Creativity: A Gap Analysis

Abstract

Arguably, our current understanding of creativity has a few gaps that might benefit from some analysis. In the paper, I review the main empirical findings and theoretical proposals on the core cognitive processes of creative thinking, outlining some of the deficiencies therein. I then develop a meta-analysis of the interactions between the main components of the creative universe; namely, the World, Language and Experience. In this analysis, I try to show that creativity often emerges at the interstices between some aspect of the World and our Experience (our understanding of the World), or some aspect of the World and Language (our linguistic descriptions of that World), or some aspect our Experience and Language. To demonstrate these points, I use this analysis to explain the emergence of extreme literary creativity in Ireland at the turn of the last century. More generally, it is hoped that this analysis offers a new perspective on all aspects of creativity and how they might be approached.