MADRID 2019 The Future of AGEING

Teresa Amabile has researched and written about creativity for over 40 years. Beginning with a series of papers in the 1970s and 1980s, she was instrumental in establishing the social psychology of creativity – the study of how the social environment can influence creative behavior, primarily by influencing motivational state.

Teresa’s research has examined individual creativity and productivity, team creativity, and organizational innovation. This decades-long program of research has yielded a comprehensive theory of creativity and innovation; methods for assessing creativity, motivation, and the work environment; and a set of prescriptions for maintaining and stimulating both individual creativity and organizational innovation. Her more recent research investigated how everyday life inside organizations can influence people and their performance by affecting inner work life, the confluence of motivation, emotion, and perceptions. She is currently studying retirement, including the impact of engagement in creative activities on attitudes toward and adjustment to retirement.

Teresa’s scholarly work has appeared in a variety of psychology and organizational behavior journals, as well as her 2011 book (with Steven Kramer), The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. She has presented her work to audiences in a variety of settings, including Pixar, Genentech, TEDx Atlanta, Apple, and The World Economic Forum in Davos.

In 2018, Teresa received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management, the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Israel Organizational Behavior Conference, and the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In 2011 and 2013, she was named to the global Thinkers 50 list.

Teresa holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Canisius College and a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University.