Creative Thinking for Interpersonal Isues

Affective creativity may be argued as a primary tool in the resolution of interpersonal issues, more important than cognitive creativity, or cognitive learning. To consider how and why this is, the concept of affective creativity will be considered, and its role in resolving interpersonal issues discussed.

Different forms of creativity exist, frequently divided into two types of creativity. The first is associated with the technology things, resulting in outputs such as inventions, new scientific theories, and works of art (Sarnoff & Cole, 1983). The second type of creativity is the generation of new responses to daily challenges, essential for personal growth (Sarnoff & Cole, 1983. Vargiu (1973), categorises these as cognitive creativity and affected creativity. The cognitive creativity elements include the basic knowledge required for creativity, as well as specific knowledge in relevant fields, combined with the open-mindedness. The affective elements are intangible, and include aspects such as curiosity, humour, a willingness to take risks, and independence (Amabile, 1989). It is argued both are interdependent types of creativity, but in the context of social situations, it may be argued affected creativity is more important than cognitive learning, or rational thinking.

Having defined the concept of affective creativity, it is necessary to consider its role in social problem solving, and the application of different types of creativity, along with cognitive learning.

Firstly, creativity is unlike many other disciplines, it cannot be taught in a lecture, although it may encouraged and supported (Simonton, 2012). Creativity requires the unlimited use of existing knowledge, which may be gained through cognitive process supported through learning, as well as learning through personal experiences. Personal experiences provide additional sources of learning, including the cognitive processes, such as those seen in learning cycles, including that of Kolb for cycle stage, where there is active experimentation undertaken through planning and trying out, concrete experience gained from doing and having that experience, reflective observation which occurs during the process of reviewing or reflecting on the experience, and the abstract conceptualisation, in which an individual learns from the experience (Kolb et al., 2014). This cycle demonstrates the way in which individuals may learn by doing, and how the abstraction of experiences in the reflection stage needs to cognitive processes, which may then help to create a positive side, by improving the way processes are undertaken in the future as a result of gained knowledge. However, in maybe argued that the ability to learn, and the cognitive processes which create transferable learning, and ability to adapt, do not necessarily require the presence of originality associated with creativity. Cognitive learning is therefore associated with the ability to apply existing knowledge, even if this occurs in differing scenarios.