Abstract
The purpose of this chapter was to investigate creativity in adolescents and young adults and its role in psychological development. For this qualitative research, hermeneutic phenomenology/ontology linked with the narrative/biography methodology was chosen. To interpret the data, the pattern models of creativity were generated, by applying the concepts of complexity science, especially self-organization, with the theory of positive disintegration and the psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions. It was discovered that the process of creativity in young people is intertwined with the strong emotions of passion, curiosity, enthusiasm, and delight. These emotions are the driving forces that generate order and complexity not only in the creative process but also in overall psychological development. The presence of these strong emotions often contributes to lesser tension in young people's development, including a greater ability to integrate their experiences, to take their psychological development into their own hands, and to find direction for their future.
TopBackground
Wilber’s Integral Theory (2008) serves as a map of the literature on creativity and its role in human development. According to Integral Theory, there are four major perspectives that must be studied when we are challenging ourselves to fully comprehend any phenomena of reality: the subjective (intentional), intersubjective (cultural), objective (behavioral), and interobjective (social).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Overexcitability (OE): Is defined as a higher than average capacity for experiencing inner and external stimuli, and is based on a higher than average responsiveness in the nervous system. There are five forms of psychic overexcitability: psychomotor, sensual, imaginational, emotional, and intellectual.
Developmental Dynamisms: Are instinctual-emotional-cognitive forces fueling and shaping emotional development.
Developmental Potential: Is an original endowment that determines what level of development a person reaches if the physical and environmental conditions are optimal.
Positive Maladjustment: Is a conscious and selective rejection of the standards and attitudes of one’s social environment that are conflicting with one’s growing perception of higher values. The primary characteristics of this dynamism are a rejection of a perceived lower hierarchy of values, acceptance of a higher hierarchy of values, anticipation in the process of developing these higher values, and anger in response to seeing the lower values in a social environment.
Self-Actualizing (SA) Creativeness: Refers to a type of creativity that stresses highly valuable traits like boldness, courage, freedom, spontaneity, integration, and self-acceptance.
Self-Organization: Is the spontaneous emergence of new patterns, changes, and novelties in a variety of systems, whether physical, chemical, or biological. Recently, principles of self-organizing dynamic systems have been introduced to developmental psychology, especially to emotional development and brain development.
Positive Disintegration: Is a fundamental process in an individual’s development stimulated by tension, inner conflict, and anxiety. Development involves a disorganization of mental structure, which then endorses the formation of more complex, more organized, more adaptive, and more creative organization.