013)

Enriching Cognitive Performance through Social Capital

• Social capital is the potential resources embedded within and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit

• Social capital helps to develop social creativity that causes us to move from vague mental conceptualizations of idea to a more concrete representation of it

• Social creativity provides a means for others to interact with, react to and build upon an idea. It also allows opinions from others and creates a common language of understanding

Environmental Factors that can Stimulate Social Creativity;

Diversely skilledFreedom to carry out workPositive challenge in the work Work teams that are collaborativeMechanisms for developing new ideas Norms of actively sharing ideas across an organization

Examples

As a boy, Steve’s Father shows him how to take apart and reconstruct electronics. “It was a hobby which instilled confidence, tenacity and mechanical prowess in young Jobs” (Walter, 2011)

Karim Rashid is a leading figure in the fields of product, interior, fashion, furniture, lighting design and art

Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness. Frank Gehry. Architect

The original Macintosh, released in January 1984.

The unibody iMac, introduced in 2009.

Steve Job’s………..

Creativity goes with AestheticalRequirement to please consumer/ end user

KARIM RASHID’S…………interior work…

FRANK GEHRY’S…Architecture…

CONCLUSION

Highly successful people have one thing in common; they had discovered how to tap into a force beyond the confines of their minds, and draw from it infinite amounts of wisdom, inspiration and success. However, creative skill is by default not trained, it can only be nurtured but not created. Thus, for a creative mind to be creative, the internal components Expertise- technical and design skills with aesthetic knowledge), motivation and creative-thinking skills must be complemented by appropriate external components such as the physical and social environment. With these, each of us may not create great things, but all of us can create small things in a great way.