Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation [Paperback]

R. Keith Sawyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0195304454 | ISBN-13: 978-0195304459 | Edition: 1

This is the first edition; the second edition was published in December, 2011 and has seven new chapters and eight new appendices. I highly recommend you buy the second edition!

Explaining Creativity is an accessible introduction to the latest scientific research on creativity. In the last 50 yearss, psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists have increasingly studied creativity, and we now know more about creativity that at any point in history. Explaining Creativity considers not only arts like painting and writing, but also science, stage performance, and business innovation. Until about a decade ago, creativity researchers tended to focus on highly valued activities like fine art painting and Nobel prize winning science. Sawyer brings this research up to date by including movies, music videos, cartoons, videogames, hypertext fiction, and computer technology. For example, this is the first book on creativity to include studies of performance and improvisation. Sawyer draws on the latest research findings to show the importance of collaboration and context in all of these creative activities.

Today's science of creativity is interdisciplinary; in addition to psychological studies of creativity, Explaining Creativity includes research by anthropologists on creativity in non-Western cultures, and research by sociologists about the situations, contexts, and networks of creative activity. Explaining Creativity brings these approaches together within the sociocultural approach to creativity pioneered by Howard Becker, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Howard Gardner. The sociocultural approach moves beyond the individual to consider the social and cultural contexts of creativity, emphasizing the role of collaboration and context in the creative process.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sawyer has put together a mountain of research from a variety of fields to create a unified approach to understanding how people manage to do something different. His book is readable and learned, origninal, but mindful of its relation to all that other work, and well worth the attention of anyone who wants to think seriously about innovation in the arts and in social organizations."--Howard S. Becker, author of Art World, Tricks of the Trade and Outsiders

"An extremely knowledgable, wide-ranging, integrative summary of how the social sciences understand creativity. Keith Sawyer has again produced an intelligent and valuable contribution to knowledge. This is a volume that any scholar or lay-person interested in what creativity entails will want to have."--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Director, Quality of Life Research Center and C.S. and D.J. Davidson, Professor, Peter F. Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University

"With the publication of Explaining Creativity, Keith Sawyer has emerged as the leading young scholar and proponent of a sociocultural approach to the study of creativity. And with his remarkable grasp of this young field, Professor Sawyer has written the most comprehensive and compelling work on creativity studies in years."--David Henry Feldman, Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University, and co-author of Changing the World

"Without doubt Explaining Creativity is the most comprehensive single-volume presentation of what we know about the creative process, person, and product. Besides that, the book is extremely well written. It would be my first recommendation for anyone fascinated with creativity in all of its complexities and manifestations. There's simply nothing better out there for either specialist or general reader."--Dean Keith Simonton, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, and author of Origins of Genius

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

R. Keith Sawyer is Associate Professor of Education at Washington University. He is the author of many books on creativity, including Improvised Dialogues, Creating Conversations, and Group Creativity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (January 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195304454
• ISBN-13: 978-0195304459
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Keith Sawyer is one of the world's leading scientific experts on creativity and innovation. In his first job after graduating from MIT, he designed videogames for Atari. He then worked for 6 years as a management consultant in Boston and New York, advising large corporations on the strategic use of information technology. He's been a jazz pianist for over 30 years, and performed with several improv theater groups in Chicago, as part of his research into jazz and improvisational theater.

In addition to ZIG ZAG, his books include GROUP GENIUS and EXPLAINING CREATIVITY, and he has published over 80 scientific articles.

Dr. Sawyer is a professor of education, psychology, and business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Science of Creativity November 3, 2007

By Paul Silvia

Format:Paperback

"Explaining Creativity" is one of the best introductions to the science of creativity. It develops a perspective on creativity---an approach known as the sociocultural model---and applies it to a striking range of areas. This sophisticated book requires an open mind. Readers looking for a treatise on the "healing power of the creative spirit" and related pop-psyc pseudoscience will not enjoy "Explaining Creativity," but readers curious to know scientific facts about creativity and innovation will get a lot out of it.

For a different perspective, see Robert Weisberg's fine book "Creativity."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Explaining the Creativity of this Review November 21, 2009

By J. Patterson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have rarely seen a text that focuses on creativity from a scientific perspective. Typically, I have heard of creativity as merely being a measure of how creative others within vicinity of your work think you are. While this may still seem true in the whole of society, rest assured that it is only seeming.

This book explores how the idea of creativity has evolved from the Individualist approach to the Contextualist approach with supporting research. In a society where Individualism is endemic, I feel it becomes even more important to understand how effective collaboration can bring about innovation as well as how our social environment in turn effects our generation of ideas.

I do not recommend this text for those with only a practitioners interest in the subject of bringing about innovation, however. (although there is a short section relevant to implementation)
This text focuses more on the theoretical aspects of creativity and innovation that have came about historically as well as recently.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and easy to read March 5, 2009

By F. Green

Format:Hardcover

An excellent overview of creativity research. Approachable for both layman and researcher. Interesting findings from much research over the years. An important piece in the perspectives on creativity.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book on creativity March 17, 2008

By Paulo Waisberg

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Mr.Sawyer does a very good job on presenting conclusions and approaches in research on creativity. It looks like he is very enthusiastic about the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I would recommend readers interested in this fascinating field to look also for one of his books. I also recommend the Handbook of Creativity, that is a collection of articles on creativity. I learned some and enjoyed a lot reading Mr. Sawyer's book.

18 of 36 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars poor to good yet narrow minded February 12, 2007

By Robert Alan Black

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a academically written treatise by "a self-proclaimed" expert on creativity who loves music and has read mostly only his own writing, it appears.

He begins highly critical of the massive research done in the creativity research rield from 1950 to 1980 then praises the work of his contemporaries and his own work.

I wrote more challenging notes in the margins of my copy then he wrote on most of the pages.

Often I found in correct statements about fields he seems to have only shallow knowledge of. This often lead me to doubt the value of his writing about fields I have minimal knowledge of.

If you are looking for an overview of creativity research and no other such books are available then you might read this one but be cautious of the extremelly restrictive biases often provided.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars about ME!!!? January 16, 2007

By Elaine Gitalis

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Having been a fine artist(painter) my whole life, I felt that the author was talking about me personally! So many aspects of my creativity that I took for granted or didn't understand were clearly explained.

This book would also benefit others, who do not understand the life of an artist,comprehend the mind-set of creative people.

Many myths are "busted" and it comes down to what Thomas Edison and myself have always said....." 10% creativity and the rest is very hard work or a "labour" of love!