Creativity expert (writer/scholar/speaker/teacher)

Dr. James C. Kaufman

writer

Dr. Kaufman is the author/editor of more than 50 books. His Creativity 101 (2nd Edition), is frequently used as a textbook for college classes. The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity (2nd Edition), co-edited with his mentor, Dr. Robert Sternberg, is a standard reference for the field. His forthcoming The Creativity Advantage for Cambridge Press highlights the positive benefits of being creative, such as self-insight, healing, connection, drive, and legacy. His other books cover creativity’s relationship with such diverse topics as education, business, the brain, humor, mental illness, video games, animals, and many others. He has also written or edited books on other topics such as pseudoscience, intelligence, and baseball.

Dr. Kaufman is also a prolific scholar with over 400 published papers. In creativity scholarship, he is best known for his theoretical contributions to the field. He introduced the Four C Model of Creativity (with Ron Beghetto), which poses a developmental arc of creativity from mini-c (personally meaningful acts) to little-c (everyday acts that others appreciate) to Pro-c (professional expertise that impacts a field) to Big-C (legendary genius that lasts for generations). He has also studied how creativity is expressed across different domains — what does it mean to be creative in art vs science vs cooking vs business? More recently, he and Vlad Glăveanu have been working on a number of different new theoretical models and approaches, such as the CASE model.

Dr. Kaufman is also (reluctantly) known for coining the “Sylvia Plath Effect,” a study which found that eminent female poets were more likely to display signs of mental illness than other well-known writers or prominent women from other fields. The finding inspired several rock songs and was covered widely in the press. It is often cited as evidence that creativity is associated with mental illness or that everyday female poets are more likely to be mentally ill — which it does not argue.

In more recent years, he has been exploring the relationship between creativity and finding meaning in life, as well as the intersection between creativity and social justice.

 experience

Professor, Department of Educational Psychology- University of Connecticut

2013 - Present

Dr. Kaufman is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on creativity.

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Professor, Department of Psychology/ Founding Director, Learning Research Institute - California State University at San Bernardino

2002 - 2013

Dr. Kaufman was a Professor of Psychology for 11 years at the California State University, San Bernardino. In addition to teaching about critical thinking, creativity, intelligence, and the psychology of film, he also led the Learning Research Institute.

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Associate Research Scientist, Center for New Constructs- Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ

2000-2002

Dr. Kaufman worked for Educational Testing Service for two years in the Center for New Constructs. He worked on projects for the GREs and helped developed a standardized letter of recommendation.

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PhD. in Cognitive Psychology- Yale University

1995-2001

Dr. Kaufman received his Ph.D in Cognitive Psychology under Dr. Robert J. Sternberg at Yale University.  His dissertation compared journalists and creative writers.