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Applied imagination

Imagination is a fundamental human capacity, and to navigate our current global challenges, we need to define and encourage the practice of imagination, or what we term “applied imagination.” In this study, we convened a series of focus groups or “virtual salons” to address three guiding questions:...

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Autores principales: Finn, Ed, Torrejon Capurro, Carolina, Bennett, Michael G., Wylie, Ruth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10646322/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38022917
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1275942
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author Finn, Ed
Torrejon Capurro, Carolina
Bennett, Michael G.
Wylie, Ruth
author_facet Finn, Ed
Torrejon Capurro, Carolina
Bennett, Michael G.
Wylie, Ruth
author_sort Finn, Ed
collection PubMed
description Imagination is a fundamental human capacity, and to navigate our current global challenges, we need to define and encourage the practice of imagination, or what we term “applied imagination.” In this study, we convened a series of focus groups or “virtual salons” to address three guiding questions: (1) How might we define imagination? (2) How might we (or should we) measure imagination? And (3) How might we foster imagination? Our efforts to define applied imagination highlight the crucial role imagination plays in human survival and thriving, the role of social forces in fostering or discouraging imagination, the connection between imagination and faith, and the “dark side” or maladaptive aspects of imagination. The discussions on measuring imagination were quite divided, with some salon participants arguing for the potential of indirect modes for measuring imaginative capacity while others argued that measuring imagination was functionally impossible and morally suspect. Finally, our results around fostering imagination suggest the importance of using play and humor, separating imaginative activities from the everyday, and employing constraints to prompt imaginative responses. We end with a discussion of possible directions for future research and a call to create a transdisciplinary field of imagination studies.
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spelling pubmed-106463222023-11-01 Applied imagination Finn, Ed Torrejon Capurro, Carolina Bennett, Michael G. Wylie, Ruth Front Psychol Psychology Imagination is a fundamental human capacity, and to navigate our current global challenges, we need to define and encourage the practice of imagination, or what we term “applied imagination.” In this study, we convened a series of focus groups or “virtual salons” to address three guiding questions: (1) How might we define imagination? (2) How might we (or should we) measure imagination? And (3) How might we foster imagination? Our efforts to define applied imagination highlight the crucial role imagination plays in human survival and thriving, the role of social forces in fostering or discouraging imagination, the connection between imagination and faith, and the “dark side” or maladaptive aspects of imagination. The discussions on measuring imagination were quite divided, with some salon participants arguing for the potential of indirect modes for measuring imaginative capacity while others argued that measuring imagination was functionally impossible and morally suspect. Finally, our results around fostering imagination suggest the importance of using play and humor, separating imaginative activities from the everyday, and employing constraints to prompt imaginative responses. We end with a discussion of possible directions for future research and a call to create a transdisciplinary field of imagination studies. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-11-01 /pmc/articles/PMC10646322/ /pubmed/38022917 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1275942 Text en Copyright © 2023 Finn, Torrejon Capurro, Bennett and Wylie. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Finn, Ed
Torrejon Capurro, Carolina
Bennett, Michael G.
Wylie, Ruth
Applied imagination
title Applied imagination
title_full Applied imagination
title_fullStr Applied imagination
title_full_unstemmed Applied imagination
title_short Applied imagination
title_sort applied imagination
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10646322/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38022917
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1275942
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