Emotional Intelligence and Creativity with Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

What role do emotions play in creativity? Are we more creative when we’re happy? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood continue their discussion with Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In part 1 of this double expresso, Zorana talked about how people engage in the creative process and how that applies to the classroom environment.

In part 2, you’ll learn more about the emotional side of creativity along with strategies for supporting students as they navigate emotions and creativity in the k-12 classroom. Zorana highlights the Theory of Emotional Intelligence, detailing how we can harness the power of our emotions to express creativity and achieve our creative goals. This insight is very helpful for teachers in helping students be more creative and more in touch with their feelings, moods, and emotions.

Zorana also shares insights from her new book, The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotion, and how they apply to creativity in education.

“What we have learned from these studies is pretty unanimous, actually - that positive, pleasant, highly energized moods, such as being happy, is helpful for creative thinking. People come up with more ideas and more original ideas in these states.” – Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

Zorana’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:

1. Creativity is full of emotions. From anxiety in front of an empty screen to frustrations when you’re facing obstacles to the joy and pride of success. All are part of the creative process. Remind yourself and your students that challenging feelings are not a sign of lack of creativity skills, but they are a normal part of the creative process and can be expected.
2. When teaching for creativity, it’s important to model and support the process of transforming ideas into an end product. That process may be long and will require flexibility, adjustment, and facing frustrations.
3. Teach students how to regulate their work on creative projects. They need to be aware that they will have to persist through difficulties, but they can use the emotions they experience in service to their project.

“The advice shouldn’t be that we have to be happy or joyful in order to be creative, but it oftentimes happens like that. There are also other people who got inspired by grief and by pain and by anxiety, so that is possible too and we shouldn’t discount it, especially when we are giving advice of how to be inspired.” – Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

Check out Zorana's Newsletter!

Recommended Resources:

Listen to Part 1 with Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotion by Jessica D. Hoffmann, James C. Kaufman, and Zorana Ivcevic

Listen to the episode with Dr. James Kaufman

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Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at [email protected]!

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About Zorana Ivcevic Pringle:

Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Ivcevic studies the role of emotions in creativity and well-being, as well as how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills. She has served as Associate Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, and Creativity Research Journal. Her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, ArtNet, US News, Education Week, Science Daily, El Pais, a...