Broadcast on September 20, 2025
The Creativity Choice: From Having Ideas to Making Them Happen
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle
Yale University
Description
The modern science of creativity was jumpstarted by the speech of J.P. Guilford who defined divergent thinking and discussed its relevance for creativity. Since, researchers have focused on divergent thinking and idea generation more than any other part of the creative process. In this talk, I will argue that we need to shift attention to the process of doing something with those ideas. I will address three groups of questions: (1) Why do people sometimes have ideas, but fail to act on them?; (2) What are the self-regulation processes that enable progress and persistence through the creative process?; and (3) What is the role of social processes in shaping creative performance and achievement? I will discuss the needs for future research and implications for educational practice.
About the presenter
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Zorana studies the role of emotion, emotional intelligence, and self-regulation in creativity and well-being, as well as how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills. Zorana has co-edited the Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotion, and Crisis, Creativity, and Innovation, and is the author of The Creativity Choice. She has previously served as Associate Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts and International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, and is currently Associate Editor at the Creativity Research Journal. Zorana has published extensively scientific journals and has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, ArtNet, US News, Education Week, Science Daily, El Pais, and others, and she is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and Creativity Post. Zorana received the Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation, the Berlyne Award for Outstanding Early Career Achievement from the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, and has been elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Zorana can be found on BlueSky, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Substack, and Instagram.