Grab your coffee! We have an incredible double expresso about creativity and emotions. In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Ivcevic studies the role of emotions in creativity and well-being, as well as how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills.
Part One
In Part One of this discussion, you’ll learn how people engage in the creative process, and the role emotions play in that process.
Listen in as Zorana breaks down the three major factors people feel towards creativity: anticipating negative social consequences, internal anxiety, and the feeling that creativity is important to them. These attitudes about creativity can tell us about their creative behavior at school and how they approach schoolwork and creative projects.
Part Two
In Part Two, you’ll learn more about the emotional side of creativity along with strategies for supporting students as they navigate emotions and creativity in the k-12 classroom. Zorana highlights the Theory of Emotional Intelligence, detailing how we can harness the power of our emotions to express creativity and achieve our creative goals. This insight is very helpful for teachers in helping students be more creative and more in touch with their feelings, moods, and emotions.
“This is what the leaders of the world economy are telling us, and of major organizations, this is what we need, but there’s a disconnect from the world of educational priorities.”
– Zorana Ivcevic Pringle
Zorana shares tips and advice for teachers who have students that are anxious about creativity. Then, she talks about what Social Cognitive Theory can tell us about how self-efficacy supports creativity, especially in kids. Plus, Zorana sheds light on how education systems are hindering teachers’ ability to facilitate creativity in the classroom and the need for greater policy change.
Zorana’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
- Creativity is full of emotions. From anxiety in front of an empty screen to frustrations when you’re facing obstacles to the joy and pride of success. All are part of the creative process. Remind yourself and your students that challenging feelings are not a sign of lack of creativity skills, but they are a normal part of the creative process and can be expected.
- When teaching for creativity, it’s important to model and support the process of transforming ideas into an end product. That process may be long and will require flexibility, adjustment, and facing frustrations.
- Teach students how to regulate their work on creative projects. They need to be aware that they will have to persist through difficulties, but they can use the emotions they experience in service to their project.
“The advice shouldn’t be that we have to be happy or joyful in order to be creative, but it oftentimes happens like that. There are also other people who got inspired by grief and by pain and by anxiety, so that is possible too and we shouldn’t discount it, especially when we are giving advice of how to be inspired.”
– Zorana Ivcevic Pringle
About Zorana Ivcevic Pringle:
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Ivcevic studies the role of emotions in creativity and well-being, as well as how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills. She has served as Associate Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, and Creativity Research Journal. Her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, ArtNet, US News, Education Week, Science Daily, El Pais, and others, and is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and Creativity Post. Dr. Ivcevic received the Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation, the Berlyne Award for Outstanding Early Career Achievement from the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, and has been elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
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