Handbook of Creativity: (Perspectives on Individual Differences)

The motivation underlying our development of a "handbook" of creativity was different from what usually is described by editors of other such volumes. Our sense that a handbook was needed sprang not from a deluge of highly erudite studies calling out for organization, nor did it stem from a belief that the field had become so fully articulated that such a book was necessary to provide summation and reference. Instead, this handbook was conceptualized as an attempt to provide structure and organization for a field of study that, from our perspective, had come to be a large-scale example of a "degenerating" research program (see Brown, Chapter 1). The handbook grew out of a series of discussions that spanned several years. At the heart of most of our interactions was a profound unhappiness with the state of research on creativity. Our consensus was that the number of "good" works published on creativity each year was small and growing smaller. Further, we could not point to a journal, text, or professional organization that was providing leadership for the field in shaping a scientifically sound framework for the development of research programs in creativity. At the same time, we were casting about for a means of honoring a dear friend, E. Paul Torrance. Our decision was that we might best be able to honor Paul and influence research on creativity by developing a handbook designed to challenge traditional perspectives while offering research agendas based on contemporary psychological views.

Table of Contents:
I The Nature of the Beast.- 1 Creativity: What are We to Measure?.- 2 Psychometric Issues in the Assessment of Creativity.- 3 A Taxonomy and Critique of Measurements Used in the Study of Creativity.- 4 Individual Differences in Creativity: An Interactionist Perspective.- 5 The Nature—Nurture Problem in Creativity.- 6 Creativity and Intelligence.- II Cognitive Models of Creativity.- 7 Cognitive Processes in Creativity.- 8 Creativity and Perception.- 9 Memory and Creativity.- 10 Metacognition in Creativity.- 11 The Creative Construction of Rationality: A Paradox?.- 12 Dialectical Thinking and Adult Creativity.- III Personalogical Variables and Creativity.- 13 Personality, Situation, and Creativity.- 14 The Self and Creativity: Several Constructs in Search of a Theory.- 15 Creativity and Psychopathology: Gamboling at the Seat of Madness.- 16 Examining Counselors’ Creative Processes in Counseling.- IV Applications.- 17 Foundations for Creativity in the Writing Process: Rhetorical Representations of Ill-Defined Problems.- 18 Cognition and Writing: The Idea Generation Process.- 19 Creating the Conditions for Creativity in Reader Response to Literature.- 20 Learning via Model Construction and Criticism: Protocol Evidence on Sources of Creativity in Science.- 21 Analogical Reasoning and Problem Solving in Science Textbooks.- 22 Toward a Model of Creativity Based upon Problem Solving in the Social Sciences.- 23 The Teaching of Creativity to Preschool Children: The Behavior Analysis Approach.- 24 Mental Management and Creativity: A Cognitive Model of Time Management for Intellectual Productivity.