This study investigates the link between anguish and artistic creativity. It became possible to follow this link through the concept of anguish and its related aspects that were explored in the works of Jacques Lacan. The concept of art that was adopted in this study is based on the theories of Georges Dickie and Arthur Danto, which explain the role of the idea of institutional art through the artworld. The current study pursued its enquiries through the analysis of the texts of interviews with selected South African artists namely Albert Munyai, Azwimpheleli Gerson Magoro and Norman Catherine and through selected artworks by these three artists. A mix of discourse analysis and iconography was employed to analyse the data. Anguish is an affect that is not readily apparent or detectable but is more likely to be recognized as something displaced, inverted or adrift. Therefore, anguish in the data was approached from diverse angles. Discourse analysis helped to find patterns in the language that linked to signs of anguish as described through a psychoanalytical framework. For the analysis of the artworks, a combination of iconography and the categories of the borromean knot was adopted. These methodologies permitted the translation of aspects of artworks into texts. Anguish as an affect related with the absence of an absolute meaning for existence may also be present in the motivation to create something from nothingness. There is an indication that through creating art one may be trying to symbolize the real that affects the subject.

Computer-aided design has been integrated into the design process primarily in the latter stages as a drafting tool for detailing and accuracy rather than incorporated into the early stages as a design tool for enhancing ideational fluency. Pencil-based design (i.e., hand drawing and sketching) has traditionally been the graphic medium in the ideation process to aid in externalizing and manipulating designers' ideas. The early, creative design phases require the design medium that is used during schematic ideation yield to the deSigner's needs in generating, communicating, and evaluating ideas (Marshall, 1992). The integration of the computer-based method into schematic ideation may impact the design process by possibly affecting the designer's creative abilities and the resulting creative aspects of the design solution. This study examined the products of creativity to determine if differences exist in creativity ratings of design solutions generated using two design methods - pencil-based and computer-based - in the preliminary design phases. Interior design students (n=40) used the two design methods and generated design solutions for a small restaurant project. An established instrument was used by eight design educators to evaluate the design solutions on creathlity and six other design merit aspects. The process of creativity was also examined and the perceptions of the interior design students were assessed regarding the use of the deSign methods and the influences on creativity. / Ph. D.

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No description available.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to adapt the Consensual Technique for Creativity Assessment (Amabile, 1982; 1983a) methodology for use in the domain of interior design; and (2) to provide evidence for reliability and construct validity of the methodology. Participants were subjects who created the 18 projects used in the study, and judges, the 44 professional interior design experts who rated the projects. The sample of subjects was comprised of interior design students at a FIDER-accredited institution in the Mid-Atlantic region. The judges sample included two sub-categories: Educators (13) who were Corporate members of IDEC; and Designers (31) who were Professional members of ASID. Projects were assessed by subjective ratings on the Dimensions of Judgment for Interior Design creativity, the list of 12 rating criteria adapted from Amabile. Ratings were collected in judging sessions at three regional sites. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to assess what effects mothers' childrearing attitudes, family income, and the age, sex, and IQ of the child have on original thinking in preschoolers. Sixty preschool children, from diverse family backgrounds, were administered the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure to assess original thinking, and a short version of the WPPSI was administered to assess IQ. The children's mothers completed the Parent as a Teacher Inventory during an interview to assess their parental childrearing attitudes in the areas of creativity, childrearing frustration, control, play, and teaching-learning. Multiple regression was used to determine the effect of nine independent variables on preschoolers' original thinking scores. No significant relationships were found with the exception of age contributing significantly to original scores. A multiple regression used to determine the effect of the independent variables (less IQ) have on IQ, found income to contribute significantly to IQ. These findings suggest that variables that are related to IQ are not appropriate for predicting original thinking in preschool children. / Master of Science

This study surveyed a nationwide sample of home-schooling parents and their children and investigated two questions: (1) What are the differences in instructional approaches used by home-schooling parents? (2) Is the creativity of home-schooled children related to differences in the instructional approach? Instructional approaches were assessed by the Home Schooling Instructional Survey (HSIS), a self-report questionnaire developed for this study and completed by the home-schooling parent. Creativity of home-schooled children was measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking - Figural Form A (TTCT). Significant differences in instructional approach were found in four primary areas: goal orientation, autonomy, motivational orientation, and instructional format. These instructional factors were significantly related (p<.05) to the number of children being home schooled, the prior schooling experiences of the children, the parents' motivation for home schooling, and relationship with a home study school. Creativity scores were found to be positively correlated (p<.05) with the number of years the child had spent in conventional schools, household income, and the home teacher's age and educational level, but negatively correlated (p<.05) with years of home schooling. / Ed. D.

A study of the relationship between playfulness and creativity was conducted with a sample of Japanese children who attended a preschool that emphasized whole-group orientation. Playfulness was assessed using The Child Behaviors Inventory, teacher interviews, and observations. Creativity was measured using The Creativity Thinking-Drawing Production Test (Jellen & Urban, 1986), The Drawing Test (Acharyulu & Yasodhara, 1984), teacher interviews, and observations. Although the statistical data analysis indicated no significant relationship between playfulness and creativity, the qualitative data analysis indicated that such a relationship may exist. However, conclusions must be qualified because analysis of the qualitative data revealed confounding factors in the concepts of playfulness and creativity. Some children who were rated by their teachers as non playful were described as internally playful and this internal playfulness was more evident in a one-to-one interaction and was manifest as joy, sense of humor, and active involvement. The internally playful child was described by the teachers as the child who possesses a lot of imagination inside but may not be able to express it externally in a group situation. Although the study focused on artistic creativity, the teachers in this study discussed a global view of creativity rather than artistic creativity. Thus, the results of qualitative data analysis appeared to contradict those of quantitative analysis. Further research on the relationship between playfulness and creativity is needed to understand such a relationship. / Ph. D.

Socioeconomic status (SES) influences many aspects of a person's life, and stereotypes concerning level of SES and the domain of creativity exist. It was hypothesized that children classified as low SES would perform more creatively in the visual arts and language arts domains of creativity than in the mathematic and scientific domains.

Online creative collaboration is challenging our basic assumptions about how people can create together. Volunteers from around the world who meet and communicate over the Internet have written the world's largest encyclopedia, developed market-leading software products, solved important open problems in mathematics, and produced award-winning films, among many examples. A growing body of research refutes the popular myth that these projects succeed through "self-organization" and instead points to the critical importance of effective leadership. Yet, we know little about what these leaders actually do, the challenges they must manage, and how technology supports or hinders their efforts. In this dissertation, I investigated the role of leadership in online creative collaboration. I first conducted two empirical studies of existing leadership practices, focusing on the domain of online, collaborative animation projects called "collabs." In the first study, I identified the major challenges faced by collab leaders. In the second study, I identified leader traits and behaviors correlated with success. These initial findings suggested that many collab leaders, overburdened and lacking adequate technological support, respond by attempting less ambitious projects and adopting centralized leadership styles. Despite these efforts, leaders frequently become overburdened, and more than 80% of collabs fail. To ease the burden on leaders and encourage more complex, successful projects, I led the development of a web-based, open-source software tool called Pipeline. Pipeline can support leadership by reinforcing a traditional, top-down approach, or transform leadership by redistributing it across many members of a group. This latter approach relies on social processes, rather than technical constraints, to guide behavior. I evaluated Pipeline's ability to effectively support and transform leadership through a detailed case study of Holiday Flood, a six-week collaboration involving nearly 30 artists from around the world. The case study showed that formal leaders remained influential and Pipeline supported their traditional, centralized approach. However, there was also evidence that Pipeline transformed some leadership behaviors, such as clarifying, informing, and monitoring, by redistributing them beyond the project's formal leaders. The result was a significantly more ambitious project which attained its goals and earned high praise from the community. The main contributions of this dissertation include: (1) a rich description of existing leadership practices in online creative collaboration; (2) the development of redistributed leadership as a theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between leadership and technological support; (3) design implications for supporting and transform leadership; (4) a case study illustrating how technology can support and transform leadership in the real world; and (5) the Pipeline collaboration tool itself, released as open-source software.