Creativity Theories Overview

Topic 4: A Review of Creativity Theories

• This topic reviews different theories of creativity
• The key questions being addressed in these theories range from the underlying structure of creativity, its prerequisites and drivers, to how people create individually and collectively, and what factors contribute to the longevity of creative works.
• A basic definition of creativity is widely accepted as being something that is both novel and task-appropriate
• There are additional possible components, including high quality, surprise, aesthetics, authenticity, and product creation

Chapter Outline

• Overview
• Category 1: Underlying Structure of Creativity
• Category 2: What is Needed to be Creative?
• Category 3: What Drives People to Be Creative?
• Category 4: How Do We Create?
• Category 5: How Do We Create Together?
• What Makes Creative Work Last?
• Conclusion

Overview

• Defining and categorizing creativity is quite complex
• Simply listing the most cited theories would be as coherent as summarizing every Oscar-winning movie with a short clip
• Instead, more key questions about creativity are outlined in this topic.
• There is no singular dominant theory, but multiple theories provide different perspectives
• Existing theories are often covered in detail in separate chapters

Category One: Underlying Structure of Creativity

• Some theories aim to uncover the underlying structure of creativity
• Approaches in this category explore how creativity is conceptualized, its development within a person, and how its domains align together.

The Four P Framework

• This framework is a foundational element in creativity research, categorizing creativity into Person, Product, Process, and Press (environment)
• This framework leads to several key questions about creativity, such as the type of person that is creative, what counts as creative work, how creative work is produced, and how the environment shapes creativity

The Five A Framework

• This framework, an update to the Four P's, introduces Actors, Audiences, Actions, Artifacts, and Affordances
• It suggests that the environment (social and material) is deeply interwoven within creativity
• The framework is useful for understanding the relationships between different elements of creativity and how they influence one another

Four C's Theory

• The Four C's build on the structure of creativity to more specifically focus on individual qualities.
• This theory differentiates between little-c (everyday creativity) and Big-C (eminent creativity) and it is a developmental trajectory
• It begins with mini-c insights and eventually progresses to Pro-c and Big-C stages
• Throughout this process, there is an emphasis on the importance of feedback and guidance to foster creativity

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

• Gardner's theory considers how creativity manifests across various domains
• Different intelligences (interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual-spatial, naturalistic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily kinesthetic, musical, and potentially existential) are identified
• These intelligences could represent potential domains of creativity

Amusement Park Theoretical (APT) Model of Creativity

• This model uses the analogy of choosing an amusement park to illustrate how people create
• It highlights initial requirements and elements that need to be in place before any sort of creative output can be generated (including intelligence, motivation, and a supportive environment)

Category Two: What Is Needed To Be Creative?

• This category of theories focuses on the necessary components for creativity to emerge
• It identifies the attributes, abilities, and circumstances that need to align for creative output

The Componential Model of Creativity

• Amabile's model suggests three interconnected variables crucial for individual creativity
• These are domain-relevant skills and knowledge, creative processes (tolerance of ambiguity and willingness to take risks) and intrinsic motivation (enjoyment or meaning in the activity)

The Revised Componential Model of Creativity

• This revised model has added additional elements to existing ones such as more types of motivation, work orientation and the role of affect
• These additions enhance the understanding of the factors motivating individuals and how they influence creativity

Investment Theory of Creativity

• This theory compares creativity to financial investments
• It identifies six key components: motivation, intelligence, knowledge, personality, thinking styles, and environment

Category Three: What Drives People To Be Creative?

• This category addresses the internal factors driving creative endeavors
• This category focuses on understanding the motivations behind creativity and exploring the need to answer questions, the role of curiosity, and the interplay among knowledge, affect, and purpose

The Optimal Experience or Flow Theory

• Csíkszentmihalyi's "flow" theory suggests that people often engage in creative endeavors simply to experience the exciting pleasurable moments of complete absorption

• The feelings associated with this model are rewarding

The Matrix Model

• There are four types of creativity within this model
• This model from Industrial and organizational psychology focuses on the reasons behind the motivations and focuses on context (whether the problem is closed or open)

Category Four: How Do We Create?

• This focus is on the process of creating
• Early theories on the creative process, such as Wallas's five stage model, focused on the sequence of steps involved in generating creative ideas

Wallas's Five Stages Model

• This model suggests a five-stage process: preparation, incubation, intimation, illumination, and verification
• These steps represent the process of problem-solving

Guilfords' Structure of Intellect Model

• This model distinguishes two key thinking processes for the creative process.
• Divergent thinking involves generating many different solutions, while convergent thinking focuses on choosing the best solution.
• Idea generation and idea exploration are the processes sometimes called

Creative Problem Solving Models

• Current expansions on Guilford's model provide more detail on the creative process and include the Geneplore and Campbell's Blind Variation and Selective Retention (BVSR) Theory

Mednick's Associate Theory

• This theory emphasizes the ability to make connections between remote concepts, including the capacity to produce less obvious associations between concepts, for example, to associate the word "milk" with "mustache"

Galenson's Conceptual and Experimental Creators

• This theory highlights two main types of creators: conceptual (those who start with an idea and aim to implement it) and experimental (those who continuously refine their approaches through trial and error)

Category Five: How Do We Create Together?

• This category investigates collaborative creativity and the mechanisms and implications of such activity

Early Social Creativity Research (Osborn)

• Osborn (1957) introduced brainstorming, suggesting that creative ideas can spark by bringing people together. However, his assertions are not always verified

Vygotsky's Perspective (1978).

• Inspired by sociocultural scholarship, Vygotsky's work suggests that interacting with others helps individuals to develop knowledge and skills, fostering creativity in real-world situations

John-Steiner's Collaborative Creativity Research

• This work focused on the potential for social interaction to facilitate learning and creativity in real-life, long-term collaborations
• It has been found that high-performing collaborations often involve tensions, complementarity, and emergent properties

Perspective-Taking and Reflexivity

• Research now suggests that this dynamic is a key element in fostering creativity in group interactions
• It is believed that collaboration is influenced by participants understanding different perspectives and the ability to reflect on their own position, leading to increased productivity

Drey and Colleagues' Motivated Information Processing Model

• In this model, creativity is influenced by epistemic motivation and prosocial motivation
• Different conditions, such as time constraints, open-ness to experiences, and the presence of shared identity influence collaborative activities

Creative Climate and Contextual Factors

• Factors like team and interpersonal cohesiveness are important for a creative climate
• Cultural factors influence what is considered creative

What Makes Creative Work Last?

• Four types of creative contributions preserve existing knowledge (conceptual replications, redefinitions, forward incrementations, and advance forward incrementations)

• Other types (redirections, reconstructions/redirections, integrations, and reinitiations) create changes in the domain

Conclusion

• The future of creativity research will involve continued theoretical development and empirical studies to deepen our understanding of the underlying forces involved in the creative process
• Further questions that are yet to be explored in the research include what personal, situational, and contextual factors are needed to further encourage creative thought and output and how creativity can lead to positive societal change