Methodological Analysis Of Phenomenological Creativity Research

Phenomenological movement beginning in the end of19th century has not only drawn much thinking nutrition from the humanistic tradition of psychology, but also exerted great effect on the research method of psychology, which is highlighted by the psychological research of creativity. Based on the confrontation between the two philosophical methodologies in psychology, the article presents that creativity research, as an important branch and field in psychology, has two kinds of research orientations——mainstream scientism-oriented positivism creativity research and humanism-oriented phenomenological creativity research. Aiming at breaking through the limitations of the weak theoretical foundations in creativity research, we must reexamine the existent perspective of science and methodology, modify the existent research path which emphasizes analysis and substantial evidence, and explore the value and significance of the phenomenological method deeply. The article studies Freudian psychoanalysis, Gestalt psychology and Maslow’s Humanism, sorts out the contents of Freudian unconscious creativity theory, Gestalt creative thinking theory and Maslow’s creative holism of humanism, and reveals their phenomenological methodology implications.Freud is the pioneer of the phenomenological creativity research. Freudian unconscious creativity theory includes:two kinds of creative ideas, creative motivation theory which is driven by exceeding "sex instinct","dream job"—the thinking mechanism of creativity, and creative "unconscious psychological process" theory. Freud spontaneously applied the phenomenological thinking methods to his scientific research, whose theory represented phenomenological methodology from the two dimensions of interior phenomenological spirit and exterior phenomenological method. The value of Freudian unconscious creativity theory is to inspire later generations to develop creative attitude to interpret the mystery of human creativity.Gestalt psychology is the backbone of the phenomenological creativity research. Gestalt psychologists, through the research on the creative thinking in the process of problem solving, revealed the internal mechanism of creative thinking. And they proposed that creative thinking was the thinking normality, thinking was provided with intentionality pointing to creativity, and the core of creative thinking was to grasp the integrity of the problem. Gestalt psychologists adhered to phenomenological methodology in the following researches: orienting to perception phenomenon, sticking to the fact that the intentionality is the nature of thinking, advocating holism research principles, using natural observation methods, and emphasizing the research methods which integrate quality and quantity. Gestalt’s study of creative thinking research, which was oriented to perception phenomenon, had broken the opposition between perception and thinking. And Gestalt’s creativity research which contained scientism elements had made up for the defects of vague phenomenological creativity research paradigm and consolidated the historical status of phenomenological creativity research.Maslow’s holism of humanistic creativity makes the phenomenological creativity research flourish. Maslow’s holism of humanistic creativity includes creative motivation theory driven by "metaneeds", creativity being the human’s "nature show","holism" of the creative process, the creativity education being a new education, and so on. Phenomenological methodology is contained in adhering to phenomenological attitude in research, advocating removing "tag" in psychological research, using phenomenology in description, adhering to the nature of intention, promoting the human creativity with the problems as the center, and combining the holism principles and case studies, etc. The creativity research which is preferred in Maslow’s creativity research has made it possible for the phenomenological creativity research to have sustainable development and has laid a foundation for in-depth research on creativity.From Freudian unconscious creativity theory, to Gestalt psychological creative thinking theory, to Maslow’s creative holism of humanism, orientation to humanism deepens, and phenomenological method is conspicuous. Phenomenological method has become a tendency of the development of creativity research and has demonstrated its time value. Phenomenological creativity research highlights the core status and creativity of "human", prefers to the intentional essence of the psychological activities, and sticks to the life-oriented and problem-centered principles and methods which have a positive effect on eliminating the negative impacts of positivism. But when it focuses on the human irrational factors, such as needs, motivation, potential and creativity, it unavoidably brings about irrationalism. The phenomenological method of creativity research cannot replace empirical method. The coexistence, coordination and integration of the two methods may be one of the options of getting rid of the logical plight in the phenomenological creativity research.