Creativity researcher James C. Kaufman

Nov 23 2023 • 4 mins

James C. Kaufman, PhD is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, and teaches classes on creativity.

Topics in our interview include
* the use of mood-altering substances, esp. marijuana and alcohol, by writers and other artists
* the genius myth stereotype
* how the idea of a creative muse impacts creative self-direction
* how positive and negative moods relate to creative thinking

His website summarizes he is a Creativity expert (writer/scholar/speaker/teacher), has published more than 400 papers, and is the author/editor of more than 50 books.

Those books include:

The Psychology of Creative Writing by Scott Barry Kaufman, James C. Kaufman (Editors)

The Nature of Human Creativity by Robert J. Sternberg, James C. Kaufman (Editors)

Creativity 101 (Psych 101 Series) by James C. Kaufman PhD

One of my related articles: Madness and creativity: do we need to be crazy?

In the article, Dr. Judith Schlesinger (mentioned by Kaufman in our interview) comments on "the heart of the ‘mad genius’ myth that has been integral to Western culture for centuries."

Related book
How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery
"Tech innovator and entrepreneur Kevin Ashton rejects the popular notion that there are geniuses among us who do great things the rest of us can never hope to achieve."

"This divisive classification scheme of genius at the top is the kind of thing you need to call bullshit on,” he says.

Quotes above are from article Debunking the Genius Myth - "We too often attribute great advances to individual brilliance rather than hard work, suggests a new book." By Sara Shay, MIT Technology Review.

(Photo pf Kaufman is from his Facebook page – caption: “…with my friend the Sloth.”)

See related article with links and full interview (for subscribers): Drugs, genius myth, muse and being creative - James Kaufman on the research
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