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    Creativity, or, Holding on to aroha : exploring, exemplifying and encouraging creativity in adulthood : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Adult), Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Grayburn-Moore, Judith
    "Creativity is the sixth sense, transporting us to dreamed of places which the other five cannot reach," to paraphrase the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Helen Clark. It was the task of this thesis to 'catch' creativity, scrutinise it and make sense of it. Accordingly, it was necessary to: Define creativity as the catalyst for effective innovation Determine who manifests it; major and minor exemplars Discover where it occurs; personal and public sites Detect how it can be effectively encouraged Delve into reasons for esteeming it; philosophical and pragmatic Answers to the above alliterative list's demands, were found in three places: The first was a global location, specifically the international literature on creativity, with particular reference to that written over the past fifty years The second was a New Zealand venue for the encouragement of creativity, The Leaming Connexion, Wellington, evidenced in the story of its founder The third was in the personal perspective of five people who are convinced that creativity is central to shaping how they live. They agreed to be identified as a signature, witnessing the role that creativity has in their lives. Throughout, the theoretical and actual informed each other, as well as the thesis author. Soon universal evidence of creativity's relevance became apparent. On a poetic note, the study concluded that creativity is worth holding onto since it is at the heart of what makes us take nothing for granted. In so doing, its breath grants humanity meaning. More prosaically, the thesis ends with five practical recommendations as to how some of the insights gained might be implemented to help make living and learning more meaningful in an increasingly complex world.
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    Exploring the effects of outdoor activities and connectedness with nature on cognitive styles and creativity : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Leong, Lai Yin Carmen
    The natural environment’s potential to improve education, work, and lifestyles is receiving increasing attention by policy makers and practitioners. Psychological research has demonstrated that stress reduction, attention restoration, and increased creativity can result from exposure to nature. Such evidence notwithstanding, the precise psychological mechanisms explaining these effects remain unclear. This thesis provides a systematic examination of how contact with nature might affect humans. Four studies were conducted. Study 1 reports two meta-analyses (N = 10701, k = 100) involving: (i) 66 studies using preand post-test designs, and (ii) 32 experimental studies that include a control group. Although outdoor activities have been found overall to affect personal and social outcomes positively, there has been limited research into the effects on cognitive variables of exposure to outdoor environments. To address this gap in the literature, I aim to investigate whether contact with nature (in two dimensions–the psychological attachment to nature and the physical exposure to it) is associated with processes related to creativity (i.e., cognitive styles and divergent thinking creativity). Study 2 (N = 138) tests the relationship between connectedness with nature and cognitive styles and reports a significant positive association between connectedness with nature and both innovative and holistic thinking styles. Building on this finding, Study 3 (N = 185) not only replicates the results of Study 2 by controlling for wellbeing processes, but includes a new creativity test to examine the link between connectedness with nature and creative processes (connectedness with nature is found to be positively linked with divergent-thinking creativity). As these three studies employ cross-sectional data where causality cannot be inferred, the last study involves an experimental design. Study 4 (N = 93) manipulates active versus passive engagement with nature and examines the mediating impact of connectedness with nature on the link between outdoor activities and divergentthinking creativity. Some theoretical explanations as to how nature might affect our creativity are proposed. Potential limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. The findings are intended to provide supporting evidence for the relationship between nature and creativity, and hopefully inform educational pedagogy and lifestyle choices likely to enhance creativity.
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    A psychological map of original enterprise : coding innovator behaviour : thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Sheffield, Malcolm Campbell
    This study explores the concept of original enterprise as a fundamental dimension of human behaviour. Based on biographical case histories, the thesis seeks to map innovative behaviour displayed by 100 cases of male and female outstanding creative personalities in the domains of commerce, literature, music, science and creative arts. A code scoring system identifies innovative behaviour from selected biographical cases including their soci-economic antecedents, childhood experiences, basic personality traits, the process of achievement, eight forms of obsessive behaviour, emotions, actions and finally pathologies of varying degrees of severity. A complex statistical analysis explored the basic dimensions of original enterprise as a congruence or synthesis of all dimensions, quite independent of the original particular domain investigated. In other words, this study was involved in a search for basic dimensions behind the particular emanation of enterprise - a behavioural map. Mapping as a central construct in this study led to the deduction of three research objectives and a consequential observation which were examined at known levels of statistical significance and consequent proofs. It must be observed the thesis is a description only of original innovator behaviour. It does not satisfactorily explain this phenomenum. Such a complex enquiry would not be possible based solely on biographical information. To date, to the author's knowledge, no comprehensive explanation of original enterprise is available to social science. This study is the beginning of a search for fundamental behavioural constructs which may exist behind the singular events which exhibit original creative enterprise A post-doctoral enquiry is planned to follow this exploratory study, of possible importance both to commerce and future creative endeavours.