Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills
(SECOND EDITION)
A Practical Guide for Social Scientists
Summary chapters 4 & 5
Research Skills for Pre-MSc
University of Groningen (RUG)
Study year: 2023 - 2024
, Chapter 4: Creativity and the Generation of Ideas
This chapter considers the initial process of idea generation. There is no simple strategy for
generating good ideas or good explanations.
One small step for science
Gradually, small bits of knowledge cumulate into larger groupings of knowledge, and
eventually we gain a sense of why some people behave one way and other behave another
way.
Creativity
The creative person
Creativity (Sternberg and Lubart, 1966): the ability to produce work that is both novel
(original or unexpected) and appropriate (useful or meets task constraints).
Creative contributions result from the interaction of three systems: (1) the innovating person,
(2) the substantive domain in which the person works, (3) the field of gatekeepers and
practitioners who solicit, discourage, respond to, judge, and reward contributions.
Sternberg (1985) found differences in characterizations of “creativity” across disciplines.
Creative ideas
Sternberg has characterized markedly creative ideas as “crowd defying”.
Defy the crowd: some people use their intelligence to please the crowd, others to defy it. The
most traditionally intelligent ones hope to lead the crowd not only by accepting the
presuppositions of the crowd but also by analyzing steps in thinking and reaching those next
steps before others do.
The creative process
Three facets of creativity (Amabile, 1983): (1) having high motivation to work on the task at
hand, (2) having domain-relevant knowledge and abilities to address the task, and (3) having
creativity-relevant skills.
Theory that conceptualizes creativity as being a function of six resources (Sternberg,
Grigorenko & Singer, 2004): (1) intellectual abilities, (2) knowledge, (3) styles of thinking, (4)
personality, (5) motivation, and (6) environment.
Osborn (1963) identified seven stages that characterize the creative process of both groups
and individuals: (1) orientation, (2) preparation, (3) analysis, (4) ideation, (5) incubation, (6)
synthesis, and (7) evaluation.
Deciding to be creative
Deciding for creativity does not guarantee creativity but there is lessened hope for creativity
without such a decision (Sternberg, 2002).
2
(SECOND EDITION)
A Practical Guide for Social Scientists
Summary chapters 4 & 5
Research Skills for Pre-MSc
University of Groningen (RUG)
Study year: 2023 - 2024
, Chapter 4: Creativity and the Generation of Ideas
This chapter considers the initial process of idea generation. There is no simple strategy for
generating good ideas or good explanations.
One small step for science
Gradually, small bits of knowledge cumulate into larger groupings of knowledge, and
eventually we gain a sense of why some people behave one way and other behave another
way.
Creativity
The creative person
Creativity (Sternberg and Lubart, 1966): the ability to produce work that is both novel
(original or unexpected) and appropriate (useful or meets task constraints).
Creative contributions result from the interaction of three systems: (1) the innovating person,
(2) the substantive domain in which the person works, (3) the field of gatekeepers and
practitioners who solicit, discourage, respond to, judge, and reward contributions.
Sternberg (1985) found differences in characterizations of “creativity” across disciplines.
Creative ideas
Sternberg has characterized markedly creative ideas as “crowd defying”.
Defy the crowd: some people use their intelligence to please the crowd, others to defy it. The
most traditionally intelligent ones hope to lead the crowd not only by accepting the
presuppositions of the crowd but also by analyzing steps in thinking and reaching those next
steps before others do.
The creative process
Three facets of creativity (Amabile, 1983): (1) having high motivation to work on the task at
hand, (2) having domain-relevant knowledge and abilities to address the task, and (3) having
creativity-relevant skills.
Theory that conceptualizes creativity as being a function of six resources (Sternberg,
Grigorenko & Singer, 2004): (1) intellectual abilities, (2) knowledge, (3) styles of thinking, (4)
personality, (5) motivation, and (6) environment.
Osborn (1963) identified seven stages that characterize the creative process of both groups
and individuals: (1) orientation, (2) preparation, (3) analysis, (4) ideation, (5) incubation, (6)
synthesis, and (7) evaluation.
Deciding to be creative
Deciding for creativity does not guarantee creativity but there is lessened hope for creativity
without such a decision (Sternberg, 2002).
2
