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Metaphor Foundations in Creativity Research: Boundary vs. Organism
Author(s) -
MORAN SEANA
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the journal of creative behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.896
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 2162-6057
pISSN - 0022-0175
DOI - 10.1002/j.2162-6057.2009.tb01303.x
Subject(s) - metaphor , creativity , conceptualization , epistemology , cognitive science , psychology , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy
Two metaphors explicitly or implicitly used in the conceptualization of creativity are examined and compared. The boundary metaphor describes creativity in terms of crossing or pushing out a frontier. This metaphor underlies studies that emphasize creativity as a moment — an “aha!” experience or a sharp break from tradition. The organism metaphor describes creativity in terms of a reconfiguration of a problem, domain, or situation. This metaphor underlies studies that emphasize creativity as a transformation process. Research and educational implications for a potential shift in the dominant metaphor in the creativity research field are discussed.