Other Social and Environmental Influences

The factors considered in Chapters 5–7 are usually directed specifically at the creative activity. For example, evaluation is focused on a particular product or response, or a task-specific reward is imposed, or choice on a given task is restricted. As indicated by the writings of creative persons reviewed in Chapter 1, however, even mundane social events that are not directed toward the creative activity can have an important impact on creativity. Charles Dickens, for example, lamented the disruptions of his work environment caused by ordinary social demands:

“It is only half-an-hour”— “It is only an afternoon”— “It is only an evening,” people say to me over and over again; but they don’ t know that it is impossible to command one’ s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes— or that the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometimes worry a whole day. (Allen, 1948, p. 230)