This article presents an 8P theoretical framework for understanding creativity and theories of creativity. The 8Ps are purpose, press, person, problem, process, product, propulsion, and public. The article opens by distinguishing between a theory and a model, on the one hand, and a theoretical framework, on the other. It then considers briefly…

In this article, I explicate where my theoretical work on creativity has been and where it is going. I describe earlier three-facet and investment theories, as well as a propulsion model. I then describe my new triangular theory of creativity.

In this article, I discuss how teaching of mathematics can develop and encourage creative thinking, not only in mathematics, but also in general. I begin by discussing creativity as a habit that teachers can help students develop. Then I briefly present the investment theory of creativity. The basic idea of the investment theory is that creative…

In this article, I review ideas about creativity and its assessment. I open with some general remarks on the nature of creativity. Then I present the investment theory of creativity. Then I describe prompts my colleagues and I have used to measure creativity. Next I describe some of the assessments we have used to measure creativity. The ultimate…

The propulsion theory of creative contributions is a theory that focuses on how a creative act or product builds on and adds to knowledge in various fields. In this article, we apply the propulsion theory of creative contributions not to creative discoveries or inventions, but rather to late-career decisions about future directions in which one…

This study addressed whether prior successes with educational interventions grounded in the theory of successful intelligence could be replicated on a larger scale as the primary basis for instruction in language arts, mathematics, and science. A total of 7,702 4th-grade students in the United States, drawn from 223 elementary school classrooms in…

This book is a scholarly overview of the modern concepts, definitions, and theories of intellectual giftedness, and of past and current developments in the field of gifted education. The authors consider, in some detail, the roles of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom in giftedness and the interaction between culture and giftedness, as well as…

This article applies a propulsion model of creative contributions to the arts and letters. It opens with a general discussion of creative contributions and reviews existing models before describing the propulsion model and suggesting eight types of contributions that follow from this model. Examples illustrate use of the model in understanding…

This report describes four projects that apply Robert J. Sternberg's theories to various aspects of giftedness and gifted performance. Project 1, a construct validation and educational application of Sternberg's triarchic theory of human intelligence, revealed that students who are instructed and whose achievement is evaluated in a way that…

Argues that the cognitive mechanisms in human creativity are, for the most part, sighted rather than blind. Reviews attempts to apply evolutionary ideas to psychology and argues that these ideas do not apply to the psychology of human creativity. An alternative sighted-variation framework is then proposed. (Author/CR)

Intelligence can be best understood through the study of nonentrenched, i.e., novel, kinds of tasks. Such tasks require subjects to use concepts or form strategies that differ in kind from those to which they are accustomed. The only partial success of the cognitive-correlates and cognitive-components approaches to intelligence that are in…