Creativity is usually seen as a good thing, but why? The Creativity Advantage first offers an overview of creativity studies with an emphasis on the little-discussed benefits of being creative. These include how creativity can lead to self-insight, help people heal, forge connections with others, inspire drive, and enable people to leave behind a meaningful legacy. Written in an engaging style and illustrated with interesting anecdotal material, this book offers a new perspective on creativity scholarship that can serve as an introduction to the field for newcomers or as a way to encourage new avenues for research.

Creativity is the most important asset we have to negotiate through this rapidly changing world. From the way we manage our work life and conduct business, to how we learn a new skill, model behaviours for our children and shape the way we age to express our unique selves, the creative brain has no limits.By broadening the applicability of creativity and recognising how it can elevate us both personally and professionally, we can start to realise the enormous reach we can have as parents, leaders, educators and in everyday life. We can establish the foundations of the creative advantage. As leaders we can have more impact as we learn the skills of effective and creative leadership to enable us to manage the challenges faced by our workplace teams, organisations and the society at large. As educators and parents, we're discovering the role creativity plays in development and learning, with educational psychologists identifying that the creative process underpins classroom learning as well as critical informal learning from speaking our first language to engaging in group play. As maturing adults we can tap into positive peak experiences, the 'flow' that contributes to happy, healthy and fulfilling lives, as well as face everyday problems that require creative responses.We must nurture and take advantage of our own individual creative abilities if we're to solve the pressing problems facing our world. This ultimately is the objective of this book, to lay out the science behind the apparent mystery of creativity, to not only appreciate our creative potential but to give us all the motivation and the tools to obtain a creative advantage in all aspects of life.It's curated from the latest research from the world's most renowned experts and thinkers in the fields of neuroscience, cognitive psychology, social science, education and psychology to provide an understanding and practical approach to successfully create an advantage where you work, live, play and as you age.

The ability to generate new products and services is emerging as one of the few sources of competitive advantage. There is no shortage of books on personal creativity or collections of creativity techniques. What makes Peter Cook's approach unique is its strategic perspective. He is concerned with ways of developing organizations where creativity is valued and systematically encouraged.

Swarm Creativity introduces a powerful new concept-Collaborative Innovation Networks, or COINs. Its aim is to make the concept of COINs as ubiquitous among business managers as any methodology to enhance quality and competitive advantage. The difference though is that COINs are nothing like other methodologies. A COIN is a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by technology to collaborate in achieving a common goal--n innovation-by sharing ideas, information, and work. It is no exaggeration to state that COINs are the most productive engines of innovation ever. COINs have been around for hundreds of years. Many of us have already been a part of one without knowing it. What makes COINs so relevant today, though is that the concept has reached its tipping point-thanks to the Internet and the World Wide Web. This book explores why COINS are so important to business success in the new century. It explains the traits that characterize COIN members and COIN behavior. It makes the case for why businesses ought to be rushing to uncover their COINs and nurture them, and provides tools for building organizations that are more creative, productive and efficient by applying principles of creative collaboration, knowledge sharing and social networking. Through real-life examples in several business sectors, the book shows how to leverage COINs to develop successful products in R & D, grow better customer relationships, establish better project management, and build higher-performing teams. In short, this book answers four key questions: Why are COINs better at innovation? What are the key elements of COINs? Who are the people that participate in COINs and how do they become members? And how does an organization transform itself into a Collaborative Innovation Network?

What is creativity? How does it work? How does it flourish in individuals and organizations? Now in its second edition, this bestselling introductory text--written by one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of creativity--is completely updated and expanded to reflect the tremendous growth in this field. In a redesigned, reader-friendly format, the text surveys the latest theories and research to provide key information about what we know (and don't know) about creativity including its many definitions and measures. It addresses how creativity operates on individual and social/environmental levels, and the effects and outcomes of the creative mind. This much-praised book is an ideal brief text for courses on creativity in psychology, education, business, and other fields, as well as cross-disciplinary seminars and programs in creativity studies. New to the Second Edition: Completely updated and expanded with new theories and research Restructured to enhance flow of information and ease of use New chapters on measuring creativity, creativity and mental health, creative environments, how creativity is perceived by self and society, and its positive and negative aspects Coverage of new models and frameworks Expanded coverage of creativity and motivation, mental illness, and mood; history of creativity research; the creative process; and neuroscientific theories and approaches Thorough reconceptualization of creativity and personality New content on differences between creativity, imagination, and innovation Expanded coverage of creativity assessment Key Features: Surveys theory, research, and applications of creativity concisely and accessibly Written in an engaging style by a world-renowned creativity expert Ideal for courses on creativity in psychology, education, business, and other fields, as well as cross-disciplinary seminars

Experts describe current perspectives and experimental approaches to understanding the neural bases of creativity. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of the latest neuroscientific approaches to the scientific study of creativity. In chapters that progress logically from neurobiological fundamentals to systems neuroscience and neuroimaging, leading scholars describe the latest theoretical, genetic, structural, clinical, functional, and applied research on the neural bases of creativity. The treatment is both broad and in depth, offering a range of neuroscientific perspectives with detailed coverage by experts in each area. The contributors discuss such issues as the heritability of creativity; creativity in patients with brain damage, neurodegenerative conditions, and mental illness; clinical interventions and the relationship between psychopathology and creativity; neuroimaging studies of intelligence and creativity; the neuroscientific basis of creativity-enhancing methodologies; and the information-processing challenges of viewing visual art. Contributors Baptiste Barbot, Mathias Benedek, David Q. Beversdorf, Aaron P. Blaisdell, Margaret A. Boden, Dorret I. Boomsma, Adam S. Bristol, Shelley Carson, Marleen H. M. de Moor, Andreas Fink, Liane Gabora, Dennis Garlick, Elena L. Grigorenko, Richard J. Haier, Rex E. Jung, James C. Kaufman, Helmut Leder, Kenneth J. Leising, Bruce L. Miller, Apara Ranjan, Mark P. Roeling, W. David Stahlman, Mei Tan, Pablo P. L. Tinio, Oshin Vartanian, Indre V. Viskontas, Dahlia W. Zaidel

This introductory textbook features expert, cutting-edge theory and research on creativity tailored for undergraduate courses.