Skip to main content

From Cognitive to Cultural Theories of ‘Distribution’: A Creativity Framework

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Distributed Creativity

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Psychology ((BRIEFSPSYCHOL))

  • 2008 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter discusses different views of distribution within cognitive science and cultural psychology and proposes a theoretical framework of distributed creativity. While extended mind and distributed cognition theories share the assumption that psychological processes don’t take place solely inside our heads, they continue to reproduce an unproductive dichotomy between the ‘internal’ and ‘external’ world. In contrast, cultural psychological views of distribution emphasise the interdependence between person and context and consider this relationship developmentally. Drawing on such an account, as well as systemic ways of theorising creativity, a framework is proposed that articulates creative actors, audiences, actions, artefacts and affordances. Three lines of distribution of creative acts are embedded within this model: social, material and temporal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams, F., & Aizawa, K. (2009). Why the mind is still in the head. In P. Robbins & M. Aydede (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of situated cognition (pp. 78–95). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beardsley, M. C. (1965). On the creation of art. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 23(3), 291–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1911). Creative evolution. New York, NY: Henry Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. (1980). The structure of action: Introduction. In M. Brenner (Ed.), The structure of action (pp. 1–27). Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brinkmann, S., & Tanggaard, L. (2010). Toward an epistemology of the hand. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 29(3), 243–257. doi:10.1007/s11217-009-9164-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brower, R. (2003). Constructive repetition, time, and the evolving systems approach. Creativity Research Journal, 15(1), 61–72. doi:10.1207/S15326934CRJ1501_7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, K. (1998). Internal affairs: Making room for psychosemantic internalism. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Button, G. (2008). Against ‘distributed cognition’. Theory, Culture & Society, 25(2), 87–104. doi:10.1177/0263276407086792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cash, M. (2013). Cognition without borders: “Third wave” socially distributed cognition and relational autonomy. Cognitive Systems Research, 25/26, 61–71. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.007

  • Clark, A. (2008). Supersizing the mind: Reflections on embodiment, action, and cognitive extension. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19. doi:10.1111/1467-8284.00096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Belknap Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, M., & Engeström, Y. (1993). A cultural-historical approach to distributed cognition. In G. Salomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations (pp. 1–46). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives (pp. 325–339). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. New York, NY: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fusaroli, R., Gangopadhyay, N., & Tylén, K. (2013). The dialogically extended mind: Language as skilful intersubjective engagement. Cognitive Systems Research, in press, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.06.002

  • Gallagher, S. (2013). The socially extended mind. Cognitive Systems Research, 25/26, 4–12, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.008

  • Gardner, H. (1982). Art, mind, and brain: A cognitive approach to creativity. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, H. (1985). The mind’s new science: A history of the cognitive revolution. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giere, R. N. (2007). Distributed cognition without distributed knowing. Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy, 21(3), 313–320. doi:10.1080/02691720701674197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburg, G. P. (1980). Epilogue: A conception of situated action. In M. Brenner (Ed.), The structure of action (pp. 313–350). Oxford, England: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glannon, W. (2009). Our brains are not us. Bioethics, 23, 321–329. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8519.2009.01727.x

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P. (2013). Rewriting the language of creativity: The five A’s framework. Review of General Psychology, 17(1), 69–81. doi:10.1037/a0029528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P., & Gillespie, A. (2014). Creativity out of difference: Theorising semiotic, social and temporal gaps. In V. P. Glăveanu, A. Gillespie, & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Rethinking creativity: Contributions from cultural psychology (forthcoming). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, H. (2005). The creative person as a whole: The evolving systems approach to the study of creative work. In E. Gruber & K. Bödeker (Eds.), Creativity, psychology and the history of science (pp. 35–104). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, H., & Davis, S. (1988). Inching our way up Mount Olympus: The evolving-systems approach to creative thinking. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives (pp. 243–270). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, E. (1995a). Cognition in the wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, E. (1995b). How a cockpit remembers its speed. Cognitive Science, 19, 265–288. doi:10.1207/s15516709cog1903_1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, E. (2000). Distributed cognition. IESBS Distributed Cognition. Retrieved from http://files.meetup.com/410989/DistributedCognition.pdf

  • Hutchins, E. (2010). Cognitive ecology. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 705–715. doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01089.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jahoda, G. (1992). Crossroads between culture and mind: Continuities and change in theories of human nature. New York, NY: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joas, H., & Kilpinen, E. (2006). Creativity and society. In J. R. Shook & J. Margolis (Eds.), A companion to pragmatism (pp. 323–335). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • John-Steiner, V., Connery, M. C., & Marjanovic-Shane, A. (2010). Dancing with the muses: A cultural-historical approach to play, meaning making and creativity. In M. C. Connery, V. John-Steiner, & A. Marjanovic-Shane (Eds.), Vygotsky and creativity: A cultural-historical approach to play, meaning making, and the arts (pp. 3–16). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keno, T. (2010). The “extended mind” approach for a new paradigm of psychology. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 44, 329–339. doi:10.1007/s12124-010-9128-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirsh, D. (2006). Distributed cognition: A methodological note. Pragmatics & Cognition, 14(2), 249–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, J. (2013). Ontogenesis of the socially extended mind. Cognitive Systems Research, 25/26, 40-46. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.001

  • LeDoux, J. (2002). Synaptic self: How our brains become who we are. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Littleton, K., & Miell, D. (2004). Collaborative creativity: Contemporary perspectives. In D. Miell & K. Littleton (Eds.), Collaborative creativity: Contemporary perspectives (pp. 1–8). London: Free Associated Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus, H. R., & Hamedani, M. (2007). Sociocultural psychology: The dynamic interdependence among self systems and social systems. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 3–39). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, J. H. (2003). The value of creativity: an essay on intellectual history, from Genesis to Nietzsche. Hampshire: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menary, R. (2006). Attacking the bounds of cognition. Philosophical Psychology, 19(3), 329–344. doi:10.1080/09515080600690557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merritt, M., Varga, S., & Stapleton, M. (2013). Editorial introduction: Socializing the extended mind. Cognitive Systems Research, 25/26, 1–3. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.003

  • Michaelian, K., & Sutton, J. (2013). Distributed cognition and memory research: History and current directions. Review of Philosophical Psychology, 4, 1–24. doi:10.1007/s13164-013-0131-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran, S., & John-Steiner, V. (2003). Creativity in the making: Vygotsky’s contemporary contribution to the dialectic of development and creativity. In R. K. Sawyer, et al. (Eds.), Creativity and development (pp. 61–90). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Neuman, Y. (2003). Processes and boundaries of the mind. Extending the limit line. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, M. (2013). Distributed cognition. In H. Pashler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the mind (pp. 259–261). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poirier, P., & Chicoisne, G. (2006). A framework for thinking about distributed cognition. Pragmatics & Cognition, 14(2), 215–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratner, C. (1996). Activity as a key concept for cultural psychology. Culture & Psychology, 2, 407–434. doi:10.1177/1354067X9600200404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, M. (1961). An analysis of creativity. Phi Delta Kappan, 42, 305–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowlands, M. (2010). The new science of the mind: From extended mind to embodied phenomenology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rupert, R. D. (2010). Extended cognition and the priority of cognitive systems. Cognitive Systems Research, 11, 343–356. doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.04.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salomon, G. (1993). No distribution without individuals’ cognition: A dynamic interactional view. In G. Salomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations (pp. 111–137). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawyer, R. K. (2000). Improvisation and the creative process: Dewey, Collingwood, and the aesthetics of spontaneity. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 58(2), 149–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S. (1997). Mind in action: A functional approach to thinking. In M. Cole, Y. Engeström, & Vasquez, O. (Eds.), Mind, culture, and activity: Seminal papers from the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (pp. 354–368). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shweder, R. (1990). Cultural psychology: what is it? In J. Stigler, R. Shweder, & G. Herdt (Eds.), Cultural Psychology: Essays on comparative human development (pp. 1–43). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Smolucha, F. (1992). A reconstruction of Vygotsky’s theory of creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 5(1), 49–67. doi:10.1080/10400419209534422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, J., Harris, C. B., Keil, P. G., & Barnier, A. J. (2010). The psychology of memory, extended cognition, and socially distributed remembering. Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences, 9(4), 521–560. doi:10.1007/s11097-010-9182-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tollefsen, D. P. (2006). From extended mind to collective mind. Cognitive Systems Research, 7, 140–150. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2006.01.001

  • Toon, A. (2013). Friends at last? Distributed cognition and the cognitive/social divide. Philosophical Psychology. doi:10.1080/09515089.2013.828371

  • Vallée-Tourangeau, F., & Cowley, S. J. (2013). Human thinking beyond the brain. In S. J. Cowley & F. Vallée-Tourangeau (Eds.), Cognition beyond the brain: Computation, interactivity and human artifice (pp. 1–12). London: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Valsiner, J. (1997). Culture and the development of children’s action: A theory of human development. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valsiner, J. (2013). An invitation to cultural psychology. New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valsiner, J., & Rosa, A. (Eds.). (2007). The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varga, S. (2013). The frames of cognition. Cognitive Systems Research, 25/26, 54–60. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.004

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1971). The psychology of art. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Edited by M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E. Souberman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 42(1), 7–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wertsch, J. V., del Río, P., & Alvarez, A. (1995). Sociocultural studies: History, action, and mediation. In J. V. Wertsch, P. del Río, & A. Alvarez (Eds.), Sociocultural studies of mind (pp. 1–34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, R. (1986). Experiencing creativity: On the social psychology of art. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., & Patel, V. L. (2006). Distributed cognition, representation, and affordance. Pragmatics & Cognition, 14(2), 333–341. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pc.14.2.12zha

  • Zittoun, T., Baucal, A., Cornish, F., & Gillespie, A. (2007). Collaborative research, knowledge and emergence. Integrative Psychological and Behavioural Science, 41, 208–217. doi:10.1007/s12124-007-9021-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vlad Petre Glăveanu .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Glăveanu, V.P. (2014). From Cognitive to Cultural Theories of ‘Distribution’: A Creativity Framework. In: Distributed Creativity. SpringerBriefs in Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05434-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics