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Full-Text Articles in Theory and Philosophy

Polymathy: The Foundational Source Of Creativity And Innovation., Michael Araki Aug 2025

Polymathy: The Foundational Source Of Creativity And Innovation., Michael Araki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an era of mounting complexity and a growing need to transcend siloed thinking, this dissertation advances polymathy as a critical yet underexplored construct in the management and behavioral sciences. Polymathy is framed as an expansive approach to the pursuit, development, and application of knowledge, marked by the conjunction of breadth, depth, and integration. Building on a thought lineage that stretches from Ancient Greece through the Renaissance to the present day, this work shows that polymathy is neither a relic of the past nor an achievement reserved for a few—but a mode of being, thinking, and acting in the world …


Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski Jun 2025

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …


The Mighty C: A Fractal Model For Modern Creativity, Joe Todaro May 2025

The Mighty C: A Fractal Model For Modern Creativity, Joe Todaro

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The persistent ambiguity surrounding the definition of creativity has hindered its advancement across academic, educational, and professional settings. In response, this paper proposes an updated framework—The Mighty C—which defines creativity as the intrinsic human activity of generating meaningful, novel, and useful outcomes through deliberate process. This model addresses critical gaps in conventional definitions, particularly the frequent omission of meaningfulness, intentionality, and the uniquely human nature of creativity. It further emphasizes the recursive nature of these aspects across different levels of creative activity, represented through the structure of fractals. Drawing from scholarly models such as Rhodes’ 4Ps and Kaufman and Beghetto’s …


The Utility Of Deep Divergence In Applied Creativity, Kevin Molesworth May 2023

The Utility Of Deep Divergence In Applied Creativity, Kevin Molesworth

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

If applied creativity seeks the generation of novel and useful ideas for a real-world goal, wish, or challenge, then my concept of theoretical creativity can best be described as the generation of ideas that are novel and not yet useful. I assert that the employment of deep divergence is the best tool for producing ideas within a theoretical creativity framework. Deep divergence is defined as divergent thinking to its most extreme levels, far beyond what is probable, beyond what is possible, and into an unplumbed realm of what is currently impossible and unknowable. However, for this project, my aim was …


The Loss-Processing Framework, Lawrence Childress May 2021

The Loss-Processing Framework, Lawrence Childress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The circumstances of responding to loss due to human death are among the most stressful experiences encountered in life. Although grief’s symptoms are typically considered essential to their gradual diminishment, possible negative impacts of complications related to grief are also well known, and have been associated with detriments to mental and physical health. Grief, however, can also generate transformative positive change. Thus, albeit ineludible, responding to loss is not uniformly experienced, expressed, or understood. It is also culturally-shaped, making attempts to define “normal” grief, as well as to label some grief “abnormal”—and to medicalize it—possibly problematic. Bereavement (the situation surrounding …


Redefining Creativity To Advance Our Understanding Of Behavior Change And Agency, Philip F. Brunner Dec 2020

Redefining Creativity To Advance Our Understanding Of Behavior Change And Agency, Philip F. Brunner

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Change is hard, and shifting one’s behavior, even with the support of a counselor, can be challenging. While it has not been common for the field of counseling and therapeutic behavior change to draw on it, creativity studies have much to offer counselors and practitioners as well as individuals who just want to realize change in their lives. The potential contributions of creativity studies to lasting and meaningful behavior change are enhanced especially if we take up a definition of creativity that draws on traditional definitions and theories but that also integrates insights from fields like neuroscience and complex dynamical …


Under The Influence: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Psychedelics, Jody Roun Jan 2018

Under The Influence: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Psychedelics, Jody Roun

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The following research will outline the effects of psychedelics from an interdisciplinary approach, which is to say that I will explore the neuroscience behind psychedelic drugs and how it relates to creativity, as a primary focus, while examining the role of additional points included along the way. The goal of this research, is to gain a deeper understanding of psychedelics and truly decipher what it means to be under the influence, as the most important goal of this human existence is to achieve understanding. The aforementioned is a point that great minds like Albert Einstein and Humphry Osmond impressed on …


Obstacles In Investigating The Role Of Restructuring In Insightful Problem Solving, Ivan K. Ash, Patrick J. Cushen, Jennifer Wiley Jan 2009

Obstacles In Investigating The Role Of Restructuring In Insightful Problem Solving, Ivan K. Ash, Patrick J. Cushen, Jennifer Wiley

Psychology Faculty Publications

In the present article, we articulate three assumptions underlying theories proposing that restructuring processes play a key role in insightful problem solving: representational difficulty, representational change, and discontinuity in solution processes. We argue that these assumptions need empirical validation to justify the proposition of restructuring mechanisms that are unique from those involved in classic information-processing theories of problem solving. To this end, we review some theoretical and methodological obstacles that are inherent in the investigation of the existence and nature of restructuring processes. We then offer some recommendations on how to overcome or avoid these obstacles in future studies. Finally, …