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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2010

By
James C. Kaufman  and
John Baer
Edited by
James C. Kaufman  and
John Baer
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
Assistant professor of Psychology, California State University at San Bernardino
John Baer
Affiliation:
Professor of educational psychology, Rider University
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
California State University, San Bernardino
John Baer
Affiliation:
Rider University, New Jersey
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Summary

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

– Pablo Picasso

Picasso is only one of many who have recognized that the transformation from a child into an adult entails losses as well as gains. Children may become both more able and, in some ways at least, less able as a part of normal development. This perspective is not limited to modern times or even to the Western cultural tradition. In a very different time and place, Chuang Tzu observed that in leaving childhood we “forget our way home” (quoted in Egan, 2002, p. 112), suggesting that in taking on more adult ways of thinking we lose the imaginative freedom we had as children. Does the development of knowledge and analytic thinking take a toll on creativity? Or can reason and rhyme coexist and be mutually beneficial?

The idea that knowledge, reason, and creativity are somehow at odds is hardly an uncommon notion, nor is it confined to the arts. Spontaneity and freedom from constraint, which characterize the thinking of children, may be essential to creativity; yet we know from both research and common sense that effort, practice, and study are also necessary for the highest levels of creative accomplishment (Hayes, 1989; Kaufman & Baer, 2002; Weisberg, 1999). The relationship of creativity to domain-based skills and knowledge is no doubt complex, and some have even gone so far as to argue that too much education and training can have a negative impact on creativity (James, 1908; Simonton, 1984; Weisberg, 1995).

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Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development , pp. 1 - 4
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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References

Aldwin, C. M. (1995). Teloi or no teloi? That is the developmental question. Contemporary Psychology, 40, 950–953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Egan, K. (2002). Getting it wrong from the beginning: Our progressivist inheritance form Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1980). Artful scribbles: The significance of children's drawings. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hayes, J. R. (1989). Cognitive processes in creativity. In Glover, J. A., Ronning, R. R., & Reynolds, C. R. (Eds.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 135–146). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, W. (1908). Talks to teachers on psychology. New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Kaufman, J. C., & Baer, J. (2002). Could Steven Spielberg manage the Yankees?: Creative thinking in different domains. Korean Journal of Thinking and Problem Solving, 12, 5–14.Google Scholar
Minsky, M. (1997). Negative experience. In Feltovich, P. J., Ford, K. M., & Hoffman, R. R. (Eds.), Expertise in context (pp. 515–521). Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press.Google Scholar
Simonton, D. K. (1984). Genius, creativity, and leadership. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Kaufman, J. C., & Pretz, J. E. (2002). The creativity conundrum. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Weisberg, R. W. (1995). Prolegomena to theories of insight in problem solving: A taxonomy of problems. In Sternberg, R. J. & Davidson, J. E. (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 157–196). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Weisberg, R. W. (1999). Creativity and knowledge: A challenge to theories. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 226–250). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

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  • Introduction
    • By James C. Kaufman, Assistant professor of Psychology, California State University at San Bernardino, John Baer, Professor of educational psychology, Rider University
  • Edited by James C. Kaufman, California State University, San Bernardino, John Baer, Rider University, New Jersey
  • Book: Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development
  • Online publication: 19 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606915.002
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Save book to Dropbox

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  • Introduction
    • By James C. Kaufman, Assistant professor of Psychology, California State University at San Bernardino, John Baer, Professor of educational psychology, Rider University
  • Edited by James C. Kaufman, California State University, San Bernardino, John Baer, Rider University, New Jersey
  • Book: Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development
  • Online publication: 19 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606915.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
    • By James C. Kaufman, Assistant professor of Psychology, California State University at San Bernardino, John Baer, Professor of educational psychology, Rider University
  • Edited by James C. Kaufman, California State University, San Bernardino, John Baer, Rider University, New Jersey
  • Book: Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development
  • Online publication: 19 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606915.002
Available formats
×