Creativity as action: findings from five creative domains

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Sociology of Creativity
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Creativity is often viewed as an internal cognitive process.
• Existing theories may not fully capture the contextual and relational aspects of creative expression.
• John Dewey's philosophy of 'art as experience' provides a foundation for understanding creativity as an interactive process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and substantiate an action theory of creativity.
• To analyze creative expression within five distinct domains: art, design, science, scriptwriting, and music.
• To investigate creativity as a relational and inter-subjective phenomenon.

Main Methods:

• Development of an action framework for analyzing creative acts.
• Derivation of a coding frame based on Dewey's philosophy.
• Qualitative analysis of 60 interviews with recognized French creators across five domains.

Main Results:

• Identification of complex, domain-specific models of action and interaction in creative processes.
• Discovery of similarities and differences in creative action across diverse fields.
• Evidence supporting the view that creative action occurs "in between" actors and their environment, rather than solely "inside" individuals.

Conclusions:

• Creativity is fundamentally a relational and interactive process.
• The proposed action theory offers a new lens for understanding creative expression.
• Findings have implications for educational psychology, suggesting a focus on environmental and interactive factors in fostering creativity.