p.1,5" For one thing, as I will try to show, an idea or product that deserves the label "creative"
arises from the synergy of many sources and not only from the mind of a single person. It is easier to enhance creativity
by changing conditions in the environment than by trying to make people think more creatively. And a genuinely creative accomplishment
is almost never the result of a sudden insight, a lightbulb flashing on in the dark, but comes after years of hard work....
But even without success, creative persons find joy in a job well done. Learning for its own sake is rewarding even if it
fails to result in a public discovery.
p.6 Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains
symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognize and validate the
innovation. All three are necessary for a creative idea, product, or discovery to take place.
p.27-28 the first question I ask of creativity is not what is it but where is it?
The answer that makes most sense is that creativity can be observed only in the interrelations of
a system made up of three main parts. The first of these is the domain, which consists of a set of symbolic rules
and procedures... The second component of creativity is the field, which includes all the individuals who act as
gatekeepers to the domain. It is their job to decide whether a new idea or product should be included in the domain... Finally,
the third component of the creative system is the individual person. Creativity occurs when a person, using
the symbols of a given domain... has a new idea or sees a new pattern, and when this novelty is selected by the appropriate
field for inclusion into the relevant domain... So the definition that follows from this perspective is: Creativity
is any act, idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one. And the
definition of a creative person is: someone whose thoughts or actions change a domain, or establish a new domain. It is important
to remember, however, that a domain cannot be changed without the explicit or implicit consent of a field responsible for
it.
p.31 Perhaps the most important implication of the systems model [of creativity] is that the level of creativity
in a given place at a given time does not depend only on the amount of individual creativity. It depends just as much on how
well suited the respective domains and fields are to the recognition and diffusion of new ideas.
p.40 In the current historical climate, a domain where quantifiable measurement is possible takes precedence
over one where it does not. We believe that things that can be measured are real, and we ignore those that we don't
know how to measure.
p.41 If a symbolic domain is necessary for a person to innovate in, a field is necessary to determine whether
the innovation is worth making a fuss about. Only a very small percentage of the great number of novelties produced will eventually
become part of the culture.
p.42 a creative person must convince the field that he or she has made a valuable innovation.
This is never an easy task. Stigler emphasizes the necessity of this difficult struggle for recognition:
...I have always looked upon the task of a scientist as bearing the responsibility
for persuading his contemporaries of the cogency and validity of his thinking. He isn't entitled to a warm reception.
He has to earn it, whether by the skill of his exposition, the novelty of his ideas, or what.... I don't think any
one person's judgment is as good as that of a collection of his better colleagues.
p.47 A person who wants to make a creative contribution not only must work within a creative system but
must also reproduce that system within his or her mind. In other words, the person must learn the rules and the content of
the domain, as well as the criteria of selection, the preferences of the field.
p.48 inventor Jacob Rainbow [owner of 326 patents, gives his opinion on original thinking]
you need three things to be an original thinker. First, you need to have a tremendous amount of
information - a big database if you like to be fancy... Then you need to be willing to pull the ideas, because you're interested...
there are people like myself who like to do it. It's fun to come up with an idea, and if nobody wants it, I don't give a damn...
And then you must have the ability to get rid of the trash which you think of... In other words, you get many ideas appearing
and you discard them because you're well trained and you say, "that's junk." And when you see the good one you say.
"Oops, this sounds interesting. Let me pursue that a little further."
p.57-73 Are there then no traits that distinguish creative people? If I had to express in one word
what makes their personalities different from others, it would be complexity. By this I mean that they show
tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated...
1. Creative individuals have a great deal of physical energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest...
2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time...
3. A third practical trait refers to the related combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility
and irresponsibility...
4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and a rooted sense of reality
at the other. Both are needed to break away from the present without losing touch with the past...
5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion...[they]
seem to express both traits at the same time...
6. Creative individuals are also remarkably humble and proud at the same time...
7. ...a person's ability to be at the same time aggressive and nurturant, sensitive and rigid, dominant
and submissive...
8. Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent.
9. Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective
about it as well.
10. Finally, the openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering and
pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.
p.107 Creative persons differ from one another in a variety of ways, but in one respect
they are unanimous: They all love what they do.
p.156 If being a prodigy is not a requirement for later creativity, a more than usually keen curiosity
about one's surroundings appears to be. Practically every individual who has made a novel contribution to a domain
remembers feeling awe about the mysteries of life and has rich anecdotes to tell about efforts to solve them.
p.349 Creative individuals don't have to be dragged out of bed; they are eager to start the day.
This is not because they are cheerful, enthusiastic types. Nor do they necessarily have something exciting to do. But they
believe that there is something meaningful to accomplish each day, and they can't wait to get started on it.
p.363 Creative people are constantly surprised. They don't assume that they understand
what is happening around them, and they don't assume that anybody else does either. They question the obvious
- not out of contrariness but because they see the shortcomings of accepted explanations before the rest of us do.
They sense problems before they are generally perceived and are able to define what they are.
p.365 When you know that you have a problem, consider it from many different perspectives.
How you define a problem usually carries with it an explanation of what caused it... Creative individuals do not rush
to define the nature of problems; they look at the situation from various angles first and leave the formulation undetermined
for a long time. They consider different causes and reasons... they are open to reformulating the problem if the
evidence suggests they started out on the wrong path.
