Five Stages of the Creative Process

Thank you for a lovely class this week! We tackled a couple of psychology/history facts related to the creative process. Students seemed to enjoy this content quite a bit. They offered a lot of connections and came with many stories to share.

The creative process has been around for as long as humans have. But it's only been observed scientifically for 100 years! "The Art of Thought" by Graham Wallas got it all started in 1926 when he formulated one of the first cohesive models of the creative process. Wallas noted a four-stage process, but a fifth stage (implementation) has been added. 


We went over the definition of each of the following five stages with examples from our own lives and from history:


1. Preparation 

-Sources of inspiration

-Researching the problem

-Prepping information and materials

-Gathering resources


2. Incubation

-Take your mind off the problem (do something else)

-The unconscious mind wanders (Einstein called it “combinatory play”)

-Marinating

-Could take minutes, could take years!

-The brain is making connections


3. Illumination

-Eureka! moment (Archimedes story)

-Comes out of nowhere

-Showering/walking are common places for insights

-Right brain is working hard!

-Can’t force it!


4. Evaluation

-Critical thinking (left brain starts working hard)!

-Fleshing out the insights from stage 4

-Is the insight useful for others?

-Is the insight a new starting point or does it fill in the gaps?


5. Implementation

-Refine the work (sometimes for decades to come)!

-Make a plan and ACT on it 

-A lot of people miss the step that takes hard work, focus, and communicating the idea clearly

Optional Journal Prompts This Week:

Think of the last time you worked hard on a hard project important to you:

  • How are you feeling about the project these days?

  • Do you remember how you first felt when working on this project? Have there been any changes?

  • If you had to do it over, would you take different steps? Why or why not?

  • Is this goal still worthwhile to you or have you replaced it with something else?

  • What was the biggest surprise you had while working on this creative project?

  • Can you see how the five-stage process of creativity was present in your work?

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