2024/10/29 by Anna Abraham · 2 citations
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
paper · doi:10.1177/09593543241290232
openalex publication_date 2024/10/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
The “standard definition” of creativity holds that a creative idea is one that is novel and useful. This judgement is customarily based on an external frame of reference as it is passed by people who are receiving the idea (the recipient). The internal frame of reference of the person who has generated the idea (the creator) is usually ignored. I make two cases in this paper. First, that employing external frames of reference in assessing creative products has been erroneously applied to understand the creative mind. Second, that any definition of creativity needs to be one that can be reasonably applied whether following an internal frame of reference of the creative experience or an external frame of reference of the creative product. With these aims in mind, I propose the following amendment to the definition of creativity: a creative idea is one that is both novel and satisfying.