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Big-C Versus Little-c Creativity: Definitions, Implications, and Inherent Educational Contradictions

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Creative Contradictions in Education

Part of the book series: Creativity Theory and Action in Education ((CTAE,volume 1))

Abstract

Two empirical investigations showed that achieved eminence as a creator can sometimes be a curvilinear, inverted-U function of the level of formal education attained by the individual. Typically, the peak falls approximately in the last year of undergraduate education. Because these findings suggest that formal education might not always be conducive to creative development, I examined the possibility that a complex and sometimes conflicting relation might ensue from the very definition of what it means to be creative. From there I introduced two formal definitions, one for personal (little-c) creativity and the other for consensual (Big-C) creativity. The implications of these definitions indeed supported the conclusion that formal education cannot have a simple positive linear association with creativity, and under certain circumstances that association can become negative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Dean Keith Simonton

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  1. Dean Keith Simonton
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Correspondence to Dean Keith Simonton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Ronald A. Beghetto

  2. Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Bharath Sriraman

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Simonton, D.K. (2017). Big-C Versus Little-c Creativity: Definitions, Implications, and Inherent Educational Contradictions. In: Beghetto, R., Sriraman, B. (eds) Creative Contradictions in Education. Creativity Theory and Action in Education, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21924-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21924-0_1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21924-0

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