Petty’s six-phase model of the creative process

Table 4.7. Petty’s six phases with desirable accompanying mindsets

divergent and convergent thinking; playfulness and goal-directedness; freedom and constraints; unconscious and conscious thought. His model provides an implicit definition of creativity in that all phases and their linked ‘mindsets’ are seen as essential, while uncreative people tend to consider few ideas and work with a fixed mindset and without a clear sense of purpose.

It is not difficult to defend the claim that creative work necessarily involves varying amounts of planning, monitoring and evaluating in addition to inspiration (or insight). Perhaps the most controversial claim made by Petty is that creative work should always include an incubation phase. While this may be desirable, it is hardly a necessary pre-condition for creative thought.

The six phases are not intended to be mutually exclusive and some may include others. For example, ‘distillation’ and ‘evaluation’ clearly overlap and Petty acknowledges that ‘perspiration’ usually involves

176 Frameworks for Thinking

further ‘inspiration’, ‘distillation’ and ‘clarification’. Similarly, there is considerable overlap in the descriptors used by Petty to characterise mindsets (e.g. ‘positive’, ‘strategic’, ‘unhurried’). This reflects the fact that creativity is a complex and holistic process which cannot be defined with any precision using everyday language. As Rhodes (1961) argued, creativity goes beyond person, process and product. Domain is also important, as is ‘press’, the interaction between people and environment (Rhodes, 1961).

The links posited by Petty between phases and desirable accompanying mindsets have a common-sense appeal but little empirical support other than anecdotal evidence. Petty claims that many learners adopt the ‘wrong’ mindsets and can correct bad habits through practice with various techniques (including several originated by de Bono). This is an important but largely unsubstantiated claim.

Petty does not compare his formulation to those of others, but there is a clear affinity between his model and those of Williams (1970) and Herrmann (1989). All three authors value flexibility, see effective thinking as a whole-brain activity and link modes of thinking with mental attitudes. They also believe that it is possible to develop and strengthen what Williams calls ‘affective behaviours’ and Petty ‘mindsets’, but are now more often referred to as dispositions or ‘habits of mind’.

The examples provided by Petty to assist with the crucial ‘inspiration’ phase seem to emphasise individual rather than collaborative thinking, but he correctly points to research evidence which shows that brainstorming is often ineffective. Social and cultural aspects of creativity are, however, generally underplayed, especially when compared with the work of Csikszentmihali (1990), Herrmann (1996) and Craft (2000).

By providing a practical framework which teachers can easily explain to learners, Petty has performed a very useful service. His model has cross-curricular relevance and can easily be applied in fields as diverse as drama and computerised brainstorming. It succeeds in its aim of popularising the idea of ‘little c’ creativity (Craft, 2000) as a form of productive thinking and action which is ‘one of life’s greatest challenges and one of its greatest rewards’ (Petty, 1998, p. 278).