4.1.1 A Multi‑Faceted Phenomenon

It is probably most productive to view creativity as a multi‑faceted phenomenon rather than as a single unitary construct capable of precise definition. Guilford's address provided an impetus to many to undertake creativity research. The address also provided renewed encouragement, to those who were already involved in such research. As the creativity literature began to expand so did the number of definitions used for the concept. Only nine years following Guilford's address, Taylor found an excess of one hundred definitions of creativity in the literature. These definitions are varied and some could be considered conflicting. Welsch reviewed twenty‑two definitions of creativity to find elements of agreement and disagreement. She was searching for a definition that would be applicable to a variety of creative activities and stated:

The definitions of creativity are numerous, with variations not only in concept, but in the meaning of sub concepts and of terminology referring to similar ideas. There appears to be, however, a significant level of agreement of key attributes among those persons most closely associated with work in this field. Significantly for this study, the greater disagreements occur in relation to aspects that are less relevant to educational purposes. On the basis of the survey of the literature, the following definition is proposed.. Creativity is the process of generating unique products by transformation of existing products. These products, tangible and intangible, must be unique only to the creator, and must meet the criteria of purpose and value established by the creator.

Of course, not everyone associated with creativity research would agree with this definition.

One of the major reasons for the complexity of the field of creativity research is the diversity of theoretical perspectives upon which the research is based. Many of these theoretical approaches are intertwined which adds to the semantic confusion. For example, the concepts of problem solving and creative learning are frequently linked together. Guilford defined problem solving as facing a situation with which you are not fully prepared to deal. Problem solving occurs when there is a need to go beyond the information given, thus there is a need for new intellectual activity. Guilford reported that:

… Problem solving and creative thinking are closely related. The very definitions of those two activities show logical connections. Creative thinking produces novel outcomes, and problem solving involves producing a new response to a new situation, which is a novel outcome.

This definition is also very closely related to a framework for describing the process of creative learning put forth by Torrance and Myers. They described the creative learning process as:

... becoming sensitive to or aware of problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; bringing together available information; defining the difficulty or identifying the missing element; searching for solutions, making hypotheses, and modifying and retesting them; perfecting them; and finally communicating the results.

The fact that there is no widely‑held and uniformly applied definition of creativity has added fuel to the argument that creativity is a difficult field to study.