Seana Moran

Clark University, Hiatt School of Psychology, Faculty Member

Stanford University, Center on Adolescence, Youth Purpose Project, Post-Doc

Harvard University, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Post-Doc

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MIT-Singapore International Design Center, Post-Doc

Followers

483

Following

Co-authors

Mentions

Public Views

Monica Garbin

Ali Aghamohamadi

Yonsei Medical University

Elina Kuusisto

Mantak Yuen

The University of Hong Kong

Berta Palou

Universitat de Barcelona

Mary Anne Heng

Fei Jiang

Aleksandra Gojkov Rajić

Kirsi A Tirri

University of Helsinki

Henry Mason

Tshwane University of Technology

InterestsView All (6)

Uploads

Books by Seana Moran

Education for Purposeful Teaching around the World

Routledge, 2018

Ethical Ripples of Creativity and Innovation

Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

The Ethics of Creativity

by Seana Moran and David Cropley

Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Multiple Intelligences around the World

Jossey-Bass, 2009

Creativity and Development (Counterpoints: Cognition, Memory, and Language)

Oxford University Press, 2003

Creative Classrooms, Volumes 3 & 4

Disney Learning, 2002 & 2003

Youth Purpose Papers by Seana Moran

Youth life purpose: Evaluating service-learning via development of lifelong 'radar' for community contribution

Embedding service-learning in European higher education

Taylor & Francis, 2019

Purpose-in-action education

Journal of Moral Education, 2018

Youth purpose worldwide: A tapestry of possibilities

Journal of Moral Education, 2017

How do future life perspective and present action work in Japanese youth development

by Toru Kawai and Seana Moran

Journal of Moral Education, 2017

What do teachers think about youth purpose?

The Journal of Education for Teaching, 2016

What “purpose” means to youth: Are there distinct cultures of purpose?

Applied Developmental Science, 2014

Adolescent purpose development: Exploring empathy, discovering roles, shifting priorities, and creating pathways

Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2014

ABSTRACT The development of youth purpose was explored in a qualitative, cross-sequential study. ... more ABSTRACT The development of youth purpose was explored in a qualitative, cross-sequential study. Interviews about life goals and reasons for pursuing them were conducted with 146 adolescents from four age groups (6th grade, 9th grade, 12th grade, and college sophomores or juniors). Participants completed the interview twice in 2 years. Each cohort focused on different aspects of purpose: middle school youth desired to be empathic; high school youth focused on finding a role to engage their purpose; high school graduates focused on re-evaluating their priorities through transitions; and college students focused on developing pathways to support their purpose. These phases were impacted by several factors, including transitions, identity formation processes, and external supports and influences.

How supportive of their specific purposes do youth believe their family and friends are?

by Seana Moran and Heather Malin

Journal of Adolescent Research, 2013

Purpose: Giftedness in intrapersonal intelligence

High Ability Studies, Jan 1, 2009

Purpose is an internal compass that integrates engagement in activities that affect others, self‐... more

Changing the world: Tolerance and creativity aspirations among American youth

High Ability Studies, 2010

Having a purpose is a form of intrapersonal giftedness. An even rarer giftedness is motivation to... more

Adolescent aspirations for change: Creativity as a life purpose

Asia Pacific Education Review, 2015

Creativity Papers by Seana Moran

Imagination and creativity in childhood

The Creativity Reader, 2018

Extraordinary achievements: A developmental and systems analysis

Handbook of child psychology, Jan 1, 2006

... reached a level of influence on contemporary or future generations as President Richard Nixon... more

The crossroads of creativity and ethics

The Ethics of Creativity, 2014

Education for Purposeful Teaching around the World

Routledge, 2018

Ethical Ripples of Creativity and Innovation

Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

The Ethics of Creativity

by Seana Moran and David Cropley

Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Multiple Intelligences around the World

Jossey-Bass, 2009

Creativity and Development (Counterpoints: Cognition, Memory, and Language)

Oxford University Press, 2003

Creative Classrooms, Volumes 3 & 4

Disney Learning, 2002 & 2003

Youth life purpose: Evaluating service-learning via development of lifelong 'radar' for community contribution

Embedding service-learning in European higher education

Taylor & Francis, 2019

Purpose-in-action education

Journal of Moral Education, 2018

Youth purpose worldwide: A tapestry of possibilities

Journal of Moral Education, 2017

How do future life perspective and present action work in Japanese youth development

by Toru Kawai and Seana Moran

Journal of Moral Education, 2017

What do teachers think about youth purpose?

The Journal of Education for Teaching, 2016

What “purpose” means to youth: Are there distinct cultures of purpose?

Applied Developmental Science, 2014

Adolescent purpose development: Exploring empathy, discovering roles, shifting priorities, and creating pathways

Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2014

How supportive of their specific purposes do youth believe their family and friends are?

by Seana Moran and Heather Malin

Journal of Adolescent Research, 2013

Purpose: Giftedness in intrapersonal intelligence

High Ability Studies, Jan 1, 2009

Purpose is an internal compass that integrates engagement in activities that affect others, self‐... more

Changing the world: Tolerance and creativity aspirations among American youth

High Ability Studies, 2010

Having a purpose is a form of intrapersonal giftedness. An even rarer giftedness is motivation to... more

Adolescent aspirations for change: Creativity as a life purpose

Asia Pacific Education Review, 2015

Imagination and creativity in childhood

The Creativity Reader, 2018

Extraordinary achievements: A developmental and systems analysis

Handbook of child psychology, Jan 1, 2006

... reached a level of influence on contemporary or future generations as President Richard Nixon... more

The crossroads of creativity and ethics

The Ethics of Creativity, 2014

An ethics of possibility

The Ethics of Creativity, 2014

Creativity in the making: Vygotsky's contemporary contribution to the dialectic of creativity & development

by Seana Moran and Vera John-Steiner

Since the 1960s and 1970s, when Thought and Language, followed by Mind in Society, were published... more Since the 1960s and 1970s, when Thought and Language, followed by Mind in Society, were published in English, Lev Semenovich Vygotsky has been portrayed as a counterpoint to Jean Piaget in developmental psychology and education departments and journals. Whereas Piaget said that maturational development precedes learning and a child independently constructs his or her knowledge of the world, Vygotsky theorized

Download

The roles of creativity in society

The Cambridge handbook …, Jan 1, 2009

Download

Creativity: A systems perspective

The Routledge companion to creativity, Jan 1, 2008

Returning to the GoodWork Project's roots: Can creative work be humane?

GoodWork: Theory and practice, Jan 1, 2010

Download

Social psychology of creativity

by Seana Moran and BETH Hennessey

Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2013

Creativity in school

International Handbook of Psychology in Education, Jan 1, 2010

Review of The psychology of creative writing

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2011

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

by Seana Moran and BETH Hennessey

The Ethical Demands Made on Leaders of Creative Efforts

The Ethics of Creativity, 2014

ABSTRACT Prior research has indicated that effective leadership is critical to the success of cre... more ABSTRACT Prior research has indicated that effective leadership is critical to the success of creative efforts. In the present effort, the key activities required of effective leaders are described noting that leaders must influence the work, the organization, and the people doing the work. Subsequently, a model of leader ethical decision-making is presented. The ethical issues confronting the leaders of creative efforts are described vis-à-vis each of these three key activities. It is argued that effective leaders of creative efforts must balance ethical issues arising in each of these three key areas of activity. Implications for ethical leaders of creative efforts and the development of leaders of creative efforts are discussed.

Review of The dark side of creativity

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2012

Metaphor Foundations in Creativity Research: Boundary vs. Organism

The Journal of Creative Behavior, Jan 1, 2009

Two metaphors explicitly or implicitly used in the conceptualization of creativity are examined a... more Two metaphors explicitly or implicitly used in the conceptualization of creativity are examined and compared. The boundary metaphor describes creativity in terms of crossing or pushing out a frontier. This metaphor underlies studies that emphasize creativity as a moment -an "aha!" experience or a sharp break from tradition. The organism metaphor describes creativity in terms of a reconfiguration of a problem, domain, or situation. This metaphor underlies studies that emphasize creativity as a transformation process. Research and educational implications for a potential shift in the dominant metaphor in the creativity research field are discussed.

Download

Creativity and development

by Seana Moran and David Feldman

OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Cnennai Dares Sal... more

What role does commitment play among writers with different levels of creativity?

Creativity Research Journal, Jan 1, 2009

Commitment involves how a person invests resources in a work role over long periods of time. Crea... more

How collaboration in creative work impacts identity and motivation

Collaborative creativity: Contemporary perspectives, Jan 1, 2004

Creativity in the making

Creativity and development, Jan 1, 2003

Download

Hill, skill, and will: Executive function from a multiple-intelligences perspective

Executive function in education: From theory to practice, Jan 1, 2007

Executive function in education: From theory to practice

... The authors focus on the challenges and opportunities that educational professionals face in ... more

Multiple intelligences

Encyclopedia of Creativity, 2011

Why multiple intelligences?

… intelligences around the …, Jan 1, 2009

Intelligences are often thought about as an individual property. However, they are less a propert... more

Orchestrating multiple intelligences

… Contemporary and Classic …, Jan 1, 2009

Download

The science of multiple intelligences theory: A response to Lynn Waterhouse

Educational psychologist, Jan 1, 2006

For a scholar, a fate worse than being criticized is being ignored. has done Howard Gardner the c... more For a scholar, a fate worse than being criticized is being ignored. has done Howard Gardner the courtesy of reading much of the primary and secondary literature on multiple intelligences (MI) theory. Although the authors disagree with several of her interpretations and conclusions, we appreciate her efforts as well as the opportunity to respond. We have 2 main criticisms: (a) Waterhouse misunderstands and oversimplifies MI theory and (b) Waterhouse's own line of argument undermines her claim that MI theory is not supported by the literature. This response reorients and clarifies for the reader the usefulness and implications of MI theory with the goal of demonstrating why Waterhouse's critique misses the mark in a number of respects.

Download

Assessing and developing multiple intelligences purposefully

Measuring Multiple Intelligences and Moral Sensitivities in Education, 2011

The prevailing belief today is that if young people can accumulate enough “points” in the “game o... more

Purpose-in-action education: Introduction and implications

Journal of Moral Education, Apr 3, 2018

Life purpose is a long-term aim to make one's life count. Educationespecially moral education-mig... more Life purpose is a long-term aim to make one's life count. Educationespecially moral education-might be considered a key cultural mechanism for young people to 'thread' their lives into the culture's 'bigger picture' not only of the 'good life' but also of a 'life of good. ' How does life purpose relate to educationally important attributes like motivation, feedback, institutional support, and emotional engagement, especially education aimed to make salient the impacts students have on others? This introduction explores the implications of five papers from different countries regarding the challenges of selftranscendence, whether purpose is a calling from within or outside the self, and how purpose can pivot past-oriented reflection into futureoriented proflection that integrates students' educational experiences into their anticipated future life path. Given the multicultural frame on these topics and their implications, how can researchers and practitioners move forward in purpose education? Understanding life purpose through a cultural frame Life purpose entails a person's self-defined superordinate aim to have a desired impact during one's lifespan not only in terms of gains for oneself but also through positive impacts on others, communities and institutions. This aim is so important to the person that it strongly influences intentions and efforts by organizing and prioritizing lower life goals, framing decisions and evaluating opportunities (Moran, 2017c). As purpose develops, four key dimensions integrate: personal meaningfulness, future intention, active engagement and beyond-the-self impact (Damon, 2008; Moran, 2014b). This special issue on purpose-inaction education is part of a two-issue series on youth purpose internationally. The first issue published in September 2017 focused on the conception and experience of life purpose among youth in Brazil,

Download

Commitment and Creativity

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2008

Abstract: I examined how 36 twentieth-century, American poets and fiction writers discuss work co... more

Youth life purpose

Moral and ethical implications of creativity

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2012

Creativity and Development

OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Cnennai Dares Sal... more

Life Purpose and Intentionally Being Creative

Oxford University Press eBooks, Feb 10, 2022

This chapter uses the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice movements of 2020 to demonstrate how f... more This chapter uses the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice movements of 2020 to demonstrate how feedback loops within and across minds generate cultural stability and cultural change. Minds and cultures compose each other: Parents and leaders pass on shared knowledge from previous generations to children, then each person’s mind makes further meaning of their experiences over a lifetime. We share some of these meanings with others. Meanings shared widely form a culture, which is again passed on to the next generation. This is a feedback loop that generally keeps a culture stable but not stale. In flexible cultures, a few shared meanings are new to a group—they are creative and can change culture. Some individuals intentionally aim to create new meanings, dedicating their lives to introducing variability, difference, and novelty into their culture. The mechanisms for such purposeful creativity involve the interaction of positive feedback loops that amplify a new meaning and negative feedback loops that counteract and then incorporate a new meaning. Cultural stability or change occurs depending on individuals engaging each feedback loop in relation to the other loop through reflection and proflection. Past-focused reflections, involving “how and why” of already culturally accepted meanings, interact with future-oriented proflections, involving the “what-if” and “what-next” in new meaning’s possibilities. Together, they show how our image of the future and what-could-be can influence our current meaning-making and behavior.

Educating the Youth to Develop Life Purpose: An Eco-systemic Approach

RIE, Jan 9, 2023

Life purpose is an internal representation of a personally meaningful, prosocial contribution the... more Life purpose is an internal representation of a personally meaningful, prosocial contribution the person intends to engage with over their life span. Individuals' purposes interact within a social-cultural ecosystem by directing individuals' perceptions toward situational resources (including others' purposes) that can help enact their purpose. Education can encourage students to explore their purposes within and beyond the classroom. This paper describes a case study of a class offered six times using three different ecological "niches": (1) conceptual understanding eco-niche focused on learning the concept and its relationships to other concepts; (2) resources-application eco-niche focused on reconceiving aspects of the concept as intellectual instruments to apply to real-life cases, including students themselves; (3) iterative practice eco-niche focused on implementing purposes within various contexts and interpreting feedback from those contexts. Using a feedback loop model to interpret how each eco-niche favours a different starting point and development trajectory through Damon's (2008) four dimensions of purpose, this eco-niche comparison (a) emphasizes how "high impact" educational experiences focus not on the students' improvements but rather on the improvements of communities as a result of students' enacting their purpose through their contributions, and (b) offers insights for teachers to infuse purpose development opportunities in their classes.

Download

Social Psychology of Creativity

Springer eBooks, 2020

The Roles of Creativity in Society

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Aug 23, 2010

According to an emerging consensus among psychologists, creativity is deﬁned as a novel yet appro... more

Multiple Intelligences

Elsevier eBooks, 2011

Finding purpose in challenging times: Multinational perspectives – session 1. [Webinar]

Summary Creativity and Ethics—Two Golden Eggs

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2014

The quote above is taken from the novel The Vanishing (later adapted into a successful Dutch film... more The quote above is taken from the novel The Vanishing (later adapted into a successful Dutch film and less successful American film). The main character, Saskia, describes her recurring dream of loneliness. Academia can tend toward such isolation, with different disciplines and topics staying within their own” golden eggs” of discourse. One of the goals of a volume such as this one is to force two” golden eggs” to collide by asking scholars from the fields of both creativity and ethics to consider how these topics might be related.

Mariano, J. M., Moran, S., Balthip, Q., Bespalov, A., Heng, M., Jiang, F., Kim, S., Mafile'o. T, Shin, J., & Vlasov, M. (2015, November). Finding purpose in challenging time: Multinational perspectives – session 2. [Video webcast] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bA0c_b-D0c

Opportunities

Introduction: The Crossroads of Creativity and Ethics

The Ethics of Creativity, 2014

“More creativity!” seems to be the current mantra for success. Institutions, cities, and nations ... more “More creativity!” seems to be the current mantra for success. Institutions, cities, and nations seek globally for people who will” break the mold,”” cultivate disruption,” or” hack the future” to provide competitive advantage and” stay ahead of the curve.” Several higher education institutions have augmented their traditional strengths of general and professional knowledge by promoting the” twenty-first-century skills” of creativity and collaboration.

The Ethics of Creativity

The Ethics of Creativity, 2014

and numerous articles in the ethics of technology in information technologies and robotics, medic... more and numerous articles in the ethics of technology in information technologies and robotics, medicine and healthcare, and related to the environment. Arthur Cropley received his PhD from the University of Alberta in 1965. He taught at universities in Australia, Canada, and Germany, retiring in 1998. He then worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Latvia for 12 years, from which he received an honorary doctorate in 2005. He has published 27 books and has received several awards from international associations. In 2008, he was made an Officer of the Order of the Three Stars by the President of Latvia.

Download

Imagination and Creativity in Childhood

Soviet Psychology, 1990

We call any activity of a person that creates anything new, creative activity. This includes the ... more

What do teachers think about youth purpose?

Journal of Education for Teaching, 2016

Youth purpose worldwide: A tapestry of possibilities

Journal of Moral Education, 2017

Abstract Interest in youth purpose is growing among scholars around the world. With globalization... more Abstract Interest in youth purpose is growing among scholars around the world. With globalization, better understanding of life purposes in different countries becomes more important as this generation’s youth are influenced by ideas and events anywhere. This special issue contributes to this inclusive, worldwide frame of mind by showcasing work done outside the US on the development, functioning and moral import of purposes as personal ‘threads’ intertwined that contribute to a global ‘tapestry.’ This introduction provides frameworks for thinking about the articles that follow, including: (1) the constructs and characteristics that different countries associate with purpose; (2) reciprocal and mutually reinforcing interactions of cultures’ values, norms, institutions and morals as sources of purpose with purpose-pursuing individuals’ perceptions of opportunities to act for shared benefit; (3) cultures’ contributions to whether and how purpose contributes to youths’ development of moral momentum in their lives.

Education for purposeful teaching around the world

Journal of Education for Teaching, 2016

Download

Seana Moran

Uploads

Books by Seana Moran

Youth Purpose Papers by Seana Moran

Creativity Papers by Seana Moran

Log In