Through Multiple Lenses: Implicit Theories of Creativity among Indian Children and Adults

Y

30

Constructivism (Learning); Creativity; Children; Adults; Foreign Countries; Cultural Differences; Indigenous Populations; Cultural Context; Interviews; Indo European Languages; Teachers; Parents; Principals; Students; Teacher Educators

0022-0175

This constructivist qualitative enquiry reveals a multiplicity of implicit theories of creativity extant in Indian culture with generic and domain specific usage of indigenous terms. Creativity was dominantly construed as a faculty of the nature of "pratibha", in keeping with Indian philosophical thought, and with reference to the self, with participants invoking the holistic self, cognitive self, experiential/emotional self and physical self to describe creativity. The sense of creativity in these seemingly disparate, self-based construals, the uncovering of which is the unique contribution of this study, derived from the person's experience of a sense of "agency", rather than merely the production of novelty "per se". This emphasis on process; novelty being central for some but epiphenomenal for others; the varied meanings of "newness"; experiencing creativity as self-expression, self-extension, self-fulfillment and self-actualization; and equating creativity with the act of learning reflect distinctive elements of implicit theories that have emerged in this study. (Contains 5 tables and 1 footnote.)

As Provided

103

2012

EJ949377