Lesson 3: Why Study Creativity?

Why study creativity?

Many students tell me that creativity is too subjective, diverse, and mysterious to study systematically. I can understand that it seems that any attempt to grasp creativity seems to generate more questions about what had been left out. On the other hand, as an experimental psychologist, I feel it is important to try to capture the most important aspects of humanity and not simply look at the parts of our experiences that are easily understood. Yes, creativity is complex; it feels mysterious and the term captures such a broad range of human behaviors that any attempt to “pin it down” may seem futile. But the importance of creativity to humanity is incontrovertible. It seems wrong to deny the investigation of such an important subject just because it may be difficult to understand and feels mysterious.

It is also worth considering that the creative sector makes up about 1/3 of the United States economy (Freedman, 2010). This includes creating, viewing, and criticizing creative works. According to Americans for the Arts Links to an external site., as of January 1, 2015, over 700 thousand businesses were directly involved in the creation or distribution of the arts, and they employed 2.9 million people, representing just under 4 percent of U.S. businesses and employing just under 2 percent of U.S. workers. According to Daniel Pink (2006), the economic future will rely on people who can imagine, design, empathize and tell stories; basically the future belongs to those proficient in creative thinking.

But I think of far more importance than the economics is that creative thinking has the power to add meaning to our lives and make us happy in ways that exceed the pleasure we derive from passive entertainment. So, creativity is important culturally, economically, and personally. Further, I believe that anything this important to our collective psychology deserves scholarly attention.

Take 2 minutes to take some notes: Why is the study of creativity so important?