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Creativity Is More Than Just Coming Up with Ideas - Psychology Today
An international scholar panel show creativity is action, not just thinking.
The European Collaborative Creativity Conference brought together a group of international scholars to put together a puzzle of creativity, building from neuroscience to cultural influences. During the week at the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation in Geneva and the Marconi Institute for Creativity in Bologna, the scholars challenged the common tendency to equate creativity with thinking of new ideas. Creativity is much broader than coming up with ideas. As described by a large group of scholars in the Creativity Manifesto and discussed at the conference, most importantly, creativity is action.
What does it mean that creativity is action? It means that creativity goes beyond thinking, as commonly thought by laypeople and implicit in the choices of creativity researchers. Creative thinking tasks are the most common measures in experimental studies (studying many questions, from the role of mood to the effects of multicultural experiences on creativity) and applied research (such as testing the success of creativity training programs). However, creators don’t stop there. Ludwig van Beethoven didn’t only come up with tunes; he also wrote nine symphonies. Agatha Christie didn’t just have an idea for stories about an eccentric Belgian detective; she painstakingly worked on each of 33 Poirot novels.
An international scholar panel show creativity is action, not just thinking.
The European Collaborative Creativity Conference brought together a group of international scholars to put together a puzzle of creativity, building from neuroscience to cultural influences. During the week at the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation in Geneva and the Marconi Institute for Creativity in Bologna, the scholars challenged the common tendency to equate creativity with thinking of new ideas. Creativity is much broader than coming up with ideas. As described by a large group of scholars in the Creativity Manifesto and discussed at the conference, most importantly, creativity is action.
What does it mean that creativity is action? It means that creativity goes beyond thinking, as commonly thought by laypeople and implicit in the choices of creativity researchers. Creative thinking tasks are the most common measures in experimental studies (studying many questions, from the role of mood to the effects of multicultural experiences on creativity) and applied research (such as testing the success of creativity training programs). However, creators don’t stop there. Ludwig van Beethoven didn’t only come up with tunes; he also wrote nine symphonies. Agatha Christie didn’t just have an idea for stories about an eccentric Belgian detective; she painstakingly worked on each of 33 Poirot novels.