Ebook: Creativity: The Magic Synthesis

Creativity can be studied in many ways, all rewarding in various degrees. New dimensions are always found and added to the ones already known. Those who are interested only in a behavioristic or experimental approach will not find what they want in this book. My own interest in creativity follows different avenues of inquiry and understanding, and it has had a long history. It goes back to the preparation of an article on wit and the comic, published in 1950, in which I advanced my first ideas on the subject. My interest and my studies have grown in many directions in these intervening years. As a matter of fact, I consider this book the natural outcome of all my previous works.

My work started at a clinical level, with my observations on and therapeutic dealings with the seriously mentally ill as well as with creative people. My research also extended to cognition in general, in both intrapsychic and interpersonal perspectives. When I later studied creative products in various fields, such as wit, poetry, art, and science, I was able to recognize specific cognitive mechanisms of the creative process that I had already encountered in my clinical approach and cognitive research. [From the Preface.]