Creativity and Psychology

Abstract

For a long time psychology has had a monopoly on the study of creativity. In the past few years it has become clear, however, that the means of psychology alone are not sufficient to meet the demands of contemporary practice, particularly the need to control creativity (the growth in the creative potential of scientists, inventors, etc.). Studies over a broad front are necessary, based on the principle of interdisciplinarity; this is now recognized by most researchers actively concerned with the problems of creativity. This consensus is, to a considerable degree, attributable to realization of the complexity of the problem and the impossibility of making any effective progress in it without drawing on other sciences. Nonetheless, such a broad-front approach has its difficulties. Studies of this kind must be organized in a specific way and have their own strategy.