What Theories and Models of Creativity and its importance in enhancing Creativity?

Answer 1

The best model of creativity is ALWAYS by definition both unknown and not supported because as soon as one scholar tries for the single right-iest model, other scholars find flaws in it and attempt to surpass it---easily doing so. So no one best model of creativity will ever exist. Take the viewpoint of a CEO being approached by various consultants-scholars for creativity consults---each purports to have the BEST single model or the RIGHT-EST model yet each is very obviously limited, biased, and different than the others. To the CEO it is obvious that he/she would best serve his/her own firm by surveying the broad array of all models out there and building a repertoire of the best of them, to pick and choose from, to fuse and combine, to assess the presence and omission of, the helps to and hindrances to, in parts of his/her firm.

SO the BEST model of creativity is--------a repertoire of plural diverse balanced models that compensate for the limitations of each other. Recent work on such repertoires includes a 117 page article A Model of 42 Models of Creativity, a book comprehensively presenting 60 model of creativity in great detail Are You Creative? 60 Models, and a recent encyclopedia article Multiple Models of Creativity presenting 18 Creativity & Novelty Sciences and their inter-relations, plus 120 models of creativity and 54 models of innovation.

Note robust applications of top models of creativity (right-iest ones) by very competent private sector organizations like Procter & Gamble, have published modest not to say embarrassingly slight results--the increments in creativity achieved are negligible. Single right-y models even from Harvard's best, do not have actual power to improve creativity of serious amounts and sorts, if we are to believe results published. One study at Harvard after years and millions spent published copying a Japanese hit product 8 years after it was a hit in Japan as their creative outcome from changing 42+ environment variables in more "creativity-fostering" directions. Some have said these academic projects fail due to confusing creative-feeling forms of work with creation-producing forms of work. Edison worked in a lousy environment hostile to creativity in most ways yet out-invented nearly everyone for a century or more---testing light bulb material 8,114, testing light bulb material 8,115, testing light bulb material 8,116---THAT process neither feels nor looks creative BUT it IS creativity at work. Creation does not look or feel creative in most instances.