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Topic 4

A REVIEW OF CREATIVITY THEORIES

WHAT QUESTIONS ARE WE TRYING TO ANSWER?

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CHAPTER OUTLINE:-

1. Overview
2. Category one of Theories: What Is the Underlying Structure
of Creativity?
3. Category two of Theories: What Is Needed to Be Creative?
4. Category three of Theories: What Drives People to Be
Creative?
5. Category four of Theories: How Do We Create?
6. Category five of Theories: How Do We Create Together?
7. What Makes Creative Work Last?
8. Conclusion
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OVERVIEW

 There is reasonable consensus regarding the

definition of creativity, which is that it is something both
new and task-appropriate (Barron, 1955; Hennessey &
Amabile, 2010; Simonton, 2012).
 There are many possible additional components to
this definition, such as high quality (Sternberg, 1999a),
surprise (Boden, 2004; Bruner, 1962; Simonton, 2012),
aesthetics, authenticity (Kharkhurin, 2014) and the
creation of a product (Plucker, Beghetto, & Dow, 2004).
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OVERVIEW

Going beyond a basic definition, however, it gets more

complicated.
Creativity can mean so many different things that simply
cataloguing the most cited theories would be as coherent
as learning modern cinema by seeing a minute-long clip
of every Oscar-winning movie. We will therefore err on
the side of covering fewer theories but trying to outline
some of the key questions that are being asked.

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OVERVIEW
 The absence of a dominant theory does not mean a
field is barren. Similarly, there are many theories that
exist as a way of explaining how creativity relates to
another construct.
 In most cases, these theories are covered in detail in
the relevant chapters, such as the Shared Vulnerabilities
Model (Carson, Chapter 14, this volume), the Creative
Self-Regulation Model (Ivcevic & Hoffmann, Chapter
13, this volume), and the Mood Activation Model (Baas,
Chapter 12, this volume).
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OVERVIEW

With these caveats, here are our interpretations

of how creativity theories answer different core
questions, from the underlying structure of
creativity, its prerequisites and drivers, to how we
create alone and together, and what makes
creative works last.

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CATEGORY ONE:
WHAT IS THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE
OF CREATIVITY?

Some theories aim to uncover the underlying structure

of creativity. Even within these parameters, there are
diverse approaches. Is it how creativity is studied or
conceptualized? Perhaps it is how creativity evolves
within a person or how the domains of creativity align
together.

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THE FOUR P FRAMEWORK

 One of the foundations of creativity research is the Four P
framework proposed by Rhodes (1961), who reviewed the
existing literature to see how creativity was being studied. He
synthesized everything into four primary categories, which are
known as the Four P’s: Person, Product, Process, and Press (i.e.,
environment).
 The Four P’s represent four possible questions: What type of
person is creative? What is considered to be creative? How do we
create? How does the environment shape creativity?

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THE FIVE A FRAMEWORK

 More recently, Glăveanu (2013) updated this basic vocabulary
by proposing a Five A framework including Actors, Audiences,
Actions, Artifacts, and Affordances.
 This framework not only recognizes the “double” nature of
the environment (both social and material) but raises new
questions about the interrelation between different elements of
creativity: How do actors relate to their audiences in creativity?
How does creative action make use of sociocultural and material
affordances? And do creative actors use existing artifacts in
producing new ones?
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NOTE

If the Four P’s and the Five A’s are theories that
explore the underlying structure of how creativity
is operationalized, the Four C’s are more focused
on the individual. The Four C theory is an
expansion of the distinction between little-c
(everyday creativity) and Big-C (eminent
creativity).

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THE FOUR C THEORY

 It is a developmental trajectory that begins with mini-c (Beghetto &
Kaufman, 2007), which occurs when someone has an insight that is
personally meaningful and new to that person. It is consistent with the
recent theory of Creative Learning (Beghetto, 2016; Chapter 27, this
volume), which suggests that creativity and learning can be
interdependent.
 Mini-c can evolve into little-c with appropriate feedback and guidance,
to the point that something is recognized as being creative by other
people. Years of deliberate practice can improve one’s creativity to the
point that she or he is considered a true creative professional or expert;
this stage is called Pro-c (Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009). Finally, if
someone’s creativity is so genius that it continues to be a legacy for years
after his or her death, then it can be considered Big-C.
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GARDNER’S (1993, 1999) CONCEPT OF

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES.

 Finally, a variety of theories consider how creativity can

manifest itself across many domains. Although not specifically
focused on creativity, the most well-known theory of this nature
is Gardner’s (1993, 1999) concept of Multiple Intelligences.
 The different intelligences he suggests are interpersonal
(interacting with others), intrapersonal (self-insight), visual-
spatial, naturalistic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily
kinesthetic (movement), and musical. He has also debated adding
existential intelligence (Gardner, 2006). These intelligences can be
considered as being potential domains of creativity.

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THE AMUSEMENT PARK THEORETICAL

(APT) MODEL OF CREATIVITY

 A theory specifically focused on creative domains (and how they relate to a

more generalist perspective of creativity) is the Amusement Park Theoretical
(APT) model of creativity (Baer & Kaufman, 2005, 2017; Kaufman & Baer,
2004; see also Plucker, 2005; Plucker & Beghetto, 2004).

 The APT model uses the metaphor of choosing an amusement park to how
people might narrow down their creative expressions.

 Starting at the top, there are initial requirements that must be in place
before anything else can happen. These initial requirements for going to an
amusement park might be access to transportation, an admission ticket, and
spending money. For creativity, they might include a specific level of
intelligence and motivation, as well as a supportive environment.

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NOTE

 The structural models presented in this section map up the

field and encompass many of its core issues.

 They offer useful lenses through which to study concrete acts

of creativity. However, if the Four P’s/Five A’s or the Four C’s
can be applied to any situation, we still need to reflect on what is
required for creative action to actually take place.

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CATEGORY TWO:
WHAT IS NEEDED TO BE
CREATIVE?

Another category of theories thus focuses on the ingredients

necessary for creativity. What attributes, abilities, and
circumstances must unite for creativity to emerge?

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THE COMPONENTIAL MODEL OF CREATIVITY

 In the original model, Amabile proposed that three interconnected

variables were the key to individual creativity (and organizational
creativity; Amabile, 1988).

 The first is domain-relevant skills, which are technical skills and

talents and specific knowledge. Creativity-relevant processes are
broader, such as being tolerant of ambiguity and willing to take
appropriate risks. Finally, she included intrinsic motivation, taking part
in an activity because it is enjoyable or meaningful. Extrinsic
motivation, in contrast, is when someone is driven by an external
reason, such as money, grades, or praise

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THE REVISED COMPONENTIAL MODEL

OF CREATIVITY

 Four additional pieces have been added for the revised model (Amabile &
Pratt, 2016). Intrinsic motivation is now paired with synergistic extrinsic
motivation, which occurs when external motivators are present yet either add
to or are consistent with a person’s knowledge, competence, values, and
engagement (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

 Work orientation (which can include, among others, seeing work as a job, a
career, a calling, or a passion; Pratt, Pradies, & Lepisto, 2013) can impact one’s
motivation. Affect (specifically positive affect) plays a role as a creativity-
related process and can enhance motivation, and finding meaning in one’s
work can increase both motivation and affect.

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THE INVESTMENT THEORY OF

CREATIVITY

 Also noteworthy is the Investment Theory of Creativity (Sternberg & Lubart,

1995), which uses a central analogy of a creative person being comparable to a
financial investor. To be creative, one may buy low and sell high in the world of
ideas – so the successful creator can recognize undervalued ideas, convince others
of their worth, and then move on to the next project.

 They propose six different components that need to be consistent with creative
values: motivation, intelligence, knowledge, personality, thinking styles, and
environment.
 So, for example, an ideal pattern for a creative person might be someone who is
intrinsically motivated, has relevant cognitive strengths and appropriate domain
knowledge, is open to experiences, has a legislative (creative and self-directed)
thinking style, and develops within a nurturing (or at least tolerant) environment.

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CATEGORY THREE:
WHAT DRIVES PEOPLE TO BE CREATIVE?

 One of the psychologists who stressed the importance of purpose as

a driver of creative work was Gruber (1988; Gruber & Wallace, 1999).

 His Evolving Systems Approach considered the creative person as a

whole and his or her activity as a network of enterprise motivated by the
need to answer questions that triggered the creator’s curiosity.

 By studying the development of creative work over time, this

approach allows us to consider the dynamic between knowledge, affect,
and purpose in creativity and understand what exactly makes creators
passionate about what they do.

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THE OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE OR FLOW

THEORY
 One conceptualization of this passion is Csikszentmihalyi’s (1996), optimal
experience, better known as Flow.

 When people are intensely engaged in a favorite (yet still challenging) activity, they
may enter an exciting, pleasurable moment of complete absorption.

 This sensation, called Flow, is rewarding by itself; as a result, people may be creative
simply to experience these feelings without worrying as much about a specific end goal
or external reason.

 When the audience is other people, it becomes more complex. Guidance is being
creative in mentoring others to help them become in touch with their own creativity.

 The intersection of extrinsic motivation and an audience is called Giving, which is

using your own creativity to help others in a tangible way. It is the presence of a specific
(and often physical) end goal that is present in Giving that leads it to be classified as
extrinsic motivation.
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THE MATRIX MODEL

 A different motivational theory is the Matrix Model (Unsworth, 2001)

from industrial/organizational psychology, which focuses on the reason
(comparable to intrinsic–extrinsic) and context (whether the problem is
open or closed) for being creative.

 The corresponding matrix suggests four types of creativity. Responsive

creativity (extrinsic, closed) involves doing a specific task for an extrinsic
reason. Expected creativity (extrinsic, open) is being asked to be creative;
there is more freedom but the impetus is still someone else. Contributory
creativity (intrinsic, closed) is being engaged and interested but focused on
a specific, often more narrow problem. Finally, Proactive creativity is
creating for your own reasons and to your own specifications (and is likely
the most comparable to most conceptions of creativity).

 In many ways, motivation is the spark that enables creative action.

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CATEGORY FOUR:
HOW DO WE CREATE?

Once someone has the needed components and has the

drive to be creative, what is the actual process like? Some
of the earliest theoretical work in creativity scholarship
has tried to answer this question.

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WALLAS (1926) THE FIVE-STAGE MODEL

Wallas’s first stage was preparation, in which the problem solver

begins to study and gather knowledge. Next comes incubation,
in which the mind keeps thinking about the question even if the
person is doing other tasks. This stage may be brief or last a long
time. His third stage, intimation, is often dropped from modern
perspectives on his work; it is the moment of realizing a
breakthrough is imminent. In the illumination phase, the person
has the “aha” moment – the awaited insight in which the solution
appears. Finally, the verification phase is when the idea is tested,
expanded, and implemented.

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GUILFORD’S (1950, 1967) STRUCTURE OF

INTELLECT MODEL

 Two of Guilford’s proposed thought processes were divergent

and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the ability to
think of as many different possible solutions as possible to an
open question or problem, whereas convergent thinking is
choosing which idea or answer is most worth pursuing.

 These two thinking processes are sometimes called idea

generation and idea exploration

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THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT MODELS

OF CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING:

 Two current and widely used models of the creative process are expansions of
Guilford’s original concept of idea generation and evaluation.

 The Geneplore (Generate-Explore) model (Finke, Ward, & Smith, 1992) is one
of the founding blocks in the field of creative cognition (see Ward & Kolomyts,
Chapter 9, this volume).

 In the first generative phase, the problem solver develops mental

representations of possible solution, called pre-inventive structures.

 In the second explorative phase, these different pre-inventive structures are

evaluated for how well they would fit within the constraints of the desired goal.

 Several different cycles may occur before a workable and creative solution is
found.

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CAMPBELL (1960): THE BLIND VARIATION

AND SELECTIVE RETENTION (BVSR) THEORY

According to BVSR, ideas are blindly

generated; they may come unplanned and
without insight into their quality. Over time,
some ideas are selectively retained. It is the
retained ideas that last and have a true
impact.

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MEDNICK’S (1962) ASSOCIATE THEORY

 One prominent theory is Mednick’s (1962) Associate Theory, which

emphasizes the ability to make connections between remote concepts.

 When presented with a word, according to this theory, a more creative

person could generate related words that would be less commonly associated.

 For example, the word “milk” might inspire most people to say “cow” or
“white,” but more remote associations might include “moustache” (as in a
milk moustache) or “Jersey” (a breed of cow).

 Notice, however, that this ability is heavily reliant on knowledge,

intelligence, and culture

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GALENSON (2005, 2009) PROPOSED AN INTERESTING WAY OF

CHARACTERIZING THE CREATIVE PROCESS IN THE CASE
OF EMINENT CREATORS

Galenson (2005, 2009) distinguished between two types

of creators: conceptual creators (such as Picasso),
those who start from an idea and try to find the best way
of putting it into practice, and experimental creators
(such as Cézanne), who continually looked for the best
way of perfecting their practice through trial and error
and plenty of experimentation.

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NOTE

 Wide range of phases and processes within and across them.

Despite this variety, they nonetheless all focus exclusively on the
individual creator and his or her intrapsychological dynamic.
However, in real life (particularly as technology continues to
advance), we are more likely to create in implicit and explicit
collaboration with other people.
 Such scenarios mean that modern creators are apt to also
consider and integrate other people’s ideas and perspectives
(Barron, 1999).

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CATEGORY FIVE:
HOW DO WE CREATE TOGETHER?
HOW CAN WE
UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISMS AND IMPLICATIONS OF SUCH
COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY?

There are at least two ways to conceptualize this question.

 The first way focuses our attention on the creative outcomes
of groups. Such work, often in laboratory settings, strives to
understand what dynamics enable successful groups and how
creativity differs between teams and individuals.
 The second way considers the interaction and
communication processes that occur within real-life collaborators
or teams.

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ALEX OSBORN (1957 HARNESS THE CREATIVE

POTENTIAL EMBEDDED WITHIN GROUPS.

 Alex Osborn (1957) wonder how we could harness the creative potential
embedded within groups. He invented brainstorming and claimed that people
can produce twice as many ideas when working together than when they are
alone.

Although his method remains popular up to this day, his claim has been
repeatedly proven wrong.

What are the reasons behind these experiences? Many explanations have
been proposed in the literature, ranging from social loafing and groupthink to
production blocking, referring to ideas being lost because people take turns
when speaking in groups.

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VYGOTSKY (1978):
COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY

 The literature on collaborative creativity sheds new light on

this by drawing on sociocultural scholarship, dating back to Lev
Vygotsky (1978). Vygotsky suggested that children, as they grow,
internalize knowledge and acquire skills in interaction with others.
 Moreover, through this interaction, they are capable of
performing tasks they could not do alone.
 He called this idea of not merely studying what children can
achieve but also what they are capable of doing with others
(which also includes mentorship or teaching) the zone of
proximal development.
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JOHN-STEINER (1992) SOCIAL

INTERACTION

 John-Steiner (1992) studied this potential of social

interaction to foster learning and creativity in relation to
real-life, long-term collaborations.
 She found that productive collaborations are
characterized by tensions, complementarity, and
emergence.

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GLĂVEANU (2015): PERSPECTIVAL

MODEL

 Glăveanu (2015) proposed that we acquire the perspective of

others on the situation or the problem at hand. In his Perspectival
Model, creativity is conceptualized in terms of dialogues between
different perspectives and the capacity to reflect on one’s position
from the standpoint of another person.
 These processes – perspective-taking and reflexivity – are
cultivated within social interactions and, when fostered within
group interactions, they can make the difference between low and
high productivity.

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DREU AND COLLEAGUES (2011) : THE

MOTIVATED INFORMATION PROCESSING

 Dreu and colleagues (2011) discuss the Motivated Information

Processing in Groups Model, which sees group creativity and
innovation as a function of both epistemic motivation and prosocial
motivation. The former refers to the degree to which group members
systematically process and disseminate information, while the latter
refers to whether they seek a collective gain rather than a personal one.

 Different conditions are considered to play a part in this dynamic,

including time constraints, openness to experience, and the existence of
a shared identity.

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KARWOWSKI (2011, KARWOWSKI &

LEBUDA, 2013): CREATIVE CLIMATE

 Karwowski (2011, Karwowski & Lebuda, 2013) postulates three primary

factors that contribute to a creative climate: task and interpersonal
cohesiveness and dynamic-energetic components that, together, balance the
need for stability and flexibility and encourage risk-taking among members.

 Finally, there are elements of the context that go beyond team or

organizational climate and relate to the general culture within which people
create. There are marked differences, for example, between Western forms of
creativity, which emphasize individuality, risk-taking, and the rupture between
the new and the old, and Eastern conceptions, highlighting the need for
continuity, adaptation, and renewal of traditions

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WHAT MAKES CREATIVE

WORK LAST?

 Thinking back to the Four C model, what is that quality that

separates Pro-c from Big-C? Which creative works lasts generations and
which fade away? The BVSR theory expands from how we create to the
question of what is retained over time. The research literature on
genius is also devoted to this topic. In addition, several broader
creativity theories address this issue.
One influential approach is Csikszentmihalyi’s (1999) Systems
Model, which looks at the relationship between the person, field, and
domain. The person is the creator and his or her creative work remains
constant.
Another way of considering which creative contributions last is to
analyse different products as to how they change their domain.

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WHAT MAKES CREATIVE

WORK LAST?
 The Propulsion Model of Creativity (Sternberg, 1999a; Sternberg&Kaufman, 2012;
Sternberg, Kaufman,&Pretz, 2001, 2004) outlines eight different types of creative
contributions that are categorized by how they propel the domain forward.

 Four types maintain the existing paradigm.

 Perhaps the most straightforward are conceptual replications, which simply

reproduce or reinforce past creative work. Redefinitions stay within the same domain
but have a new angle or perspective. Forward incrementations push things slightly
forward on a small scale. Advance forward incrementations go further to advance
things, to the point of sometimes being too far ahead of their time to be appreciated.

 The remaining four types are ways of either rejecting or replacing the existing
paradigm. Redirections try to alter the direction a domain is moving.
Reconstructions/Redirections not only want to alter the direction but to go back to a
past period of time and ignore recent developments. Integrations aim to merge two
different areas together to synthesize into a new domain. Finally, Reinitiations want to
dramatically alter and reinvent a domain, virtually
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WHAT MAKES CREATIVE

WORK LAST?

 The core distinction between those who want to create

within a paradigm versus those who want to change a
paradigm is represented in many other related theories.
 These include similar dichotomies such as Incremental vs.
Radical creativity (Gilson & Madjar, 2011) and Adaptors vs.
Innovators (Kirton, 1976).

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CONCLUSION

 Certainly, the future will bring additional theoretical development

(and

 Empirical work that continues to explore, expand, and attempt to

answer these questions.

 There are several possible questions that could be addressed by

theory. There has been extensive thought given to the personal
requirements for creativity (such as the Componential and Investment
Theories).

 In contrast, consider the question, What are the resources and

support systems needed to be creative? Instead of personal attributes,
what affordances (action possibilities) of material objects are needed?
How can mentors, access to materials, social networks, and new
technologies help foster someone’s creativity?
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CONCLUSION

 Another possible question is How does a novice become a creative expert?

There are several concepts from the expertise literature, such as the
importance of deliberate practice over many years, that can and have been
applied to creativity.

 Last but not least, there is a pressing need to raise the question of How can
creativity contribute to positive societal change? Over time, our ideas of what
domains are creative have grown from the arts and sciences to include
business, education, everyday life, and many others.

 There is no (successful or widely accepted) grand theory of creativity that

takes into account every possible question, variable, or approach (Baer, 2011).
Nor, truly, is there any particular need for one. Creativity is so complex and
multifaceted that any theory that tried to explain everything would be
unwieldy to the point of being incomprehensible.
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