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Creativity

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Abstract

This entry approaches creativity as a possibility-testing and possibility-expanding phenomenon. It starts with a critical consideration of the definition of creativity in psychology, arguing that a study of the possible and impossible gets us closer to the nature of the creative process. Then it proceeds to analyse the relation between (im)possibility and creativity at the level of actors, actions, audiences, artefacts, and affordances. In each case, the focus is on (a) how these elements contribute to the engagement with the possible enabled by creative expression and (b) how they are transformed by the possibilities and impossibilities discovered along the way. The entry ends with reflections on the relationship between creativity and other possibility-expanding phenomena.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Vlad P. Glăveanu

  2. Centre for the Science of Learning and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Vlad P. Glăveanu

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  1. Vlad P. Glăveanu
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Correspondence to Vlad P. Glăveanu .

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  1. No affiliation provided

    Izabela Lebuda

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Glăveanu, V.P. (2022). Creativity. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_158-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_158-2

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  • 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

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Creativity
    Published:
    13 September 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_158-2

  2. Original

    Creativity
    Published:
    01 June 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_158-1

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