You See a Wall, I See Blue Skies: A Perception-Based Model of Constraints and Creativity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Creative professionals from those in the DJ Booth to the writer’s room and in the C-Suite to the R&D department have demonstrated and argued for the importance of constraints for creativity. In contrast to this view, the empirical and academic literature on constraints has produced less conclusive and resounding results on the constraint-creativity relationship. In this paper, I argue that creativity researchers have focused too heavily on constraints such as a “main effect” on creativity and as a result, over constrained our own thinking in this area. In line with recent and emerging work, I propose a framework that shifts our thinking away from a direct influence of constraints on creativity, to one driven by perceptions of constraints based on individual and situational factors. Following, suggestions for future research and advancing our thinking in this area are proposed.