Metapsychology Of The Creative Process

Many are fascinated by the phenomenon of genius and search for an understanding of its nature. Modern research is not especially helpful in elucidating the inner process or its relation to ordinary thought. The present work comes from clinical studies of focal brain injuries that dissect unconscious cognition to reveal sub-surface lines of processing. The outcome is a process (microgenetic) theory of the mental state that differs markedly from mainstream (cognitive) psychology, but with the potential to clarify many features of thought and imagery, normal and exceptional. Creativity is not an isolated problem but touches many central issues in philosophical psychology.

Many are fascinated by the phenomenon of genius and search for an understanding of its nature. Modern research is not especially helpful in elucidating the inner process or its relation to ordinary thought. The present work comes from clinical studies of focal brain injuries that dissect unconscious cognition to reveal sub-surface lines of processing. The outcome is a process (microgenetic) theory of the mental state that differs markedly from mainstream (cognitive) psychology, but with the potential to clarify many features of thought and imagery, normal and exceptional. Creativity is not an isolated problem but touches many central issues in philosophical psychology.

No single factor determined the growth of this book. It may have been that as a novice researcher in Behavioral Psychology I experienced growing discontent with the direction of intellectual activity in which the accent was on methodology and measurement, with a distinct atmosphere of dogmatism, insecurity and defensiveness. The anathema of tender-mindedness was attached to any study of mental manifes tations that avoided laboratory confirmation and statistical significance. Man in his uniqueness and unpredictable potentialities remained un explored. Yet outside the systematic vivisection of variables and their measurement men of originality and genius were studying the mind in its complex yet natural interaction of aspirations, values and creative capacities. It was almost too easy for me to turn to them for the re orientation of my psychological interest, and it was not difficult to find in Freud the most daring and penetrating representant of humanistic psychology. Furthermore, it could have been the fact that Freud's thoughts on creative processes appeared to me at once starkly original and yet incomplete and fragmentary, that led me to reconsider and expand on them. Freud's fascination with culture and creativity, although frank and serious, led him to a peculiar indecisiveness and overcautiousness which was radically different from the dramatic boldness of his thera peutic methods and the depth of his personality theories.

Beginning with examples from literature, this study first establishes certain basic operations of the human imagination, and then considers the acquisition of language and mythic prototypes and situates scientific text in correlation with artistic creativity.

The Metapsychology of Christopher Bollas: An Introduction explores Bollas’s extraordinarily wide contribution to contemporary psychoanalysis. The book aims to introduce and explain the fundamentals of Bollas’s theory of the mind in a systematic way, addressing many of the questions that commonly arise when people approach his work. Through chapters on topics such as the receptive subject, the creative unconscious and the implications of Bollas’s metapsychology for the technique of free association, the book enables the reader to acquire an understanding of his unique psychoanalytic language, to grasp the conceptual building blocks of his thinking and how these interrelate, and to appreciate the theoretical and clinical coherence of his thinking. The Metapsychology of Christopher Bollas: An Introduction will be of use to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and counsellors, as well as psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers wishing to explore the applications of psychoanalytic thinking to their practice. It will be of great value to trainees in these disciplines, as well as to postgraduate students and academics interested in contemporary psychoanalysis.

The creative process refers to the sequence of thoughts and actions that are involved in the production of new work that is both original and valuable in its context. This book examines this process across the domains of visual art, writing, engineering, design and music. It characterizes each domain’s creative process based on evidence stemming from creators’ accounts of their own activity and a wide-range of observational material and theories specific to each field. Results from empirical research are then presented across a set of closely linked chapters, using a common set of methodologies that seek to trace the creative process as it unfolds. This highly interdisciplinary edited collection offers valuable insight into the creative process for scholars and practitioners in the fields of psychology, education, and creative studies, as well as for any other readers interested in the creative process. Todd Lubart brings together a group of authors who are themselves actively involved in their respective creative fields and invites readers to adopt a broad perspective on the creative process in order to unravel some of its mysteries.