Seminar in Positive Psychology: Imagination and Creativity in Psychology, an Applied Course and Research Study

By forming mental representations of things not immediately present to the senses (imagination), and/or simulating possible futures (prospection), humans can generate novel ideas and products (creativity) that contribute to human progress and flourishing. This course will specifically focus on imagination and creativity within the field of psychology. Students will learn about the cognitive, motivational, and social processes that shaped important creative insights (or “big moments”) in the history of the discipline. In addition, students will be given the opportunity to apply knowledge gained from the course by designing their own original creative research proposal as the final project for the course.

Note: This course constitutes a research study designed to investigate how scientific creativity can best be taught to undergraduate students. Students’ participation in the research study is voluntary, subject to informed consent, does not involve any additional work, and will not affect their performance in the course. See syllabus for more details, or contact Olivia Riffle (riffleo@sas.upenn.edu), our Research Coordinator. 

Course open to undergraduates only.

Here is the link to the survey students should complete if they are interested in applying for the course:   Link to Survey - Imagination and Creativity in Psychology: An Applied Course and Research Study