Domain specificity of creativity: Theory, research, and practice

Abstract

Research over the past two decades has shown that the cognitive skills underlying creativity in diverse domains vary widely. Some people evidence creativity in many domains, of course (and many show little creativity in any domain), but this is not because of some underlying creativity-relevant cognitive skill, personality trait, motivation, or attitude that can be deployed across domains, but rather because of a variety of such skills, traits, motivations, and attitudes, each contributing to creativity in different domains. Creativity has commonly been thought of either as a set of domaingeneral skills that can be applied broadly like a special kind of intelligence or as a general personality trait that colors a person’s approach to any kind of task or problem, but these ways of thinking about creativity are misleading. A better metaphor for creativity than either intelligence or a personality trait is expertise. This paper will review research that demonstrates the domain specificity of creativity (including research in creative writing); explain what that research means in terms of our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying creativity in different domains; and suggest how a domain-specific understanding of creativity can guide and enrich the work of those who wish to nurture creativity in writing.