Productive Thinking and the Problem of Creativity of Personality

Abstract

The aim of our research is to study different theories of developing persons’ creativity in the paradigm of Gestalt Psychology, which differentiates between creative, productive thinking and reproductive, based on memorization, repetition and reproduction; to show the main concepts of Compensatory theory, by which people develop Science, Art and other areas of culture largely to compensate their shortcomings; to present another theory of creativity – a Cognitive one, by which a researcher who actively interprets the world, processes of gaining the information, the ability to predict effectively and, at the same time, to interact creatively with the surrounding world; to display the problem of creativity in Humanistic Psychology.

Methods of the research. The following theoretical methods of the research were used to solve the tasks formulated in the article: a categorical method, structural and functional methods, the methods of the analysis, systematization, modeling, generalization.

The results of the research. The most important for the theory of creativity is the question of motivation, which A. Maslow described in terms of the hierarchy of needs according to the principles of priority and dominance. At the heart of the creative activity of the individual there are the highest personal needs. They are the need for self-realization, personal growth and development. Satisfying the needs that are fixed from the bottom of this hierarchy makes it possible to understand the needs at the top of the creative paradigm and according to the participation of actors in the creation of motivational domains. The higher a person is able to rise in the paradigm of this hierarchy, the more he/she is able to demonstrate individuality, human qualities, mental health and creativity.

Conclusions. It is significant, from the standpoint of the Psychology of Creativity, A. Maslow’s (1982) hypothesis about the existence of deficient motives related to biological needs and meta-needs (highest values, motives for personal growth), such as truth, beauty, perfection, justice. Based on our empirical research (Nabochuk, 2021), we concluded that people who lived fully (individuals who were self-actualizing) had the following characteristics: the effective perception of the reality; the acceptance of oneself, other people and the surrounding nature; a desire for self-realization; focusing on the problem, absorbing one’s business as an actualization of one’s vocation; authenticity – open, understandable behavior in relations to themselves and to other people; the emphasis on the simplicity and naturalness of their behavior; the independence, the autonomy in judgments; self-confidence, adequacy of self-esteem, the ability to actualize peak experiences; public interests; deep interpersonal relationships; initiative and flexibility in the process of decision making; democratic nature of the person’s own activity; the ability to distinguish between means and goals; philosophical sense of humor; criticality and a high degree of personal reflection; direct susceptibility to a new information.