Creative Thinking
âYou canât wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.â
-Jack London, American NovelistÂ
How does a creative person arrive at a âEureka!â moment? Are some people just more in tune with the right side, the creative side, of their brain than others? Are we supposed to wait around until inspiration strikes? According to psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, scientific director of The Imagination Institute in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the neuroscience behind the creative process is much more complicated and is largely comprised of four basic stages which engage both the creative right side and analytical left side of the brain. The four stages of the creative thinking process are as follows: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.Â
Preparation is square one of the creative thinking process, it begins by identifying a problem, a specific need, or an otherwise area where a solution is needed. In this phase, you must focus on collecting as much information and doing as much research as possible. Immerse yourself in the subject. This will serve as the foundation and planning stage by which the additional three phases are built on, so being as thorough here as possible is advisable. Ultimately, this is the phase where you are putting every observation and idea on paper, nothing is too silly to be off limits.Â
Once you have a gained a thorough understanding of the subject and sufficient research has been completed, the incubation phase will begin. In this phase, the information you have gathered will spend some time in your subconscious allowing you to form more complex opinions and create new connections with the subject matter. Use this time to look over all the information gathered and begin narrowing it down while also remaining open to forming new thoughts. Allow your subconscious mind to digest and consider everything youâve learned, this is often the stage by which creative ideas strike, often unexpectedly. The incubation period can be short or it can be long.Â
Eureka! Sometime during the incubation period, when all of the information is circulating through your subconscious, youâll finally have an light bulb moment. This phase is appropriately named the illumination stage, this critical moment generally appears very suddenly and is normally accompanied by a feeling of certainty. You will feel as if a missing puzzle has been put into place. This finally brings us to the the final stage of the creative thinking process, called verification, in which you will test and evaluate your idea to determine if it will work. If it works, you must polish and refine the idea as well as figure out how to appropriately package the idea so the message comes across to your audience. In some cases, an idea may not work out, and the creative process must begin anew.Â
The creative process, just like everything else, is something that requires practice before you can become skilled at it. There is not an exact formula behind being creative, but this process can provide a tried and true framework to generate and refine creative ideas. Use this as a general approach to creative problem solving, and over time, tweak it to better serve your specific needs.Â
Works Cited
Sharp, Callum. âThe 5 stages of the creative process.â The Writing Cooperative, Nov. 2019, https://writingcooperative.com/the-5-stages-of-the-creative-process-4f8037b7119f
âCreative Thinking Processâ The Peak Performance Center, Nov. 2019, http://thepeakperformancecenter.com/educational-learning/thinking/types-of-thinking-2/creative-thinking-process/
Stillman, Jessica. âThe 4 Stages of Creativityâ Inc.com, Nov. 2019, https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-4-stages-of-creativity.html
I enjoyed reading your essay, and I love that quote by Jack London! After reading the first paragraph, seeing the four stages of creative thinking really lured me in and had me wanting to read more. I havenât done much research on creative thinking, but I have to agree that preparation, incubation, illumination and verification are necessary for conceptualizing a successful design.
I like the way you describe preparation and the necessary mental/physical steps to begin the creative process. I agree that research, asking questions and immersing yourself fully in the task at hand is essential. I appreciate you mentioning the incubation process and letting your subconscious gain a solid understanding of whatâs important, and in time, sparking unexpected ideas. This is something a lot of people donât realize is key to having a âeurekaâ moment for a concept, and you tie this into the following paragraph nicely. I hadnât read the following paragraph, and for you to tie it in and explain the light bulb moment being the âillumination stageâ was nice to read. I agree that when the idea hits you, you feel like youâve found the missing piece to the puzzle. Itâs true that the idea that hit you might not formulate the way you expected it to, thus the recommendation of having many different ideas is crucial so you donât backtrack in the creative thinking process.
I appreciate the way you wrote your essay in an informative style as if you are trying to help someone understand and gain a new skill.
I enjoyed your essay as well especially, when you use the the quote by Jack London. It truly inspired me to keep pushing through not just my major but to my future as well. You also made good point about how creative thinking fits into out lives and how its a âmissing pieceâ in our life. Also, your paper is well-organized especially, when explaining the process of using creative thinking. Truly an amazing essay!

















