Creativity: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

ABSTRACT Nineteenth century science neglected creativity, and the limited twentieth century approach (to 1950) was largely anecdotal. Recently, research has multiplied, although it has involved little experimental hypothesis testing. Creativity comprises many discrete abilities which often do not correlate very much with each other, and creativity and IQ correlate substantially only at lower IQ levels. Much work has been done in developing evaluative criteria for creative scientific production, and on teaching and learning creativity. Future basic research should concern transfer recall, transformations, reclassification, elaboration, incubation, environmental conditions, and motivation. The social consequences of releasing creative abilities are potentially enormous.