5.3.1 Creative Processes

In general, psychologists have viewed creativity as a process existing in a single person at a particular point in time. Some other authors, however, present a new alternative to this view. Csikszentinilialyi, Gardner, Gruber and Davis, and Hennessey and Amabile represent the new view and discuss creativity as existing in the larger system of social networks, problem domains, and fields of enterprise, such that the individual who produces products that are judged to be creative is only one of many necessary parts. This systems view of creative processes does not preclude the individual view, however. Rather, it provides additional insights regarding creative persons and products and their function in society as a whole. Our initial focus, therefore, will be to outline some understandings of the process within the individual before going on to the systems approach.

By far the greatest amount of agreement is with the statement that creativity takes time. In fact, some authors believe that the very nature of creativity depends on the time constraints involved and the opportunity to revise, or nurture, the outcomes once produced. Although not all theorists emphasize time to the same extent, the creative process is not generally considered to be something that occurs in an instant with a single flash of insight, even though insights may occur.

Instead of focusing on instantaneous insights, then, Barron and Torrance compare the process of creativity to procreation and emphasize the long gestation period that is required after the initial conception of an idea. Another process to which creativity has been compared (which also emphasizes time) is the more general and even lengthier process of evolution, in which the surviving products are determined through natural selection from a multitude of random variations.

Barron, Csikszentiniilialyi, Gardner, Gruber and Davis, Perkins, Sternberg, and Walberg all suggest that creative processes involve an active search for gaps in existing knowledge, problem finding, or consciously attempting to break through the existing boundaries and limitations in one's field. On the other hand, Feldman, Johnson‑Laird, Langley and Jones, Simonton, and Taylor suggest that creative products are outcomes of random variations at either the generative or selection stage in creative processes. A further alternative, intermediate between chance‑dependent and completely intentional processes, is an approach that is also taken by several of the authors. Specifically, creative processes may be seen as initiating from a previous failure to find explanations for phenomena or to incorporate new ideas into existing knowledge, or form a general drive toward self‑organization through the reduction of chaos.