Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences' 2022-2023 Fall Semester Faculty Seminar events are continuing. At the event held in the Socrates Hall of South Campus E Block, Prof. Dr. David Yun Dai from the Department of Psychology, State University of New York, gave a presentation titled “Development of talent and creativity: An integrative perspective”.
Prof. Dr. Yun Dai, “Today is the Age of Creativity”
At the beginning of the seminar, Prof. Dr. Yun Dai emphasized that the concept of creativity has come to the forefront much more in academic studies, especially in fields such as business, educational sciences, and psychology, compared to the past, and called today "The Age of Creativity." Dai stated that among the theories regarding the emergence of creative thought, there are theories that suggest creativity is established through social relationships, and pointed out that the development of creative ideas could be hindered if individuals are not in interaction with others.
Prof. Dr. Yun Dai, “Creative ideas have an impact as they are shared with people”
In his speech, Prof. Dr. Yun Dai spoke about the importance of sharing creative ideas with others, giving examples of individuals like Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs, and drew attention to the power of creative ideas from various fields to change science and technology. Dai stated: “He mentioned the existence of thinking tests that can measure individuals' creativity capacities with current scientific methods, and expressed that researchers are interested in how creative and productive the brilliant careers of the art, politics, and science worlds could be by examining their biographies. He added that according to these studies, having an environment that triggers creativity and sharing one's ideas with the social environment are common characteristics of these brilliant people.
Towards the end of his speech, Prof. Dr. Yun Dai pointed out the importance of individual and cultural differences in the development of creativity. Dai stated that certain stages of creativity development might show similarities across all cultures, but also emphasized that there are non-universal developmental steps that vary according to individuals' own cultures and environments. Dai, stating that a non-universal developmental process makes individuals unique, said: “In general, individuals show different creativity development processes as a result of varying adaptations to the challenges they face. For the development of creativity, one needs to be adaptable, patient, and willing to work hard.”
The program concluded with Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Deputy Dean Assoc. Prof. Dr. Asil Özdoğru presenting a plaque to Prof. Dr. David Yun Dai.