Let's Just See What Happens: A Qualitative Case Study of Risk and Uncertainty in the Creative Process

ABSTRACT Research in creativity often measures creative potential: the number of ideas which can be generated, or the way a novel thought appears in the mind of the thinker. There is much less emphasis on creative thought during the realization of this potential. This paper uses focused cognitive et...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of creative behavior Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 305 - 318
Main Authors Ross, Wendy, Groves, Mike
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Wiley 01.06.2023
Subjects
Attitudes
craft
Creativity
focused ethnography
material engagement
Risk
Self Concept
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Summary:ABSTRACT Research in creativity often measures creative potential: the number of ideas which can be generated, or the way a novel thought appears in the mind of the thinker. There is much less emphasis on creative thought during the realization of this potential. This paper uses focused cognitive ethnography to explore how creativity is manifest in a complex environment. We report four main findings: that creativity involves a form of “knowing through doing,” that creativity requires risk on different levels, that an embodied material sensitivity is required to make ideas appear in the world and that the form of the creative product is often unstable. We end with some reflections on the importance of detailed microgenetic work to expand our understanding of the embodied and responsive skills which are necessary for creativity.
Bibliography:The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. The study reported in this document received ethical approval from the ethics committee of London Metropolitan University.
The nature of the study reported here means that the qualitative data cannot be easily anonymized and so they are only available from the first author upon reasonable request.
We thank Frédéric Vallée‐Tourangeau and To Ormerod for helpful comments on an earlier draft.
ISSN:0022-0175
2162-6057
DOI:10.1002/jocb.578