Cognitive mapping the topic of creativity

Cognitive mapping the topic of creativity

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of creativity is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the creativity topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of creativity. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on creativity, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and creativity.

Key words: cognitive mapping, creativity, literature review

Introduction

The topic of creativity is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. As a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to study creativity as a literature review exercise. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983) and Open University (n.d). In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on creativity. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: Consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: Link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on creativity.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the creativity topic

From the reading of some academic articles on creativity, a number of main points are gathered. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the creativity literature and referencing

Main points from the creativity literature	Referencing
Point 1: "Creativity is the emergence in action of a novel relational product, growing out of the uniqueness of the individual on the one hand, and the materials, events, people or circumstances of his life on the other".	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 2: "Innovation is built on creative  ideas as the basic elements. Organizational innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization".	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 3: Qualities of problem solvers that promote creativity, e.g. persistence, curiosity, energy, intellectual honesty, self-motivation, special  cognitive abilities, attracted to challenges, social quality conducive to teamwork, high level of general intelligence.	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 4: Qualities of problem solvers that inhibit  creativity, e.g. lack of motivation, pessimistic, lack of ability or experience, not motivated by the work itself, lack of social or political skills.	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 5: "Assemble and use information in attempting to arrive at a solution, response, or product".	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 6: "The kind of creative tasks that people tackle in organization very often demand the concerted efforts of a small group of individual working  very closely together, rather  than the idea generation of a single worker".	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 7: "...success... leads to intrinsic  gratification, feelings  of efficacy, and increases in intrinsic motivation, which, in turn, lead to more mastery attempts".	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 8: Qualities of environments that promote creativity, e.g. freedom, good project management, sufficient resources, favorable corporate climate, appropriate recognition, a sense of urgency.	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 9: Qualities of environment that inhibit creativity, e.g. inappropriate reward systems, lack of freedom, lack of organizational support, poor project management, inappropriate feedback systems, lack of resources and time, reluctance to change, defensive organizational culture.	Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.
Point 10: "Creativity in the design process is often characterised by the occurrence of a significant event - the so-called 'creative leap'. "	Dorst, K. and N. Cross. 2001. "Creativity in the design process: co-evolution of problem-solution" Design Studies 22(5): 425-437.
Point 11: "A ... kind of distinction [on creativity] is between creativity as achievement, creativity as ability, and creativity as disposition or attitude".	Barron, F. and D.M. Harrington. 1981. "Creativity, Intelligence, and Personality" Annual Review of Psychology 32: 439-476.
Point 12: "Studies of creative adult artists, scientists, mathematicians, and writers find them scoring very high on tests of general intelligence".	Barron, F. and D.M. Harrington. 1981. "Creativity, Intelligence, and Personality" Annual Review of Psychology 32: 439-476.
Point 13: The motivators for creativity can be explained in terms of: (i) basic drives of aggression,  sexuality or healthy motivational and cognitive processes, (ii) responses shaped by reinforcement, (iii) personal characteristics, (iv) higher level needs such as self-expression fulfillment, (v) early childhood experiences, and (vi) a unique interaction of the society's need and its members' abilities and opportunities.	Amabile, T,M. 1996. "The Motivation for Creativity in Organizations" Harvard Business School Background Note, January 9-396-240.
Point 14: Six social environment factors that can undermine both intrinsic motivation and creativity: evaluation, surveillance, reward, competition, restricted choice and extrinsic orientation.	Amabile, T,M. 1996. "The Motivation for Creativity in Organizations" Harvard Business School Background Note, January 9-396-240.
Point 15: Appropriate combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to foster creativity in organization.	Amabile, T,M. 1996. "The Motivation for Creativity in Organizations" Harvard Business School Background Note, January 9-396-240.
Point 16: "the ultimate concern in studies of creativity is the production of novel, socially valued products".	Mumford, M.D. 1988. "Creativity Syndrome: Integration,  Application, and Innovation" Psychological Bulletin 103(1), American Psychological Association: 27-43.
Point 17: Measurement of creativity can be in terms of (i) "the frequency with which individuals  generate innovative products having acknowledged social worth or the quality of these products, (ii) "the awards given individuals for the production of new ideas or products held to be of some value in an occupation field", and (iii) "the judgments of knowledgeable others, such as peers or supervisors".	Mumford, M.D. 1988. "Creativity Syndrome: Integration,  Application, and Innovation" Psychological Bulletin 103(1), American Psychological Association: 27-43.
Point 18: "the psychological processes underlying the production of major contributions, in which the individual generates idea or understandings used in solving a variety of problems, may not be equivalent to the processes underlying the production of minor contributions, in which the individual extends existing understandings to solve a more limited but still significant problem".	Mumford, M.D. 1988. "Creativity Syndrome: Integration,  Application, and Innovation" Psychological Bulletin 103(1), American Psychological Association: 27-43.
Point 19: "creativity appears to be best conceptualized as a syndrome involving a number of elements: (a) the processes underlying the individual's capacity to generate new ideas or understandings, (b) the characteristics of the individual facilitating  process operation, (c) the characteristics of the individual facilitating  the translation of these ideas into action, (d) the attributes of the situation conditioning the individual's willingness to engage in creative behavior, and (e) the attributes of the situation influencing evaluation of the individual's productive efforts".	Mumford, M.D. 1988. "Creativity Syndrome: Integration,  Application, and Innovation" Psychological Bulletin 103(1), American Psychological Association: 27-43.
Point 20: "We define organizational creativity as the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals  working together in a complex social system".	Woodman, R.W., J.E. Sawyer and R.W. Griffin. 1993. "Toward a theory of organizational creativity" Academy of Management Review 18(2): 293-321.
Point  21: "An understanding of organizational creativity will necessarily involve understanding (a) the creative process, (b) the creative product, (c) the creative person, (d) the creative  situation, and (e) the way in which each of these components interacts with the others".	Woodman, R.W., J.E. Sawyer and R.W. Griffin. 1993. "Toward a theory of organizational creativity" Academy of Management Review 18(2): 293-321.
Point 22: "if the ideas or responses are already known to work in advance, then the person has merely engaged in reproductive rather than productive thinking, confirming what is previously known rather than venturing into the unknown".	Simonton, D.K. 2013. "Creative problem solving as sequential BVSR: Exploration (total ignorance) versus elimination (informed guess)" Thinking Skills and Creativity 8, Elsevier: 1-10.
Point 23: "the effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity may not be direct, and the underlying mechanism through which abusive  supervision influences employee creativity remains unclear".	Gu, J., J. Song and J. Wu. 2016. "Abusive supervision and employee creativity in China" Leadership & Organization Development Journal 37(8), Emerald: 1187-1204.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Creativity occurs	Point 1: "Creativity is the emergence in action of a novel relational product, growing out of the uniqueness of the individual on the one hand, and the materials, events, people or circumstances of his life on the other". Point 5: "Assemble and use information in attempting to arrive at a solution, response, or product". Point 10: "Creativity in the design process is often characterised by the occurrence of a significant event - the so-called 'creative leap'. " Point 11: "A ... kind of distinction [on creativity] is between creativity as achievement, creativity as ability, and creativity as disposition or attitude". Point 18: "the psychological processes underlying the production of major contributions, in which the individual generates idea or understandings used in solving a variety of problems, may not be equivalent to the processes underlying the production of minor contributions, in which the individual extends existing understandings to solve a more limited but still significant problem". Point  21: "An understanding of organizational creativity will necessarily involve understanding (a) the creative process, (b) the creative product, (c) the creative person, (d) the creative  situation, and (e) the way in which each of these components interacts with the others". Point 22: "if the ideas or responses are already known to work in advance, then the person has merely engaged in reproductive rather than productive thinking, confirming what is previously known rather than venturing into the unknown".
Variable 2: Innovation occurs	Point 2: "Innovation is built on creative  ideas as the basic elements. Organizational innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization".
Variable 3:  Personal creativity influencers	Point 3: Qualities of problem solvers that promote creativity, e.g. persistence, curiosity, energy, intellectual honesty, self-motivation, special  cognitive abilities, attracted to challenges, social quality conducive to teamwork, high level of general intelligence. Point 4: Qualities of problem solvers that inhibit  creativity, e.g. lack of motivation, pessimistic, lack of ability or experience, not motivated by the work itself, lack of social or political skills. Point 11: "A ... kind of distinction [on creativity] is between creativity as achievement, creativity as ability, and creativity as disposition or attitude". Point 12: "Studies of creative adult artists, scientists, mathematicians, and writers find them scoring very high on tests of general intelligence". Point 13: The motivators for creativity can be explained in terms of: (i) basic drives of aggression,  sexuality or healthy motivational and cognitive processes, (ii) responses shaped by reinforcement, (iii) personal characteristics, (iv) higher level needs such as self-expression fulfillment, (v) early childhood experiences, and (vi) a unique interaction of the society's need and its members' abilities and opportunities. Point 19: "creativity appears to be best conceptualized as a syndrome involving a number of elements: (a) the processes underlying the individual's capacity to generate new ideas or understandings, (b) the characteristics of the individual facilitating  process operation, (c) the characteristics of the individual facilitating  the translation of these ideas into action, (d) the attributes of the situation conditioning the individual's willingness to engage in creative behavior, and (e) the attributes of the situation influencing evaluation of the individual's productive efforts".
Variable 4: Organizational creativity influencers	Point 6: "The kind of creative tasks that people tackle in organization very often demand the concerted efforts of a small group of individual working  very closely together, rather  than the idea generation of a single worker". Point 8: Qualities of environments that promote creativity, e.g. freedom, good project management, sufficient resources, favorable corporate climate, appropriate recognition, a sense of urgency. Point 9: Qualities of environment that inhibit creativity, e.g. inappropriate reward systems, lack of freedom, lack of organizational support, poor project management, inappropriate feedback systems, lack of resources and time, reluctance to change, defensive organizational culture. Point 13: The motivators for creativity can be explained in terms of: (i) basic drives of aggression,  sexuality or healthy motivational and cognitive processes, (ii) responses shaped by reinforcement, (iii) personal characteristics, (iv) higher level needs such as self-expression fulfillment, (v) early childhood experiences, and (vi) a unique interaction of the society's need and its members' abilities and opportunities. Point 14: Six social environment factors that can undermine both intrinsic motivation and creativity: evaluation, surveillance, reward, competition, restricted choice and extrinsic orientation. Point 15: Appropriate combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to foster creativity in organization. Point 19: "creativity appears to be best conceptualized as a syndrome involving a number of elements: (a) the processes underlying the individual's capacity to generate new ideas or understandings, (b) the characteristics of the individual facilitating  process operation, (c) the characteristics of the individual facilitating  the translation of these ideas into action, (d) the attributes of the situation conditioning the individual's willingness to engage in creative behavior, and (e) the attributes of the situation influencing evaluation of the individual's productive efforts". Point 23: "the effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity may not be direct, and the underlying mechanism through which abusive  supervision influences employee creativity remains unclear".
Variable 5: Creativity impacts on individuals	Point 7: "...success... leads to intrinsic  gratification, feelings  of efficacy, and increases in intrinsic motivation, which, in turn, lead to more mastery attempts". Point 17: Measurement of creativity can be in terms of (i) "the frequency with which individuals  generate innovative products having acknowledged social worth or the quality of these products, (ii) "the awards given individuals for the production of new ideas or products held to be of some value in an occupation field", and (iii) "the judgments of knowledgeable others, such as peers or supervisors".
Variable 6: Organizational creativity outcomes	Point 16: "the ultimate concern in studies of creativity is the production of novel, socially valued products". Point 17: Measurement of creativity can be in terms of (i) "the frequency with which individuals  generate innovative products having acknowledged social worth or the quality of these products, (ii) "the awards given individuals for the production of new ideas or products held to be of some value in an occupation field", and (iii) "the judgments of knowledgeable others, such as peers or supervisors". Point 20: "We define organizational creativity as the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals  working together in a complex social system".

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on creativity. The cognitive map is explained further in the next section.

A cognitive map on creativity and its interpretation

By relating the variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on creativity, as shown in Figure 1.

The cognitive map on creativity  comprises the following types of variables:

Creativity influencers: They are personal creativity influencers (V3) and organizational creativity influencers (V4).

Creativity occurrences: They are creativity occurs (V1) and innovation occurs (V2).

Outcomes: They are creativity impacts on individuals (V5) and organizational creativity outcomes (V6).

These cognitive  map variables are related to make up a systemic image of creativity. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in creativity. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study creativity  in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as creativity. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Amabile, T,M. 1996. "The Motivation for Creativity in Organizations" Harvard Business School Background Note, January 9-396-240.

2.      Amabile, T.M. 1988. "A model of creativity and innovation in organizations" in Staw, B.M. and L. Cummings (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 10, JAI Press: 123-167.

3.      Barron, F. and D.M. Harrington. 1981. "Creativity, Intelligence, and Personality" Annual Review of Psychology 32: 439-476.

4.      Dorst, K. and N. Cross. 2001. "Creativity in the design process: co-evolution of problem-solution" Design Studies 22(5): 425-437.

5.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

6.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

7.      Gu, J., J. Song and J. Wu. 2016. "Abusive supervision and employee creativity in China" Leadership & Organization Development Journal 37(8), Emerald: 1187-1204.

8.      Literature on creativity Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-creativity-907105879398468/).

9.      Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

10. Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

11. Mumford, M.D. 1988. "Creativity Syndrome: Integration,  Application, and Innovation" Psychological Bulletin 103(1), American Psychological Association: 27-43.

12. Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

13. Simonton, D.K. 2013. "Creative problem solving as sequential BVSR: Exploration (total ignorance) versus elimination (informed guess)" Thinking Skills and Creativity 8, Elsevier: 1-10.

14. Woodman, R.W., J.E. Sawyer and R.W. Griffin. 1993. "Toward a theory of organizational creativity" Academy of Management Review 18(2): 293-321.