Creativity
Creativity is a characteristic of someone (or some process) that forms something novel and valuable. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary work, or a painting). Creativity enables people to solve problems in new or innovative ways.
For other uses, see Creativity (disambiguation).Scholarly interest in creativity is found in a number of disciplines, primarily psychology, business studies, and cognitive science. However, it is also present in education, the humanities (including philosophy and the arts), theology, and the social sciences (such as sociology, linguistics, and economics), as well as engineering, technology, and mathematics. These disciplines cover the relations between creativity and general intelligence, personality type, mental and neural processes, mental health, and artificial intelligence; the potential for fostering creativity through education, training, leadership, and organizational practices;[1] the factors that determine how creativity is evaluated and perceived;[2] the application of creative resources to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning; and the fostering of creativity for national economic benefit. According to Harvard Business School,[3] it benefits business by encouraging innovation, boosting productivity, enabling adaptability, and fostering growth.
Etymology[edit]
The English word "creativity" comes from the Latin terms creare (meaning 'to create') and facere (meaning 'to make'). Its derivational suffixes also come from Latin. The word "create" appeared in English as early as the 14th century—notably in Chaucer's The Parson's Tale[4] to indicate divine creation.[5]
The modern meaning of creativity in reference to human creation did not emerge until after the Enlightenment.
Definition[edit]
In a summary of scientific research into creativity, Michael Mumford suggests, "We seem to have reached a general agreement that creativity involves the production of novel, useful products."[6] In Robert Sternberg's words, creativity produces "something original and worthwhile".[7]
Authors have diverged dramatically in their precise definitions beyond these general commonalities: Peter Meusburger estimates that over a hundred different definitions can be found in the literature, typically elaborating on the context (field, organization, environment, etc.) that determines the originality and/or appropriateness of the created object and the processes through which it came about.[8] As an illustration, one definition given by Dr. E. Paul Torrance in the context of assessing an individual's creative ability is "a process of becoming sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying the difficulty; searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the deficiencies: testing and retesting these hypotheses and possibly modifying and retesting them; and finally communicating the results."[9]
Ignacio L. Götz, following the etymology of the word, argues that creativity is not necessarily "making". He confines it to the act of creating without thinking about the end product.[10] While many definitions of creativity seem almost synonymous with originality, he also emphasized the difference between creativity and originality. Götz asserted that one can be creative without necessarily being original. When someone creates something, they are certainly creative at that point, but they may not be original in the case that their creation is not something new. However, originality and creativity can go hand-in-hand.[10]
Creativity in general is usually distinguished from innovation in particular, where the stress is on implementation. For example, Teresa Amabile and Pratt define creativity as the production of novel and useful ideas and innovation as the implementation of creative ideas,[11] while the OECD and Eurostat state that "Innovation is more than a new idea or an invention. An innovation requires implementation, either by being put into active use or by being made available for use by other parties, firms, individuals, or organizations."[12]
There is also emotional creativity,[13] which is described as a pattern of cognitive abilities and personality traits related to originality and appropriateness in emotional experience.[14]
Personal assessment[edit]
Psychometric approaches[edit]
J. P. Guilford's group,[48] which pioneered the modern psychometric study of creativity, constructed several performance-based tests to measure creativity in 1967:
Cultural differences in creativity[edit]
Creativity is viewed differently in different countries.[192] For example, cross-cultural research centered in Hong Kong found that Westerners view creativity more in terms of the individual attributes of a creative person, such as their aesthetic taste, while Chinese people view creativity more in terms of the social influence of creative people (i.e., what they can contribute to society).[193] Mpofu et al. surveyed 28 African languages and found that 27 had no word which directly translated to "creativity" (the exception being Arabic).[194]: 465 The linguistic relativity hypothesis (i.e., that language can affect thought) suggests that the lack of an equivalent word for "creativity" may affect the views of creativity among speakers of such languages. However, more research would be needed to establish this, and there is certainly no suggestion that this linguistic difference makes people any less (or more) creative; Africa has a rich heritage of creative pursuits such as music, art, and storytelling. Nevertheless, it is true that there has been very little research on creativity in Africa,[194]: 458 and there has also been very little research on creativity in Latin America.[195] Creativity has been more thoroughly researched in the northern hemisphere, but here again there are cultural differences, even between countries or groups of countries in close proximity. For example, in Scandinavian countries, creativity is seen as an individual attitude which helps in coping with life's challenges,[196] while in Germany, creativity is seen more as a process that can be applied to help solve problems.[197]
The sociology of creativity[edit]
Creativity research for most of the twentieth century was dominated by psychology and business studies, with little work done in sociology. Since the turn of the millennium, there has been more attention paid by sociological researchers,[232][233] but it has yet to establish itself as a specific research field, with reviews of sociological research into creativity a rarity in high impact literature.[234]
While psychology has tended to focus on the individual as the locus of creativity, sociological research is directed more at the structures and context within which creative activity takes place, primarily based in sociology of culture, which finds its roots in the works of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. This has meant a focus on the cultural and creative industries as sociological phenomena. Such research has covered a variety of areas, including the economics and production of culture, the role of creative industries in development, and the rise of the "creative class".[235]
Economic views[edit]
Economic approaches to creativity have focused on three aspects – the impact of creativity on economic growth, methods of modeling markets for creativity, and the maximization of economic creativity (innovation).
In the early 20th century, Joseph Schumpeter introduced the economic theory of creative destruction to describe the way in which old ways of doing things are endogenously destroyed and replaced by the new. Some economists (such as Paul Romer) view creativity as an important element in the recombination of elements to produce new technologies and products and, consequently, economic growth. Creativity leads to capital, and creative products are protected by intellectual property laws.
Mark A. Runco and Daniel Rubenson have tried to describe a "psychoeconomic" model of creativity.[236] In such a model, creativity is the product of endowments and active investments in creativity; the costs and benefits of bringing creative activity to market determine the supply of creativity. Such an approach has been criticized for its view of creativity consumption as always having positive utility, and for the way it analyzes the value of future innovations.[237]
The creative class is seen by some to be an important driver of modern economies. In his 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, economist Richard Florida popularized the notion that regions with "3 T's of economic development: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance" also have high concentrations of creative professionals and tend to have a higher level of economic development.[238]