Training of creativity: theoretical and practical aspects

Over the course of half of the last century, psychologists have had a particular focus on creativity abilities training. Developing educational programs that help to enhance creativity is among the most important goals of our educational system. The article deals with the theoretical and practical problems of how to develop and systematically stimulate the creativity. The belief that creativity can be enhanced is discussed. Many authors agree that creativity can be enhanced because human potentials can be fulfilled. Efforts to enhance creativity will not expand one's inborn potentialities but they can insure that potentialities are maximized (Plucker, Runco, 1999). Different components of creativity such as cognitive, attitudinal, interpersonal components can be enhanced through a stimulating environment that induces ideas and creates solutions to problems. Many programs and courses in creativity have proposed ways of seeking to deliberately stimulate and develop creativity. Differences in the understanding of creativity influence the kind of training strategies applied. Scholars who see problems solving as a central aspect of creativity use techniques based on heuristics. If the main aspect of creativity is associational mechanisms, imagery techniques are suggested. There have been identified a number of general of approaches of creativity training including: cognitive approaches, personality approaches, motivational approaches and social interaction approaches (Scott et al., 2004). [...]Vytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij