View source for Creativity

{{Short description|Forming something new and somehow valuable}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
[[File:Crystal Clear app ktip.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|alt=graphic of a lightbulb|A picture of an [[incandescent light bulb]], a symbol associated with the formation of an [[idea]], an example of creativity]]

'''Creativity''' is the ability to form novel and valuable [[idea]]s or works using one's [[imagination]]. Products of creativity may be intangible (e.g. an idea, [[scientific theory]], [[Literature|literary work]], [[musical composition]], or [[joke]]), or a physical object (e.g. an [[invention]], dish or meal, piece of [[Jewellery|jewelry]], [[costume]], a [[painting]]).

Creativity may also describe the ability to find [[Creative problem-solving|new solutions to problems]], or new methods to accomplish a goal. Therefore, creativity enables people to [[Solves problem|solve problems]] in new ways.

Most ancient cultures (including [[Ancient Greece]], [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]], and [[Outline of ancient India|Ancient India]]) lacked the concept of creativity, seeing art as a form of [[Discovery (observation)|discovery]] rather than a form of creation. In the [[Judeo-Christian tradition|Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition]], creativity is seen as the sole province of God, and human creativity was considered an expression of God's work; the modern conception of creativity came about during the [[Renaissance]], influenced by [[Humanism|humanist]] ideas.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}{{Clarification needed|reason=It is unclear what is meant by creativity in this context.|date=November 2024}}

Scholarly interest in creativity is found in a number of disciplines, primarily [[psychology]], [[business studies]], and [[cognitive science]]. It is also present in education and the [[humanities]] (including [[philosophy]] and [[the arts]]).

== Etymology ==
The English word "creativity" comes from the [[Latin]] terms {{lang|la|creare}} (meaning "to create"). Its [[Morphological derivation|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]]<ref name=":18">"And eke Job saith, that in hell is no order of rule. And albeit that God hath '''created''' all things in the right order, and nothing without order, but all things be ordered and numbered, yet nevertheless they that be damned be not in order, nor hold no order."</ref> to indicate divine creation.<ref name="RuncoAlbert">{{cite book|author-last1=Runco|author-first1=Mark A.|title=The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity|year=2010|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-73025-9|author-last2=Albert|author-first2= Robert S.|editor-link1=James C. Kaufman|editor-first1=James C.|editor-last1=Kaufman|editor-first2=Robert J. |editor-last2=Sternberg|chapter=Creativity Research|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehandboo0000unse_x7r7}}</ref> The modern meaning of creativity in reference to human creation did not emerge until after the [[Age of Enlightenment]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

== Definition ==
In a summary of scientific research into creativity, psychology professor Michael Mumford wrote, "We seem to have reached a general agreement that creativity involves the production of [[originality|novel]], useful products."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mumford | first1 = M.D. | year = 2003 | title = Where have we been, where are we going? Taking stock in creativity research | journal = [[Creativity Research Journal]] | volume = 15 | issue = 2–3| page = 110 | doi=10.1080/10400419.2003.9651403| s2cid = 218546467 }}</ref> In psychologist [[Robert Sternberg]]'s words, creativity produces "something original and worthwhile".<ref name="Sternberg Cognitive Psychology 2011">{{cite book|last1=Sternberg|first1=Robert J.|last2=Sternberg|first2=Karin|title=Cognitive Psychology|url=https://archive.org/details/cognitivepsychol00ster_511|url-access=limited|year=2011|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-133-38701-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cognitivepsychol00ster_511/page/n510 479]–483|edition=6|chapter=Creativity}}</ref>

Authors have diverged dramatically in their precise definitions beyond these general commonalities: social geographer Peter Meusburger estimated that over a hundred different definitions can be found in literature.<ref name="Meusburger1">{{cite book|last=Meusburger|first=Peter|title=Milieus of Creativity: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Spatiality of Creativity|year=2009|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4020-9876-5 |editor-last1=Meusburger|editor-first1=P. |editor-last2=Funke|editor-first2=J. |editor-last3=Wunder|editor-first3= E.|chapter=Milieus of Creativity: The Role of Places, Environments and Spatial Contexts}}</ref> One definition given by [[Ellis Paul Torrance|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."<ref name="Torrance Test Manual Verbal">{{cite book|last1=Torrance|first1=E. Paul|title=The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Norms-Technical Manual |edition=Research|publisher=Personnel Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|page=6|chapter=Verbal Tests. Forms A and B-Figural Tests, Forms A and B.}}</ref>

Philosophy professor Ignacio L. Götz, following the etymology of the word, argued that creativity is not necessarily "making". He confined it to the act of creating without thinking about the end product.<ref name=":16">{{cite journal | last=Götz | first=Ignacio L. | title=On Defining Creativity | journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism | publisher=JSTOR | volume=39 | issue=3 | year=1981 | issn=0021-8529 | doi=10.2307/430164 | pages=297–301| jstor=430164 | s2cid=192221761 }}</ref> While many definitions of creativity seem almost synonymous with originality, Götz 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 sense that their creation is not something new. However, originality and creativity can go hand-in-hand.<ref name=":16" />

Creativity in general is usually distinguished from [[innovation]] in particular, where the emphasis is on implementation. Academics and authors [[Teresa Amabile]] and Michael Pratt defined creativity as the production of novel and useful ideas and innovation as the implementation of creative ideas,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amabile |first1=Teresa M. |last2=Pratt |first2=Michael G. |title=The dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation in organizations: Making progress, making meaning |journal=Research in Organizational Behavior |year=2016 |volume=36 |pages=157–183 |doi=10.1016/j.riob.2016.10.001|s2cid=44444992 }}</ref> while the [[OECD]] and [[Eurostat]] stated 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."<ref>{{cite book |title=Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation (Oslo Manual 2018) |series=The Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities |year=2018 |publisher=OECD/Eurostat |location=Paris/Luxembourg |page=44 |edition=4th |url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/oslo-manual-2018_9789264304604-en|doi=10.1787/24132764|isbn=978-92-64-30455-0 |issn=2413-2764}}</ref> Therefore, while creativity involves generating new ideas, innovation is about transforming those ideas into tangible outcomes that have practical applications. The distinction is critical because creativity without implementation remains an idea, whereas innovation leads to real-world impact.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) |url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_435 |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of Civil Society |date=2010 |location=Berlin/Heidelberg |publisher=Springer-Verlag |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_435 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-01-02 |last1=Smith |first1=David Horton |last2=Matheson |first2=Thornton |last3=Chavaren |first3=Olivier |last4=Kuti |first4=Éva |last5=Sacharko |first5=Jan |last6=Amitsis |first6=Gabriel |last7=Biggers |first7=Christopher S. |last8=Helmig |first8=Bernd |last9=Spraul |first9=Katharina |last10=Michalski |first10=Silke |last11=Van Opstal |first11=Wim |last12=Real |first12=Carlos Cordourier |pages=1112–1114 |isbn=978-0-387-93994-0 }}</ref>

There is also emotional creativity,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Averill|first=James R.|date=February 1999|title=Individual Differences in Emotional Creativity: Structure and Correlates|journal=Journal of Personality|language=en|volume=67|issue=2|pages=331–371|doi=10.1111/1467-6494.00058|pmid=10202807|issn=0022-3506}}</ref> which is described as a pattern of cognitive abilities and personality traits related to originality and appropriateness in emotional experience.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ivcevic|first1=Zorana|last2=Brackett|first2=Marc A.|last3=Mayer|first3=John D.|date=April 2007|title=Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Creativity|journal=Journal of Personality|volume=75|issue=2|pages=199–236|doi=10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00437.x|pmid=17359237|issn=0022-3506}}</ref>

== Conceptual history ==
{{Main|History of the concept of creativity}}
[[File:Plato-raphael.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|right|Greek philosophers like Plato rejected the concept of creativity, preferring to see art as a form of discovery. When asked in ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'', "Will we say, of a painter, that he makes something?", Plato answers, "Certainly not, he merely [[mimesis|imitates]]."<ref name=SixIdeas>{{cite book|author-link=Władysław Tatarkiewicz|first=Władysław|last=Tatarkiewicz|title=A History of Six Ideas: an Essay in Aesthetics|year=1980|series=Melbourne International Philosophy Series|volume=5|translator-first=Christopher|translator-last=Kasparek|translator-link=Christopher Kasparek|location=The Hague|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff}}</ref>]]

=== Ancient ===
Most ancient cultures, including [[Ancient Greece]],{{r|SixIdeas}} [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]], and [[Outline of ancient India|Ancient India]],<ref name="Albert99">{{cite book|last1=Albert|first1= Robert S.|last2=Runco|first2=Mark A.|year=1999|editor-last1 = Sternberg|editor-first1= Robert J.|title= Handbook of Creativity|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|chapter=A History of Research on Creativity|pages=16–34}}</ref> lacked the concept of creativity, seeing art as a form of discovery and not creation. The ancient Greeks had no terms for "to create" or "creator" except for the expression {{transliteration|grc|poiein}} (to make), which only applied to {{transliteration|grc|poiesis}} (poetry) and to the {{transliteration|grc|poietes}} (poet, or "maker", who made it). [[Plato]] did not believe in art as a form of creation. He asks in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'',<ref>{{cite book|author=Plato|title=The Republic|at=[[s:The Republic/Book X|Book X]]}}</ref> "Will we say of a painter that he makes something?" He answers, "Certainly not, he merely [[mimesis|imitates]]."{{r|SixIdeas}}

It is commonly argued that the notion of "creativity" originated in [[Western culture]]s through Christianity, as a matter of [[Revelation|divine inspiration]].<ref name="RuncoAlbert" /> According to scholars, the earliest Western conception of creativity was the [[Genesis creation narrative|Biblical story of the creation]] given in ''[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]''.{{r|Albert99|page=18}} However, this is not creativity in the modern sense, which did not arise until the [[Renaissance]]. In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, creativity was the sole province of God; humans were not considered to have the ability to create something new except as an expression of God's work.<ref name="NiuSternberg">{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|doi=10.1037/h0091265|last=Niu|first=Weihua|author2=Sternberg, Robert J.|title=The Philosophical Roots of Western and Eastern Conceptions of Creativity|journal=Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology|year=2006|volume=26|issue=1–2|pages=18–38|s2cid=143648016 |url=http://www.westga.edu/~stpp/JTPP_Aticles/26-2/THE1210.pdf|access-date=23 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219062640/http://www.westga.edu/~stpp/JTPP_Aticles/26-2/THE1210.pdf|archive-date=19 December 2011}}
|2={{cite book|author-link=Michel Weber|first=Michel|last=Weber|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/3640181 |chapter=Creativity, Efficacy and Vision: Ethics and Psychology in an Open Universe|editor-first1=Michel|editor-last1=Weber|editor-first2=Pierfrancesco|editor-last2=Basile|title=Subjectivity, Process, and Rationality|location=Frankfurt/Lancaster|publisher=ontos verlag|series=Process Thought|volume=XIV|year=2006|pages=263–281 |doi=10.1515/9783110328349.263 |isbn=978-3-11-032801-1 }}
}}</ref> A similar concept existed in Greek culture, where [[Muse]]s were seen as mediating inspiration from the gods.<ref name="Dacey">{{cite book|last=Dacey|first=John|title=Encyclopedia of Creativity|volume=1|year=1999|isbn=978-0-12-227076-5|editor-first1=Mark A.|editor-last1= Runco |editor-first2=Steven R. |editor-last2=Pritzer|chapter=Concepts of Creativity: A history|publisher=[[Elsevier]]}}</ref> Romans and Greeks invoked the concept of an external creative "[[daemon (classical mythology)|daemon]]" (Greek) or "[[Genius (mythology)|genius]]" (Latin), linked to the sacred or the divine. However, none of these views are similar to the modern concept of creativity, and the rejection of creativity in favor of discovery and the belief that individual creation was a conduit of the divine would dominate the West until the Renaissance and even later.<ref name="NiuSternberg" />{{r|Albert99|pages=18–19}}

=== Renaissance ===
It was during the Renaissance that creativity was first conceived not as a conduit from the divine, but as arising from the abilities of "[[Great Man theory|great men]]."{{r|Albert99|pages=18–19}} This could be attributed to the leading intellectual movement of the time, aptly named [[humanism]], which developed an intensely anthropocentric outlook on the world, valuing the intellect and achievement of the individual.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Humanism - Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture {{!}} Exhibitions - Library of Congress|url = https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/vatican/humanism.html|website = www.loc.gov|date = 1993-01-08|access-date = 2015-11-23}}</ref> From this philosophy arose the [[Renaissance man]] (or polymath), an individual who embodies the principles of humanism in their ceaseless courtship with knowledge and creation.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Leonardo da Vinci {{!}} Italian artist, engineer, and scientist|url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci|website = Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date = 2015-11-23}}</ref> One of the most well-known and immensely accomplished examples is [[Leonardo da Vinci]].

=== From the 17th to the 19th centuries ===
However, the shift from divine inspiration to the abilities of the individual was gradual and would not become immediately apparent until the [[Age of Enlightenment]].{{r|Albert99|pages=19–21}} By the 18th century, creativity (notably in [[aesthetics]]) linked with the concept of imagination became more frequent.{{r|SixIdeas}} In the writing of [[Thomas Hobbes]], imagination became a key element of human cognition.<ref name="RuncoAlbert" /> [[William Duff (writer)|William Duff]] was one of the first to identify imagination as a quality of genius, typifying the separation being made between talent (productive, but not breaking new ground) and genius.<ref name="Dacey" />

As an independent topic of study, creativity received little attention until the 19th century.<ref name="Dacey" /> Psychologist Mark Runco and Robert Albert argue that creativity as the subject of proper study began seriously to emerge in the late 19th century with the increased interest in individual differences inspired by the arrival of [[Darwinism]]. In particular, they refer to the work of [[Francis Galton]], who, through his [[Eugenics|eugenicist]] outlook, took a keen interest in the heritability of intelligence, with creativity taken as an aspect of genius.<ref name="RuncoAlbert" />

=== Modern ===
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leading mathematicians and scientists such as [[Hermann von Helmholtz]] (1896)<ref>{{cite book |last=von Helmholtz|first=Herman Ludwig |title=Vorträge und Reden |url=https://archive.org/details/b21500605 |year=1896 |publisher=Friederich Vieweg und Sohn|edition=5th }}</ref> and [[Henri Poincaré]] (1908)<ref>{{cite book |last=Poincaré|first=Henri |chapter=Mathematical creation |editor-last= Ghiselin|editor-first=B. |title=The Creative Process: A Symposium |orig-date=1908|year=1952 |publisher=Mentor}}</ref> began to reflect on and publicly discuss their creative processes. The insights of Poincaré and von Helmholtz were built on early accounts of the creative process by pioneering theorists such as [[Graham Wallas]] and [[Max Wertheimer]]. In his work ''Art of Thought'', published in 1926,<ref name="Wallas26">{{cite book |last=Wallas|first=Graham |title=Art of Thought |url=https://archive.org/details/theartofthought |year=1926 |author-link=Graham Wallas}}</ref> Wallas presented one of the first models of the creative process. In the Wallas model, creative insights and illuminations may be explained by a process consisting of five stages:

# ''preparation'' (preparatory work on a problem that focuses the individual's mind on the problem and explores the problem's dimensions),
# ''[[Incubation (psychology)|incubation]]'' (in which the problem is internalized into the unconscious mind although nothing appears externally to be happening),
# ''intimation'' (the creative person gets a "feeling" that a solution is on its way),
# ''illumination'' or insight (in which the creative idea bursts forth from its [[preconscious]] processing into conscious awareness);
# ''verification'' (in which the idea is consciously verified, elaborated, and then applied).

Wallas's model is also often treated as four stages, with "intimation" seen as a sub-stage.

Wallas considered creativity to be a legacy of the [[evolution]]ary process, which allowed humans to quickly adapt to rapidly changing environments. Simonton<ref name="Simonton99">{{cite book |last=Simonton|first= D. K. |year=1999 |title=Origins of genius: Darwinian perspectives on creativity |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofgeniusd00simo |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-512879-6 }}</ref> provides an updated perspective on this view in his book, ''Origins of Genius: Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity''.

In 1927, mathematician and philosopher [[Alfred North Whitehead]] gave the Gifford Lectures at the [[University of Edinburgh]], later published as ''[[Process and Reality]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Whitehead|first=Alfred North|title=Process, and reality: an essay in cosmology; Gifford Lectures delivered in the University of Edinburgh during the session 1927–28|year=1978|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-02-934580-1|edition=Corrected|url=https://archive.org/details/processrealitygi00alfr}}</ref> He is credited with having coined the term "creativity" to serve as the ultimate category of his metaphysical scheme.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|last=Meyer|first=Steven|title=Introduction: Whitehead Now|journal=Configurations|year=2005|volume=1|issue=13|pages=1–33|doi=10.1353/con.2007.0010}}
|2={{cite book|editor-link1=Michel Weber|editor-first1=Michel|editor-last1=Weber|editor-first2=Will|editor-last2=Desmond|url=https://www.academia.edu/279955|title=Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought|location=Frankfurt / Lancaster|publisher=Ontos Verlag|volume=X1 & X2|year=2008}}
|3={{cite book|editor-first1=Ronny|editor-last1=Desmet |editor-first2=Michel|editor-last2= Weber |url=https://www.academia.edu/279940|title=Whitehead: The Algebra of Metaphysics|series=Applied Process Metaphysics Summer Institute Memorandum|location=Louvain-la-Neuve|publisher=Les Éditions Chromatika|year=2010}}
}}</ref>

Although psychometric studies of creativity had been conducted by The London School of Psychology as early as 1927 with the work of H.L. Hargreaves into the Faculty of Imagination.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hargreaves | first1 = H.L. | year = 1927 | title = The faculty of imagination: An enquiry concerning the existence of a general faculty, or group factor, of imagination | journal = British Journal of Psychology | volume = Monograph Supplement 3 | pages = 1–74 }}</ref> The formal [[Psychometrics|psychometric]] measurement of creativity, from the standpoint of orthodox [[Psychology|psychological]] literature, is usually considered to have begun with psychologist [[J.P. Guilford]]'s address to the [[American Psychological Association]] in 1950.<ref name="Sternberg99">{{cite book |last1=Sternberg|first1= R.J. |last2=Lubart|first2= T.I. |chapter=The Concept of Creativity: Prospects and Paradigms |editor-last=Sternberg|editor-first= R.J. |title=Handbook of Creativity |year=1999 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |author-link1=Robert Sternberg |isbn=978-0-521-57285-9}}</ref> That address helped to popularize the study of creativity and to focus attention on scientific approaches to conceptualizing creativity. Statistical analyzes led to the recognition of creativity as an aspect of human cognition separate from [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]]-type intelligence, under the study of which it had previously been subsumed. Guilford's work suggested that above a threshold level of IQ, the relationship between creativity and classically measured intelligence broke down.<ref name="Kozbelt">{{cite book|last=Kozbelt|first=Aaron|title=The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity|year=2010|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-73025-9|author-last2=Beghetto|author-first2=Ronald A.|author-last3=Runco|author-first3=Mark A.|editor-link1=James C. Kaufman|editor-first1=James C.|editor-last1=Kaufman|editor-first2=Robert J.|editor-last2= Sternberg|chapter=Theories of Creativity|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehandboo0000unse_x7r7}}</ref>

=== Across cultures ===
Creativity is viewed differently in different countries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sternberg |first=R.J. |title=The International Handbook of Creativity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-54731-8 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |pages=1–9 |chapter=Introduction |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=R.J.}}</ref> For example, cross-cultural research centered in Hong Kong found that Westerners view creativity more in terms of the individual attributes of a 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).<ref>{{cite book |last=Niu |first=W. |title=The International Handbook of Creativity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-54731-8 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |pages=386–387 |chapter=Development of Creativity Research in Chinese Societies |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=R.J.}}</ref> Mpofu, et al., surveyed 28 African languages and found that 27 had no word which directly translated to "creativity", with Arabic being the exception.<ref name="Mpofu">{{cite book |last=Mpofu |first=E. |title=The International Handbook of Creativity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-54731-8 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |chapter=African Perspectives on Creativity |display-authors=etal |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=R.J.}}</ref>{{rp|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. Nevertheless, it is true that there has been very little research on creativity in Africa{{r|Mpofu|page=458}} and Latin America.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Preiss |first1=D.D. |title=The International Handbook of Creativity |last2=Strasser |first2=K. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-54731-8 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |page=46 |chapter=Creativity in Latin America |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=R.J.}}</ref> Creativity has been more thoroughly researched in the northern hemisphere, but there are cultural differences between northern countries. In Scandinavia, creativity is seen as an individual attitude that helps people cope with life's challenges,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=G.J.W. |title=The International Handbook of Creativity |last2=Carlsson |first2=I. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-54731-8 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |page=202 |chapter=Creativity under the Northern Lights' |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=R.J.}}</ref> while in Germany, creativity is seen more as a process that can be applied to help solve problems.<ref>{{cite book |last=Preiser |first=S. |title=The International Handbook of Creativity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-54731-8 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |page=175 |chapter=Creativity Research in German-Speaking Countries |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=R.J.}}</ref>

== Classification ==

=== "Four C" model ===
Psychologists [[James C. Kaufman|James Kaufman]] and Ronald Beghetto introduced a "four C" model of creativity. The four "C's" are:

# ''mini-c'' ("transformative learning" involving "personally meaningful interpretations of experiences, actions, and insights").
# ''little-c'' (everyday problem-solving and creative expression).
# ''Pro-C'' (exhibited by people who are professionally or vocationally creative, though not necessarily eminent).
# ''Big-C'' (creativity considered great in a given field).

This model was intended to help accommodate models and theories of creativity that stressed competence as an essential component and a historic transformation of a creative domain as the highest mark of creativity. It also, the authors argued, made a useful framework for analyzing creative processes in individuals.<ref name="KaufBeg2009">{{cite journal|doi=10.1037/a0013688|last=Kaufman|first=James C.|author-last2=Beghetto|author-first2=Ronald A.|s2cid=41410038|title=Beyond Big and Little: The Four C Model of Creativity|journal=[[Review of General Psychology]]|year=2009|volume=13|issue=1|pages=1–12|author-link=James C. Kaufman}}</ref>

The contrast signified by the terms "Big C" and "little C" has been widely used. Kozbelt, Beghetto, and Runco used a little-c/Big-C model to review major theories of creativity.<ref name=Kozbelt /> [[Margaret Boden]] distinguished between h-creativity (historical) and p-creativity (personal).<ref name="Boden2004">{{cite book|last=Boden|first=Margaret|title=The Creative Mind: Myths And Mechanisms|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-297-82069-7}}</ref>

[[Ken Robinson (educationalist)|Ken Robinson]]<ref name="allourfutures">{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Ken|title=All our futures: Creativity, culture, education|year=1998|publisher=National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education|url=http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/pdf/allourfutures.pdf|access-date=2 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016051449/http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/pdf/allourfutures.pdf|archive-date=16 October 2014}}</ref> and Anna Craft<ref name="Craft1" /> focused on creativity in a general population, particularly with respect to education. Craft makes a similar distinction between "high" and "little c" creativity<ref name="Craft1">{{cite book|last=Craft|first=Anna|title=Creativity in education|year=2001|publisher=Continuum International|isbn=978-0-8264-4863-7 |editor-last1=Craft|editor-first1=A. |editor-last2=Jeffrey|editor-first2=B. |editor-last3=Leibling|editor-first3=M. |chapter='Little C' creativity}}</ref> and cites Robinson as referring to "high" and "democratic" creativity. [[Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi]] defined creativity in terms of individuals judged to have made significant creative and perhaps domain-changing contributions.<ref name="Csik1">{{cite book|last=Csíkszentmihályi |first=Mihály|title=Creativity:Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention|year=1996|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-06-092820-9}}</ref> Simonton analyzed the career trajectories of eminent creative people in order to map patterns and predictors of creative productivity.<ref name="Simonton97">{{cite journal|doi=10.1037/0033-295X.104.1.66|last=Simonton|first=D. K.|s2cid=13547975|title=Creative Productivity: A Predictive and Explanatory Model of Career Trajectories and Landmarks|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_psychological-review_1997-01_104_1/page/66|journal=Psychological Review|year=1997|volume=104|issue=1|pages=66–89}}</ref>

=== "Four P's" aspects ===
Theories of creativity (and empirical investigations of why some people are more creative than others) have focused on a variety of aspects. The dominant factors are usually identified as "the four P's," a framework first put forward by [[James Melvin Rhodes|Mel Rhodes]]:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rhodes |first1=Mel |year=1961 |title=An Analysis of Creativity |journal=The Phi Delta Kappan |volume=42 |issue=7 |pages=305–310 |jstor=20342603}}</ref>
;Process:A focus on ''process'' is shown in cognitive approaches that try to describe thought mechanisms and techniques for creative thinking. Theories invoking [[Divergent thinking|divergent]] rather than [[convergent thinking]] (such as that of [[J. P. Guilford|Guilford]]), or those describing the staging of the creative process (such as that of [[Graham Wallas|Wallas]]) are primarily theories of the creative process.
;Product:A focus on a creative ''product'' usually attempts to assess creative output, whether for psychometrics (see below) or to understand why some objects are considered creative. It is from a consideration of product that the standard definition of creativity as the production of something both novel and useful arises.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gruszka |first1=Aleksandra |title=Handbook of the management of creativity and innovation: Theory and practice |last2=Tang |first2=Min |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company |year=2017 |isbn=978-981-314-189-6 |editor1-last=Tang |editor1-first=Lisa Min |pages=51–71 |chapter=The 4P's creativity model and its application in different fields |editor2-last=Werner |editor2-first=Christian}}</ref>
;Person:A focus on the nature of the creative ''person'' considers more general intellectual habits, such as openness, levels of [[Ideation (creative process)|ideation]], autonomy, expertise, exploratory behavior, and so on.
;Press and place:A focus on ''place'' (or ''press'') considers the circumstances in which creativity flourishes, such as degrees of autonomy, access to resources, and the nature of gatekeepers. Creative lifestyles are characterized by nonconforming attitudes and behaviors, as well as flexibility.<ref name="Sternberg 2009 468">{{cite book |last=Sternberg |first=Robert J. |url=https://archive.org/details/cognitivepsychol00ster_347 |title=Cognitive Psychology |publisher=CENGAGE Learning |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-495-50629-4 |editor-last1=Perkins |editor-first1=Jaime A. |page=[https://archive.org/details/cognitivepsychol00ster_347/page/n496 468] |editor-last2=Moneypenny |editor-first2=Dan |editor-last3=Co |editor-first3=Wilson |url-access=limited}}</ref>

=== "Five A's" aspects ===
In 2013, based on a sociocultural critique of the Four-P's model as individualistic, static, and decontextualized, psychology professor and author Vlad Petre Glăveanu proposed a "Five A's" model consisting of actor, action, artifact, audience, and affordance.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Glăveanu |first1=Vlad Petre |date=2013 |title=Rewriting the language of creativity: The five A's framework |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=69–81 |doi=10.1037/a0029528 |s2cid=143404705 |ref=Glaveanu Five As 2013}}</ref> In this model, the ''actor'' is the person with attributes but who is also located within social networks; ''action'' is the process of creativity not only in internal cognitive terms but also external, bridging the gap between [[Ideation (creative process)|ideation]] and implementation; ''artifacts'' emphasize how creative products typically represent cumulative innovations over time rather than abrupt discontinuities; and "press/place" is divided into ''audience'' and ''affordance'', which consider the interdependence of the creative individual with the social and material world, respectively. Although not supplanting the Four P's model in creativity research, the Five A's model has exerted influence over the direction of some creativity research,<ref name="Mattson et al 2021">{{cite journal |last1=Mattson |first1=David |last2=Mathew |first2=Katie |last3=Katz-Buonincontro |first3=Jen |year=2021 |title=Media Analysis of News Articles During COVID-19: Renewal, Continuity, and Cultural Dimensions of Creative Action |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=11 |article-number=601938 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601938 |pmc=7920979 |pmid=33664688 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and has been credited with bringing coherence to studies across a number of creative domains.<ref name="Sun & Okada 2021">{{cite journal |last1=Sun |first1=Jingyan |last2=Okada |first2=Takeshi |year=2021 |title=The process of interactive role-making in acting training |journal=Thinking Skills and Creativity |volume=41 |article-number=100860 |doi=10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100860 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Process theories ==
There has been significant research conducted in the fields of [[psychology]] and [[cognitive science]] towards better understanding the processes by which creativity occurs. The results of these studies have led to several possible explanations of the sources and methods of creativity.<ref name=":18" />

=== Incubation ===
{{Main|Incubation (psychology)}}

"Incubation" is a temporary break from [[creative problem solving]] that can result in insight.<ref name="EoC Incubation">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Steven M.|title=Encyclopedia of Creativity Volume I|year=2011|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-375039-6|pages=653–657|edition=2nd|editor=M. A. Runco |editor2=S. R. Pritzker|chapter=Incubation}}</ref> Empirical research has investigated whether, as the concept of "incubation" in [[Graham Wallas|Wallas]]'s model implies, a period of interruption or rest from a problem may aid creative problem-solving. Early work proposed that creative solutions to problems arise mysteriously from the unconscious mind while the conscious mind is occupied with other tasks.<ref name=Anderson2000>{{cite book |last=Anderson|first= J.R. |year=2000 |title=Cognitive psychology and its implications |publisher=Worth Publishers |isbn=978-0-7167-1686-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/cognitivepsychol00ande }}</ref> This hypothesis is included in [[Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi|Csikszentmihalyi]]'s five-phase model of the creative process, which describes incubation as a time when one's unconscious takes over. This was supposed to allow for unique connections to be made without the conscious mind trying to make logical order out of the problem.<ref>{{cite book|last=Csikszentmihalyi|first=Mihaly|year=1996|title=Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention|location=New York|publisher=Harper Perennial|isbn=0-06-092820-4}}</ref>

Ward<ref name="Ward2003">{{cite book |last=Ward|first=T. |year=2003 |chapter=Creativity |editor-last= Nagel|editor-first= L. |title=Encyclopaedia of Cognition |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> listed various hypotheses that have been advanced to explain why incubation may aid creative problem-solving and notes how some [[empirical evidence]] is consistent with a different hypothesis: incubation aids creative problems in that it enables "forgetting" of misleading clues. The absence of incubation may lead the problem solver to become [[fixation (psychology)|fixated]] on inappropriate problem-solving strategies.<ref name="Smith1995">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Steven M.|title=The Creative Cognition Approach|year=1995|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|editor-first1=Steven M.|editor-last1=Smith |editor-first2=Thomas B.|editor-last2= Ward |editor-first3=Ronald A. |editor-last3=Finke|chapter=Fixation, Incubation, and Insight in Memory and Creative Thinking}}</ref>

=== Divergent thinking ===
[[J. P. Guilford]]<ref name="Guilford67">{{cite book |last=Guilford|first=J.P. |year=1967 |title=The Nature of Human Intelligence |author-link=J. P. Guilford}}</ref> drew a distinction between convergent and divergent production, or [[convergent thinking|convergent]] and [[divergent thinking]]. Convergent thinking involves aiming for a single, correct, or best solution to a problem (e.g. "How can we get a crewed rocket to land on the moon safely and within budget?"). Divergent thinking, on the other hand, involves the creative generation of multiple answers to an open-ended prompt (e.g. "How can a chair be used?").<ref name=":15" /> Divergent thinking is sometimes used as a synonym for creativity in psychological literature or is considered the necessary precursor to creativity.<ref>Skalski, J. (2021, 10, 25). ''Adult Development: Creativity'' [Instruction of creativity and related components]. PSYCH 322 Adult Development, Brigham Young University-Idaho.</ref> However, as Runco pointed out, there is a clear distinction between creative thinking and divergent thinking.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Runco |first=Mark |title=Creativity |publisher=Academic Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-08-102617-5 |edition=3rd |pages=1–36 |language=English}}</ref> Creative thinking focuses on the production, combination, and assessment of ideas to formulate something new and unique, while divergent thinking focuses on conceiving a variety of ideas that are not necessarily new or unique. Other researchers have occasionally used the terms ''flexible'' thinking or [[fluid and crystallized intelligence|fluid intelligence]], which are also roughly similar to (but not synonymous with) creativity.<ref>{{Cite journal|year=2019|journal=Knowledge Cultures|volume=7|issue=2|page=35|doi=10.22381/kc7220197|issn=2327-5731|title=The Relationship Between Individual Creativity and Collective Intelligence in Modern Chinese Society|doi-access=free}}</ref> While convergent and divergent thinking differ greatly in terms of approach to problem solving, it is believed{{By whom|date=July 2023}} that both are employed to some degree in solving most real-world problems.<ref name=":15" />

=== Geneplore model ===
In 1992, Finke, et al., proposed the "Geneplore model", in which creativity takes place in two phases: a generative phase, where an individual constructs mental representations called "preinventive" structures, and an exploratory phase where those structures are used to come up with creative ideas.<ref name="Finke et al 1992">{{cite book |last1=Finke |first1=R. |last2=Ward |first2=T.B. |last3=Smith |first3=S.M. |title=Creative cognition: Theory, research, and applications |year=1992 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-06150-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/creativecognitio0000fink}}</ref> Some evidence shows that when people use their imagination to develop new ideas, those ideas are structured in predictable ways in accordance with properties of existing categories and concepts.<ref name="Ward1995">{{cite book|last=Ward|first=T.B.|year=1995|chapter=What's old about new ideas|editor-first1=S.M.|editor-last1=Smith|editor-first2=T.B.|editor-last2=Ward|editor-first3=R.A.|editor-last3=Finke|title=The creative cognition approach|pages=157–178|location=London|publisher=MIT Press}}</ref> Weisberg argued, in contrast, that creativity involves ordinary cognitive processes yielding extraordinary results.<ref name="Weisberg93">{{cite book |last=Weisberg|first=R.W. |year=1993 |title=Creativity: Beyond the myth of genius |publisher=Freeman |isbn=978-0-7167-2119-2}}</ref>

=== Explicit–implicit interaction theory ===
Helie and Sun<ref name="HelieSun2010">{{cite journal |last1=Helie|first1= S. |last2=Sun |first2=R. | year = 2010 | title = Incubation, insight, and creative problem solving: A unified theory and a connectionist model | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 117 | issue = 3| pages = 994–1024 | doi=10.1037/a0019532 | pmid=20658861|citeseerx=10.1.1.405.2245 }}</ref> proposed a framework for understanding [[creative problem-solving|creativity in problem solving]], namely the explicit–implicit interaction (EII) theory of creativity. This theory attempts to provide a more unified explanation of relevant phenomena (in part by reinterpreting/integrating various fragmentary existing theories of [[Incubation (psychology)|incubation]] and [[insight]]).

The EII theory relies mainly on five basic principles:
# co-existence of, and the difference between, explicit and implicit knowledge
# simultaneous involvement of implicit and explicit processes in most tasks
# redundant representation of explicit and implicit knowledge
# integration of the results of explicit and implicit processing
# iterative (and possibly bidirectional) processing

A computational implementation of the theory was developed based on the [[CLARION (cognitive architecture)|CLARION cognitive architecture]] and used to simulate relevant human data. This work is an initial step in the development of process-based theories of creativity, encompassing incubation, insight, and various other related phenomena.

=== Conceptual blending ===
{{Main|Conceptual blending}}

In ''[[The Act of Creation]]'', [[Arthur Koestler]] introduced the concept of "bisociation" – that creativity arises as a result of the intersection of two quite different frames of reference.<ref name="Koestler64">{{cite book |last=Koestler|first= A. |title=The Act of Creation |year=1969 |orig-date=1964 |author-link=Arthur Koestler |isbn=978-0-330-73116-4 |publisher=Pan Books |location=London}}</ref> In the 1990s, various approaches in cognitive science that dealt with [[metaphor]], [[analogy]], and structure mapping converged, and a new integrative approach to the study of creativity in science, art, and humor emerged under the label [[conceptual blending]].

=== Honing theory ===
Honing theory, developed principally by psychologist [[Liane Gabora]], posits that creativity arises due to the self-organizing, self-mending nature of a worldview. The creative process is a way by which the individual hones (and re-hones) an integrated worldview. Honing theory places emphasis not only on the externally visible creative outcome but also on the internal cognitive restructuring and repair of the worldview brought about by the creative process.<ref name=":14">{{cite journal| doi=10.1080/10400419.2021.1962104| title=High Artistic Achievements and Low Emotion Dysregulation: The Moderating and Mediating Role of Self-compassion| year=2022| last1=Verger| first1=Nicolas B.| last2=Shankland| first2=Rebecca| last3=Sudres| first3=Jean-Luc| journal=Creativity Research Journal| volume=34| pages=68–84| s2cid=239716298| doi-access=free}}</ref> When one is faced with a creatively demanding task, there is an interaction between one's conception of the task and one's worldview. The conception of the task changes through interaction with the worldview, and the worldview changes through interaction with the task. This interaction is reiterated until the task is complete, at which point the task is conceived of differently and the worldview is subtly or drastically transformed, following the natural tendency of a worldview to attempt to resolve dissonance and seek internal consistency amongst its components, whether they be ideas, attitudes, or bits of knowledge. Dissonance in a person's worldview is, in some cases, generated by viewing their peers' creative outputs, and, so, people pursue their own creative endeavors to restructure their worldviews and reduce dissonance.<ref name=":14" /> This shift in worldview and cognitive restructuring through creative acts has also been considered as a way to explain possible benefits of creativity for mental health.<ref name=":14" /> The theory also addresses challenges not addressed by other theories of creativity, such as the factors guiding restructuring and the evolution of creative works.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gabora |first=L. |date=2016 |title=Honing Theory: A Complex Systems Framework for Creativity. |url=https://consensus.app/papers/honing-theory-complex-systems-framework-creativity-gabora/9eb108870dc15a319eca69ccc72c1777/ |journal=Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences |volume=21 1 |pages=35–88|arxiv=1610.02484 }}</ref>

A central feature of honing theory is the notion of a "potentiality state".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gabora|first1=L.|last2=Saab|first2=A.|title=Creative interference and states of potentiality in analogy problem solving|journal=Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society|date=July 20–23, 2011|location=Boston Mass.}}</ref> Honing theory posits that creative thought proceeds not by searching through and randomly "mutating" predefined possibilities but by drawing upon associations that exist due to overlap in the distributed neural-cell assemblies that participate in the encoding of experiences in memory. Midway through the creative process, one may have made associations between the current task and previous experiences but not yet disambiguated which aspects of those previous experiences are relevant to the current task. Thus, the creative idea may feel "half-baked". At that point, it can be said to be in a potentiality state, because how it will actualize depends on the different internally or externally generated contexts it interacts with.

Honing theory is held to explain certain phenomena not dealt with by other theories of creativity—for example, how different works by the same creator exhibit a recognizable style or "voice" even in different creative outlets. This is not predicted by theories of creativity that emphasize chance processes or the accumulation of expertise, but it is predicted by honing theory, according to which personal style reflects the creator's uniquely structured worldview. Another example is the environmental stimulus for creativity. Creativity is commonly considered to be fostered by a supportive, nurturing, and trustworthy environment conducive to self-actualization. In line with this idea, Gabora posits that creativity is a product of culture and that our social interactions evolve our culture in way that promotes creativity.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Gabora |first1=Liane |chapter=The Role of Engagement, Honing, and Mindfulness in Creativity |date=2019 |title=Creativity Under Duress in Education? Resistive Theories, Practices, and Actions |pages=137–154 |editor-last=Mullen |editor-first=Carol A. |series=Creativity Theory and Action in Education |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-90272-2_8 |isbn=978-3-319-90272-2 |last2=Unrau |first2=Mike|volume=3 |arxiv=1812.02870 |s2cid=54457521 }}</ref>

=== Everyday imaginative thought ===
{{see also|Subjunctive|Counterfactual thinking}}

In everyday thought, people often spontaneously imagine alternatives to reality when they think "if only...".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roese|first1=N.J.|last2=Olson|first2=J.M.|year=1995|title=What Might Have Been: The Social Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking|location=Mahwah, New Jersey|publisher=Erlbaum}}</ref> Their [[counterfactual thinking]] is viewed as an example of everyday creative processes.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Markman|editor-first1=K.|editor-last2=Klein|editor-first2=W.|editor-last3=Suhr|editor-first3=E.|year=2009|title=Handbook of mental simulation and the human imagination|location=Hove|publisher=Psychology Press}}</ref> It has been proposed that the creation of counterfactual alternatives to reality depends on cognitive processes that are similar to rational thought.<ref name="Byrne 2005">{{cite book |author-link=Ruth M. J. Byrne|last=Byrne|first=R.M.J.|year=2005 |title=The Rational Imagination: How People Create Counterfactual Alternatives to Reality |publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-02584-3}}</ref>

Imaginative thought in everyday life can be categorized based on whether it involves perceptual or motor-related [[mental imagery]], novel combinatorial processing, or altered psychological states. This classification aids in understanding the neural foundations and practical implications of imagination.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abraham |first=Anna |date=2016 |title=The imaginative mind |url=https://consensus.app/papers/mind-abraham/a17b6a9e1d1e5adfa1eb8ffdeb147890/ |journal=Human Brain Mapping |volume=37 |issue=11 |pages=4197–4211 |doi=10.1002/hbm.23300|pmid=27453527 |pmc=6867574 }}</ref>

Creative thinking is a central aspect of everyday life, encompassing both controlled and undirected processes. This includes divergent thinking and stage models, highlighting the importance of extra- and meta-cognitive contributions to imaginative thought.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramachandran |first=Vilayanur S. |title=Encyclopedia of Human Behavior |date=January 31, 2012 |edition=2nd |pages=602–605 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-08-096180-4}}</ref>

Brain-network dynamics play a crucial role in creative cognition. The default and executive control networks in the brain cooperate during creative tasks, suggesting a complex interaction between these networks in facilitating everyday imaginative thought.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beaty |first1=R. |last2=Benedek |first2=M. |last3=Silvia |first3=P. |last4=Schacter |first4=D. |date=2016 |title=Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics |url=https://consensus.app/papers/cognition-brain-network-dynamics-beaty/7d6e8038bde9581db6f7ea6daf99981e/ |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=87–95 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2015.10.004|pmid=26553223 |pmc=4724474 }}</ref>

=== Dialectical theory ===
The term "dialectical theory of creativity" dates back to psychoanalyst Daniel Dervin<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dervin|first=Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wIV9AAAAMAAJ&q=%22dialectical+theory+of+creativity%22|title=Creativity and Culture: A Psychoanalytic Study of the Creative Process in the Arts, Sciences, and Culture|year=1990|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|isbn=978-0-8386-3366-3|language=en}}</ref> and was later developed into an interdisciplinary theory.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Runco|editor-first1=Mark A.|editor-last2=Pritzker|editor-first2=Steven R.|title=Encyclopedia of Creativity|publisher=Academic Press|year=2020|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcr0000unse_o5w3}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}} This theory starts with the ancient concept that creativity takes place in an interplay between order and chaos. Similar ideas can be found in neuroscience and psychology. Neurobiologically, it can be shown that the creative process takes place in a dynamic interplay between coherence and incoherence that leads to new and usable neuronal networks. Psychology shows how the dialectics of convergent and focused thinking with divergent and associative thinking leads to new ideas and products.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Holm-Hadulla|first1=R.M.|last2=Wendt|first2=A.N.|chapter=Dialectical Thinking|editor-last1=Runco|editor-first1=Mark A.|editor-last2=Pritzker|editor-first2=Steven R.|title=Encyclopedia of Creativity|publisher=Academic Press|year=2020|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcr0000unse_o5w3}}</ref>

Personality traits such as the "Big Five" seem to be{{clarify|text=dialectically intertwined in|reason=big words, but they don't seem to be indicating much. can you be more precise?|date=July 2023}} the creative process: emotional instability versus stability, extraversion versus introversion, openness versus reserve, agreeableness versus antagonism, and disinhibition versus constraint.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Widiger|first1=T.A. |last2=Crego|first2=C.|year=2019|title=The five factor model of personality structure|journal=World Psychiatry|volume=18|number=3|pages=271–272|doi=10.1002/wps.20658 |pmid=31496109 |pmc=6732674 }}</ref> The dialectical theory of creativity also applies{{how|date=July 2023}} to counseling and psychotherapy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Holm-Hadulla|first1=R.M.|last2=Hofmann|first2=F.H.|year=2012|title=Counseling, Psychotherapy and Creativity}}</ref>

=== Neuroeconomic framework ===
Lin and Vartanian developed a neurobiological description of creative cognition.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last1=Lin|first1=Hause|last2=Vartanian|first2=Oshin|year=2018|title=A Neuroeconomic Framework for Creative Cognition|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691618794945|journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science|language=en|volume=13|issue=6|pages=655–677|doi=10.1177/1745691618794945|pmid=30304640|s2cid=206778956|issn=1745-6916|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This interdisciplinary framework integrates theoretical principles and empirical results from [[neuroeconomics]], [[reinforcement learning]], [[cognitive neuroscience]], and [[neurotransmission]] research on the [[locus coeruleus]] system. It describes how [[decision-making]] processes studied by neuroeconomists as well as activity in the locus coeruleus system underlie creative cognition and the [[large-scale brain network]] dynamics associated with creativity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Beaty|first1=Roger E.|last2=Benedek|first2=Mathias|last3=Silvia|first3=Paul J.|last4=Schacter|first4=Daniel L.|year=2016|title=Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics|url= |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|volume=20|issue=2|pages=87–95|doi=10.1016/j.tics.2015.10.004|pmid=26553223|pmc=4724474|issn=1364-6613}}</ref> It suggests that creativity is an [[optimization]] and [[utility maximization problem]] that requires individuals to determine the optimal way to exploit and explore ideas (e.g., the [[multi-armed bandit]] problem). This utility-maximization process is thought to be mediated by the locus coeruleus system,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Aston-Jones|first1=Gary|last2=Cohen|first2=Jonathan D.|year=2005|title=An integrative theory of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine function: Adaptive gain and optimal performance|url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.neuro.28.061604.135709|journal=Annual Review of Neuroscience|volume=28|issue=1|pages=403–450|doi=10.1146/annurev.neuro.28.061604.135709|pmid=16022602|s2cid=535645 |issn=0147-006X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and this creativity framework describes how [[Tonic (physiology)|tonic]] and phasic locus coeruleus activities work in conjunction to facilitate the exploiting and exploring of creative ideas. This framework not only explains previous empirical results but also makes novel and falsifiable predictions at different levels of analysis (ranging from neurobiological to cognitive and personality differences).

=== Behaviorism theory ===
[[B. F. Skinner|B.F. Skinner]] attributed creativity to accidental behaviors that are reinforced by the environment.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Epstein |first=Robert |date=November 1991 |title=Skinner, Creativity, and the Problem of Spontaneous Behavior |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00168.x|journal=Psychological Science |language=en |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=362–370 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00168.x |s2cid=146725916 |issn=0956-7976|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In behaviorism, creativity can be understood as novel or unusual behaviors that are reinforced if they produce a desired outcome.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cautilli |first1=Joseph |title=Toward a behavioral theory of "creativity": A preliminary essay |journal=The Behavior Analyst Today |date=2004 |volume=5 |pages=126–140 |doi=10.1037/h0100138 |doi-access=free |language=en }}</ref> Spontaneous behaviors by living creatures are thought to reflect past learned behaviors. In this way,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abra |first=Jock |year=1988 |title=Skinner on Creativity: A Critical Commentary |journal=Leonardo |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=407–412 |doi=10.2307/1578703|jstor=1578703 |s2cid=147669813 }}</ref> a behaviorist may say that prior learning caused novel behaviors to be reinforced many times over, and the individual has been shaped to produce increasingly novel behaviors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sumner |first=Sarah |date=December 2021 |title=How Can We Talk about Creativity? |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40732-021-00505-7 |journal=The Psychological Record |language=en |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=503–507 |doi=10.1007/s40732-021-00505-7 |s2cid=245350174 |issn=0033-2933|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A creative person, according to this definition, is someone who has been reinforced more often for novel behaviors than others. Behaviorists suggest that anyone can be creative, they just need to be reinforced to learn to produce novel behaviors.

=== Investment theory ===
The "investment theory of creativity" suggests that many individual and environmental factors must exist in precise ways for extremely high, as opposed to average, levels of creativity to result. In the "investment" sense, a person with their particular characteristics in their particular environment may see an opportunity to devote their time and energy to something that has been overlooked by others. The creative person develops an undervalued or under-recognized idea to the point where it is established as a new and creative idea. Just as in the financial world, some investments are worth the buy-in, while others are less productive and do not generate returns to the extent that the investor expected. This "investment theory of creativity" asserts that creativity might rely to some extent on the right investment of effort being added to a field at the right time in the right way.{{r|SL91}}<ref>{{multiref2|Sternberg & Lubart, 1995{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}|Sternberg & Lubart, 1996{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}
}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}

=== Computational creativity{{anchor|Creativity_and_artificial_intelligence}} ===
{{Main|Computational creativity}}

[[Jürgen Schmidhuber]]'s formal [[theory]] of creativity<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite journal | last1 = Schmidhuber | first1 = Jürgen | year = 2006 | title = Developmental Robotics, Optimal Artificial Curiosity, Creativity, Music, and the Fine Arts | journal = Connection Science | volume = 18 | issue = 2| pages = 173–187 | doi=10.1080/09540090600768658| bibcode = 2006ConSc..18..173S | citeseerx = 10.1.1.474.6919 | s2cid = 2923356 }}|{{cite journal | last1 = Schmidhuber | first1 = Jürgen | year = 2010 | title = Formal Theory of Creativity, Fun, and Intrinsic Motivation (1990–2010) | journal = IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development | volume = 2 | issue = 3| pages = 230–247 | doi=10.1109/tamd.2010.2056368| bibcode = 2010ITAMD...2..230S | s2cid = 234198}}
}}</ref> postulates that creativity, curiosity, and interestingness are by-products of a simple [[Computational learning theory|computational]] principle for measuring and optimizing learning progress.

Consider an agent able to manipulate its environment and thus its own [[sensory system|sensory]] inputs. The agent can use a [[black box]] optimization method such as [[reinforcement learning]] to learn, through informed trial and error, sequences of actions that maximize the expected sum of its future [[reward system|reward]] signals. There are extrinsic reward signals for achieving externally given goals, such as finding food when hungry. But for Schmidhuber's [[Loss function|objective function]] to be maximized also includes an additional, intrinsic term to model "wow-effects". This non-standard term motivates purely creative behavior of the agent, even when there are no external goals.

A wow-effect is formally defined as follows: as the agent is creating and predicting and encoding the continually growing history of actions and sensory inputs, it keeps improving the predictor or encoder, which can be implemented as an [[artificial neural network]], or some other [[machine learning]] device, that can exploit regularities in the data to improve its performance over time. The improvements can be measured precisely, by computing the difference in computational costs (storage size, number of required synapses, errors, time) needed to encode new observations before and after learning. This difference depends on the encoder's present {{clarify|text=subjective|date=July 2023}} knowledge, which changes over time, but the theory formally takes this into account. The cost difference measures the strength of the present wow-effect due to sudden improvements in [[data compression]] or computational speed. It becomes an intrinsic reward signal for the [[action selector]]. The objective function thus motivates the action optimizer to create action sequences that cause more wow-effects.

Irregular, random data (or noise) do not permit any wow-effects or learning progress, and thus are "boring" by nature (providing no reward). Already-known and predictable regularities also are boring. Temporarily interesting are only the initially unknown, novel, regular patterns in both actions and observations. This motivates the agent to perform continual, open-ended, active, creative exploration.

Schmidhuber's work is highly influential in [[intrinsic motivation (artificial intelligence)|intrinsic motivation]], which has emerged as a research topic in the study of [[artificial intelligence]] and [[robotics]].

According to Schmidhuber, his objective function explains the activities of scientists, artists, and comedians.<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite AV media | first=Jürgen| last=Schmidhuber |title=Universal AI and a Formal Theory of Fun | date=2012 | work=2011 Winter Intelligence Conference |location=Oxford | via=YouTube | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnbZzcruGu0 | access-date=20 July 2023}}|{{cite AV media | first=Jürgen| last=Schmidhuber | title=Compression Progress: The Algorithmic Principle Behind Curiosity and Creativity | work=[[Singularity Summit]] 2009 |location=New York | via=YouTube | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipomu0MLFaI | access-date=20 July 2023}}
}}</ref> For example, physicists are motivated to create experiments leading to observations that obey previously unpublished [[physical law]]s, permitting better [[data compression]]. Likewise, composers receive intrinsic reward for creating non-arbitrary melodies with unexpected but regular harmonies that permit wow-effects through data compression improvements. Similarly, a comedian gets an intrinsic reward for "inventing a novel joke with an unexpected [[punch line]], related to the beginning of the story in an initially unexpected but quickly learnable way that also allows for better compression of the perceived data."<ref>{{cite web |last=Schmidhuber |first=Jürgen |date=2012-03-31 |title=When creative machines overtake man |url=https://www.thekurzweillibrary.com/when-creative-machines-overtake-man |website=the Kurzweil Library + collections}} Transcript of {{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ35zNlyG-o&list=PL194623EBA834DB77&index=11 |title=When creative machines overtake man |last=Schmidhuber |first=Jürgen |year=2012 |location=TEDx |website=YouTube}}</ref>

Schmidhuber augured that [[computer hardware]] advances would greatly scale up rudimentary [[artificial intelligence|artificial]] scientists and artists.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schmidhuber |first=Jürgen |year=1991 |title=Curious model-building control systems |journal=Proc. ICANN |location=Singapore |publisher=IEEE |volume=2 |pages=1458–1463}}</ref> He used the theory to create [[low-complexity art]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmidhuber |first=Jürgen |title=Computers and Creativity |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |editor-last1=McCormack |editor-first1=Jon |chapter=A Formal Theory of Creativity to Model the Creation of Art |editor-last2=d'Inverno |editor-first2=M.}}</ref> and an attractive [[Face|human face]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmidhuber |first=Jürgen |title=Proc. 10th Intl. Conf. on Discovery Science |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |editor-last1=Corruble |editor-first1=V. |pages=26–38 |chapter=Simple Algorithmic Principles of Discovery, Subjective Beauty, Selective Attention, Curiosity & Creativity |editor-last2=Takeda |editor-first2=M. |editor-last3=Suzuki |editor-first3=E.}} LNAI 4755.</ref>

== Personal assessment ==
{{anchor|Measuring creativity}} <!-- [[Creativity test]] redirects here -->

=== Psychometric approaches ===

==== History ====
[[J. P. Guilford]]'s group,<ref name="Guilford67" /> which pioneered the modern [[Psychometrics|psychometric]] study of creativity, constructed several performance-based tests to measure creativity in 1967, including asking participants to write original titles for a story with a given plot, asking participants to come up with unusual uses for everyday objects such as bricks, and asking participants to generate a list of consequences of unexpected events, such as the loss of gravity. Guilford was trying to create a model for intellect as a whole, but in doing so, he also created a model for creativity. Guilford assumed that creativity was not an abstract concept, which was an important assumption needed for creativity research. The idea that creativity was a category,{{Clarification needed|reason=Of what?|date=June 2024}} rather than a single concept, enabled other researchers to look at creativity from a new perspective.<ref name=":9">{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal|last1=Sternberg|first1=Robert J.|last2=Grigorenko|first2=Elena L.|date=8 June 2010|title=Guilford's Structure of Intellect Model and Model of Creativity: Contributions and Limitations|journal= Creativity Research Journal|volume=13|issue=3–4|pages=309–316|doi=10.1207/s15326934crj1334_08|s2cid=145796128|issn=1040-0419}}
|2={{Cite journal|last=Guilford|first=J.P.|year=1957|title=Creative abilities in the arts|journal=Psychological Review|language=en|volume=64|issue=2|pages=110–118|doi=10.1037/h0048280|pmid=13420286|issn=1939-1471}}
}}</ref>

Additionally, Guilford hypothesized one of the first models that specified the components of creativity. He explained that creativity was a result of having three qualities: the ability to recognize problems, "fluency", and "flexibility". "Fluency" encompassed "ideational fluency", or the ability to rapidly produce a variety of ideas fulfilling stated requirements; "associational fluency", or the ability to generate a list of words associated with a given word; and "expressional fluency", or the ability to organize words into larger units such as phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. "Flexibility" encompassed both "spontaneous flexibility", or the general ability to be flexible, and "adaptive flexibility", or the ability to produces responses that are novel and of high quality.

This represents the base model which several researchers would alter to produce their own new theories of creativity years later.<ref name=":9" /> Building on Guilford's work, tests were developed, sometimes called "[[divergent thinking]]" (DT) tests, which have been both praised<ref name="Kim2006">{{Cite journal | last1 = Kim | first1 = Kyung Hee | s2cid = 17636888 | doi = 10.1207/s15326934crj1801_2 | title = Can We Trust Creativity Tests? A Review of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) | journal = Creativity Research Journal| volume = 18 |issue=1| pages = 3–14| year = 2006|url=http://people.uncw.edu/caropresoe/GiftedFoundations/SocialEmotional/Creativity-articles/Kim_Can-we-trust-creativity-tests.pdf}}</ref> and criticized.<ref name="{{doi|10.1080/10400419.2011.545713}}">{{Cite journal | last1 = Zeng | first1 = L. | last2 = Proctor | first2 = R.W. | last3 = Salvendy | first3 = G. | s2cid = 11322958 | title = Can Traditional Divergent Thinking Tests Be Trusted in Measuring and Predicting Real-World Creativity? | doi = 10.1080/10400419.2011.545713 | journal = Creativity Research Journal | volume = 23 | pages = 24–37 | year = 2011 }}</ref> One example is the [[Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking]] developed in 1966.<ref name="Kim2006" /> These test set forth tasks requiring divergent thinking, as well as other problem-solving skills, the tests being scored according to four categories: "fluency", the total number of meaningful, and relevant, ideas generated; "flexibility", the number of different categories of responses; "originality", the statistical rarity of the responses; and "elaboration", the amount of detail given.

==== Computer scoring ====
Considerable progress has been made in the automated scoring of divergent-thinking tests, using a semantic approach. When compared to human raters, [[natural language processing]] (NLP) techniques are reliable and valid for the scoring of originality.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|last1=Forster|first1=E.A.|last2=Dunbar|first2=K.N.|year=2009|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt4wp633ph/qt4wp633ph.pdf|title=Creativity evaluation through latent semantic analysis|journal=Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society|pages=602–607}}
|2={{cite journal|last1=Harbison|first1=I.J.|last2=Haarmann|first2=H.|year=2014|title=Automated scoring of originality using semantic representations|journal=Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society}} (poster paper).
}}</ref> Computer programs were able to achieve a correlation to human graders of 0.60 and 0.72.

[[Semantic network]]s also devise originality scores that yield significant correlations with socio-personal measures.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Acar | first1 = S. | last2 = Runco | first2 = M.A. | year = 2014 | title = Assessing associative distance among ideas elicited by tests of Divergent Thinking | journal = Creativity Research Journal | volume = 26 | issue = 2| pages = 229–238 | doi=10.1080/10400419.2014.901095| s2cid = 146788570 }}</ref> A team of researchers led by [[James C. Kaufman]] and Mark A. Runco combined expertise in creativity research, natural language processing, computational linguistics, and statistical data analysis to devise a scalable system for computerized automated testing: the SparcIt Creativity Index Testing system. This system enabled automated scoring of DT tests that is reliable, objective, and scalable, thus addressing most of the issues of DT tests that had been found and reported.<ref name="{{doi|10.1080/10400419.2011.545713}}" /> The resultant computer system was able to achieve a correlation to human graders of 0.73.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Beketayev | first1 = K. | last2 = Runco | first2 = M.A. | year = 2016 | title = Scoring Divergent Thinking Tests by Computer With a Semantics-Based Algorithm | journal = Europe's Journal of Psychology | volume = 12 | issue = 2| pages = 210–220 | doi=10.5964/ejop.v12i2.1127| pmid = 27298632 | pmc = 4894287 }}</ref>

=== Social-personality approaches ===
Researchers have taken a social-personality approach by using personality traits such as independence of judgement, self-confidence, attraction to complexity, aesthetic orientation, and risk-taking as measures of personal creativity.<ref name="Sternberg99" /> Within the framework of the [[Big Five personality traits]], a consistent few of these traits have emerged as being correlated to creativity.<ref name="Batey, M. 2006 p. 355-429">{{cite journal | last1 = Batey | first1 = M. | last2 = Furnham | first2 = A. | s2cid = 7435403 | year = 2006 | title = Creativity, intelligence and personality: A critical review of the scattered literature | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_genetic-social-and-general-psychology-monographs_2006-11_132_4/page/355 | journal = Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs | volume = 132 | issue = 4| pages = 355–429 | doi=10.3200/mono.132.4.355-430| pmid = 18341234 }}</ref> [[Openness to experience]] is consistently related to{{how|date=July 2023}} a host of different assessments of creativity.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Batey | first1 = M. | last2 = Furnham | first2 = A.F. | last3 = Safiullina | first3 = X. | year = 2010 | title = Intelligence, General Knowledge and Personality as Predictors of Creativity | journal = Learning and Individual Differences | volume = 20 | issue = 5| pages = 532–535 | doi=10.1016/j.lindif.2010.04.008}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is one primary-source study for a strong claim.|date=June 2024}} Investigation of the other Big Five traits has demonstrated subtle differences between different domains of creativity. Compared to non-artists, artists tend to have higher levels of openness to experience and lower levels of conscientiousness, while scientists are more open to experience, [[Conscientiousness|conscientious]], and higher in the confidence-dominance facets of extraversion compared to non-scientists.<ref name=Feist>{{cite journal | last1 = Feist | first1 = G.J. | s2cid = 24067985 | year = 1998 | title = A meta-analysis of the impact of personality on scientific and artistic creativity | journal = Personality and Social Psychology Review | volume = 2 | issue = 4| pages = 290–309 | doi=10.1207/s15327957pspr0204_5| pmid = 15647135 }}</ref>

=== Self-reporting questionnaires ===
Biographical methods use quantitative characteristics, such as the number of publications, patents, or artistic performances that can be credited to a person. While this method was originally developed for highly creative personalities,{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} today it is also available as [[Self-report study#Questionnaires and interviews|self-report questionnaires]] supplemented with frequent, less outstanding creative behaviors such as writing a short story or creating recipes.{{Clarification needed|date=June 2024}} The self-report questionnaire most frequently used in research is the Creative Achievement Questionnaire,<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Chia-Chi |last2=Ho |first2=Hsiao-Chi |last3=Cheng |first3=Chih-Ling |last4=Cheng |first4=Ying-Yao |author4-link=Cheng Ying-yao |date=2014 |title=Application of the Rasch Model to the Measurement of Creativity: The Creative Achievement Questionnaire |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1088863 |journal=Creativity Research Journal |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=62–71 |doi=10.1080/10400419.2013.843347 |issn=1040-0419 |s2cid=143736762|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=June 2024}} a self-report test that measures creative achievement across ten domains, which was described in 2005 and shown to be reliable when compared to other measures of creativity and to independent evaluations of creative output.<ref name="Carson (2005)">{{cite journal |last1=Carson|first1=S.H. |last2=Peterson|first2=J.B. |last3=Higgins|first3= D.M. |year=2005 |title=Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure of the Creative Achievement Questionnaire |journal= Creativity Research Journal|volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=37–50 |doi=10.1207/s15326934crj1701_4|s2cid=146304521 }}</ref>

== Factors ==

=== Intelligence{{anchor|Creativity_and_intelligence}} ===
The potential relationship between creativity and [[intelligence]] has been of interest since the last half of the twentieth century, when many influential studies extensively studied both. This joint focus highlighted both the theoretical and practical importance of the relationship: researchers were interested in not only ''if'' the two qualities were related, but also ''how'' and ''why''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Plucker|first1=J.|last2=Renzulli|first2=J.S.|year=1999|chapter=Psychometric approaches to the study of human creativity|editor-first=R.J.|editor-last=Sternberg|title=Handbook of Creativity|pages=35–60|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

There are multiple theories accounting for their relationship, with there being three main theories.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} Threshold theory states that intelligence is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for creativity, and that there is a moderate positive relationship between creativity and intelligence until IQ ~120.<ref name="Barron, F. 1963">{{cite book |last=Barron |first=F. |title=Creativity and psychological health |publisher=D. Van Nostrand Company |year=1963 |location=Princeton}}</ref><ref name="Guilford, J. P. 1967">{{cite book |last=Guilford |first=J.P. |title=The nature of human intelligence |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=1967 |location=New York}}</ref> Certification theory states that creativity is not intrinsically related to intelligence. Instead, individuals are required to meet the requisite level of intelligence in order to gain a certain level of education or work, which in turn offers the opportunity to be creative. In this theory, displays of creativity are moderated by intelligence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=J.R. |title=Handbook of Creativity |publisher=Plenum |year=1989 |editor-last1=Glover |editor-first1=J.A. |location=New York |pages=135–145 |chapter=Cognitive processes in creativity |editor-last2=Ronning |editor-first2=R.R. |editor-last3=Reynolds |editor-first3=C.R.}}</ref> Interference theory states, in contrast, that extremely high intelligence might interfere with creative ability.<ref name="Sternberg, R. J. 1996">{{cite book |last=Sternberg |first=R.J. |title=Successful Intelligence |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1996 |location=New York}}</ref>

Sternberg and O'Hara proposed a different framework of five possible relationships between creativity and intelligence: that creativity was a subset of intelligence; that intelligence was a subset of creativity; that the two constructs overlapped; that they were both part of the same construct (coincident sets); or that they were distinct constructs (disjoint sets).<ref name="Sternberg, R. J. 1999 pp. 251">{{cite book |last1=Sternberg |first1=R.J. |title=Handbook of Creativity |last2=O'Hara |first2=L.A. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |editor-last=Sternberg |editor-first=R.J. |location=Cambridge, Mass. |pages=251–272 |chapter=Creativity and intelligence}}</ref>

==== Creativity as a subset of intelligence ====
A number of researchers include creativity, either explicitly or implicitly, as a key component of intelligence, for example:
* [[Triarchic theory of intelligence|Sternberg's Theory of Successful Intelligence]]<ref name="Sternberg, R. J. 1996" /><ref name="Sternberg, R. J. 1999 pp. 251" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sternberg|first1=R.J.|last2=Kaufman|first2=J.C.|last3=Grigorenko|first3=E.L.|year=2008|title=Applied intelligence|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> includes creativity as a main component and comprises three sub-theories: contextual (analytic), contextual (practical), and experiential (creative). Experiential sub-theory—the ability to use pre-existing knowledge and skills to solve new and novel problems—is directly related to creativity.
* The [[Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory]] (CHC) includes creativity as a subset of intelligence, associated with the broad group factor of long-term storage and retrieval (Glr).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kaufman | first1 = J.C. | last2 = Kaufman | first2 = S.B. | last3 = Lichtenberger | first3 = E.O. | s2cid = 18061207 | year = 2011 | title = Finding creativity on intelligence tests via divergent production | journal = Canadian Journal of School Psychology | volume = 26 | issue = 2| pages = 83–106 | doi = 10.1177/0829573511406511 }}</ref> Glr narrows abilities relating to creativity include ideational fluency, associational fluency, and originality/creativity. Silvia ''et al.''<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Silvia | first1 = P.J. | last2 = Beaty | first2 = R.E. | last3 = Nusbaum | first3 = E.C. | year = 2013 | title = Verbal fluency and creativity: General and specific contributions of broad retrieval ability (Gr) factors to divergent thinking | journal = Intelligence | volume = 41 | issue = 5| pages = 328–340 | doi=10.1016/j.intell.2013.05.004}}</ref> conducted a study to look at the relationship between divergent thinking and verbal fluency tests and reported that both fluency and originality in divergent thinking were significantly affected by the broad-level Glr factor. Martindale<ref>{{cite book|last=Martindale|first=C.|year=1999|chapter=Biological bases of creativity|editor-first=R.J.|editor-last=Sternberg|title=Handbook of Creativity|pages=137–152|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> extended the CHC-theory by proposing that people who are creative are also selective in their processing speed. Martindale argues that in the creative process, larger amounts of information are processed more slowly in the early stages, and as a person begins to understand the problem, the processing speed is increased.
* The [[Dual process theory|Dual Process Theory of Intelligence]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaufman|first1=J.C.|last2=Kaufman|first2=S.B.|last3=Plucker|first3=J.A.|year=2013|chapter=Contemporary theories of intelligence|editor-first=J.|editor-last=Reisberg|title=The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Psychology|pages=811–822|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> posits a two-factor or type model of intelligence. Type 1 is a conscious process and concerns goal-directed thoughts. Type 2 is an unconscious process, and concerns spontaneous cognition, which encompasses daydreaming and implicit learning ability. Kaufman argues that creativity occurs as a result of Type 1 and Type 2 processes working together in combination. Each type in the creative process can be used to varying degrees.

==== Intelligence as a subset of creativity ====
In this relationship model, intelligence is a key component in the development of creativity, for example:
* Sternberg & Lubart's Investment Theory,<ref name=SL91>{{cite journal | last1 = Sternberg | first1 = R.J. | last2 = Lubart | first2 = T.I. | year = 1991 | title = An investment theory of creativity and its development | journal = Human Development | volume = 34 | pages = 1–32 | doi=10.1159/000277029}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sternberg | first1 = R.J. | last2 = Lubart | first2 = T.I. | year = 1992 | title = Buy low and sell high: An investment approach to creativity | journal = Current Directions in Psychological Science | volume = 1 | issue = 1| pages = 1–5 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-8721.1992.tb00002.x| s2cid = 143591670 }}</ref> using the metaphor of a stock market, demonstrates that creative thinkers are like good investors—they buy low and sell high (in their ideas). Like undervalued or low-valued stock, creative individuals generate unique ideas that are initially rejected by other people. The creative individual has to persevere and convince others of the idea's value. After convincing others, and thus increasing the idea's value, the creative individual "sells high" by leaving the idea with the other people and moving on to generate another idea. According to this theory, six distinct, but related elements contribute to successful creativity: intelligence, knowledge, thinking styles, personality, motivation, and environment. Intelligence is just one of the six factors that can, either solely or in conjunction with the other five factors, generate creative thoughts.
* Amabile's Componential Model of Creativity<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Amabile | first1 = Teresa M. | s2cid = 144256250 | year = 1982 | title = Social psychology of creativity: A consensual assessment technique | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 43 | issue = 5| pages = 997–1013 | doi=10.1037/0022-3514.43.5.997}}</ref><ref name="Amabile 1996 CiC">{{cite book |last1=Amabile |first1=Teresa M. |title=Creativity in Context: Update to the Social Psychology of Creativity |date=1996 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-8133-3034-1}}</ref> posits three within-individual components needed for creativity—domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant processes, and task motivation—and one component external to the individual—their surrounding social environment. Creativity requires the confluence of all components. High creativity will result when a person is intrinsically motivated, possesses both a high level of domain-relevant skills and has high skills in creative thinking, and is working in a highly creative environment.
* The Amusement Park Theoretical Model<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Baer | first1 = J. | last2 = Kaufman | first2 = J.C. | s2cid = 33513570 | year = 2005 | title = Bridging generality and specificity: The Amusement Park Theoretical (APT) Model of creativity | journal = Roeper Review | volume = 27 | issue = 3| pages = 158–163 | doi=10.1080/02783190509554310}}</ref> is a four-step theory in which domain-specific and generalist views are integrated into a model of creativity. The researchers make use of the metaphor of the amusement park to demonstrate that, within each of the following creative levels, intelligence plays a key role:
** To get into the amusement park, there are initial requirements (e.g., time and transportation needed to go to the park). Initial requirements (such as intelligence) are necessary, but not sufficient for creativity. They are more like prerequisites for creativity, and if a person does not possess the basic level of the initial requirement (intelligence), then they will not be able to generate creative thoughts and behaviour.
** Secondly, there are the subcomponents—general thematic areas—that increase in specificity. Like choosing which type of amusement park to visit (e.g., a zoo or a water park), these areas relate to the areas in which someone could be creative (e.g., poetry).
** Thirdly, there are specific domains. After choosing the type of park to visit (e.g., if one chooses a waterpark, that person has to choose which specific park to go to). For example, within the poetry domain there are many different forms (e.g., free verse, riddles, sonnets, etc.).
** Lastly, there are micro-domains. These are the specific tasks that reside within each domain (e.g., individual rides at the waterpark equate to individual lines in a poem in free-verse).

==== Creativity and intelligence as overlapping yet distinct constructs ====
These concepts posit creativity and intelligence as distinct, but intersecting constructs, for example:
* In Renzulli's Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Renzulli | first1 = J.S. | year = 1978 | title = What makes giftedness? Reexamining a definition | journal = Phi Delta Kappan | volume = 60 | pages = 180–261 }}</ref> giftedness is an overlap of above-average intellectual ability, creativity, and task commitment. Under this view, creativity and intelligence are distinct constructs, but they overlap under the correct conditions.
* In the [[PASS theory of intelligence]], the planning component—the ability to solve problems, make decisions, and take action—strongly overlaps with the concept of creativity.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Naglieri | first1 = J.A. | last2 = Kaufman | first2 = J.C. | year = 2001 | title = Understanding intelligence, giftedness, and creativity using PASS theory | journal = Roeper Review | volume = 23 | issue = 3| pages = 151–156 | doi=10.1080/02783190109554087| s2cid = 144199243 }}</ref>
* Threshold Theory (TT) derives from a number of previous research findings that suggested that a threshold exists in the relationship between creativity and intelligence—both constructs are moderately positively correlated up to an IQ of ~120. Above this threshold, if there is a relationship at all, it is small and weak.<ref name="Getzels, J. W. 1962">{{cite book |last1=Getzels |first1=J.W. |title=Creativity and intelligence: Explorations with gifted students |last2=Jackson |first2=P.W. |publisher=Wiley |year=1962 |location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Barron, F. 1963" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Torrance|first=E.P.|year=1962|title=Guiding Creative Talent|location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J.|publisher=Prentice-Hall}}</ref> TT posits that a moderate level of intelligence is necessary for creativity.

==== Creativity and intelligence as coincident sets ====
Under this view, researchers posit that there are no differences in the mechanisms underlying creativity from those used in normal problem solving, and in normal problem solving there is no need for creativity. Thus, creativity and intelligence (problem solving) are the same thing. Perkins referred to this as the "nothing-special" view.<ref>{{cite book |last=Perkins |first=D.N. |title=The mind's best work |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1981 |location=Cambridge, Mass.}}</ref>

==== Creativity and intelligence as disjoint sets ====
In this view, creativity and intelligence are completely different, unrelated constructs. Along with the coincident set view, this is quite a rare position taken within the literature.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Plucker |first1=Jonathan A. |last2=Esping |first2=Amber |last3=Kaufman |first3=James C. |last4=Avita |first4=Maria J. |editor1-last=Goldstein |editor1-first=Sam |editor2-last=Princiotta |editor2-first=Dana |editor3-last=Naglieri |editor3-first=Jack A. |title=Handbook of Intelligence: Evolutionary Theory, Historical Perspective, and Current Concepts |date=2015 |publisher=Springer Science+Business |chapter=Creativity and Intelligence|pages=283–291 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4939-1562-0_19 |isbn=978-1-4939-1561-3 }}</ref>

=== Affective influence ===
Some theories suggest that creativity may be particularly susceptible to [[Affect (psychology)|affective influence]]. The term "affect" in this context refers to liking or disliking key aspects of the subject in question. This work largely follows from findings in psychology regarding the ways in which affective states are involved in human judgment and decision-making.<ref name="Winkielman2007">{{cite journal |last1=Winkielman |first1=P. |last2=Knutson |first2=B. |year=2007 |title=Affective Influence on Judgments and Decisions: Moving Towards Core Mechanisms |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=11 |pages=179–192 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.11.2.179 |s2cid=15618397 |number=2}}</ref>

According to [[Alice M. Isen|Alice Isen]], positive affect has three primary effects on cognitive activity. First, it makes additional cognitive material available for processing, increasing the number of cognitive elements available for association. Second, it leads to defocused attention and a more complex cognitive context, increasing the breadth of those elements that are treated as relevant to the problem. Third, it increases cognitive flexibility, increasing the probability that diverse cognitive elements will in fact become associated. Together, these processes enable creativity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Isen |first1=A.M. |last2=Daubman |first2=K.A. |last3=Nowicki |first3=G.P. |year=1987 |title=Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=1122–31 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.52.6.1122 |pmid=3598858 |s2cid=12776791}}
</ref>

[[Barbara Fredrickson]], in her [[broaden-and-build]] model, suggests that positive emotions, such as joy and love, broaden a person's available repertoire of cognitions and actions, thus enhancing creativity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fredrickson |first=B.L. |year=2001 |title=The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions |journal=American Psychologist |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=218–26 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218 |pmc=3122271 |pmid=11315248}}</ref>

According to these researchers, positive emotions increase the number of cognitive elements available for association (attention scope) and the number of elements that are relevant to the problem (cognitive scope). Day-by-day psychological experiences—including emotions, perceptions, and motivation—significantly impact creative performance. Creativity is higher when emotions and perceptions are more positive and when intrinsic motivation is stronger.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Amabile |first=T. |year=2017 |title=In pursuit of everyday creativity |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33840634 |journal=The Journal of Creative Behavior |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=335–337 |doi=10.1002/jocb.200|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Some meta-analyses, such as Baas, et al., (2008) analyzing 66 studies of creativity and affect, support the link between creativity and positive affect.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mark A. Davis |date=January 2009 |title=Understanding the relationship between mood and creativity: A meta-analysis |journal=Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=25–38 |doi=10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.04.001}}</ref><ref name="positive">{{cite journal |last1=Baas |first1=Matthijs |last2=De Dreu |first2=Carsten K.W. |last3=Nijstad |first3=Bernard A. |date=November 2008 |title=A meta-analysis of 25 years of mood-creativity research: Hedonic tone, activation, or regulatory focus? |url=http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/m.baas/bestanden/MBaas_mood-creativity.pdf |journal=Psychological Bulletin |volume=134 |issue=6 |pages=779–806 |doi=10.1037/a0012815 |issn=1939-1455 |pmid=18954157 |s2cid=1104240 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718204043/http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/m.baas/bestanden/MBaas_mood-creativity.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-18}}</ref>

=== Mental health ===
{{Main|Creativity and mental health}}

Links have been identified between creativity and [[mood disorder]]s, particularly [[Bipolar disorder|manic-depressive disorder]] (a.k.a. [[bipolar disorder]]) and [[Major depressive disorder|depressive disorder]] (a.k.a. [[Major depressive disorder|unipolar disorder]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Missett |first=Tracy C. |date=2013 |title=Exploring the Relationship Between Mood Disorders and Gifted Individuals |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02783193.2013.740602 |journal=Roeper Review |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=47–57 |doi=10.1080/02783193.2013.740602 |issn=0278-3193 |s2cid=143731362|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, different artists have described mental illness as having both positive and negative effects on their work.<ref name=":17" /> In general, people who have worked in the arts industry throughout history have faced many environmental factors that are associated with, and can sometimes influence, mental illness—things such as poverty, persecution, social alienation, psychological trauma, substance abuse, and high stress.<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Ludwig |first=Arnold M. |title=The Price of Greatness: Resolving the Creativity and Madness Controversy |publisher=Guilford Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-89862-839-5}}</ref>

==== Studies ====
A study by psychologist [[J. Philippe Rushton]] found creativity to correlate with [[intelligence]] and [[psychoticism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rushton |first=J.P. |author-link=J. Philippe Rushton |year=1990 |title=Creativity, intelligence, and psychoticism |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |volume=11 |issue=12 |pages=1291–1298 |doi=10.1016/0191-8869(90)90156-L}}</ref> Another study found creativity to be greater in people with [[schizotypal personality disorder]] than in people with either [[schizophrenia]] or those without mental health disorders.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Lixia |last2=Long |first2=Haiying |last3=Plucker |first3=Jonathan A. |last4=Wang |first4=Qing |last5=Xu |first5=Xiaobo |last6=Pang |first6=Weiguo |title=High Schizotypal Individuals Are More Creative? The Mediation Roles of Overinclusive Thinking and Cognitive Inhibition |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |date=21 September 2018 |volume=9 |article-number=1766 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01766 |doi-access=free |pmid=30298038 |pmc=6160573 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Thomas |last2=Dunbar |first2=Robin |last3=Bentall |first3=Richard |title=Schizotypy and creativity: an evolutionary connection? |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=1 November 2001 |volume=31 |issue=7 |pages=1067–1078 |doi=10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00204-X }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fink |first1=Andreas |last2=Weber |first2=Bernhard |last3=Koschutnig |first3=Karl |last4=Benedek |first4=Mathias |last5=Reishofer |first5=Gernot |last6=Ebner |first6=Franz |last7=Papousek |first7=Ilona |last8=Weiss |first8=Elisabeth M. |title=Creativity and schizotypy from the neuroscience perspective |journal=Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience |date=1 March 2014 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=378–387 |doi=10.3758/s13415-013-0210-6 |pmid=24022793 }}</ref> While divergent thinking was associated with activation of both sides of the [[prefrontal cortex]], schizotypal individuals were found to have much greater activation of their ''right'' prefrontal cortex.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Folley |first1=Bradley S. |last2=Park |first2=Sohee |year=2005 |title=Verbal creativity and schizotypal personality in relation to prefrontal hemispheric laterality: A behavioral and near-infrared optical imaging study |url=http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/news_schizotypes.htm |journal=Schizophrenia Research |volume=80 |issue=2–3 |pages=271–282 |doi=10.1016/j.schres.2005.06.016 |pmc=2817946 |pmid=16125369 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060215212520/http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/news_schizotypes.htm |archive-date=2006-02-15 |access-date=2006-02-19}}</ref> That study hypothesized that such individuals are better at accessing both hemispheres, allowing them to make novel associations at a faster rate. Consistent with this hypothesis, [[ambidexterity]] is also more common in people with schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} Three studies by Mark Batey and Adrian Furnham demonstrated the relationships between schizotypal personality disorder,<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite journal|last1=Batey|first1=M.|last2=Furnham|first2=A.|year=2009|title=The relationship between creativity, schizotypy and intelligence|journal=Individual Differences Research|volume=7|issue=4 |pages=272–284 |doi=10.65030/idr.07027 }}|{{cite journal | last1 = Batey | first1 = M. | last2 = Furnham | first2 = A. | year = 2008 | title = The relationship between measures of creativity and schizotypy | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_personality-and-individual-differences_2008-12_45_8/page/816 | journal = Personality and Individual Differences | volume = 45 | issue = 8| pages = 816–821 | doi=10.1016/j.paid.2008.08.014}}
}}</ref> hypomanic personality,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Furnham |first1=A. |last2=Batey |first2=M. |last3=Anand |first3=K. |last4=Manfield |first4=J. |year=2008 |title=Personality, hypomania, intelligence and creativity |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |volume=44 |issue=5 |pages=1060–1069 |doi=10.1016/j.paid.2007.10.035}}</ref> and several different measures of creativity.

A study of 300,000 persons with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or unipolar depression, and their relatives, found overrepresentation in creative professions of those with bipolar disorder as well as for undiagnosed siblings of those with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. {{clarify|text=There was no overall overrepresentation, but overrepresentation for artistic occupations, among those diagnosed with schizophrenia.|reason=what is "overall overrepresentation"?|date=July 2023}} There was no association for those with unipolar depression or their relatives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kyaga |first1=S. |last2=Lichtenstein |first2=P. |last3=Boman |first3=M. |last4=Hultman |first4=C. |last5=Långström |first5=N. |last6=Landén |first6=M. |year=2011 |title=Creativity and mental disorder: Family study of 300 000 people with severe mental disorder |journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry |volume=199 |issue=5 |pages=373–379 |doi=10.1192/bjp.bp.110.085316 |pmid=21653945 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Another study, involving more than one million people, conducted by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute, reported a number of correlations between creative occupations and mental illnesses. Writers had a higher risk of anxiety and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and substance abuse, and were almost twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves. Dancers and photographers were also more likely to have bipolar disorder.<ref name="bbc health-19959565">{{cite news |last=Roberts |first=Michelle |date=16 October 2012 |title=Creativity 'closely entwined with mental illness' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19959565 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Those in the creative professions were no more likely to have psychiatric disorders than other people, although they were more likely to have a close relative with a disorder, including anorexia and, to some extent, autism, the ''Journal of Psychiatric Research'' reported.<ref name="bbc health-19959565" />

Nancy Andreasen was one of the first researchers to carry out a large-scale study of creativity and whether mental illnesses have an impact on someone's ability to be creative. She expected to find a link between creativity and schizophrenia, but her research sample (the book-authors she pooled) had no history of schizophrenia. Her findings instead showed that 80% of the creative group previously had some episode of mental illness in their lifetime.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Burton |first=Neel |date=2012-03-19 |title=Bipolar Disorder and Creativity |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201203/bipolar-disorder-and-creativity |journal=Psychology Today}}</ref> When she performed follow-up studies over a 15-year period, she found that 43% of the authors had bipolar disorder, compared to 1% of the general public.

In 1989 another study, by Kay Redfield Jamison, reaffirmed those statistics, with 38% of her sample of authors having a history of mood disorders.{{r|:10}} [[Anthony Storr]], a prominent psychiatrist, remarked:

{{blockquote|The creative process can be a way of protecting the individual against being overwhelmed by depression, a means of regaining a sense of mastery in those who have lost it, and, to a varying extent, a way of repairing the self-damaged by bereavement or by the loss of confidence in human relationships which accompanies depression from whatever cause.<ref name=":10" />}}

==== Bipolar disorders ====
People diagnosed with bipolar disorder report themselves as having a larger range of emotional understanding, heightened states of perception, and an ability to connect better with those in the world around them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Natalie |last2=Perich |first2=Tania |last3=Meade |first3=Tanya |year=2019 |title=Depression, mania and self-reported creativity in bipolar disorder |journal=Psychiatry Research |language=en |volume=276 |pages=129–133 |doi=10.1016/j.psychres.2019.05.006 |pmid=31078791 |s2cid=145024133}}</ref> Other reported traits include higher rates of productivity, higher senses of self-awareness, and greater empathy. Those who have bipolar disorder also understand their own sense of heightened creativity and ability to get immense numbers of tasks done all at once. In one study, of 219 participants (aged 19 to 63) diagnosed with bipolar disorder, 82% of them reported having elevated feelings of creativity during their hypomanic swings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McCraw |first1=Stacey |last2=Parker |first2=Gordon |last3=Fletcher |first3=Kathryn |last4=Friend |first4=Paul |year=2013 |title=Self-reported creativity in bipolar disorder: prevalence, types and associated outcomes in mania versus hypomania |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |volume=151 |issue=3 |pages=831–836 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2013.07.016 |issn=0165-0327 |pmid=24084622}}</ref>

A study done by Shapiro and Weisberg also showed a positive correlation between the manic upswings of the cycles of bipolar disorder and the ability of an individual to be more creative.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last1=Shapiro |first1=Pamela J. |last2=Weisberg |first2=Robert W. |year=1999 |title=Creativity and Bipolar Diathesis: Common Behavioural and Cognitive Components |journal=Cognition & Emotion |language=en |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=741–762 |doi=10.1080/026999399379069 |issn=0269-9931}}</ref> The data showed, however, that it was not the depressive swing that brings forth dark creative spurts, but the act of climbing out of the depressive episode that sparks creativity. The reason behind this spur of creative genius could come from the type of self-image that the person has during a time of hypomania. A hypomanic person may feel a bolstered sense of self-confidence, creative confidence, and sense of individualism.<ref name=":11" />

==== Opinions ====
Vaitsa Giannouli believes that the creativity a person diagnosed with bipolar disorder feels comes as a form of "stress management".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giannouli |first=Vaitsa |date=2018-04-01 |title=The Enigma of a Great Musician: Creativity and Bipolar Disorder?|url=https://icscpress.com/journals/jge/jge-0301/jge.2018.04.3.1.07/ |journal=Journal of Genius and Eminence |volume=3 |issue=Fall 2018 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.18536/jge.2018.04.3.1.07|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the realm of music, one might be expressing one's stress or pains through the pieces one writes in order to better understand those same feelings. Famous authors and musicians, along with some actors, would often attribute their wild enthusiasm to something like a hypomanic state.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Bin-Na |last2=Kwon |first2=Seok-Man |year=2017 |title=The link between hypomania risk and creativity: The role of heightened behavioral activation system (BAS) sensitivity |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |language=en |volume=215 |pages=9–14 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2017.02.033 |pmid=28288308}}</ref> The artistic side of society has been notorious for behaviors that are seen as maladapted to societal norms. Symptoms of bipolar disorder correlate with behaviors in high-profile creative personalities such as alcohol addiction; drug abuse including stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens and dissociatives, opioids, inhalants, and cannabis; difficulties in holding regular occupations; interpersonal problems; legal issues; and a high risk of suicide.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Robert Weisberg believes that the state of mania sets "free the powers of a thinker". He implies that not only has the person become more creative, but they have fundamentally changed the kind of thoughts they produce.<ref name="Weisberg 1994 361–367">{{Cite journal |last=Weisberg |first=Robert W. |year=1994 |title=Genius and Madness?: A Quasi-Experimental Test of the Hypothesis That Manic-Depression Increases Creativity |journal=Psychological Science |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=361–367 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00286.x |issn=0956-7976 |s2cid=146691937}}</ref> In a study of poets, who are especially highly afflicted with bipolar disorders, over a period of three years those poets would have cycles of creating really creative and powerful works of poetry. The timelines over the three-year study looked at the poets' personal journals and their clinical records, and found that the timelines between their most powerful poems matched that of their upswings in bipolar disorder.<ref name="Weisberg 1994 361–367" />

=== Personal traits ===
{{full citations needed|date=July 2023}}

Creativity can be expressed in a variety of ways, depending on the uniqueness of people and environments. Theorists have suggested a number of different models of the creative person. However, the creativity-profiling approach must take into account the tension between predicting the creative profile of an individual, as characterized by the [[Psychometrics|psychometric]] approach, and the evidence that group creativity is founded on diversity and difference.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nijstad |first1=B.A. |last2=De Dreu |first2=C.K. |year=2002 |title=Creativity and Group Innovation |journal=Applied Psychology |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=400–406 |doi=10.1111/1464-0597.00984}}</ref>

From a personality-traits perspective, there are a number of traits that are associated with creativity in people.{{r|Feist}}<ref>{{multiref2|Feist, 1999{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}|Prabhu et al., 2008{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}|Zhang & Sternberg, 2009{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}
}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}} Creative people tend to be more open to new experiences, are more self-confident, are more ambitious, self-accepting, impulsive, driven, dominant, and hostile, compared to people who are less creative.{{according to whom|date=November 2024}}

==== Divergent production ====
One characteristic of creative people, as measured by some psychologists, is what is called "divergent production"—the ability of a person to generate a diverse assortment, yet an appropriate amount, of responses to a given situation.<ref name="guilford speech 1950">{{cite journal |last1=Guilford |first1=Joy Paul |year=1950 |title=Creativity |journal=American Psychologist |volume=5 |issue=9 |pages=444–454 |doi=10.1037/h0063487 |pmid=14771441}}</ref> One way to measure divergent production is by administering the [[Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking]],<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite book |last=Torrance|first=Ellis Paul|title=Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking |year=1974 |publisher=Personnel Press |author-link=Ellis Paul Torrance}}|(Torrance, 1984){{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}
}}</ref> which assess the diversity, quantity, and appropriateness of participants' responses to a variety of open-ended questions. Some researchers also emphasize how creative people are better at balancing between divergent and convergent production, which depends on an individual's innate preference or ability to explore and exploit ideas.<ref name=":12" />

==== Dedication and expertise ====
Other researchers of creativity see that what distinguishes creative people as a cognitive process of dedication to problem-solving and developing expertise in the field of their creative expression. Hardworking people study the work of people before them in their milieu, become experts in their fields, and then have the ability to add to and build upon previous information in innovative and creative ways. In a study of projects by design students, students who had more knowledge of their subject on average exhibited greater creativity in carrying out their projects.<ref>(Christiaans & Venselaar, 2007)</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}

==== Motivation ====
A person's motivation may also be predictive of their level of creativity. Motivation stems from two different sources: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is an internal drive within a person to participate as a result of personal interest, desires, hopes, goals, etc. Extrinsic motivation is a drive from outside and might take the form of payment, rewards, fame, approval from others, etc. Although intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can both increase creativity in certain cases, strictly extrinsic motivation often impedes creativity in people.{{r|Amabile 1996 CiC}}<ref>(Prabhu et al., 2008)</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}

=== Environment ===
In studying exceptionally creative people in history, some common traits in lifestyle and environment are often found. Creative people usually had supportive, but rigid and non-nurturing, parents. Most had an interest in their field at an early age, and most had a highly supportive and skilled mentor in their field of interest. Often the field they chose was relatively uncharted, allowing for their creativity to be expressed more. Most exceptionally creative people devoted almost all of their time and energy into their craft, and {{clarify|text=after about a decade|reason=from when?|date=July 2023}} had a creative breakthrough of fame. Their lives were marked with extreme dedication and a cycle of hard-work and breakthroughs as a result of their determination.<ref>{{multiref2|Gardner, 1993a{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}|Policastro & Gardner, 1999{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}

== In different fields ==

=== Art ===
{{Main|The arts}}

Creativity is a fundamental component of the creative arts and design practice. It allows artists and designers to generate innovative ideas, solve complex problems, create products and experiences that are meaningful and impactful, stay ahead of trends, and anticipate future needs. Author [[Austin Kleon]] asserts that all creative work builds on what came before. Embracing influences and educating oneself in the work of others is conducive to creativity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kleon |first=Austin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/759916614 |title=Steal like an artist: 10 things nobody told you about being creative |date=2012 |publisher=Workman Pub. Co |isbn=978-0-7611-6925-3 |location=New York |oclc=759916614}}</ref>

=== Neuroscience ===
{{Undue weight|date=June 2024|section}}
[[File:Distributed network of voxel clusters associated with divergent thinking.jpg|Distributed functional brain network associated with divergent thinking|thumb]]

The [[neuroscience]] of creativity looks at the operation of the brain during creative behavior. One article writes that "creative innovation might require coactivation and communication between regions of the brain that ordinarily are not strongly connected."<ref name="NeuroPsychiatry">{{cite journal |last1=Heilman |first1=Kenneth M. |last2=Nadeau |first2=Stephen E. |last3=Beversdorf |first3=David Q. |year=2003 |title=Creative Innovation: Possible Brain Mechanisms |url=http://neurology.med.ohio-state.edu/cognitivelab/CreativityMechanisms.pdf |journal=Neurocase |volume=9 |pages=369–379 |doi=10.1076/neur.9.5.369.16553 |pmid=14972752 |s2cid=6592186 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319130652/http://neurology.med.ohio-state.edu/cognitivelab/CreativityMechanisms.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-19 |number=5}}</ref> People who excel at creative innovation tend to differ from others in three ways: first, they have a high level of specialized knowledge; second, they are capable of [[divergent thinking]] mediated by the [[frontal lobe]]; and, third, they are able to modulate [[neurotransmitter]]s such as [[norepinephrine]] in their frontal lobe.<ref name="NeuroPsychiatry" /> Thus, the frontal lobe appears to be the part of the [[cerebral cortex|cortex]] that is most important for creativity.<ref name="NeuroPsychiatry" /><ref name="Kutsche 2025" >{{cite journal |last1=Kutsche |first1=Julian |last2=Taylor |first2=Joseph J. |last3=Erkkinen |first3=Michael G. |last4=Akkad |first4=Haya |last5=Khosravani |first5=Sanaz |last6=Drew |first6=William |last7=Abraham |first7=Anna |last8=Ott |first8=Derek V. M. |last9=Wall |first9=Juliana |last10=Cohen |first10=Alexander Li |last11=Horn |first11=Andreas |last12=Neumann |first12=Wolf-Julian |last13=Kletenik |first13=Isaiah |last14=Fox |first14=Michael D. |title=Mapping Neuroimaging Findings of Creativity and Brain Disease Onto a Common Brain Circuit |journal=JAMA Network Open |date=13 February 2025 |volume=8 |issue=2 |article-number=e2459297 |doi=10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.59297 |issn=2574-3805|doi-access=free |pmid=39946133 |pmc=11826368 }}</ref>

A 2015 study of creativity found that it involves the interaction of multiple neural networks, including those that support associative thinking, along with other [[default mode network]] functions.<ref name="PMID_26003860">{{cite journal |last1 = Mayseless |first1 = Naama |last2 = Eran |first2 = Ayelet |last3 = Shamay-Tsoory |first3 = Simone G. |year = 2015 |title = Generating original ideas: The neural underpinning of originality |journal = NeuroImage |quote = These results are in line with the dual model of creativity, according to which original ideas are a product of the interaction between a system that generates ideas and a control system that evaluates these ideas. |doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.030 |pmid = 26003860 |pages = 232–39 |volume = 116 |s2cid = 12973770 }}</ref> In 2018, some experiments showed that when the brain suppresses obvious or "known" solutions, the outcome is solutions that are more creative. This suppression is mediated by alpha oscillations in the right temporal lobe<ref name="PNAS_2018_Luft">{{cite journal | last1=Di Bernardi Luft|first1=C.|last2=Zioga|first2=I.|last3=Thompson|first3=N.M.|last4=Banissy|first4=M.J.|last5=Bhattacharya|first5=J.|date = December 26, 2018 |title = Right temporal alpha oscillations as a neural mechanism for inhibiting obvious associations |journal = PNAS |volume = 115 |issue = 52 |article-number=E12144–E12152 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1811465115 |pmid = 30541890 |pmc = 6310824 |bibcode = 2018PNAS..11512144L |doi-access=free}}</ref> and activity in the right frontal pole.<ref name="Kutsche 2025" />

==== REM sleep ====
Creativity involves the forming of associative elements into new combinations that are useful or meet some requirement. Sleep aids this process.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wagner |first1=U. |last2=Gais |first2=S. |last3=Haider |first3=H. |last4=Verleger |first4=R. |last5=Born |first5=J. |year=2004 |title=Sleep inspires insight |journal=Nature |volume=427 |issue=6972 |pages=352–55 |bibcode=2004Natur.427..352W |doi=10.1038/nature02223 |pmid=14737168 |s2cid=4405704}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cai |first1=Denise J. |last2=Mednick |first2=Sarnoff A. |last3=Harrison |first3=Elizabeth M. |last4=Kanady |first4=Jennifer C. |last5=Mednick |first5=Sara C. |title=REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=23 June 2009 |volume=106 |issue=25 |pages=10130–10134 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0900271106 |doi-access=free |pmid=19506253 |pmc=2700890 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10610130C }}</ref> [[Rapid eye movement sleep|REM]] rather than [[Non-rapid eye movement sleep|NREM sleep]] appears to be responsible.<ref name="Cai">{{cite journal |last1=Cai |first1=D.J. |last2=Mednick |first2=S.A. |last3=Harrison |first3=E.M. |last4=Kanady |first4=J.C. |last5=Mednick |first5=S.C. |year=2009 |title=REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci USA |volume=106 |issue=25 |pages=10130–10134 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10610130C |doi=10.1073/pnas.0900271106 |pmc=2700890 |pmid=19506253 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walker |first1=M.P. |last2=Liston |first2=C. |last3=Hobson |first3=J.A. |last4=Stickgold |first4=R. |date=November 2002 |title=Cognitive flexibility across the sleep-wake cycle: REM-sleep enhancement of anagram problem solving |journal=Brain Res Cogn Brain Res |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=317–24 |doi=10.1016/S0926-6410(02)00134-9 |pmid=12421655}}</ref> This may be due to changes in [[cholinergic]] and [[Norepinephrine|noradrenergic]] [[neuromodulation]] that occurs during REM sleep.<ref name="Cai" /> During this period of sleep, high levels of acetylcholine in the [[hippocampus]] suppress feedback from the hippocampus to the [[neocortex]], and lower levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine in the neocortex encourage the spread of associational activity within neocortical areas without control from the hippocampus.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasselmo |first=M.E. |author-link=Michael Hasselmo |date=September 1999 |title=Neuromodulation: acetylcholine and memory consolidation |journal=Trends Cogn. Sci. |edition=Regul. |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=351–359 |doi=10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01365-0 |pmid=10461198 |s2cid=14725160 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This is in contrast to waking consciousness, during which higher levels of norepinephrine and acetylcholine inhibit recurrent connections in the neocortex. REM sleep may aid creativity by allowing "neocortical structures to reorganize associative hierarchies, in which information from the hippocampus would be reinterpreted in relation to previous semantic representations or nodes."<ref name="Cai" />

==== Vandervert model ====
Vandervert<ref name="Vandervert2003a">{{cite journal | last1 = Vandervert | first1 = L. | year = 2003 | title = How working memory and cognitive modeling functions of the cerebellum contribute to discoveries in mathematics | journal = New Ideas in Psychology | volume = 21 | issue = 2| pages = 159–175 | doi=10.1016/s0732-118x(03)00012-6}}</ref><ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|last=Vandervert|first=L.|year=2003|chapter=The neurophysiological basis of innovation|editor-first=L.V.|editor-last=Shavinina|title=The international handbook on innovation|pages=17–30|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Elsevier Science}}
|2={{cite journal | last1 = Vandervert | first1 = L. | last2 = Schimpf | first2 = P. | last3 = Liu | first3 = H. | s2cid = 15247122 | year = 2007 | title = How working memory and the cerebellum collaborate to produce creativity and innovation [Special Issue] | journal = Creativity Research Journal | volume = 19 | issue = 1| pages = 1–19 | doi=10.1080/10400410709336873}}
}}</ref> described how the brain's frontal lobes and the cognitive functions of the [[cerebellum]] collaborate to facilitate creativity and innovation. Vandervert's explanation rests on considerable evidence that all processes of [[working memory]] (responsible for processing all thought)<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Miyake|editor-first1=A.|editor-last2=Shah|editor-first2=P.|year=1999|title=Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
</ref> are adaptively modeled for increased efficiency by the cerebellum.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Schmahmann|editor-first=J.|year=1997|title=The cerebellum and cognition|location=New York|publisher=Academic Press}}</ref><ref name="Schmahmann2004">{{cite journal | author = Schmahmann J | year = 2004 | title = Disorders of the cerebellum: Ataxia, dysmetria of thought, and the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome | journal = Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences| volume = 16 | issue = 3| pages = 367–378 | doi=10.1176/jnp.16.3.367 | pmid=15377747}}</ref> The cerebellum (consisting of 100 billion neurons, which is more than the in the entirety of the rest of the brain)<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1002/cne.903260405 |author1=Andersen B. |author2=Korbo L. |author3=Pakkenberg B. | year = 1992 | title = A quantitative study of the human cerebellum with unbiased stereological techniques | journal = The Journal of Comparative Neurology | volume = 326 | issue = 4| pages = 549–560 | pmid = 1484123 |s2cid=11492983 }}</ref> also adaptively models all bodily movement for efficiency. The cerebellum's adaptive models of working memory processing are then fed back to especially frontal lobe working memory control processes,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=E. |last2=Cohen |first2=J. |s2cid=7301474 | year = 2001 | title = An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function | journal = Annual Review of Neuroscience | volume = 24 | pages = 167–202 | pmid = 11283309 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167 }}</ref> where creative and innovative thoughts arise.{{r|Vandervert2003a}} (Apparently, creative insight or the "aha" experience is then triggered in the temporal lobe.)<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jung-Beeman | first1 = M. | last2 = Bowden | first2 = E. | last3 = Haberman | first3 = J. | last4 = Frymiare | first4 = J. | last5 = Arambel-Liu | first5 = S. | last6 = Greenblatt | first6 = R. | last7 = Reber | first7 = P. | last8 = Kounios | first8 = J. | year = 2004 | title = Neural activity when people solve verbal problems with insight | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020097 | pmid = 15094802 | pmc = 387268 | journal = PLOS Biology | volume = 2 | issue = 4| pages = 500–510 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

According to Vandervert, the details of creative adaptation begin in "forward" cerebellar models, which are anticipatory/exploratory controls for movement and thought. These cerebellar processing and control architectures have been termed Hierarchical Modular Selection and Identification for Control (HMOSAIC).<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0835746100 |last1=Imamizu |first1=H. |last2=Kuroda |first2=T. |last3=Miyauchi |first3=S. |last4=Yoshioka |first4=T. |last5=Kawato |first5=M. | year = 2003 | title = Modular organization of internal models of tools in the cerebellum | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 100 | issue = 9| pages = 5461–5466 | pmid=12704240 | pmc=154367|doi-access=free }}</ref> New, hierarchically-arranged levels of the cerebellar control architecture (HMOSAIC) develop as mental mulling in working memory is extended over time. These new levels of the control architecture are fed forward to the frontal lobes. Since the cerebellum adaptively models all movement and all levels of thought and emotion,{{r|Schmahmann2004}} Vandervert's approach helps explain creativity and innovation in sports, art, music, the design of video games, technology, mathematics, the [[child prodigy]], and thought in general.

Vandervert argues that when a person is confronted with a challenging new situation, visual-spatial working memory and speech-related working memory are decomposed and re-composed (fractionated) by the cerebellum and then blended in the cerebral cortex in an attempt to deal with the new situation. With repeated attempts to deal with challenging situations, the cerebro-cerebellar blending process continues to optimize the efficiency of how working memory deals with the situation or problem.<ref>Vandervert, in press-a{{better source needed|reason=unclear which one is "a"|date=July 2023}}</ref> He also argues that this is the same process (only involving visual-spatial working memory and pre-language vocalization) that led to the evolution of language in humans.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal | last1 = Vandervert | first1 = L | year = 2011 | title = The evolution of language: The cerebro-cerebellar blending of visual-spatial working memory with vocalizations | journal = The Journal of Mind and Behavior | volume = 32 | pages = 317–334 }}
|2=Vandervert, L. (in press). "How the blending of cerebellar internal models can explain the evolution of thought and language." Cerebellum.
}}</ref> Vandervert and Vandervert–Weathers have pointed out that this blending process, because it continuously optimizes efficiencies, constantly improves prototyping attempts toward the invention or innovation of new ideas, music, art, or technology.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vandervert|first1=Larry|last2=Vandervert-Weathers|first2=Kimberly J.|chapter=New Brain-Imaging Studies Indicate how Prototyping is Related to Entrepreneurial giftedness and innovation education in children|editor-first=Larisa|editor-last=Shavinina|title=The Routledge International Handbook of Innovation Education|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=79–91}}</ref> Prototyping, they argue, not only produces new products, it trains the cerebro-cerebellar pathways involved to become more efficient at prototyping itself. Furthermore, Vandervert and Vandervert-Weathers believe that this repetitive "mental prototyping", or mental rehearsal involving the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex, explains the success of the self-driven, individualized patterning of repetitions initiated by the teaching methods of the [[Khan Academy]].

The model proposed by Vandervert has, however, received incisive critique from several authors.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal | last1 = Brown | first1 = J. | year = 2007 | title = On Vandervert ''et al.'' 'Working memory cerebellum, and creativity' | journal = Creat. Res. J. | volume = 19 | pages = 25–29 | doi=10.1080/10400410709336875| s2cid = 143457667 |display-authors=etal}}
|2={{cite journal | last1 = Abraham | first1 = A. | s2cid = 43976883 | year = 2007 | title = Can a neural system geared to bring about rapid, predictive, and efficient function explain creativity? | journal = Creat. Res. J. | volume = 19 | pages = 19–24 | doi=10.1080/10400410709336874}}
}}</ref>

==== Flaherty model ====
In 2005, Alice Flaherty presented a three-factor model of the creative drive. Drawing from evidence in brain imaging, drug studies, and lesion analysis, she described the creative drive as resulting from an interaction of the frontal lobes, the [[temporal lobe]]s, and [[dopamine]] from the [[limbic system]]. The frontal lobes may be responsible for idea generation, and the temporal lobes for idea editing and evaluation. Abnormalities in the frontal lobe (such as depression or anxiety) generally decrease creativity, while abnormalities in the temporal lobe often increase creativity. High activity in the temporal lobe typically inhibits activity in the frontal lobe, and vice versa. High dopamine levels increase general [[arousal]] and goal-directed behaviors and reduce [[latent inhibition]], with all three effects increasing the drive to generate ideas.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Flaherty |first=A.W. |year=2005 |title=Frontotemporal and dopaminergic control of idea generation and creative drive |journal=J Comp Neurol |volume=493 |issue=1 |pages=147–53 |doi=10.1002/cne.20768 |pmc=2571074 |pmid=16254989}}</ref>

==== Lin and Vartanian model ====
In 2018, Lin and Vartanian proposed a [[Neuroeconomics|neuroeconomic]] framework that precisely describes [[norepinephrine]]'s role in creativity and modulating [[large-scale brain networks]] associated with creativity.<ref name=":12" /> This framework describes how neural activity in different brain regions and networks, such as the [[default mode network]], track [[utility]] or subjective values of ideas.

=== Economics ===
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).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Artige |first1=Lionel |last2=Lubart |first2=Todd |chapter=Economic Perspectives on Creativity |title=Encyclopedia of Creativity |date=2020 |pages=411–416 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.23721-8 |hdl=2268/241305 |isbn=978-0-12-815615-5 |access-date=13 August 2024 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337255290|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Leslie K. |last2=McGuire |first2=Stephen J. |title=Economic creativity and innovation implementation: the entrepreneurial drivers of growth? Evidence from 63 countries |journal=Small Business Economics |date=May 2010 |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=391–412 |doi=10.1007/s11187-008-9145-7 |access-date=13 August 2024 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-008-9145-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

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 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 (economics)|capital]], and creative products are protected by [[intellectual property]] laws.

Mark A. Runco and Daniel Rubenson have tried to describe a "[[Behavioral economics|psychoeconomic]]" model of creativity.<ref name="RubRunc1992">{{cite journal |last1=Rubenson |first1=Daniel L. |last2=Runco |first2=Mark |year=1992 |title=The psychoeconomic approach to creativity |journal=New Ideas in Psychology |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=131–147 |doi=10.1016/0732-118X(92)90021-Q}}</ref> 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 prematurely analyzes the value of future innovations.<ref name="Diamond1992">{{cite journal |last=Diamond |first=Arthur M. |year=1992 |title=Creativity and Interdisciplinarity: A Response to Rubenson and Runco |journal=New Ideas in Psychology |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=157–160 |doi=10.1016/0732-118X(92)90023-S}}</ref>

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 professional]]s and tend to have a higher level of economic development.<ref name="Florida 2002">{{cite book |last1=Florida |first1=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofcreativecl00flor_1 |title=The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life |publisher=Basic Books |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-465-02476-6}}</ref>

=== Sociology ===
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,<ref name="Chan 2011">{{cite book |last1=Chan |first1=Janet |title=Creativity and Innovation in Business and Beyond: Social Science Perspectives and Policy Implications |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |editor1-last=Mann |editor1-first=Leon |chapter=Towards a sociology of creativity |editor2-last=Chan |editor2-first=Janet}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Reckwitz |first1=Andreas |title=The Invention of Creativity |publisher=Polity Press |year=2017 |page=vi}}</ref> but sociology has yet to establish creativity as a specific research field, with reviews of sociological research into creativity a rarity in high-impact literature.<ref name="Godart Seong Phillips 2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Godart |first1=Frédéric |last2=Seong |first2=Sorah |last3=Phillips |first3=Damon J. |date=2020-07-30 |title=The Sociology of Creativity: Elements, Structures, and Audiences |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=489–510 |doi=10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054833 |issn=0360-0572 |s2cid=218819502}}</ref>

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 [[Karl Marx|Marx]], [[Émile Durkheim|Durkheim]], and [[Max Weber|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".<ref name="Casey Obrien 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Casey |first1=Emma |last2=O'Brien |first2=Dave |year=2020 |title=Sociology, 'Sociology' and the Cultural and Creative Industries |journal=Sociology |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=443–459 |doi=10.1177/0038038520904712 |s2cid=216202901 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Education ===
For those who view the conventional system of [[education|schooling]] as stifling creativity, an emphasis is made (particularly in the [[preschool]]/[[kindergarten]] and early school years) to provide a creativity-friendly, rich, imagination-fostering environment for young children.<ref name="Nickerson99handbook">{{cite book |last=Nickerson |first=R.S. |title=Handbook of Creativity |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1999 |editor-last=Sternberg |editor-first=R.J. |editor-link=Robert Sternberg |chapter=Enhancing creativity}}</ref><ref name="Csik99handbook">{{cite book |last=Csíkszentmihályi |first=Mihály |author-link=Mihály Csíkszentmihályi |title=Handbook of Creativity |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1999 |editor-last=Sternberg |editor-first=R.J. |editor-link=Robert Sternberg |chapter=Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity}}</ref><ref name="RobAzzam2009">{{cite journal |last=Robinson |first=K. |author-link=Ken Robinson (British author) |author2=Azzam, A. M. |year=2009 |title=Why creativity now? |journal=Educational Leadership |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=22–26}}</ref> Researchers have seen this as important because technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate and creative problem-solving will be needed to cope with these challenges as they arise.<ref name="RobAzzam2009" /> In addition to helping with problem solving, creativity also helps students identify problems where others have failed to do so.<ref name="Nickerson99handbook" /><ref name="Csik99handbook" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Paris |first1=C. |title=Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development |last2=Edwards |first2=N. |last3=Sheffield |first3=E. |last4=Mutinsky |first4=M. |last5=Olexa |first5=T. |last6=Reilly |first6=S. |last7=Baer |first7=J. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=J.C. |location=New York, N.Y. |pages=333–350 |chapter=How early school experiences impact creativity |editor-last2=Baer |editor-first2=J.}}</ref> The [[Waldorf School]] is an example of an education program that promotes creative thought.

Promoting intrinsic motivation and problem solving are two areas where educators can foster creativity in students. Students are more creative when they see a task as intrinsically motivating, valued for its own sake.<ref name="Csik99handbook" /><ref name="RobAzzam2009" /><ref name="ByrgeHanson2009">{{cite journal |last1=Byrge |first1=C. |last2=Hanson |first2=S. |year=2009 |title=The creative platform: A new paradigm for teaching creativity |journal=Problems of Education in the 21st Century |volume=18 |pages=33–50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Csikszentmihalyi |first=M. |title=The evolving self: A psychology for the third millennium |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=1993 |editor-last=Csikszentmihalyi |editor-first=M. |location=New York |pages=175–206 |chapter=Evolution and flow}}</ref> To promote creative thinking, educators need to identify what motivates their students and to structure teaching around it. Providing students with a choice of activities allows them to become more intrinsically motivated and therefore creative in completing the tasks.<ref name="Nickerson99handbook" /><ref>{{citation |author=National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education |title=All our futures: Creativity, culture, and education |year=1998 |location=U.K. |publisher=NACCCE}}</ref>

Teaching students to solve problems that do not have well-defined answers is another way to foster their creativity. This is accomplished by allowing students to explore problems and redefine them, possibly drawing on knowledge that at first may seem unrelated to the problem in order to solve it.<ref name="Nickerson99handbook" /><ref name="Csik99handbook" /><ref name="RobAzzam2009" /><ref name="ByrgeHanson2009" /> In adults, mentoring individuals is another way to foster their creativity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Torrance |first=Ellis Paul |title=The manifesto: a guide to developing a creative career |publisher=Ablex Pub |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-313-01186-3 |location=Westport, Conn. |oclc=52769638}}</ref> However, the benefits of mentoring creativity apply only to creative contributions considered great in a given field, not to [[#"Four C" model|everyday creative expression]].<ref name="Form 440–450">{{Cite journal |last1=Form |first1=Sven |last2=Schlichting |first2=Kerrin |last3=Kaernbach |first3=Christian |date=November 2017 |title=Mentoring functions: Interpersonal tensions are associated with mentees' creative achievement |journal=Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=440–450 |doi=10.1037/aca0000103 |issn=1931-390X |s2cid=148927589}}</ref>

Musical creativity is a gateway to the flow state, which is conducive to spontaneity, improvisation, and creativity. Studies show that it is beneficial to emphasize students' creative side and integrate more creativity into their curriculums, with a notable strategy being through music.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kasirer |first1=Anat |last2=Shnitzer-Meirovich |first2=Shlomit |date=1 June 2021 |title=The perception of creativity and creative abilities among general education and special education teachers |journal=Thinking Skills and Creativity |volume=40 |article-number=100820 |doi=10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100820 |s2cid=233684657}}</ref> One reason for this is that students are able to express themselves through musical improvisation in a way that taps into higher order brain regions, while connecting with their peers and allowing them to go beyond typical pattern generation.<ref>(Landau, 2017:30){{full citation needed|date=July 2023}}</ref> In this sense, improvisation is a form of self-expression that can generate connectivity between peers and surpass the age-old rudimentary aspects of school.

==== Scotland ====
In the [[Education in Scotland|Scottish education system]], creativity is identified as a core skillset for learning, life, and work, and is defined as "a process which generates ideas that have value to the individual. It involves looking at familiar things with a fresh eye, examining problems with an open mind, making connections, learning from mistakes, and using imagination to explore new possibilities."<ref name="education.gov.scot">{{Cite web |title=Creativity 3-18 curriculum review (impact report) {{!}} Practice exemplars {{!}} National Improvement Hub |url=https://education.gov.scot/improvement/practice-exemplars/creativity-3-18-curriculum-review-impact-report |access-date=2021-10-25 |website=education.gov.scot}}</ref> The need to develop a shared language and understanding of creativity and its role across every aspect of learning, teaching, and continuous improvement was identified as a necessary aim;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Creative Learning Networks {{!}} Learning resources {{!}} National Improvement Hub |url=https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/creative-learning-networks |access-date=2021-10-25 |website=education.gov.scot}}</ref> and a set of four skills is used to allow educators to discuss and develop creativity across all subjects and sectors of education – curiosity, open-mindedness, imagination, and problem solving.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are creativity skills? {{!}} Learning resources {{!}} National Improvement Hub |url=https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/what-are-creativity-skills |access-date=2021-10-25 |website=education.gov.scot}}</ref> Distinctions are made between creative learning (when learners are using their creativity skills), creative teaching (when educators are using their own creativity skills), and creative change (when creativity skills are applied to planning and improvement). Scotland's national Creative Learning Plan<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scotland's Creative Learning Plan |url=https://www.creativescotland.com/resources/our-publications/plans-and-strategy-documents/scotlands-creative-learning-plan |access-date=2021-10-25 |website=www.creativescotland.com |language=en}}</ref> supports the development of creativity skills in all learners and of educators' expertise in developing creativity skills. A range of resources has been created to support and assess this, including a national review of creativity learning by Her Majesty's Inspectorate for Education.<ref name="education.gov.scot" />

==== China ====
[[Education in China|China]] recognizes that creativity is crucial for [[national security]], [[Social change|social development]], and generally benefitting the people. Measures have been proposed to enhance creative ability in the country.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jian-sheng |first=X. U. |date=2006 |title=Promoting Creative Ability in China |url=https://consensus.app/papers/promoting-ability-china-jiansheng/14dad62767d357f085588eaae3b00dce/ |journal=Contemporary Economy & Management}}</ref>

==== European Union ====
The [[Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union|European Union]] sees creativity as important for the development of basic skills, and has declared 2009 the Year of Creativity and Innovation. Countries such as [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Italy]], and [[Spain]] have made the encouragement of creativity a part of their educational and economic policies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Collard |first1=P. |last2=Looney |first2=J. |date=2014 |title=Nurturing Creativity in Education |url=https://consensus.app/papers/nurturing-creativity-education-collard/585eecca1fcc51a7a149ddd9f43857b2/ |journal=European Journal of Education |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=348–364 |doi=10.1111/EJED.12090|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Organizational creativity ==
[[File:Training meeting in an ecodesign stainless steel company in brazil.jpg|thumb|right|Training meeting in an eco-design stainless steel company in [[Brazil]]. The leaders, among other things, wish to cheer and encourage the workers in order to achieve a higher level of creativity.]]

Various research studies set out to establish that organizational effectiveness depends to a large extent on the creativity of the workforce. For any given organization, measures of effectiveness vary, depending upon the organization's mission, environmental context, nature of work, the product or service it produces, and customer demands. Thus, the first step in evaluating organizational effectiveness is to understand the organization itself – how it functions, how it is structured, and what it emphasizes.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Similarly, social psychologists, organizational scientists, and management scientists (who research factors that influence creativity and innovation in teams and organizations) have developed integrative theoretical models that emphasize the elements of team composition, team processes, and organizational culture. These theoretical models also emphasize the mutually reinforcing relationships between those elements in promoting innovation.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal | last1 = Woodman | first1 = R.W. | last2 = Sawyer | first2 = J.E. | last3 = Griffin | first3 = R.W. | s2cid = 15250032 | year = 1993 | title = Toward a theory of organizational creativity | journal = Academy of Management Review | volume = 18 | issue = 2| pages = 293–321 | doi=10.5465/amr.1993.3997517}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal | last1 = Paulus | first1 = P.B. | last2 = Dzindolet | first2 = M. | year = 2008 | title = Social influence, creativity and innovation | journal = Social Influence | volume = 3 | issue = 4| pages = 228–247 | doi=10.1080/15534510802341082| s2cid = 143485863 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite journal | last1 = Salazar | first1 = M.R. | last2 = Lant | first2 = T.K. | last3 = Fiore | first3 = S.M. | last4 = Salas | first4 = E. | s2cid = 643746 | year = 2012 | title = Facilitating innovation in diverse science teams through integrative capacity | journal = Small Group Research | volume = 43 | issue = 5| pages = 527–5 | doi=10.1177/1046496412453622}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite journal | last1 = Harvey | first1 = S | year = 2014 | title = Creative synthesis: Exploring the process of extraordinary group creativity | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_academy-of-management-review_2014-07_39_3/page/324 | journal = Academy of Management Review | volume = 39 | issue = 3| pages = 324–343 | doi=10.5465/amr.2012.0224}}</ref>

Research studies of the knowledge economy may be classified into three levels: macro, meso, and micro. Macro studies are at a societal or transnational level. Meso studies focus on organizations. Micro investigations center on the working of workers. There is also an interdisciplinary dimension when researching business,<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite book|last=Burton-Jones|first=Alan|url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8553|title=Knowledge Capitalism|date=1999-10-21|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198296225.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-829622-5}}
|2={{Cite journal|last1=Drucker|first1=David|last2=Drucker|first2=Erika|year=1999|title='There's no place like home' (a Victorian song title)|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/globe_0398-3412_1999_num_139_1_1410|journal=Le Globe. Revue genevoise de géographie|volume=139|issue=1|pages=77–92|doi=10.3406/globe.1999.1410|issn=0398-3412}}
}}</ref> economics,<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Citation|last=Cortada|first=James W.|title=Rise of the Knowledge Worker |chapter=Introducing the Knowledge Worker|year=1998|chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780750670586500041|pages=xiii–xix|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/b978-0-7506-7058-6.50004-1|isbn=978-0-7506-7058-6|access-date=2021-06-26}}
|2={{Cite encyclopedia |last=Stenzl|first=Jürg|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000023092|title=Reich, Willi|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|encyclopedia=Oxford Music Online|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.23092|url-access=subscription}}
|3={{Citation|last=Florida|first=Richard|chapter=Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Regional Economic Growth|date=2003-10-27|title=The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy|pages=39–58|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511610134.003|isbn=978-0-521-82677-8}}
}}</ref> education,<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite book|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203962664/world-yearbook-education-2007-lesley-farrell-tara-fenwick|title=World Yearbook of Education 2007|date=2007-03-12|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9780203962664|isbn=978-1-134-11806-9|editor-last=Farrell|editor-first=Lesley|editor-last2=Fenwick|editor-first2=Tara}}
|2={{Cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Phillip|url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6255|title=The Global Auction|last2=Lauder|first2=Hugh|last3=Ashton|first3=David|date=2010-12-03|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731688.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-973168-8}}
}}</ref> human resource management,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Davenport|first=T.H.|year=2005|title=The coming commoditization of processes|journal=Harvard Business Review|volume=83|number=6|pages=100–108|pmid=15942994 }}</ref> knowledge and organizational management,<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite book|last=Alvesson|first=Mats|title=Knowledge work and knowledge-intensive firms|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2004}}
|2={{Cite journal|last1=Arthur|first1=Michael B.|last2=DeFillippi|first2=Robert J.|last3=Lindsay|first3=Valerie J.|date=October 2008|title=On Being a Knowledge Worker|journal=Organizational Dynamics|volume=37|issue=4|pages=365–377|doi=10.1016/j.orgdyn.2008.07.005|issn=0090-2616}}
|3={{Cite book|editor1-last=Orr|editor1-first=Kevin Martin|editor2-last=Nutley|editor2-first=Sandra M.|editor3-last=Russell|editor3-first=Shona|editor4-last=Bain|editor4-first=Rod|editor5-last=Hacking|editor5-first=Bonnie|editor6-last=Moran|editor6-first=Clare|url=https://worldcat.org/title/945552692|title=Knowledge and practice in business and organisations|date=22 March 2016|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-37792-4|oclc=945552692}}
}}</ref> sociology, psychology, knowledge economy-related sectors – especially software,<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite book|last=Ó Riain|first=Sean|url=https://worldcat.org/title/776970799|title=The Politics of High Tech Growth: Developmental Network States in the Global Economy|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-511-49960-9|oclc=776970799}}
|2={{Cite journal|last=Nerland|first=Monika|date=2007-12-28|title=Knowledge Cultures and the Shaping of Work-based Learning: The Case of Computer Engineering|journal=Vocations and Learning|volume=1|issue=1|pages=49–69|doi=10.1007/s12186-007-9002-x|s2cid=61112900|issn=1874-785X|doi-access=free}}
}}</ref> and advertising.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal|last=Grabher|first=Gernot|date=November 2004|title=Temporary Architectures of Learning: Knowledge Governance in Project Ecologies|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0170840604047996|journal=Organization Studies|volume=25|issue=9|pages=1491–1514|doi=10.1177/0170840604047996|s2cid=145269032|issn=0170-8406|url-access=subscription}}
|2={{Cite book|last=Lury|first=Celia|date=2004-08-12|title=Brands|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203495025/brands-celia-lury|doi=10.4324/9780203495025|isbn=978-1-134-52917-9}}
}}</ref>

=== Organizational culture ===
Supportive and motivational environments that create [[psychological safety]], encourage risk-taking, and tolerate mistakes increase team creativity.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Organizations in which [[help-seeking]], [[Helping behavior|help-giving]], and [[collaboration]] are rewarded promote innovation by providing opportunities and contexts in which team processes that lead to collective creativity can occur.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hargadon | first1 = A. B. | last2 = Bechky | first2 = B. A. | s2cid = 6580938 | year = 2006 | title = When collections of creatives become creative collectives: A field study of problem solving at work | journal = Organization Science | volume = 17 | issue = 4| pages = 484–500 | doi=10.1287/orsc.1060.0200}}</ref> Additionally, [[leadership style]]s that downplay hierarchies or power differences within an organization, and empower people to speak up about their ideas or opinions, also help to create cultures that are conducive to creativity.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

=== Team composition ===
The diversity of team members' backgrounds and knowledge can increase team creativity by expanding the collection of unique information that is available to the team and by introducing different perspectives that can be integrated in novel ways. The [[Millennium Conferences on Creativity]], a two-year-long Canadian review of the subject, for example, advocated for new linkages between the arts and science communities and targeted funding for multidisciplinary research.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=Richard I. |title=Renaissance II |publisher=NRC Research Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-660-18397-8 |edition=1st |location=Ottawa, Canada |publication-date=201 |pages=95–115}}</ref> However, under some conditions, diversity can also decrease team creativity by making it more difficult for team members to communicate about ideas and causing interpersonal conflicts between those with different perspectives.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Harvey | first1 = S | year = 2013 | title = A different perspective: The multiple effects of deep level diversity on group creativity | journal = Journal of Experimental Social Psychology | volume = 49 | issue = 5| pages = 822–832 | doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2013.04.004}}</ref> Thus, the potential advantages of diversity must be supported by appropriate team processes and organizational cultures in order to enhance creativity.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{cite journal | last1 = Paletz | first1 = S.B. | last2 = Schunn | first2 = C.D. | year = 2010 | title = A social-cognitive framework of multidisciplinary team innovation | journal = Topics in Cognitive Science | volume = 2 | issue = 1| pages = 73–95 | doi=10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01029.x| pmid = 25163622 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.611.2475 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Polzer | first1 = J.T. | last2 = Milton | first2 = L.P. | last3 = Swarm | first3 = W.B. Jr. | year = 2002 | title = Capitalizing on diversity: Interpersonal congruence in small work groups | journal = Administrative Science Quarterly | volume = 47 | issue = 2| pages = 296–324 | doi=10.2307/3094807| jstor = 3094807 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.198.3908 | s2cid = 152150563 }}</ref>

=== Team processes ===
Team communication [[norm (social)|norm]]s, such as respecting others' expertise, paying attention to others' ideas, expecting information sharing, tolerating disagreements, [[negotiation|negotiating]], remaining open to others' ideas, learning from others, and building on each other's ideas, increase team creativity by facilitating the social processes involved with [[brainstorming]] and [[problem solving]]. Through these processes, team members can access their collective pool of knowledge, reach shared understandings, identify new ways of understanding problems or tasks, and make new connections between ideas. Engaging in these social processes also promotes positive team [[Affect (psychology)|affect]], which facilitates [[collective creativity]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

=== Constraints ===
{{Main|Creative limitation}}

There is a long-standing debate on how material constraints (e.g., lack of money, materials, or equipment) affect creativity. In psychological and managerial research, there are two competing views. In one view, scholars propose a negative effect of material constraints on innovation and claim that material constraints starve creativity.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Amabile |first1=Teresa M. |last2=Conti |first2=Regina |last3=Coon |first3=Heather |last4=Lazenby |first4=Jeffrey |last5=Herron |first5=Michael |title=Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/256995 |year=1996 |journal=Academy of Management Journal |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=1154–1184 |jstor=256995 |language=en |issn=0001-4273 |s2cid=144812471 |access-date=2025-01-04|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Proponents argue that adequate material resources are needed to engage in creative activities such as experimenting with new solutions and idea exploration.<ref name=":6" /> In an opposing view, scholars assert that people tend to stick to established routines or solutions as long as they are not forced to deviate from them by constraints.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal|last=Ward|first=T.B.|year=1994|title=Structured Imagination: the Role of Category Structure in Exemplar Generation|journal=Cognitive Psychology|language=en|volume=27|issue=1|pages=1–40|doi=10.1006/cogp.1994.1010|s2cid=54276064}}
|2={{Cite journal|last=Stokes|first=Patricia D.|year=2007|title=Using constraints to generate and sustain novelty|journal=Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts|language=en|volume=1|issue=2|pages=107–113|doi=10.1037/1931-3896.1.2.107|issn=1931-390X}}
|3={{Cite journal|last1=Moreau|first1=C. Page|last2=Dahl|first2=Darren W.|s2cid=2152095|year=2005|title=Designing the Solution: The Impact of Constraints on Consumers' Creativity|journal=Journal of Consumer Research|language=en|volume=32|issue=1|pages=13–22|doi=10.1086/429597|issn=0093-5301}}
|4={{Cite news|url=https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-number-one-key-to-innovati|title=The Number One Key to Innovation: Scarcity|last=Neren|first=Uri|date=2011-01-14|work=Harvard Business Review|access-date=2019-03-26|issn=0017-8012}}
}}</ref> For example, material constraints facilitated the development of [[jet engine]]s in [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gibbert|first1=Michael|last2=Scranton|first2=Philip|year=2009|title=Constraints as sources of radical innovation? Insights from jet propulsion development|journal=Management & Organizational History|language=en|volume=4|issue=4|pages=385–399|doi=10.1177/1744935909341781|s2cid=144428010|issn=1744-9359}}</ref>

To reconcile these competing views, contingency models were proposed.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last1=Hoegl|first1=Martin|last2=Gibbert|first2=Michael|last3=Mazursky|first3=David|year=2008|title=Financial constraints in innovation projects: When is less more?|journal=Research Policy|language=en|volume=37|issue=8|pages=1382–1391|doi=10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.018}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Weiss|first1=Matthias|last2=Hoegl|first2=Martin|last3=Gibbert|first3=Michael|year=2011|title=Making Virtue of Necessity: The Role of Team Climate for Innovation in Resource-Constrained Innovation Projects|journal=Journal of Product Innovation Management|language=en|volume=28|issue=s1|pages=196–207|doi=10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00870.x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Weiss|first1=Matthias|last2=Hoegl|first2=Martin|last3=Gibbert|first3=Michael|year=2017|title=How Does Material Resource Adequacy Affect Innovation Project Performance? A Meta-Analysis|journal=Journal of Product Innovation Management|language=en|volume=34|issue=6|pages=842–863|doi=10.1111/jpim.12368}}</ref> The rationale behind these models is that certain [[contingency factors]] (e.g., creativity climate or creativity-relevant skills) influence the relationship between constraints and creativity.<ref name=":7" /> These contingency factors reflect the need for higher levels of motivation and skills when working on creative tasks under constraints.<ref name=":7" /> Depending on these contingency factors, there is either a positive or negative relationship between constraints and creativity.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" />

==Fostering creativity==
{{Main|Creativity techniques}}

Several researchers have proposed methods of increasing a person's creativity. Such ideas range from the [[Psychology|psychological]]-cognitive—such as the [[Alex Faickney Osborn|Osborn]]-[[Sid Parnes|Parnes]] [[Creative problem-solving|Creative Problem Solving Process]], [[Synectics]], science-based creative thinking, Purdue Creative Thinking Program, and [[Edward de Bono]]'s [[lateral thinking]]—to the highly structured—such as [[TRIZ]] (the Theory of Inventive Problem-Solving) and its variant Algorithm of Inventive Problem Solving (developed by the Russian scientist [[Genrich Altshuller]]), and Computer-Aided [[Morphological analysis (problem-solving)|morphological analysis]].{{Original research inline|date=June 2024}}

An empirical synthesis, of which methods work best in enhancing creativity, was published by Haase et al.<ref name=":13">{{cite journal |last1=Haase |first1=Jennifer |last2=Hanel |first2=Paul H. P. |last3=Gronau |first3=Norbert |title=Creativity enhancement methods for adults: A meta-analysis. |journal=Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts |date=27 March 2023 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=708–736 |doi=10.1037/aca0000557|s2cid=257794219 |url=http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27194 }}</ref> Summarising the results of 84 studies, the authors found that complex training courses, meditation, and cultural exposure were most effective in enhancing creativity, while the use of cognitive-manipulation drugs was noneffective.<ref name=":13" />

===Need for closure===
Experiments suggest the [[Closure (psychology)|need for closure]] of task participants, whether as a reflection of personality or induced (through time pressure), negatively impacts creativity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chirumbolo |first1=Antonio |last2=Livi |first2=Stefano |last3=Mannetti |first3=Lucia |last4=Pierro |first4=Antonio |last5=Kruglanski |first5=Arie W |title=Effects of need for closure on creativity in small group interactions |journal=European Journal of Personality |year=2004 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=265–278|doi=10.1002/per.518 |s2cid=144190667 }}</ref> Accordingly, it has been suggested that reading fiction, which can reduce the cognitive need for closure, may encourage creativity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Djikic |first1=Maja |last2=Oatley |first2=Keith |last3=Moldoveanu |first3=Mihnea C. |title=Opening the Closed Mind: The Effect of Exposure to Literature on the Need for Closure |journal=Creativity Research Journal |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=149–154 |doi=10.1080/10400419.2013.783735|year=2013 |s2cid=143961189 }}</ref>

== Malevolent creativity ==
{{Main|Malevolent creativity}}

"Malevolent creativity" is the "dark side" of creativity.<ref name="Cropley Dark side">{{cite book |title=The Dark Side of Creativity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-13960-1 |editor1-last=Cropley |editor1-first=David H. |location=Cambridge |editor2-last=Cropley |editor2-first=Arthur J. |editor3-last=Kaufman |editor3-first=James C. |editor4-last=Runco |editor4-first=Mark A. |display-editors=3}}</ref><ref name="The dark side of creativity">{{cite journal |last1=McLaren |first1=R.B. |year=1993 |title=The dark side of creativity |journal=Creat. Res. J. |volume=6 |issue=1–2 |pages=137–144 |doi=10.1080/10400419309534472}}</ref> This type of creativity is not typically accepted within society and is defined by the intention to cause harm to others through original and innovative means. While it is often associated with criminal behavior, it can also be observed in ordinary day-to-day life as lying, cheating, and betrayal.<ref name="Measure Malevolent Creativity 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Hao |first1=N. |last2=Tang |first2=M. |last3=Yang |first3=J. |last4=Wang |first4=Q. |last5=Runco |first5=M.A. |year=2016 |title=A New Tool to Measure Malevolent Creativity: The Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=7 |page=682 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00682 |pmc=4870273 |pmid=27242596 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Malevolent creativity should be distinguished from negative creativity in that negative creativity may unintentionally cause harm to others, whereas malevolent creativity is malevolently motivated.

===Crime===
Malevolent creativity is a key contributor to crime and in its most destructive form can even manifest as terrorism. As creativity requires deviating from the conventional, there is permanent tension between being creative and going too far—in some cases to the point of breaking the law. Aggression is a key predictor of malevolent creativity, and increased levels of aggression correlate with a higher likelihood of committing crime.<ref>{{cite book |last=Berkowitz |first=Leonard |title=Aggression: A social psychological analysis |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=1962 |location=New York, N.Y.}}{{page needed|date=July 2023}}</ref>

===Predictive factors===
Although everyone shows some levels of malevolent creativity under certain conditions, those that have a higher propensity towards it have increased tendencies to deceive and manipulate others for their own gain. While malevolent creativity appears to dramatically increase when an individual is treated unfairly, personality, particularly aggressiveness, is also a key predictor in anticipating levels of malevolent thinking. Researchers Harris and Reiter-Palmon investigated the role of aggression in levels of malevolent creativity, in particular levels of implicit aggression and the tendency to employ aggressive actions in response to problem solving. The personality traits of physical aggression, conscientiousness, [[emotional intelligence]], and implicit aggression all seem to be related{{how|date=July 2023}} with malevolent creativity.<ref name="The dark side of creativity" /> Harris and Reiter-Palmon's research showed that when subjects were presented with a problem that designed to trigger malevolent creativity, participants high in implicit aggression and low in premeditation expressed the largest number of malevolently themed solutions. When presented with the more benign problem designed to trigger prosocial motives of helping others and cooperating, those high in implicit aggression, even if they tended to be highly impulsive, were far less destructive in their imagined solutions. The researchers concluded premeditation, more than implicit aggression, controlled an individual's expression of malevolent creativity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=D.J. |last2=Reiter-Palmon |first2=R. |year=2015 |title=Fast and furious: The influence of implicit aggression, premeditation, and provoking situations on malevolent creativity |journal=Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=54–64 |doi=10.1037/a0038499}}</ref>

The current measure for malevolent creativity is the 13-item Malevolent Creativity Behaviour Scale (MCBS).<ref name="Measure Malevolent Creativity 2016" />

==Academic journals==
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* ''[[Creativity Research Journal]]''
* ''[[International Journal of Creative Computing]]''
* ''[[Journal of Creative Behavior]]''
* ''[[Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts]]''
* ''[[Thinking Skills and Creativity]]''
}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Philosophy|Psychology}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Adaptive performance]]
* [[Artistic inspiration]]
* [[Brainstorming]]
* [[Computational creativity]]
* [[Confabulation (neural networks)]]
* [[Content creation]]
* [[Creative age]]
* [[Creativity techniques]]
* [[Daydreaming]]
* [[Dream]]ing
* [[E-scape]]
* [[Fantasy prone personality]]
* [[Genius]]
* [[Guided visualization]]
* [[Heroic theory of invention and scientific development]]
* [[History of the concept of creativity]]
* [[Imagination]]
* [[Innovation]]
* [[Invention]] (such as "artistic invention" in the [[visual arts]])
* [[Lateral thinking]]
* [[Learned industriousness]]
* [[Multiple discovery#Mechanism|Multiple discovery]]
* [[Music therapy]]
* [[Musical improvisation]]
* [[Openness to experience]]
* [[Originality]]
* [[History of the concept of creativity#1600s|Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski]] (1595–1640), Polish poet and theoretician of poetry, who first applied the word "creation" to a human activity (poetry).
* ''[[Why Man Creates]]'' (film)
}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*[[Rick Rubin]] {{cite book |last=The creative act|first=A. |year=2023 |title=The Creative Act: A Way of Being |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=9780593652886 }}
* {{cite book |last=Craft|first=A. |year=2005 |title=Creativity in Schools: tensions and dilemmas |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-32414-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Gielen|first=P.|year=2013|title=Creativity and other Fundamentalisms|publisher=Mondriaan|location=Amsterdam}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Glăveanu |editor1-first=Vlad Petre |title=The Creativity Reader |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-084171-3}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Jacques Hadamard|last=Hadamard|first=Jacques|title=The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field|publisher=Dover|year=2017|orig-date=1945|isbn=978-0-486-20107-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Jeffery|first=Graham |title=The Creative College: building a successful learning culture in the arts |year=2005 |publisher=Trentham Books }}
* {{cite book |last=Johnson|first=D.M. |title=Systematic introduction to the psychology of thinking |year=1972 |publisher=Harper & Row}}
* {{cite book |last=Jullien|first= F. |translator-first=Paula M.|translator-last=Varsano |title=In Praise of Blandness: Proceeding from Chinese Thought and Aesthetics |year=2004 |publisher=Zone Books, U.S.|isbn=1-890951-41-2}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Carl Jung|last=Jung|first=Carl G.|title=The Collected Works of C. G. Jung|volume=8. The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche|publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1981|isbn=0-691-09774-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Kanigel|first=Robert|title=The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan|publisher=Washington Square Press|year=1992|isbn=0-671-75061-5}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kolp|first1=P. |last2=Lammé|first2=A.|last3=Regnard|first3=Fr. |editor-last=Rens|editor-first=J.M. |year=2009 |journal=Orphée Apprenti |title=Musique et créativité |volume=NS |issue=1 |pages=9–119|author-link=Pierre Kolp }} D/2009/11848/5
* [[John Kounios|Kounios, John]], and [[Yvette Kounios]], "The Wonder of Insight: Scientists are finally getting a grasp on the aha! moment – how and when it happens and why it matters", ''[[Scientific American]]'', vol. 332, no. 3 (March 2025), pp.&nbsp;20–27.
* {{cite journal |last=Kraft|first=U. |title=Unleashing Creativity |journal=[[Scientific American Mind]] |year=2005 |volume=April |pages=16–23|doi=10.1038/scientificamericanmind0405-16 }}
* {{cite book|author-link=Jonah Lehrer|last=Lehrer|first=Jonah|year=2012|title=Imagine: How Creativity Works}}
* {{cite book |last=McLaren|first=R.B.|chapter=Dark Side of Creativity |editor-last1=Runco|editor-first1=M.A. |editor-last2=Pritzker|editor-first2=S.R. |title=Encyclopedia of Creativity |year=1999 |publisher=Academic Press}}
* {{cite journal |last=McCrae|first=R.R. |title=Creativity, Divergent Thinking, and Openness to Experience |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1987 |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=1258–1265 |doi =10.1037/0022-3514.52.6.1258 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1231472 }}
* {{cite book |last=Michalko|first=M. |title=Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius |isbn=978-0-89815-913-4 |year=1998 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |location=Berkeley, Calif.}}
* {{cite book |author=National Academy of Engineering |year=2005 |title=Educating the engineer of 2020: adapting engineering education to the new century |publisher=National Academies Press |author-link=National Academy of Engineering |isbn=978-0-309-09649-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/educatingenginee0000unse }}
* {{cite journal |last=Runco|first=M.A. |year=2004 |title=Creativity |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |volume=55 |pages=657–687 |doi=10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141502 |pmid=14744230}}
* {{cite journal|author-link=Sabaneev, Leonid|last=Sabaneev|first=Leonid|title=The Psychology of the Musico-Creative Process|journal=Psyche|volume=9|date=July 1928|pages=37–54}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Smith|first1=S.M. |last2=Blakenship|first2=S.E. |s2cid=10359632 |date=1 April 1991 |journal=American Journal of Psychology |title=Incubation and the persistence of fixation in problem solving |volume=104 |pages=61–87 |doi=10.2307/1422851 |issn=0002-9556 |issue=1 |pmid=2058758 |jstor=1422851}}=
* [[Gary Stix|Stix, Gary]], "Wiki-Curious: Are you a 'busybody,' a 'hunter" or a 'dancer'?", ''[[Scientific American]]'', vol. 332, no. 2 (February 2025), p. 18. "'Curiosity actually works by connecting pieces of information, not just acquiring them.'"
* {{cite book |last=Taylor|first=C.W. |chapter=Various approaches to and definitions of creativity |editor-last=Sternberg|editor-first=R.J. |title=The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives |year=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Marie-Louise von Franz|last=von Franz|first=Marie-Louise|title=Psyche and Matter|publisher=Shambhala|year=1992|isbn=0-87773-902-1}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}

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