Creativity: Theories and Themes: Research, Development, and Practice

Each of the major theoretical perspectives (behavioral, clinical, cognitive, developmental, economic, educational, evolutionary, historical, social, organizational) on creativity is reviewed in this volume. The more important key topics and issues, including those concerning age, sex, and cultural differences, and those dealing with the mad genius and health issues, are also covered. One chapter focuses on enhancement issues, and the last chapter defines creativity and explores how creativity is related to, but distinct from, other important human capacities and behaviors, including invention, innovation, imagination, and adaptability.

This is primarily a textbook. It may, however, also be useful to researchers and practitioners, given the emphasis on scholarly, scientific, and objective research and the theories that are constructed from it. All of the important scholarship on creativity is covered in this volume.

Mark A. Runco, Ph.D. is Professor of Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University, Fullerton. He is founder and continuing editor of the Creativity Research Journal and acts as senior editor of the Perspectives on Creativity book series. Author of over 120 books, chapters, and articles in the area of creativity, he is a fellow and past president of the American Psychological Association's Division 10 (Psychology and the Arts). Dr. Runco is recipient of a Spencer Foundation Research Grant and also of the Early Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children.