Phenomenology of Creativity
History, Paradoxes, Personality
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One of the principal aims of the book is to provide readers with a concise overview of both intellectual history and the leading concepts of international science and philosophy that impact the field of the psychology of creativity. The target audiences for the book are researchers in psychology, philosophy, history, literature, and University students.
The book presents a contrasting study of the views of ancient Indian, Chinese, Greek, Middle Eastern, and Russian philosophers on creativity. It also discusses the subject of creativity as viewed by Freud, Jung, Adler, the Gestalt school, and other prominent Western psychologists. A special place is provided for an overview of the history of Soviet psychology, and of the revival of psychology in Azerbaijan after the fall of the Soviet Union.
A pivotal point in the book is the phenomenon of creativity, which is presented through a detailed analysis of personality. The author examines a wide range of personality classification schemes by different researchers, such as Robert Ewan, Hjelle and Ziegler, and Cervone and Pervin. The author identifies and describes in detail the six basic elements of the personality (the Devil, the Tempter, the Not-Self, the Self, the Prophet, and God) and their relationship to creativity.
The author emphasizes the importance of the social environment in determining the development of the personality. He states that most personal activity is directed at serving the values of the surrounding society, not the values of the person himself. The author considers that creativity is a psychic defense mechanism which people use to solve everyday problems in order to restore their inner and outer equilibrium.
Through references to the world’s leading psychology schools, the author reveals new paradoxes of creativity such as “logic,” “morality,” “quantity,” “universal availability,” “desirability,” “searching,” “the model,” “the narrowing of the unconscious,” “determinants,” and “the product.” He describes the distinctive features of the creative personality, namely the capacity for metaphorical thinking, flexibility, inner vision, neutralization, originality, verbal facility, a rich imagination, field-independence etc.
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About the Book
The book presents a contrasting study of the views of ancient Indian, Chinese, Greek, Middle Eastern, and Russian philosophers on creativity. It also discusses the subject of creativity as viewed by Freud, Jung, Adler, the Gestalt school, and other prominent Western psychologists. A special place is provided for an overview of the history of Soviet psychology, and of the revival of psychology in Azerbaijan after the fall of the Soviet Union. The author emphasizes the importance of the social environment in determining the development of the personality. He states that most personal activity is directed at serving the values of the surrounding society, not the values of the person himself. The author considers that creativity is a psychic defense mechanism which people use to solve everyday problems in order to restore their inner and outer equilibrium. Samad Seyidov’s study of creativity comes at the right time and from the right place. Not only are we passing through a period of rapid change, particularly in such fields as nanotechnology, neuroscience, physiological psychology, and genetics, but also the participants in this change are no longer limited to a small group of western countries, but are increasingly appearing in different parts of the world. If the social upheaval that these changes are having in established societies is great, it is even greater in newly emerging societies. Are we equipped to manage these changes, and can the creative arts and sciences join to interpret them, drawing on their varied traditions in order to do so? That is surely the vital question that we carry away from Professor Seyidov’s important study of personality and creativity. Prof. Eleni Karamalengu, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
About the Author
Dr. Samad Seyidov was born in Baku on January 18, 1964.
In 1986 he graduated with honors from the Psychology Faculty at Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) State University, where he enrolled in 1981.
Dr. Seyidov is currently the Chairman of the Committee on International Relations and Inter-Parliamentary Relations of the National Assembly (Milli Majlis) of Azerbaijan, head of the Azerbaijani delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Vice Chairman of the Assembly. Dr. Seyidov has headed the Azerbaijan-American friendship group at the Parliamentary Assembly since 2010.
Dr. Seyidov has been elected to the Parliament of Azerbaijan three times (2000, 2005, 2010).
On April 4, 2000 Dr. Seyidov was appointed Rector of the Azerbaijan Languages University. Before his appointment he served as Vice-Rector (1994-2000), Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, and Docent (1990-1994) at the University.
Dr. Seyidov defended his Candidate’s Degree in Psychology (the equivalent of an American PhD) at Leningrad State University in 1989 and his Doctoral Degree in 1995.
Since 1998 he has represented the Azerbaijani educational system at the Council of Europe and has given presentations at various conferences and seminars in the United States, Italy, United Kingdom, Belgium, Turkey, France, Israel, and other countries.
He is the author of more than 100 scientific works, including textbooks, instructional manuals, and monographs.
His diplomatic services have been greatly appreciated. In 2009 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan awarded him the “90th Anniversary Jubilee Medal of the Diplomatic Services of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”
In 2009, in honor of his ongoing achievements in scholarship and science, Dr. Seyidov was named an Honorary Academician of the Academy of Education of the Republic of Georgia. In 2012 he became a member of the International Council of Sciences of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
In addition to his native Azerbaijani, Dr. Seyidov is fluent in Russian, English, and French.