Teresa Amabile

Creativity, Productivity, and the Psychology of Everyday Work Life

Creativity in Context Reviews & Endorsements

“Teresa Amabile’s Social Psychology of Creativity is universally acknowledged to be a classic in the empirical study of creativity. In this thorough and thoughtful update, Amabile chronicles the intriguing evolution of the most sustained research program on creativity of our time.”

–Howard Gardner, Harvard University Graduate School of Education

“In this long-awaited update of her important 1983 contribution to the creativity field, The Social Psychology of Creativity, Teresa Amabile presents the latest research findings and theory development of the most active creativity research group of the decade and perhaps the preeminent organizational creativity research thrust leading into the 21st century. Amabile’s integration of her new findings with the work of others provides the much needed conceptual leadership that will guide future creativity research. This work marks a more complete understanding of the creative individual and offers new insights into how organizations influence the creativity of their members. The unique instrument described in this work (KEYS), developed by Amabile and The Center for Creative Leadership, is a much needed practical tool for the assessment of organizational climates for creativity.”

–Nur Dokur Gryskiewicz, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

“Teresa Amabile is one of the few creativity experts whose activities have included abstract ‘academic’ theorizing, hard-headed ‘scientific’ laboratory experiments and survey projects, and pragmatic ‘how-to’ recipes for encouraging and managing creativity. Through the intersection of these diverse but focused activities, she has produced a very useful book: solid, relevant, readable, and practical.”

 

–David Campbell, Center for Creative Leadership

“A lucidly written analysis of the social factors that enhance and impede creativity in schools, the art world, and the work world. Teresa Amabile’s pioneering experimental research into the social psychology of creativity has moved the study of creativity away from a singular focus on the personality of the creator to an examination of the many critical environmental factors that influence creativity, factors such as evaluation, reward, modeling, and the work environment. In this updated version of her original Social Psychology of Creativity, she discusses the latest research on creativity, and presents us with a revised theory of motivation and creativity that captures the complex ways in which intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can interact to enhance creativity. An excellent overview of creativity from a social perspective, one that will inform researchers in the field of creativity as well as the educated general audience.”
 

–Ellen Winner, Boston College

“…the results of empirical investigations as presented in this book will not only drive future studies on high ability (giftedness and talent), but serve to enhance our knowledge of practical methodologies with which we can continue to develop our educational and psychological work.”

–High Ability Studies