Skip to main content

Creative Mindsets

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible

Abstract

What makes creativity possible? Here, I posit that to make creativity possible, people must believe that a set of skills usually described under the umbrella of creativity is changeable and open to growth. Yet, many individuals tend to believe that creativity requires exceptional talent and that this talent is inborn and fixed. I discuss the concept of creative mindsets: subsets of implicit theories of creativity that refer to perceived creative potential sources. Creative mindsets’ structure, nature, and antecedents are overviewed, and future research areas are proposed. It is concluded that mindsets form a particular case of impossible-versus-possible and impossible-and-possible distinctions, as they specifically refer to a possibility and impossibility to change, learn, and develop creativity.

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

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ananiadou, K., & Claro, M. (2009). 21st century skills and competences for new millennium learners in OECD countries (EDU working paper no. 41). Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2009doc.nsf/linkto/edu-wkp(2009)20. Accessed 08 Oct 2020.

  • Anderson, R. C., & Haney, M. (2020). Reflection in the creative process of early adolescents: The mediating roles of creative metacognition, self-efficacy, and self-concept. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000324.

  • Anderson, R. C., Bousselot, T., Katz-Buoincontro, J., & Todd, J. (2021). Generating buoyancy in a sea of uncertainty: Teachers creativity and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psycholology, 11, 614774. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.614774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, R. C., Katz-Buonincontro, J., Bousselot, T., Mattson, D., Beard, N., Land, J., & Livie, M. (under review). How am I a creative teacher? Foundation beliefs, values, and affect for integrating creativity in the classroom.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beghetto, R. A., & Dilley, A. E. (2016). Creative aspirations or pipe dreams? Toward understanding creative mortification in children and adolescents. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 151, 85–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beghetto, R. A., Karwowski, M., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2020). Intellectual risk taking: A moderating link between creative confidence and creative behavior? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000323.

  • Burnette, J. L., O’Boyle, E. H., VanEpps, E. M., Pollack, J. M., & Finkel, E. J. (2013). Mind-sets matter: A meta-analytic review of implicit theories and self-regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 655–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dweck, C. S., Chiu, C. Y., & Hong, Y. Y. (1995). Implicit theories and their role in judgments and reactions: A word from two perspectives. Psychological Inquiry, 6, 267–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaveanu, V. P. (2020). The possible: A sociocultural theory. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Haimovitz, K., Wormington, S. V., & Corpus, J. H. (2011). Dangerous mindsets: How beliefs about intelligence predict motivational change. Learning and Individual Differences, 21, 747–752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hass, R. W., Katz-Buonincontro, J., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2016). Disentangling creative mindsets from creative self-efficacy and creative identity: Do people hold fixed and growth theories of creativity? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 10(4), 436–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hass, R. W., Katz-Buonincontro, J., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2019). The creative self and creative thinking: An exploration of predictive effects using Bayes factor analyses. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13, 375–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M. (2014). Creative mindsets: Measurement, correlates, consequences. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(1), 62–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., & Anderson, R. (2021). Goal orientations and creativity. Encyclopedia of the possible.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., & Beghetto, R. A. (2019). Creative behavior as agentic action. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13, 402–415. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., & Brzeski, A. (2017). Creative mindsets: Prospects and challenges. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self: Effects of self-efficacy, mindset and identity (pp. 367–383). Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., & WiĹ›niewska, E. (2021). Creativity in adulthood. In J. D. Hoffmann, S. W. Russ, & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of lifespan development of creativity (pp. 206–232). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., Lebuda, I., & Beghetto, R. A. (2019a). Creative self-beliefs. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (2nd ed., pp. 396–417). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., Royston, R. P., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2019b). Exploring creative mindsets: Variable and person-centered approaches. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karwowski, M., Czerwonka, M., Lebuda, I., Jankowska, D. M., & Gajda, A. (2020). Does thinking about Einstein make people entity theorists? Examining the malleability of creative mindsets. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 14, 361–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, J. C., & Beghetto, R. A. (2009). Beyond big and little: The four c model of creativity. Review of General Psychology, 13(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 33–52. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.33.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, A. J., Nemeth, C. J., & Akutsu, S. (2013). Consequences of beliefs about the malleability of creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 25, 155–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pretz, J. E., & Nelson, D. (2017). Creativity is influenced by domain, creative self-efficacy, mindset, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self: Effects of self-efficacy, mindset and identity (pp. 156–170). Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puente-Diaz, R., & Cavazos-Arroyo, J. (2017). The influence of creative mindsets on achievement goals, enjoyment, creative self-efficacy and performance among business students. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 24, 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47, 302–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ZieliĹ„ska, A., Lebuda, I., Ivcevic, Z., Karwowski, M., Lebuda, I., & Karwowski, M. (2020). How adolescents develop and implement their ideas? On self-regulation of creative action. Preprint, https://psyarxiv.com/z85fc/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maciej Karwowski .

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Karwowski, M. (2021). Creative Mindsets. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_58-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_58-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics