The Definition of Creativity
A mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts. The products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) usually have both originality and appropriateness.
"Creativity, it has been said, consists largely of re-arranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know."
Creativity
has been attributed variously to divine intervention, cognitive processes,
the social environment, personality traits, and chance ("accident," "serendipity").
It has been associated with genius, mental illness and humour. Some
say it is a trait we are born with; others say it can be taught with
the application of simple techniques. Although popularly associated
with art and literature, it is also an essential part of innovation
and invention and is important in professions such as business, economics,
architecture, industrial design, science and engineering.
Despite, or
perhaps because of, the ambiguity and multi-dimensional nature of
creativity, entire industries have been spawned from the pursuit
of creative ideas and the development of creativity techniques.