Displaying items by tag: Romania

Professor Emeritus, Ana Constantin PhD, is a former Professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, The ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University, Iași, Romania. Her first love has been, for years, the study and teaching of creativity, with its psychological and educational implications. Her second main area of interest is conflict resolution. She still teaches classes for undergraduate students and her main efforts are focused on encouraging former young Fellows and her doctoral students to undertake research in creativity and to publish studies in highly appreciated journals.

In this research paper, Marian Panainte explores the relationship between emotional experience and acting. What is the actor’s emotional experience when emotionally-involved and how does this differ from his or her experience when adopting a more detached, technical approach to acting? And what are the implications of this?

Abstract

Over time, there have been many debates about the paradoxical relationship between the real emotions of actors and the emotions that a character should express on stage. Diderot's Paradox (Diderot, 1830) has been and continues to be the basis for a dispute in which opposing views are present: on one hand, there is the view of those who claim that the actor himself must experience the emotions he expresses on stage; on the other hand, there are scholars who oppose the idea that the actor experiences and expresses the emotions of the character.

First, Diderot argued that a good actor does not feel anything and that is why he produces the strongest reactions in the audience. A sensitive actor could not interpret the same role, with as good and as successful a performance. Moreover, Diderot (1830) states that there are so many varied and complex situations in one major role, that it would be impossible for the actor to be able to know and experience all of them. An extreme sensitivity on the part of the actor would have negative consequences on performance; people expressing many emotions only serve as an example for great actors in the light of a modèle idèal.

Keywords: emotional labour, actors' emotions, absorption, involvement/detachment style

What is the Mozart Effect? Does it exist? If it does, does it have any effect on creativity? These are the questions these authors have sought to answer.  After briefly reviewing the evidence concerning the beneficial effects of music, these authors provide a useful review of the literature regarding the controversy surrounding the Mozart Effect. The point out that most previous investigations have explored the relationship between Mozart’s music and performance on spatial-temporal tasks, so they are particularly interested in finding out whether the Mozart Effect has any bearing on creativity. One of the strengths of this paper concerns the way in which these researchers explore the range of explanations for their research results – a valuable learning experience for all would-be researchers.

Abstract

An exciting debate has arisen over the music of Mozart, mostly due to the books of Campbell (1997) 'The Mozart Effect', and Shaw (2000) 'Keeping Mozart in Mind'. The debate concerns whether or not there is such a phenomenon as a 'Mozart Effect'. Previous research presented The Mozart Effect as a way of temporarily improving spatial abilities by only listening to Mozart's music for just ten minutes. Most of the papers on this topic were concerned with finding out the influence of Mozart's music on spatial abilities.

The aim of the present study is to determine whether this Mozart Effect has any influence on creativity: Is the Mozart Effect a myth or reality? We sampled 135 high school students that were randomly assigned to (1) listen to Mozart (Mozart group), (2) listen to House – a genre of electronic dance music (House group) or (3) sit in silence (control group) while completing a creative thinking task. We expected participants that completed the task while listening to Mozart to perform better on the creative thinking task than the other groups. The results showed The Mozart Effect to be a myth. Mozart's music had no significant positive impact on the creativity of the subjects when assessed by the battery of tests developed by Stoica-Constantin and Caluschi (2005).

Keywords: Mozart Effect, creativity, music.

Both creativity and talent are defined in many different ways. This paper provides a valuable insight into how talented Romanian students are currently being identified and their talents nurtured, as perceived mainly by school counsellors. Their recommendations and those of the authors are highly relevant for anyone interested in improving educational provision for highly creative and talented students.

Abstract

The identification of high potential for creative achievement as an integrated part of talent, and nurturing it, have always been significant challenges for education. We aim to explore how educationists perceive talent and strategies for its promotion in the Romanian cultural and socio-economic environments. To achieve a first image on this topic, we investigated school counsellors' perceptions on talent promotion inside the Romanian formal educational system. Thus, our approach was indirect, exploring the situation of the practices regarding talent in our country, through the lens of the professionals, as reflected in their current activity.

Our survey focused on the following issues: identification of talent, teacher training in the psycho-pedagogy of excellence, types of special programs and their impact, and general educational context. Results suggest that practices regarding talent identification and development tend to differ from one region to another, indicating the lack of an integrated, coherent and unitary methodology. Respondents suggest that cognitive dimensions have priority, with great importance granted to academic results, achievement in national and international contests and nominations from teachers. Among existing activities aimed at promoting talent, the non-formal seem to be most appreciated. School counsellors point to the fact that initial training in this domain is insufficient and that the educational offer is scarce. The research results also point to the crucial task of integrating the complex concept of talent, with all its components including creativity, into workable teaching and counselling applications.

Keywords: creativity, talent, creativity-supporting environment, education

(First published here in 2012).

The present article explores the nature of creativity in craft and does so with the help of a case study of traditional Easter egg decoration. It starts by positioning the domain of folk art in relation to fine art and within a larger category of everyday life forms of creative expression. Following this, a cultural psychology approach to creativity is introduced and its framework used to unpack the actors and processes involved in craftwork. Analysing what is characteristic for folk art uses these particular theoretical lenses and requires paying attention to externalisation, integration, internalisation, and social interaction aspects, which are discussed in turn. Findings reveal fundamental features of craft such as its materiality, the presence of a strong traditional background, the importance of continuous learning, and the role of family and community relations. Towards the end, connections are made with the existing literature and final reflections offered on whether the characteristics above say something about creativity more generally, beyond the context of craft.

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