1

This is a typescript of an early version of Cropley, A. J. (2011). Definitions of creativity. In M. A. Runco

& S. R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (pp. 511-524). San Diego, CA: Academic
Press.

DEFINITION

Arthur J. Cropley
University of Hamburg

Summary

Although the modern definition of creativity has moved away from esthetics and discovery
towards emphasis on meeting competition, the idea of novelty is central (although not
necessarily sufficient). Also necessary are relevance and effectiveness, as well as ethicality.
Novelty is understood in different ways, and this leads to a distinction between creativity in
the sublime and in the everyday sense. Although both creativity and intelligence require
knowledge and effort, they can be distinguished from each other, and much the same can be
said about creativity and problem solving. Creativity can also be defined as a social
phenomenon that is facilitated by some social factors, inhibited by others. One important
social setting is the place of work, where an interaction between the person and the
environment affects the process of innovation. Focusing on the individual person, creativity
is defined as an aspect of thinking, as a personality constellation, and as an interaction
between thinking, personal properties and motivation. This interaction involves a number of
paradoxes, in that apparently contradictory elements have to coexist for creativity to emerge.

I. THE CHANGING UNDERSTANDING OF CREATIVITY

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Creativity is not confined to fine art, literature, performing arts, music, and similar

artistic domains, but also occurs in fields such as business, manufacturing, technology, medicine,

administration, education, even defense. Its products include tangible objects such as artworks,

books or music, as well as buildings, machines, or devices, but go beyond these to encompass

ideas, processes, services, or systems of operation, production and delivery. Creativity involves

doing these things in ways that are, on the one hand, novel and on the other, effective in achieving

a desired result. The result may range from abstract actions such as communication of a feeling,

arousal of esthetic admiration, provocation of a new way of looking at something, development of

new understandings of experience or existence, to concrete results such as the making of works of

great beauty or imagination, the design and construction of improved or novel devices, machines,

buildings or structures, improved processes or systems, more efficient operation of something,

even enhancement of profits or preservation of national security.

In relevant discussions, the term “creativity” is used in three ways: it refers to a set of

processes (e.g., “creative” thinking), a cluster of personal characteristic of people (e.g., the

“creative” personality), and to results (e.g., a “creative” product). Thus, creativity is treated as

both a cause (e.g., creative processes yield products; peoples’ creativity causes them to behave

in a certain way) and also as an effect or result (a certain kind of product resulting from person

and process). This is the “classic” 3 Ps approach (person, process and product), which was

soon expanded to incorporate a fourth P—“press” (i.e., the pressure of the environment, which

can either facilitate or block creativity). However, discussions in the modern creativity era,

which started in 1950 with the publication of J. P. Guilford’s 1949 presidential address to the

American Psychological Association, were strongly shaped by his thinking (psychometrics and

personality) and that of educators such as Paul Torrance. More conceptual discussions of

creativity came to be dominated by humanistic writers such as Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow,
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or Rollo May, who saw its value as lying in its perceived beneficial effects on personal growth,

self-actualization, and similar aspects of individual well-being. The result was that discussions

of the practical aspects of creativity came to be dominated by questions of recognizing,

measuring and fostering creative thinking in the classroom, and the purpose of fostering

creativity came to be seen as promoting personal development.

In recent years, however, discussions have once again given equal emphasis to

products, including not only artworks of all kinds (fine art, literature, dance, theater, music)

but also machines, structures, methods and processes in areas such as engineering, production,

marketing, finance, health care, agriculture, defense, and even anti-terrorism and law

enforcement. Useful practical products—especially ones that can successfully be used to solve

problems, produced, or marketed—are what governments, business and industry are

particularly interested in. This interest has been fuelled by the perceived role of creativity in

promoting health and welfare, social justice, economic advancement, social stability, and peace

and security. This way of looking at creative products has been referred to as involving

“functional” creativity, and can be contrasted with the earlier emphasis on aesthetic creativity.
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Interest in creativity is not confined to modern times. To take one example from the

ancient world, in his Ion, Plato discussed the contribution of creative people to society. Over the

centuries, painters, sculptors, poets, writers and other workers in the creative arts have frequently

discussed esthetic creativity. It has often been looked at in a spiritual way, being seen as the only

uniquely “human” characteristic, one that defines an area of experience where, for instance,

microelectronics cannot go. In this view, creative thinking is a bastion of human dignity in an age

where machines, especially computers, seem to be taking over routine skilled activities and

everyday thinking. It is also regarded as a force of nature that lies behind all growth and

development. An extension of this point of view is to see creativity as an element of mental health:

Through its perceived connection with flexibility, openness, courage and the like, properties of

personality that are themselves seen as both prerequisites for and results of a healthy personality,

creativity is thought to foster positive adjustment to life, while there is also evidence of a link

between creativity and mental illness.

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In such discussions creativity had strong esthetic connotations. However, the idea of

practically useful creativity also has a long history. The Chinese Emperor, Han Wudi, who reigned

until 87BCE, was intensely interested in finding innovative thinkers and giving them high rank in

the civil service, and reformed the method of selection of mandarins to achieve this. Both Francis

Bacon and René Descartes, two of the founders of modern science, saw scientific creativity as

involving the harnessing of the forces of nature for the betterment of the human condition.

Immediately after the “Sputnik shock” in 1957, emphasis in the USA and subsequently in other

western European countries shifted more strongly to areas like physical sciences and engineering,

and creativity began to be seen as a way of keeping up with the competition (especially with the

then Soviet Union in the space race). In more recent years, discussions of creativity have become

prominent in business, again with an emphasis on beating the competition, this time for markets

and market shares. Research in this domain focused at first on invention of new products and

production processes, for instance through studies of patent-holders. More recently there has

been considerable emphasis on creative management, especially creative leadership, innovation,

and the management of innovation, with research focusing on productivity, effectiveness and the

like. There has also recently been considerable discussion of the fostering of creativity in areas

where it would scarcely have been regarded as relevant 25 years ago—for instance in technology

education.

In educational settings, creativity is seen as a special approach to learning that involves

both “creative” teaching and also “creative” learning strategies. These strategies facilitate learning

and are simultaneously a result of appropriate teaching and learning. There is substantial evidence

that creativity-oriented teaching and learning is highly effective.

II. BASIC THEORETICAL ISSUES Convergent thinking, social approach, darkside,

morality, esthetics
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1. Is it enough simply to be different?

Shortly after the Second World War researchers in esthetics concluded that the only constant

factor in virtually all discussions of creativity is novelty. Novelty was later defined in a more

psychological way as the achieving of "surprise" in the beholder. Subsequent discussions made

the important point that surprisingness alone is not a sufficient condition for creativity. It is

possible to speak of “pseudo-creativity”, which is novel only in the sense of nonconformity,

lack of discipline, blind rejection of what already exists and simply letting oneself go. These

properties may be observed in many genuinely creative people, and thus confused with

creativity, but they are not actually part of it. It is also possible to distinguish what can be

called “quasi-creativity.” This has many of the elements of genuine creativitysuch as a high

level of fantasybut the connection with reality is tenuous. An example would be the

“creativity” of daydreams.

Genuine creativity requires a further element over and above mere novelty: A

product or response must be relevant to the issue at stake and must offer some kind of genuine

solution, i.e. it must be effective. Otherwise every farfetched, outrageous or preposterous idea

or every astonishing act of nonconformity would, by virtue of being surprising, be creative.

Thus, creativity is nowadays widely defined as the production of relevant and effective novelty.

What is meant by "effective" may also differ between, let us say, fine art and business. In the

former case, criteria such as esthetic pleasingness play an important role, in the latter perhaps

increased profit or avoidance of layoffs or even simply survival of a company. These two

aspects of effectiveness need not contradict each other, although they are often seen as

mutually exclusive: For instance, it is possible for a book to be commercially successful and at

the same time written in elegant, even beautiful language.

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The term "creativity" has highly positive connotations. It is difficult to think of the

effective and relevant novelty of new weapons of mass destruction as creative, even though

they might contain all the necessary elements discussed above. Indeed, revolutionary new ideas

can have dramatic consequences for life, human and otherwise, not necessarily of a benign kind

but conceivably malignant. Thus, in addition to being effective and relevant, creativity has an

ethical element. Nowadays this aspect has become particularly urgent in science (see for

instance discussions of cloning human beings), in business, commerce and manufacturing, and

in engineering, where the need for environmental responsibility is increasingly being stressed.

2. Is a unified definition of creativity possible?

In recent writings, a number of authors have argued that creativity can only be defined in

particular areas such as fine arts or science. In these discussions, the nature of the product is

often emphasized. Some researchers emphasize concrete products, such as a work of art, a

machine or a design, a production process or a solution method. Others emphasize more

abstract products such as new ways of thinking about an area or the production of new ways

of symbolizing it.

The role of a physical product is particularly obvious in fine art or performing arts

(where specific works or performances are judged by specialized critics as well as interested

members of the public), science (where peer judgement is of great importance), engineering,

architecture and the like (where creative work usually leads to concrete products that are

sometimes the source of public and professional controversy), or in business, where a concrete

product is the usual result of creativity. In some branches of science, in mathematics or

philosophy, novel ideas or symbol systems may well be the usual result of creativity. In this

chapter novel "products" will be understood in both senses: physical products on the one hand,
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new ways of symbolizing an area, on the other. The two kinds of product are possible in all

fields of creativity, and both may be identifiable in more or less all creative achievements,

concrete objects being more prominent or dominant in some situations, symbol systems in

others.

There is no doubt that in specific fields possession of relevant specialized knowledge

(for instance in science), ability to use special tools (e.g. sculpture), mastery of instruments

(e.g. music) or skill in specific techniques (e.g. creative writing) are important. In fact,

knowledge, special skills and techniques, and similar factors play a role in all fields of

creativity. The relative importance of particular factors is greater in some domains than in

othersknowledge is perhaps more important in science, technique in music, to take an

example. The specific contents of these elements also vary according to the particular field or

activity in question: the specific knowledge required in designing and building bridges may not

be very relevant for creative research in, let us say, botany, but both require a knowledge base.

Both mathematical creativity and creative writing require mastery of a set of abstract symbols

for representing ideas, although the two symbol systems may be quite different. Thus, there is

specificity in creativity, but a general approach is also possible.

3. Can everybody be creative?

Creativity obviously involves something new and different. However, this raises the question

for whom a product, process or idea should be new: for all of human history, for the society or

the era of the creator, or for the creator alone? Requiring that products be new in all human

history would mean that a person would not be regarded as creative if someone else

somewhere else had had the same idea at some time or other, even though the first person

knew nothing of this. On the other hand, defining creativity in terms of the point of view of the
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person in question only would mean that total ignorance would guarantee creativity, since

every idea would be new for someone who knew nothing!

A related problem is that of creativity in children. It is commonplace to refer to

children as being highly creative, despite the fact that the products of their "creative" efforts

are often crude, error laden, stereotyped or banal. However, the word "creativity" is also used

in everyday language to refer to the works of people like Michelangelo or Einstein or

Shakespeare. In other words, "creativity" has at least two meanings. The first of these is

production of products that are novel in the sense that they have only recently come into

existence, regardless of relevance and effectivenesssuch as is almost always the case with a

child's drawing on what was until a few minutes before a blank piece of paper. This form of

creativity can be contrasted with production of great works that are novel in the sense that

they are widely hailed as enlarging human perspectives in some way not previously seen in all

history. The latter involves "sublime" creativity, the former "ordinary" creativity.

Even in the case of sublime creativity it is possible to distinguish between two ways

of producing effective surprise: by means of new applications of existing principles or by

development of new principles. Some writers have contrasted "secondary" (a different

application of the already known) and "primary" creativity (development of new principles).

Other authors have distinguished between "minor" creativity (extending the known) and

"major" creativity (going beyond the known). The highest form of creativity, which may lead to

a "revolution" in an area, requires introducing a new "paradigm".

A more differentiated approach in this connection is the distinction among "levels" of

creativity: "Expressive spontaneity" requires only the free production of ideas, without regard

to their effectiveness or relevance. Expressive spontaneity has a role in some creativity training

procedures such as brainstorming, and may well be helpful in the production of novelty, but
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may often lead to pseudo or quasicreativity and is not sufficient by itself for sublime creativity.

"Technical creativity" requires unusually high levels of technical skill, for instance with words

or paints or a musical instrument or other tools. Obviously extremely important in some

creative activities (such as painting or playing music), technical skill is not sufficient as a

universal definition of creativity. "Inventive creativity" involves applying the already known in

new ways, "innovative creativity" requires expanding known principles, while "emergent

creativity" encompasses the development of new principles. Although some children produce

"sublime" creativity, this is not the general rule. However, many children show expressive

spontaneity, despite lack of knowledge of a field or absence of skill with tools or special

techniques. In this sense such children can be said to display creativity, but only at a humble

level.

The distinction among levels and kinds of creativity can also be applied to

discussions of creativity in adults. About 25 years ago the idea of creativity in the person who

will never achieve anything creative was introduced into the discussion. More recently, there

has been a considerable amount of research on "everyday" creativity. Although they may not

produce innovative or emergent creativity, a high proportion of adults engage in the production

of (at least for them) new ideas or products, for instance in the course of "creative" hobbies.

Thus, it is possible, in the sense of everyday creativity, to speak of creativity as a widely

distributed characteristic seen in large numbers of people, although to a greater or lesser

degree in different people.

4. Can creativity occur by chance?

Although early studies of creativity supported the view that it frequently results from sudden

bursts of inspiration, opinion is divided among contemporary researchers. In relevant case

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studies, many acknowledged creators have described the way in which their "inventive",

"innovative" or "emergent" creativity appeared without effort on their part: The mathematician

Poincaré, for instance, reported that he received his novel equations in a dream, while A. E.

Houseman described how the lines of his poems simply appeared in his head. Mozart reported

that he never revised his work, but wrote down complete music that occurred to him in its final

form. This has encouraged the idea that creativity and hard work are irreconcilable, and has led

to conclusions such as that simply relaxing or letting ideas flow will lead to creativity.

However, interpreters of Poincare's memoirs fail to mention that he had been working on his

problem for many years and that he possessed a vast amount of relevant knowledge

accumulated by hard work. Houseman's descriptions of his effortless production of poetry go

on to recount how after the first free flow of six or eight lines the next one or two took hours

to emerge, and Mozart's account is inconsistent with the fact that corrected early versions of

his music have been found.

In fact, a number of researchers have confirmed the role of systematic hard work in creativity:

In general, an "apprenticeship" of 10-15 years seems to be necessary for acquiring the

necessary fund of knowledge and skills, even in the case of famous youthful prodigies such as

Mozart, who, it is true, produced creative music in his teens, but started his interaction with

music by playing at the age of four! It seems to be appropriate to adopt an adapted version of

Edison's saying, replacing his word "genius" with "creativity": "Creativity is 1% inspiration,

99% perspiration!"

A related question is whether creativity can result from chance or luck. There are

many examples of apparently lucky combinations of events that led to acknowledged creative

solutions: for instance Pasteur, Fleming, Roentgen, Becquerel, Edison himself, Galvani and

Nobel all described chance events that led to breakthroughs. Just what is meant by chance can
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be divided into four sets of circumstances: blind chance (the individual creator plays no role

except that of being there at the relevant moment; serendipity (a person active in a field hits

upon something novel and effective without actually looking for it); the luck of the diligent (a

hardworking person eventually stumbles onto something); self-induced luck (special

qualifications of a personsuch as knowledge, close attention to detail or willingness to work

long hourscreate the circumstances for a lucky breakthrough). Case studies suggest that

genuinely creative results require a combination of all four kinds of luck, which raises the

question of whether it is a matter of luck at all!

5. What is the role of knowledge in creativity?

Some writers have argued that creativity need not require effort or specialized knowledge.

However, the importance of knowledge of the field for achieving effective surprise is now

widely accepted. Land, the inventor of the Polaroid camera, rejected the idea of sudden

inspiration or chance discoveries in explaining his own achievement of effective novelty. He

argued that he had had a purposethe invention of a camera that developed its own pictures on

the spotand that all the necessary knowledge already existed. His achievement was to

assemble this knowledge and work his way through it to the almost inevitable result, the

polaroid camera.

Without questioning the importance of familiarity with a field, recent research has

looked at the problem that, although working successfully in a field over a long period of time

(i.e. becoming an expert) can provide a knowledge base that can be manipulated to yield

effective novelty, it can also produce a kind of tunnel vision that narrows thinking and restricts

it to the conventional. In the absence of appropriate personal properties such as "openness to

the spark of inspiration", flexibility, or courage to try the new, great expertise can inhibit the
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production of novelty. In order to achieve effective surprise experts need to be capable of

seeing the contents of their field in a fresh light. Creative experts often show a freshness and

openness that is more typical of beginners: This has been referred to as the "novice effect". I

once attended a lecture by the then 70 year old Nobel Prize winner Hans Selye, who

apologized for being in plaster from his toes to his hiphe had fallen out of a tree a few days

before after he saw something that seemed odd and interesting in the tree and climbed it in

order to have a better look!

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6. What is the relationship of creativity to intelligence?

Conventional intelligence is heavily dependent on recognizing, recalling and reapplying, and

requires among other things substantial knowledge of facts, effective acquisition of new facts,

rapid access to the contents of memory, accuracy in finding the best answer to factual

questions, and logical application of the already known. Creativity, on the other hand, requires

production of novelty: i.e. departure from the facts, finding new ways, inventing answers,

seeing unexpected solutions. The initial position adopted in the 1950s and 60s by psychologists

was that creativity and intelligence are thus separate, more or less competing or even mutually

exclusive dimensions of intellect. However, later theory has emphasized that the two overlap

or interact. Some writers have referred to this interaction as involving "true" intellectual

giftedness, with neither intelligence alone nor creativity leading to the production of effective

novelty. In studies of achievement at school or university level, for instance, it has been shown

that, by and large, those students are most successful who display both creativity and

intelligence. Recent research on practical creativity has shown that engineers rated as

"creative" displayed a combination of characteristics. One conceptualization of the interaction

was to see creativity as a way of applying intelligence or of organizing ideas, the difference

between the two being that they are thinking styles or tactics.

An early conceptualization of the way creativity and intelligence interact was the

threshold model, according to which a minimum level of intelligence is necessary before

creativity is possible. A slight extension is the idea that, as intelligence approaches this

threshold (corresponding to an IQ of perhaps 130) from below, the possibility of creativity

rises (i.e., creativity and IQ are positively correlated below the threshold). When intelligence

lies above the threshold, increases in intelligence have no consequences for creativity (i.e., IQ
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and creativity are uncorrelated once intelligence is high enough). This view has been expanded

somewhat by the idea of a "one way" relationship between creativity and intelligence.

Intelligence determines the upper limits of a person's ability to obtain and store information,

without actually being itself part of creativity. The degree of creativity depends upon the

amount of divergency displayed in the processing of the information made available by

intelligence. An approach even more clearly oriented towards information processing is the

idea that intelligence involves channel capacity, with creativity being the result of flexible and

versatile handling of information delivered by the channel, lack of creativity resulting from

conventional use of this information.

One approach has involved identifying six "facets" of creativity: knowledge, insight,

intrinsic motivation, the courage of one's convictions, special personal factors such as flexibility

and willingness to take risks, and relevance. These facets overlap partially with facets of

intelligence. Knowledge is closely linked with it and is indispensible for a high IQ. Insight

involves particularly effective selection of information and may be favorable for high

intelligence, but is probably not absolutely necessary to obtain a high IQ. Intrinsic motivation is

favourable for the acquisition of knowledge, but it is possible to operate rapidly, accurately,

and logically without it. Flexibility and risk taking may even detract from performance on an

intelligence test. Summing up, it can be said that creativity and intelligence are neither identical

nor completely different, but are interacting aspects of intellectual ability. The achieving of

effective surprise, especially in practical settings, requires both. It is important to bear in mind,

however, that creativity is not merely a matter of cognitive process such as knowing, thinking,

recognizing remembering or puzzling out, but that it also involves factors such as motivation,

personal properties and feelings (see also section IV).

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7. What is the relationship of creativity to problem solving?

The term "problem solving" has a special meaning in current research and theory, especially in

psychology, and has its own research tradition separate from creativity research. It is often

discussed in cognitive terms or as a special form of information processing. In conventional

problem solving research the person solving the problem knows that it exists and understands

the nature of the problem, intends to solve it, possesses special knowledge, some or all of

which is required to solve the problem, and knows what form the solution will take. Creativity

researchers, however, distinguish between problem solving and creative problem solving. The

latter is required when one or more of the elements just mentioned (knowledge of the problem,

of the means of solution and of the nature of the solution) is missing. In other words, creativity

can be involved in problem solving but is not always necessary, while not all problem solutions

are creative.

One way of showing the role of creativity in problem solving is to divide problems

according to (a) their degree of definition; (b) the degree of familiarity of the means for solving

them; (c) the clarity of the criteria for recognizing solutions. Clearly defined problems that are

solvable by means of standard techniques and for which there are obvious and well known

criteria identifying the solution constitute "routine" problems. They can often be solved

without the help of creativity, although when existing knowledge is applied in settings where it

has previously been treated as irrelevant, a certain "technical" or "inventive" creativity occurs.

Nonetheless, creativity is not absolutely necessary, and is probably not usual. By contrast,

some ill defined problems require, in the first instance, becoming aware that there is a problem

at all and finding a way of defining it, secondly working out techniques for solving the
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problem, and thirdly development of criteria for recognizing a solution. Such "complex" or

"intractible" problems demand a high level of creativity.

Routine problems may inhibit the production of novelty (see also earlier discussions

of high expertise and creativity). It is also conceivable that the reverse could occur: Creativity

could inhibit the solving of routine problems, for instance by making them fuzzy and thus

blocking the emergence of a simple solution. In the case of intractible problems, on the other

hand, creativity may be necessary: Creativity researchers speak of "problem awareness",

"problem recognition" and the process of "problem finding" or "problem definition", which

they see as major elements of creativity. It is possible to distinguish between seeing problems

that are already evident in the present organization of available information and are obvious to

any qualified observer, discovering hidden problems as a result of an intensive analysis of a

situation, and inventing problems that are only apparent after the available information has

been reorganized according to novel principles. A number of researchers see the finding of

"good" problems as the vital step in creativity.

The question also arises, whether creativity always involves solving problems. If

"product" is understood broadly enough, effective novelty could be argued always to lead to a

product, even if this is in the form of an idea or the act of transfering a procedure to an

unfamiliar setting. It is also possible to define "problem" very broadly, for instance the problem

of communicating a poet's sense of awe to readers or the problem of capturing the beauty of a

sunset on canvas. Using such broad definitions, it could be argued that creativity always

involves a product that solves a problem. However, conventional problem solving research in

psychology understands "problem" and "solution" in a much more concrete way.

III. CREATIVITY AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON

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1. The social rules

Creativity requires doing things differently from the way they are usually done, or even defying

the norms of society, what some writers have called. "contrarianism" (although they were

writing about giftedness in general, and not specifically creativity). In a certain sense, creative

people defy the rules, even those who do not call attention to themselves through antisocial

behavior. Thus, creativity can be seen as a "failure" to conform to the norms of society.

In principle, all people are capable of a wide range of responses to life situations, but

in the process of growing up they learn that most of these are forbidden, and usually restrict

their responses to a narrow range of socially tolerated behaviors. This has the advantage that

life becomes predictable, since it is more or less known what can be expected in everyday

situations, but the disadvantage is that unusual, unexpected reactions are discouraged and

become rare. There are even rules about which opinions are correct, indeed about the right

way of thinking and the contents of correct thought. Societies are prepared to tolerate the

breaking of the rules to a certain degree, which rules can be broken or how large a deviation is

accepted varying from society to society and from time to time, as well as according to the

age, social position, occupation, and other characteristics of the individual doing the rule

breaking. For instance, the North American society would tolerate deviations from the norms

for behavior at a wedding by a 21 year old art student that would not be tolerated from the

local bank manager. In general, there are rules about breaking the rules. People publicly

acclaimed as creative break these rules, but succeed in staying within acceptable limits. If they

do not, they are likely to be regarded as eccentric, immoral, mentally disturbed or criminal

rather than creative, with the possibility of being criticized, shunned or even locked away.
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Research indicates that some people may function as facilitators of creativity by

energizing, activating or releasing it in others, without necessarily producing effective novelty

themselves. Such creativity facilitators can be humble and unsung people, such as a grade

school teacher. In mature workers, such as scientists, working in a team may provide contact

with facilitators. An important function of such people is to offer creative individuals a safe

space where they can break the rules without sanctions, as well as to offer them a positive

perspective on themselves, for instance the view that their ideas are not crazy but creative. This

recognition can help to foster the courage to deviate from what everyone else is doing, among

other things by offering an opportunity to test the limits of the acceptable without risk or

feelings of guilt. The groups of which a person is a member, either intimate groups such as the

family, more public groups such as playmates or friends, or more or less formally defined

groups such as experts/critics, colleagues, or employers can also foster creativity by offering a

social environment marked by recognition and encouragement (or, of course, hinder or block it

by withholding such positive feedback). Some researchers regard exposure to a congenial

environment as the crucial factor in the emergence of creativity.

2. Sociocultural validation

Science, Art and indeed all fields of creativity are themselves subsystems 

esthetic/professional and also social  to which the points just raised can also be applied. A

creative product must not only be novel, but must also be communicated to other people and,

most important in the present context, be accepted or at least tolerated by them. This

acceptance involves "sociocultural validation" of a product, without which it is not creative in

the esthetic/professional sense: Without sociocultural validation it is not possible to speak of

"creativity", but only of the "production of variability". Some theorists have argued that
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"creativity" is not really a property of products or processes at all, but that it is a category of

judgment in the minds of observers, often acknowledged experts or specialists. In some areas

the rules for applying the label "creative" are well established, with the result that there is a

high level of agreement not only among judges, but also between experts and ordinary

members of the public. In other areas, however, there is less agreement, with the result that

there are often controversies, for instance over the quality of a painting, a book or a piece of

music. This approach not only places great emphasis on communication, but it also emphasizes

the final step in the emergence of a creative product: the phase of Validation by the

surrounding society.

The sociocultural validation of products does not occur in an economic/political

vacuum. It is striking that research has shown that there is a relationship between the

economic/political situation of a society and the contents of the relevant and effective novelty

created in that society: After an economic depression, there may be a burst of, let us say,

literary creativity, after a successful war (if any war is ever "successful") creativity in the

performing arts, after an unsuccessful war in business and industry, and so on.

3. The organizational environment

In business and industry, the emphasis is frequently on innovation, rather than creativity. The

difference is that innovation requires not only creating novelty, but also putting it into concrete

practice in a particular setting: Thus, in a certain sense, creativity can be seen as a prerequisite

for innovation or as encompassing a stage or phase of innovation. Several definitional

problems are easy to solve in the framework of innovation, for instance the question for whom

novelty should be surprising, relevant and effective, or the issue of chance: Innovation requires

the deliberate introduction of ideas, products, production and marketing processes and the like
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that are novel for a work group or an organisation into which they are introduced.

Effectiveness is also, at least in theory, easy to judge: production rises, sales improve, costs

sink, absenteeism or staff turnover falls, or accidents in the workplace occur less frequently, to

give some concrete examples.

Innovation can also be seen as a process having two phases. In the initial ideational

phase ideas emerge that are new for the setting in which they occur. These ideas can be novel

in an absolute sense (i.e., involving "innovative" or "emergent" creativity), but they need not

be: For instance, a manager could make suggestions based on standard practice at a former

place of work, novel only in the new workplace. Applying the already known in a new setting

constitutes a creative act ("inventive creativity"), but only involves "minor" or "secondary"

creativity. After this ideational phase comes the behavioral phase, in which the novel idea is

put into practice. Creativity can occur without the behavioral phase, but this phase is essential

for innovation.

Of great importance in innovation is the fact that novel ideas have to be inserted into

an existing context (a business, a production process, a management team, etc). The "context"

is usually referred to in the relevant research literature as the organisation. The process of

insertion seems to occur in steps or phases, described in, for instance, the five phase model

involving "agenda setting" (the problem is defined and possible solutions considered),

"matching" (the suitability of possible solutions is considered), "redefining/restructuring" (the

innovation is adapted to the specific situation of the organisation or the organisation adapts

itself), "clarifying" (the organisation grasps what the innovation is all about), and "routinizing"

(the innovation becomes part of the daily life of the organisation).

Researchers have described aspects of the organisation that facilitate or block

innovative behavior, and these bear a strong similarity to the properties of the "congenial
 22

environment" described by creativity researchers. Among these factors are freedom to make

decisions, support from colleagues with whom one directly works, and facilitating attitudes or

other factors (e.g. leadership style) of superiors. Inhibiting factors include negative aspects of

the organisational climate, negative attitudes and leadership style of superiors, and inhibiting

structure of command. In the case of the individual person, innovation often demands

acquisition of new skills, on the one hand, cognitive reorganization on the other (changes in

thinking strategies, in the organization of knowledge, or in ways of evaluating work activities).

These can lead to a conflict of values with resultant uncertainty or anxiety, and may have

consequences for the self-concept. As a result, personal characteristics of the individual such as

openness for the new, willingness to take risks, and flexibility interact with the characteristics

of the organization to facilitate or inhibit innovation and to moderate its psychological

consequences.

IV. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF CREATIVITY

Researchers in the 1960s established the three Ps approach in psychological research on

creativity. It involves (a) novel products such as objects, machines, works of art, ideas,

solutions to problems, industrial or production processes, and the like; (b) psychological

processes such as fantasizing, diverging from the customary, or inventing, that lead to novel

products; or (c) personal properties of the person that permit or even promote the production

of novelty, including openness for the new, and self-concept as innovator. This latter dimension

can be expanded to include (d) motivation such as willingness to take risks and drive to find

new approaches.
 23

Although products are of great interest to artists and business people, they present

serious problems for a psychological discussion. Artistic products are often the subject of great

controversy, with serious differences of opinion about their degree of novelty and especially

their effectiveness: criteria vary from beholder to beholder (for instance art, literature or

theatre critics) and from epoch to epoch. The perceived creativity of paintings has been shown

by researchers to vary according to the audience's beliefs about the identity of the painter or

the amount of time they believed was expended on completing the work. The psychological

discussion has, as a result, concentrated on process, person and social environment.

1. Thinking processes

The decisive event in modern psychological analyses of creativity was the acceptance speech in

1950 of theat that timenew President of the American Psychological Association, J. P

Guilford. In a nutshell, he complained that existing concepts of intelligence visualized it as the

finding of single correct answers to circumscribed problems. By contrast, he argued that

intellectual power could also be applied to the finding of substantial numbers of new, original

and unexpected answers, quite possibly to loosely defined problems. He referred to process as

a special kind of thinking, which he labelled "divergent". Guilford's original paper had the title

"creativity", and the equating of creativity with divergent thinking quickly established itself,

especially after the Sputnik shock already mentioned.

Other researchers have also concentrated on thinking processes as the basis for

creativity. A well known popular scientific approach emphasized "lateral" thinking. Other

concepts are "janusian" thinking (named after the Roman god Janus, who could look

backwards and forwards at the same time), "homospatial" thinking (ideas from different

domains are brought together in the same space), "biphasic" thinking (in the first phase
 24

uninhibited combinations of ideas, which are then organized and sorted out in the second

phase, for instance according to social acceptability,), and "tertiary" thinking (in the

psychoanalytic sense, primary process and secondary process thinking are combined).

Associational theories emphasize the process of linking ideas. The theory of "remote

associates" is based on the observation that, in the course of their experiences, people learn a

number of responses to a particular stimulus. Some of the stimulusresponse associations

occur frequently, others seldom. As a result, people learn a hierarchy of associations. Pairings

that occurred frequently in the past stand high in the hierarchy, and have a higher probablity of

being chosen when the stimulus occurs again than associations which occurrred infrequently in

the past. These less likely associations are "remote" and the person who makes them produces

unusual or unexpected ideas. A similar approach is seen in the theory of "bisociation", which

assumes that ideas occur in "matrices" or fields. Normally, ideas from the same field are

combined in a process of association. However, some people combine ideas from separate

matrices in a process of bisociation which, by virtue of the fact that the ideas are not normally

found together, means that the combination is surprising.

2. Personality

A number of writers have emphasized the importance of personality in creativity, some even

arguing that creativity may have little to do with cognitive processes at all, and may be the

result of a special personality constellation. Reviews of the relevant research typically list

characteristics such as flexibility, sensitiveness, autonomy and ego strength. Recent analyses of

earlier research, however, suggest that the relationship between creativity and personality is by

no means simple and straightforward. It is not possible to identify a certain kind of personality

profile that is typical of the creative, regardless of their field, and also distinguishes the creative
 25

from the noncreative. A recent study emphasized the importance of a "complex" personality

that combines, among others, sensitivity with toughness or high intelligence with naivité.

Striking in the discussion of this point is that the personality characteristics regarded as

important for creativity sometimes seem to be contradictory: for instance, the creative

personality seems to be simultaneously stereotypically "masculine" (autonomy, self-confidence,

toughness) and yet stereotypically "feminine" (sensitive, intuitive, responsible). According to

one study, creativity requires possession of a "paradoxical" personality characterized by seven

polarities: openness combined with drive to close incomplete gestalts; acceptance of fantasy

combined with maintenance of a strong sense of reality; critical and destructive attitudes

together with constructive problem solving; cool neutrality combined with passionate

engagement; self-centeredness coexisting with altruism; self-criticism and self-doubt together

with self-confidence; tension and concentration side by side with relaxedness.

3. Motivation

The creation of novelty requires not only appropriate thinking and personality, but also the

desire or at least the readiness to diverge, take risks, defy conventional opinion, or expose

oneself to the possibility of being wrong: In other words, appropriate motivation. A position

that is widely accepted in recent writing is that creativity is based on intrinsic motivation, the

wish to carry out an activity for the sake of the activity itself, and not in the hope of obtaining

external rewards. This latter form of motivation (seeking of external rewards) is referred to as

"extrinsic". Extrinsic motivation may inhibit creativity or even be fatal to it. It is extremely

seductive, and once people have been exposed to it they are in danger of shaping their

behavior, and even their thinking, into forms that lead to external rewards, such as personal

recognition by peers, colleagues or superiors, praise, promotion or fame.

 26

According to the "triad" model, there are five classes of creativity motive:

Instrumental motives, playful motives, intrinsic motives, control motives and expressive

motives. In contrast to the emphasis on intrinsic motivation, this approach argues that

creativity can be a means to an end, for example a person might write a book in the hope of

making money. Motives interact or change with time. To take an example, a person might

begin to write novels in order to earn moneyinstrumental or extrinsic motivationbut might

become aware in the course of writing of the feeling of having an important message that must

be expressed regardless of the consequences (expressive or intrinsic motivation). At a

particular time a creative person may be dominated by extrinsic, at another by intrinsic

motivation. Such "individual structures of motivation" are capable of changing with time, so

that a given person might at one point be more extrinsically motivated, at another more

intrinsically. The idea of a dynamically changing structure of creativity motivation is supported

by the "evolving systems" approach, according to which a creative product emerges as the

result of a long process of development of knowledge, emotions and feelings, and goals.

4. Creativity and madness

The ideas that there is a connection between creativity and madness is one of the oldest issues

in modern psychology, and was already a subject of empirical investigation a good 100 years

ago. Contemporary research has adopted two approaches, either studying acknowledged

creative people to see if they are more frequently mentally disturbed than chance would

predict, or working with people already regarded as mentally ill or at least "eccentric" in order

to see if they show more creativity than the general population. Studies in Britain, where being

eccentric is accepted without great stigma, have shown that many eccentrics hold patents,

some of them several. At a more theoretical level, it has been shown that there are some
 27

similarities in schizophrenic and creative thinking (i.e. cognitive similarities), schizophrenics

making, for instance, more remote associations and thinking more divergently. However,

schizophrenic thinking does not favor production of effective novelty, despite its divergent

nature. Schizophrenics are frightened by their own unusual ideation, whereas creative people

are positively motivated by it.

It has also been shown that mood disturbances are much more common among

acknowledged creative people than in the general public. However, the connection between

mood disturbance and creativity does not seem to involve a direct causal relationship. Instead,

both mood disturbance and creativity seem to be related to emotional lability and greater

sensitivity to external stimuli or internal mood fluctuations, thus producing an apparent causal

relationship. Mood states such as manic disorders could also reduce fear of embarrassing

oneself or promote self-confidence, once again creating an erroneous impression that the manic

disorder causes the creativity. Generally, the position of clinically oriented researchers on

creativity is that it requires a high level of mental health, or even that creativity promotes

mental health.

V. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PARADOX OF CREATIVITY

The "classical" description of the emergence of creative products is the phase model, which

was first introduced into creativity research about 75 years ago. In early research four phases

or stages were distinguished: In the first, referred to as the phase of Information, a person

becomes thoroughly familiar with a content area. In the Incubation phase the person "churns"

through the information obtained in the previous phase until a solution appears; this marks the

phase of Illumination. The solution may seem to the person in question suddenly to have

appeared from nowhere, because its emergence into consciousness may come all at once, thus
 28

creating the subjective feeling of creativity without perspiration. This would explain why some

creative people (see above) overlook the phases of information and incubation in describing

their own creativity. Finally comes the phase of Verification, in which the person tests the

solution thrown up in the phases of incubation and illumination.

There is disagreement among more recent theorists and researchers about whether

incubation processes are chaotic and more or less random, with a solution popping up out of

the seething cauldron of ideas and being recognized or not, according to the ability of the

person in question to recognize that a solution is at hand or the openness of this person for

new solutions, or whether it follows strict rules, for instance running through all logical

possibilities until an answer is found. Recently, it has been recognized that the latter would

involve vast numbers of "empty trials", and would be extremely inefficient. Some writers have

argued that the process must be shortened either by means of intuition, a sensing that certain

approaches offer more promise than others, or via metacognitive processes (for instance, rules

showing how to recognize that some lines of attack are dead ends, criteria for evaluating the

usefulness of what has been achieved to date, strategies for generating promising new

approaches).

Empirical studies of the process of creation in people actually engaged on producing

something new, as well as retrospective studies in which acknowledged creators described how

they obtained new ideas, have cast doubt on the validity of the phase model. Nonetheless, it

offers a helpful way of disentangling a number of issues in the definition of creativity. For this

reason, it will be retained here as an aid to the present theoretical discussion. Figure 1 (see next

page) shows an expanded phase model incorporating the additional phases Communication

and Validation. This figure is reprinted from Runco, M. (Ed.). (1997). Handbook of Creativity

(p. 100). Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ.

 29

STAGE PROCESS CONTENTS FEELING

Perception, Manysided experience Interest,

Information Remembering, with the external world Curiosity
Learning etc.

Convergent thinking
Rich fund of
Prerequisite : Determination,
Incubation information,
motivation, problem Fascination
impressions, etc.
finding skill

Large and comple x set

Illumination Divergent thinking Excitement
of cognitive elements
Prerequisite :
in addition to the
prerequisites mentioned
above, openness,
tolerance for ambiguity,
willingness to take risks

Evaluation of
configurations for
novelty Satisfaction,
Verification Prerequisite : Novel configuration(s)
Pride in oneself
those above, knowledge
of the field, familiarity
with norms and
conventions

Communication Making results of the Verifie d novel Anticipation

steps liste d above configurations(s) -
available to others "Solution"
especial y experts
Prerequisite :
those above, plus
maste ry of a form and of
communication,
willingness to risk being
laughed at, etc .

Validation Socie tal evaluation A visible, Hope

Crite ria : communicable
effectiviness, relevance product

A societally
Elation
acclaimed product

Fig. 1. The psychological elements involved in achieving a creative product

The figure goes beyond a depiction of the phases of creativity to show how different

psychological factors (see Section IV) are of particular importance in the emergence of a creative
 30

product in different phases of the production process. In each phase (see left hand column), core

psychological processes (second column) are applied to the results of the previous phase (third

column), to produce the material for the next phase. The psychological processes are made

possible or at least facilitated by factors such as motivation, openness for the new or willingness

to take risks. The total process is accompanied in its various phases by feelings such as

fascination, pride or satisfaction.

Figure 1 depicts a successful process of creation which culminates in a socially validated

product. In practice, the process can be broken off earlier, for instance when evaluation of the

product to date indicates that it is a failure. The creative process can also start part way through,

for instance when a person returns to an earlier novel configuration to verify it. It can also

function as a kind of spiral; for example new information could make it possible to verify a novel

configuration that had earlier been rejected.

An expanded phase model is helpful in sorting out one aspect of creativity that has already

been touched upon without being made explicit: The definition of creativity involves reconciling

apparently mutually contradictory positionsdefining creativity involves a number of

"paradoxes". Among these are the following: (a) Creativity involves difference from the everyday,

but is found in everybody; (b) novelty, the single essential element in creativity, is necessary but

not sufficient to define it; (c) creativity is not the same as intelligence, but it is also not completely

different; (d) creative production requires deep knowledge, but freedom from its constraints; (e)

creativity implies bringing something new into existence, but can be studied without reference to

products; (f) creativity requires deviating from social norms, but doing this in a way that the

society can tolerate (g) creativity requires combining contradictory personality characteristics; (h)

opposite kinds of motivation can lead to creativity. The phase model suggests that the paradoxical

combinations occur in different phases of the process of production of novelty: For instance,

convergent thinking might dominate in the phase of Preparation, divergent thinking in that of
 31

Illumination, modesty in the phase of Verification, self-confidence during Communication. Thus,

the paradox of creativity may not be the problem it appears to be.

References

Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in Context. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention.

Harper Collins, New York.

Gardner, H. (1995). Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership. Basic Books, New York.

Eysenck, H. J. (1995). Genius: The Natural History of Creativity. Cambridge University Press,

New York.

Glover, J. A., Ronning, R: R: & Reynolds, C. R. (1989). Handbook of Creativity. Plenum Press,

New York.

Runco, M. A. (Ed.). (1991). Theories of Creativity. Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

Simonton, D. K. (1994). Greatness: Who makes History and Why. Guilford, New York.

Sternberg, R. J. & Lubart, T. I. (1995). Defying the crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of

Conformity.