Wilmer's Perception Of Creativity

While it can be generally agreed upon that there are inherent differences among the human population as a whole, it is often a concern of researchers and theorists as to what factors cause these variations. One particularly prominent difference, however, has sparked quite the controversy between academics: creativity, or rather the variability in the degree of creativeness. Many questions arise as to whether not it’s most prominent in childhood or if its form simply changes in adulthood, whether levels of creativity are declining or rising, whether differences are biologically inherent or socially created, or even what can be considered creative at all. In order to begin understanding the research and the variety of offered explanations to …show more content…
Wilmer is identifying the fact that creativity is spawned in these types of environments, he just simply had not seen or did not wish to see the possibility of moving it to other subjects. Wilmer does make a caveat to his point, however that is worthy of noting. He poses the question for readers “Does the encouragement of creativity mean that, ideally, we should like all our children to be artists?” and is quick to respond, “I devoutly hope not”. Wilmer’s goal here is not to say that all children must become artists in order to retain their creative abilities from childhood. He is merely suggesting that they need to be exposed to that type of discipline or type of education so that they might apply that ability to their future. With this evaluation of creativity in mind, Wilmer’s point can be boiled down to the idea that creativity levels vary because of the variability in exposure to art and the type of environment that he believes fosters it. He believes that those that never took art or writing classes will be less likely to be creative than those that thrive in those sorts of classes because writing allows for the expression of all sorts of …show more content…
Taking this idea of imagination to a further elevated level, the author Vygotsky, within a section of his overall article, brings us to a new way of thinking about imagination and the way in which it spurs creativity when paired with reality. He introduces us with the claim that “In order to understand the psychological mechanism underlying imagination and the creative activity associated with it, it is best to start by elucidating the relationship between fantasy and reality in human behavior”. Vygotsky makes the point that a firm line cannot be drawn between reality and imagination, but rather you must let the two overlap with, and influence each other; he further goes on to say that there are several reasons that this is a possible overlap. The first being that imagination already draws on reality by nature, or in other words imagination is drawing on elements that you see in reality and simply changing them. The second point furthers the first by saying that the person that has experienced more in reality is the one that has more for the imagination to draw or rather more things to