ABSTRACT
Creativity became the subject of increasing interest for researchers working in the field of psychology, particularly in North America, from whence much of the early research on creativity has emerged. In UK schools, creativity is often unhelpfully used as a 'catch-all' to describe various aspects of the curriculum. One of the earliest modern insights into the process of creativity comes from British academic Graham Wallas, who, in his 1926 work, The art of thought, proposes a five-stage model of creativity, involving preparation, incubation, intimation, illumination and verification. Each stage of the model marks a particular phase in the process. Instruments of torture, weapons of war and criminal activity all involve degrees of imagination, experimentation and ingenuity―key characteristics of creativity, but in malevolent form. Hence, people would be mistaken if they simply consider creativity as a force for good.
