Review Transcript
What role do emotions play in creativity? Are we more creative when we’re happy? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood continue their discussion with Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In part 1 of this double expresso, Zorana talked about how people engage in the creative process and how that applies to the classroom environment.
In part 2, you’ll learn more about the emotional side of creativity along with strategies for supporting students as they navigate emotions and creativity in the k-12 classroom. Zorana highlights the Theory of Emotional Intelligence, detailing how we can harness the power of our emotions to express creativity and achieve our creative goals. This insight is very helpful for teachers in helping students be more creative and more in touch with their feelings, moods, and emotions.
Zorana also shares insights from her new book, The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotion, and how they apply to creativity in education.
Zorana’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
- Creativity is full of emotions. From anxiety in front of an empty screen to frustrations when you’re facing obstacles to the joy and pride of success. All are part of the creative process. Remind yourself and your students that challenging feelings are not a sign of lack of creativity skills, but they are a normal part of the creative process and can be expected.
- When teaching for creativity, it’s important to model and support the process of transforming ideas into an end product. That process may be long and will require flexibility, adjustment, and facing frustrations.
- Teach students how to regulate their work on creative projects. They need to be aware that they will have to persist through difficulties, but they can use the emotions they experience in service to their project.
What we have learned from these studies is pretty unanimous, actually – that positive, pleasant, highly energized moods, such as being happy, is helpful for creative thinking. People come up with more ideas and more original ideas in these states.
Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Ivcevic studies the role of emotions in creativity and well-being, as well as how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills. She has served as Associate Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, and Creativity Research Journal. Her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, ArtNet, US News, Education Week, Science Daily, El Pais, and others, and is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and Creativity Post. Dr. Ivcevic received the Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation, the Berlyne Award for Outstanding Early Career Achievement from the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, and has been elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
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