Cognitive Domains: Creativity

When you think of a creative person you might picture a painter like Picasso, or a musician like Mozart, or even a renaissance man like Leonardo Divinci. But aside from these individuals being incredibly famous, what they also have in common is their ability to materialize original ideas. This is at the core of how to understand creativity. 

 

A you might know, creativity isn't only bestowed upon exceptional people. In fact, it's accessible by everyone. 

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How Creativity is Defined

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The cognitive domain of creativity is defined as follows by the APA Dictionary of Psychology:

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"the ability to produce or develop original work, theories, techniques, or thoughts. A creative individual typically displays originality, imagination, and expressiveness. Analyses have failed to ascertain why one individual is more creative than another, but creativity does appear to be a very durable trait"

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Creativity works with other cognitive domains as it’s part of a larger group called executive functions.

 

You can read about executive functions here. 

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How to Improve Your Creativity

 

While some people are born with large amounts of creativity, it's a cognitive domain that we can all work to develop. 

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You can use the Cognishape app to help you exercise your creativity. Here’s an example a task that does this:

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Imagine a chair and try to list or create new ways to use it. How else, or what else could this item be used for?

Where, when, and why would it be used in the new ways you’ve listed?

Can you share one example of your ideas?

 

This task works on improving your creativity.

 

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