Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 18
this plays out in cults, Conway and Siegelman quote Patrick, who states, ―Thinking to a cult
member is like being stabbed in the heart with a dagger. It's very painful because they've
been told that the mind is Satan and thinking is the machinery of the Devil" (p. 60).
Newirth (2003) reflects both neo-Kleinian and postmodern thinking with which I fully align
my views. He states,
―Th[is] model of the person as subject reflects a postmodern focus on
language, the ambiguity of meaning, the existence of multiple realities, issues
of political and personal power, and the pervasive impact of culture in
defining psychic and material reality. … A critical element in the views of the
person as a subject, and one that defines the postmodern perspective, is an
emphasis on language as a means of creating meaning and reality and as a
powerful tool influencing and controlling the other‘s experience of self and
reality. … The Kleinian approach does not focus on the discovery and
clarification of past or present experience, but rather on the development of
symbolic experience that leads to the development of a new psychological
entity, the person as a subject. Ogden (1992) captures this important
element in the Kleinian view of the psychoanalytic process when he says that
‗analysis is not simply a method of uncovering the hidden it is more
importantly a process of creating an analytic subject who had not previously
existed.‘ (pp. 37-38, 41)
There is an overlap with respect to emphasis on emotions and self-realization between
psychoanalysis and humanism. May states, ―There are now Rorschach responses, for
example, that indicate that people can more accurately observe precisely when they are
emotionally involved—that is, reason works better when emotions are present…‖ (p. 49).
And he sees the ―[c]reative process [as] represent[ing] the highest degree of emotional
health, as an act of self-actualization‖ (p. 40). Similarly, Rycroft states, ―Psychoanalysis
interprets human behavior in terms of the self that experiences it … and regards th[at] self
as a psychobiological entity which is always striving for self-realization and self-fulfillment‖
(1966, p. 20). This idea links to the discussion below about the prominent place emotion
now holds within neuroscientific research on creativity.
Lalich (2004) describes Lifton‘s concept of ―personal closure‖ by stating,
the person turns inward, refusing to look at or consider other ideas, beliefs, or
options. The personal closure that is the culmination of cultic life is profoundly
confining because the individual is closed to both the outside world and her or
his own inner life. (p. 243)
Within the individual component of the sociocultural schema, ―inner life‖ is part of the
emotional realm that is addressed by psychodynamic, neuroscientific, and, more recently,
cognitive approaches to creativity.
Psychological Creativity Stage Models
According to Csikszentmihalyi (2006),
Most problems are already formulated everybody knows what is to be done
and only the solution is missing. … But there are also situations in which
nobody has asked the question yet, nobody even knows that there is a
problem. In this case the creative person identifies both the problem and the
solution. (p. 95)
Building on this view, Sawyer notes that problem solving is equated with convergent
thinking and problem finding with divergent thinking, and that most creativity researchers
view both aspects as intrinsic to creativity (p. 73). For problem finding, formulating good
this plays out in cults, Conway and Siegelman quote Patrick, who states, ―Thinking to a cult
member is like being stabbed in the heart with a dagger. It's very painful because they've
been told that the mind is Satan and thinking is the machinery of the Devil" (p. 60).
Newirth (2003) reflects both neo-Kleinian and postmodern thinking with which I fully align
my views. He states,
―Th[is] model of the person as subject reflects a postmodern focus on
language, the ambiguity of meaning, the existence of multiple realities, issues
of political and personal power, and the pervasive impact of culture in
defining psychic and material reality. … A critical element in the views of the
person as a subject, and one that defines the postmodern perspective, is an
emphasis on language as a means of creating meaning and reality and as a
powerful tool influencing and controlling the other‘s experience of self and
reality. … The Kleinian approach does not focus on the discovery and
clarification of past or present experience, but rather on the development of
symbolic experience that leads to the development of a new psychological
entity, the person as a subject. Ogden (1992) captures this important
element in the Kleinian view of the psychoanalytic process when he says that
‗analysis is not simply a method of uncovering the hidden it is more
importantly a process of creating an analytic subject who had not previously
existed.‘ (pp. 37-38, 41)
There is an overlap with respect to emphasis on emotions and self-realization between
psychoanalysis and humanism. May states, ―There are now Rorschach responses, for
example, that indicate that people can more accurately observe precisely when they are
emotionally involved—that is, reason works better when emotions are present…‖ (p. 49).
And he sees the ―[c]reative process [as] represent[ing] the highest degree of emotional
health, as an act of self-actualization‖ (p. 40). Similarly, Rycroft states, ―Psychoanalysis
interprets human behavior in terms of the self that experiences it … and regards th[at] self
as a psychobiological entity which is always striving for self-realization and self-fulfillment‖
(1966, p. 20). This idea links to the discussion below about the prominent place emotion
now holds within neuroscientific research on creativity.
Lalich (2004) describes Lifton‘s concept of ―personal closure‖ by stating,
the person turns inward, refusing to look at or consider other ideas, beliefs, or
options. The personal closure that is the culmination of cultic life is profoundly
confining because the individual is closed to both the outside world and her or
his own inner life. (p. 243)
Within the individual component of the sociocultural schema, ―inner life‖ is part of the
emotional realm that is addressed by psychodynamic, neuroscientific, and, more recently,
cognitive approaches to creativity.
Psychological Creativity Stage Models
According to Csikszentmihalyi (2006),
Most problems are already formulated everybody knows what is to be done
and only the solution is missing. … But there are also situations in which
nobody has asked the question yet, nobody even knows that there is a
problem. In this case the creative person identifies both the problem and the
solution. (p. 95)
Building on this view, Sawyer notes that problem solving is equated with convergent
thinking and problem finding with divergent thinking, and that most creativity researchers
view both aspects as intrinsic to creativity (p. 73). For problem finding, formulating good
