Abstract: Creativity marks the entire personality and psychic activity of the individual, and at the same time, integrates organically into the personality system. Using the analysis of creative individuals (science, technology, art) were highlighted as traits of creative personality: fluidity, flexibility, ability to elaborate, sensitivity to problems, redefinition, originality (J. Guilford), independent thinking, strong consciousness, preference for complex phenomena (Barron), tolerance for ambiguous situations, diverse and complex interests, specific cognitive style (I. Taylor), intrinsic motivation, strong emotionality, nonconformism, increased need for independence, high self-driving. Seen through the prism of personality, creativity acquires the meaning of creative potential of the sum of qualities or psychological factors of future creative performances. Through education, the creative potential can become in time, a personality trait that will produce the new, original, socio-cultural values.

The word personality and its root person have long fascinated language researchers. The terms personality in English, personality in French and persönlichkeit in German are very similar to personalitas in medieval Latin. In classical Latin persona only is used. All scholars agree that this word originally meant mask. The most famous definition of the term persona was given by Boethius in the sixth century: “Persona est the substance of the individual rationalis naturae” - the person is an individual substance of a rational nature.

William Stern, who was both a philosopher and a psychologist, speaks of personality as a “dynamic multiform unit”. He adds that no one ever acquires a perfect unity, but only always strives for this purpose (Stern, Die menschliche Persönlichkeit, Leipzig & Barth, 1923, pp. 4, 20). Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic thinking and behavior.

Personality is characterized by: globality, plasticity, coherence, temporal permanence and refers to the hypostases, the attributes that the human individual can have: homo faber, homo sapiens, etc. The philosopher Bertocci defines personality as follows: “The personality of an ego is the dynamic organization of the unique psychophysical desires and abilities, peculiar to that ego, which makes its adaptations to its environment unique.”

Consistency refers to the stability of the subject's general lines of conduct over time.

Cognitive structures associated with motivational and affective structures make up the complex constructions of skills or abilities. Aptitude is a selective organization of cognitive, affective, motivational and executive components, which allow man to successfully perform an action at a given time. Possessing skills means solving one or another category of tasks at optimal performance indices. The wider the scope of an activity in terms of activity, the more complex its organization becomes, employing more and more dimensions of personality.

In the general system of personality, an important place is occupied by the special construction of command and control mechanisms over motives, purposes, and means of behavior. These regulating structures perform the following functions:

* the transformation of the sphere of action of the motive, the expression of a motive by another act behavioral than its specific;

* postponement - postponement of the achievement of a reason depending on the circumstances;

The degree of control becomes an important indicator in the characterization of the structure on personality.

The main components of the personality are considered to be: temperament - the dynamic-energetic side of the personality, which expresses the genotype of the personality, functional constitution of the nervous system; character - the indicative value side, as a set of human attitudes towards different categories; skills - the operative - functional side, which refers to the means and operational structures of personality action, indicating the level of performance of the subject. These components are not isolated, but they interact with each other, merge into a specific, unique, characteristic structure to each individual.

Temperament, like intelligence and physical constitution, designates a class of “raw material” from which personality is modeled. All these three factors are very much based on genetic determination and therefore constitute the aspects of personality that are most dependent on heredity.

Temperament cannot be appreciated from the perspective of value judgments, of values, as it is a formal characteristic related to the “style, form, way” of man to be and behave, therefore it does not correlate significantly with the orientative, aptitude or values. of character. Its characteristics can be offset and influenced by character traits and operational skills systems. Within each temperament, based on the defining elements, it is necessary to differentiate and adapt those methods that are the most effective.

Character is a factor of individuality. Etymologically, the word character comes from the Greek language and means pattern, seals and, in relation to man, a set of primarily psycho-behavioral features.

The representative component of the character is an attitude that defines the position of the subject towards the external and internal environment, a constant way of orientation and adjustment at the higher level of personal and social existence, as stated by P. Popescu - Neveanu. Important in defining character are stable, constant, generalized, individual attitudes, which are developed based on strong beliefs.

Attitudes can be Classified According to the Field in Which They Manifest in:

• Attitude towards people from which humanism, sociality, altruism, generosity, honesty, fairness derive as positive traits of character, and insincerity, selfishness, indifference as negative traits;

• Attitude towards self that develops positive character traits - personal dignity, modesty, self-critical spirit, self-confidence, self-existence, self-improvement, courage and negative character traits: arrogance, shyness, feeling inferior, uncritical self-esteem;

• Attitude towards activity. Positive character traits: diligence, orderly spirit, discipline, initiative, innovative spirit, punctuality, enthusiasm. Negative character traits: disorder, negligence, routine, bullying, discipline;

• Attitude towards society expressed through positive traits such as love of country, feeling of national dignity, respect for values, principle, tolerance, honesty or through negative traits such as nihilism, dishonesty, fear, etc.

Other categories of attitudes are the attitude towards science, art, technology, culture and the attitude towards nature.

Creativity marks the entire personality and psychic activity of the individual, and at the same time, integrates organically into the personality system. Using the analysis of creative individuals (science, technology, art) were highlighted as traits of creative personality: fluidity, flexibility, ability to elaborate, sensitivity to problems, redefinition, originality (J. Guilford), independent thinking, strong consciousness, preference for complex phenomena (Barron), tolerance for ambiguous situations, diverse and complex interests, specific cognitive style (I. Taylor), intrinsic motivation, strong emotionality, nonconformism, increased need for independence, high self-driving. Seen through the prism of personality, creativity acquires the meaning of creative potential of the sum of qualities or psychological factors of future creative performances. Through education, the creative potential can become in time, a personality trait that will produce the new, original, socio-cultural values. Creativity education at school age requires a coherent ensemble, organized by educational actions.

Through these actions develops spontaneity, independence of thinking, receptivity to problems, to what is hidden but important, ability to develop and anticipate, creative motivation. Creativity is a personality trait, it expresses the note of originality of a new product in relation to what pre-exists in that field.

“Creativity is not an extra dimension of personality, it is not an autonomous psychic capacity, but the effect of optimal cooperation and organization of variable psychic processes in variable conditions.”

That is why we cannot ignore one of the essential dimensions for the entire development and affirmation of the personality - creativity.

The term creativity has its origin in the Latin “creation” which means to create, to make, to give birth, to give birth. In psychology, he was introduced by G.W. Allport to designate a personality formation. In his opinion, “creativity cannot be limited only to some of the categories of personality manifestation, respectively to aptitudes (intelligence), attitudes or temperamental traits”.

According to P. Popescu Neveanu, “creativity presupposes a general disposition of the personality towards the new, a certain (stylistic) organization of the psychic processes in the personality system”.

To create means to produce (generate) something new in relation to what is old, known, usual, banal. The novelty is also evaluated gradually, according to the quotas of originality. “The quota of originality corresponds to the distance between the new product and what pre-exists as a known and usual fact in the respective field”.

From the etymological point of view, the term creativity designates the process of conception, creation, novelty, originality. Countless metaphorical names express the conceptions of various authors on creativity:

The term creativity was introduced into the vocabulary of American psychology in the fourth decade of the last century to overcome the limits of the old term of talent.

In most psychology dictionaries, talent is considered a special form of ability or skill such as musical ability that is innate or inherited and makes it possible to achieve superior results. Talent is seen as a “natural aptitude that manifests in a certain direction”.

Between the concepts of talent and creativity, the common note is that of originality. The one who demonstrates a strong originality proves talent. So, “talent corresponds to creativity, at a higher level”. All people are creative to varying degrees and only some of them are talented. The talent was appreciated as determined by the hereditary endowment. The new concept of creativity admits a great contribution of environmental influences and education in the creative formation of each one. At the same time, it is considered that “any of the activities or professions can be carried out at a high level of creativity”.

The issue of creativity has concerned many researchers, psychologists and pedagogues, as well as practitioners in the field of education, being impressed by the value of this ability that envelops the person and the behavior of creative individuals. Creativity continues to be a concern, not because the efforts so far have been sterile, but because creative potential is one of the most complex and mysterious assets, and educating it to manifest through creative behaviors is one of the boldest and highest. objectives. Creativity education is the practical test of the level of education sciences, as creative behavior is the most complex behavior.

In defining the phenomenon of creativity, the idea of novelty is correlated with necessity, the idea of value. Creativity is the ability to find new solutions to a problem or new way of artistic expression, to give birth to a new product for the individual, not necessarily for society (English and English), the discovery of new relationships between objects and phenomena, gives new methods or procedures of investigation or production, achievements of artistic phenomena, etc. (Red), that product which is expressed in a new work, accepted as valid, useful or satisfactory by a group, at a given time (MJ Stein), the mental activity of putting and solving problems in situations that result, either artistic inventions or technical inventions (W. Gordon); creativity refers to thinking that results in the production of ideas or objects that are both new and valuable (Taylor).

In essence, creativity is a complex process, a complex psychic activity, which ends in a certain product. It is that psychic capacity of the human individual to achieve something new, in different forms: theoretical, scientific, technical, social, etc., to reveal special, unknown aspects of reality, to elaborate original ways and solutions to solve problems and to express it in personal forms. It is certain that in the 1960s and 1970s we witnessed an explosion of studies on creativity. In support of this idea come the data published by the Czechoslovak psychologist J. Hlavsa, (1970) in a bibliographic work on creativity.

More and more specialists consider creativity an essential and defining feature for individual existence and for the evolution of society. Every human being has, among other potentialities, a creative potential. In this regard B.F. Skinner states that “we cannot teach the student creative behavior because by doing so, he would lose his originality”. M. I. Stein observes that the creative process is manifested by the elaboration of hypotheses, by their testing, by the communication of results. “Creativity can be manifested in these stages of the process or in all of them”. Some excel in creating ideas, others in developing the means of testing ideas, others in presenting ideas and discoveries to others. Creativity is a rather vague and somewhat imprecise concept. Michel and Bernadette Fustier (1988) show that in the mind of the average person, creativity is linked to artistic expressions and creations, technological inventions or scientific discoveries, interpersonal communication, education, personal behaviors and social movements. It means: adaptation, imagination, construction, originality, evolution, inner freedom, literary talent, distancing from already existing things.

H. Jaoui, defining creativity as the ability to create original and efficient ensembles, starting from pre-existing elements, believes that anyone can be creative.

Creativity was also approached by Romanian psychology and pedagogy. In the interwar period, in the Romanian pedagogy there is a moment of effervescence, in which orientations and theories that had been affirmed internationally enter and are taken over and adapted. Among them is the current of “active school”. Exponent of this current, I. I. Gabrea, in “Creative School” argues the need to build a school that puts itself at the service of developing the creative personality of cultural values, a school that cultivates the creative abilities of students. The instructive-educational activity will be focused on spontaneity and voluntary effort.

In 1933 Ştefănescu Goangă highlights the need to form the creative personality, the specific skills of each student through a systematic, organized, differentiated activity. Constantin Rădulescu Mortu's “man with a vocation” is in fact the creative man, the one who develops his availabilities to the maximum, agreeing with the social demands. He is the one who “opens the way for new generations to culture”. The child is born with individual skills, which do not in themselves lead to vocation - the whole personality matters. The essential features of the man with a vocation are: originality, perseverance and consistency with himself. The “nursery” in which it is formed is that school, in which the sensory, manual and intellectual skills are discovered and developed, and the teacher, who shapes it, is knowledgeable of the national culture and of the social environment in which the student lives.

Ştefan Odobleja draws attention to the creative dimension of thought and to its general and specific human character. Creative thinking differs from mechanical thinking, memorizing by the presence of the moment of producing ideas. She is a great new and original producer. In the contemporary stage there were numerous preoccupations in the field of creativity: P. P. Neveanu, Al. Roşca, M. Roco, Teresa Amabile, I. Moraru, A. Stoica, P. Constantinescu-Stoleru, N. C. Matei, M. Zlate. After Al. Redhead, the main defining characteristics of creative activity are: their productivity, utility and efficiency, novelty and originality. “The process of humanity is not possible without theoretical or practical creative activity of people. For this reason, it is natural for creative activity to be regarded as “the highest form of human activity”.

Creativity is always manifested in a certain activity, but rarely is a person creative in several areas of activity. This is both for the reason that the dispositions and abilities of the same person are not equal to each other, and for the reason that the affirmation in any field often requires a long preparation, certain favorable social-educational conditions.

Teresa Amabile believes that making decisions both in a professional field and in everyday life often involves creativity. On the one hand, the creative solutions ensure the solution of the problem with an unexpected efficiency and on the other hand, they have elegance and an amazing simplicity. In general, creative answers are obvious, and yet few people think about them. E.g; one of the exercises in a game to train creativity asks the subjects to show: “How can you put your left hand in the right pocket of your pants and the right one in your left pocket at the same

To be creative means to elaborate a certain thing (tool, idea, process, work of art) which, at the same time, is absolutely innovative and valid. If a product is new but inappropriate it will be considered bizarre. If it is valid, but it is not new, it will be considered correct or well executed, but not creative (Teresa Amabile, “Creativity as a way of life”). According to this author, the structural model of creativity includes the following necessary components:

Ana Stoica, considers that there is a general creative potential (includes creative thinking and constructive personality traits, among which the most important is motivation) and potentialities specific to each person. The general creative potential can be stimulated by involving him in the most varied creative activities, being then possible the transfer of creative capacities. Creativity is educable, but not in the same proportion for all components (Stoica, 1983).

Paul P. Neveanu is the author of the bifactorial model of creativity, a complete but also optimistic theory, according to which “creativity is nothing but the optimal interaction between creative vectors and generative operations”. Favorable to creativity are: intrinsic motivation, cognitive motivation, higher aspirations. Creativity is based on algorithmic operation, but is qualitatively based on imaginative processes. P. P. Neveanu emphasizes that any act of authentic imagination is to a greater or lesser extent creative.

Together with Mihaela Roco, P.P. Neveanu addresses the issue of stimulating creative potential through the professional group. Noticing the interdependence relations between individual, group and social creativity as well as the coherence of individual creativity, Mihaela Roco argues for the superiority of group creativity over individual, arguing through the following valences of the creative group, integrates individual creative availability, recognizes competent and capitalizes on creative ideas, develops individual creative possibilities.

Starting from the analysis of the creativity factors, P. Constantinescu Stoleru deals with the education of students' creativity by identifying and adequately stimulating the creative potential. The important factor is the teaching style adopted by the teacher. It must ensure a permissive atmosphere, to mobilize the student in search, to direct the creative potential towards the field in which the student has the greatest chances of achievement, to encourage the creative effort.

M. Zlate considers creativity as a transformative side of personality, shows that not only psychological factors are involved in creativity but also socio-cultural, psychosocial and socio-educational factors. Regarding the relationship between creativity and intelligence, Professor M. Zlate notes the relationships of mutual influence. Intelligence intervenes throughout the entire creative process in different weights and the high level of creativity can compensate for the lower level of intelligence.

Creativity marks the entire personality and psychic activity of the individual and at the same time, subsumes and integrates organically into the personality system. Through educational actions, spontaneity, independence of thinking, receptivity to problems, creative motivation, the ability to elaborate and anticipate are developed. At the same time, the child is accustomed to documenting himself, to researching with a penetrating eye the reality, to select what is important but hidden, to ask and ask questions, to anticipate solutions to check. Through the same actions, the child is accustomed to wanting to express his opinions and express them in an appropriate, convincing way.

Of course, an effective treatment of creativity in terms of its identification and development requires a more accurate understanding of the nature of the creative process, an approach as natural and correct at the same time.

Amabile, Tereza M. (1997). Creativity as a way of life, Science and Technology. Bucharest: Ed. Bucuresti.

Atavar, Michael (2018). Be inspired. Discover your originality. Bucharest: Didactica Publishing House.

Gârboveanu, M.; Negoescu, V.; Nicola, G.; Onofrei, A.; Roco, M. & Surdu, A. (1981). Stimulating students’ creativity in the educational process. Bucharest: Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House.

Gordon, Allport, W. (1991). Structure and development of Didactic personality. Bucharest: Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House.

Morarasu, Monica, Laura (2013). The role of emotional intelligence in the development of creativity, Rovimed Publishers Publishing House.

Rafailă, E. (2002). Educating creativity at preschool age. Bucharest: Aramis.

Wilson, Edward, O. (2019). Origins of human creativity. Bucharest: Prohumanitas.

1 Senior Lecturer, PhD, Faculty of Communication and International Relation, Specialization, Psychology, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galați, Blvd. Romania, Tel.: +40372361102, Fax: +40372361290, Corresponding autor: neli_susanu@univ-danubius.ro.

New Trends in Psychology, Vol. 2, no 2/2020, pp. 72-82