Creativity: genius and other myths

Abstract

By bringing a broad range of topics and data together in a way that permits the reader to gain a fundamental understanding of the creative process, "Creativity: Genius and Other Myths" shows how much of what we unquestioningly believe about creativity is not true. Professor Weisberg presents a theory, originally developed from his laboratory research in problem solving, that organizes the analysis of artistic and scientific creativity. Starting with an example of a creative solution to a simple real-life problem, he shows that creative thinking does not necessarily involve great leaps of imagination and that creative individuals are not necessarily possessed of some special characteristic called "genius." He provides an analysis of the traditional literature that argues that creative responses evolve through a straightforward series of conscious steps.