Principles for a Cultural Psychology of Creativity

Abstract

This article focuses on a novel theoretical paradigm emerging in the study of human creativity: the cultural-psychological approach. It starts by differentiating between the long past of individualistic accounts of creativity (the lonely genius) and the short history of psychological understandings (the creative individual). The social and the cross-cultural psychology of creativity are both considered, together with their advantages and current limitations. Creativity is generally conceptualized as a process of artifact generation and five broad principles for a cultural psychology of creativity are presented. In clarifying the nature of creativity, a special consideration is given to the relationship between individuals, creativity, and culture. Finally, the role of the community in fostering and assessing creativity is suggested as a more realistic solution to the individual—society debate.