Today I’m delighted to speak with Patricia Stokes, an adjunct professor at Barnard College who studies problem solving and creativity/innovation. Stokes is author of the book Creativity from Constraints: The Psychology of Breakthrough, which was informed by her psychological research as well as her background in art and advertising.
In this episode, we cover:
– How Patricia went from art and advertising to creativity researcher
– The importance of constraints and variability for creativity
– How constraints can promote or preclude creativity
– Using constraints to solve the “creativity problem”
– How “the solution path defines the goal state”
– The four major constraints on creativity
– How teachers and parents should praise children for optimal creativity
– How to reward the courage to be novel
– The importance of constraints in fashion and literature
– How to explain Lady Gaga’s creativity

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