Interthinking

The view of creativity as a collaborative, social endeavour has become a significant feature of educational psychology in recent years. With its roots in sociocultural theory and research, collective creativity looks at how people combine mental resources to create ideas and objects together. Written in an accessible and jargon-free style, Interthinking and Creativity challenges the myth of the 'lone genius' by exploring the growing body of work on how people create and invent together. It brings together the socio-cultural concepts of 'inter-thinking', 'dialogic space' and 'exploratory talk' as well as new research from these internationally acclaimed authors to uncover the nature and significance of collective creativity. The book will focus not just on what is often termed 'Big-C' (paradigm shifting) creativity but will also explore 'Small-C' (everyday) creativity too - considering interactions between groups of peers, experts and novices, mentors and mentees for example. Through the explanation and understanding of socioemotional and cultural dynamics, the authors aim to characterise human creativity and provide analysis of real-life examples of creative work in 'everyday' settings including workplaces, schools, the studio, the home and in virtual spaces. The book also discusses the value of socio-cultural theory and illustrates methods for analysing interaction to fully understand how creative ideas are formulated. This book will be of great interest to academic researchers, postgraduates and undergraduates of students of Education and Psychology and teachers. It will also appeal to anyone with an interest in language, creativity and the role of psychology in everyday life.