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Creativity Doesn't Develop in a Vacuum
Author(s) -
Baer John
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20151
Subject(s) - creativity , psychology , mathematics education , developmental psychology , pedagogy , social psychology
The skills, knowledge, attitudes, motivations, and personality traits that lead to creative thinking and creative behavior do not exist—and do not develop—in a vacuum. They are inextricably tied to content, to domains, in particular, and they therefore vary by domains. The more we learn about creativity, the more we discover how domain specific creativity is. This means we cannot nurture creativity, or any of the skills or attributes that contribute to creativity, without thinking about content. One cannot become physically fit by doing just one kind of exercise that trains a single set of muscles; all‐around fitness requires diverse exercises that use and train many different sets of muscles. So it is with creativity. Different domains require different creativity‐relevant skills, knowledge, attitudes, motivations, and personality traits. If we want to help children and adolescents become more creative, then we need to attend to the domains we use in the development of creativity.