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An Investment Theory of Creativity and Its Development

Sternberg, Robert J., Lubart, Todd I.·1991·Human Development

Abstract

This article presents an investment theory of creativity. The theory comprises 6 resources for creativity – intellectual processes, knowledge, intellectual style, personality, motivation, and environmental context. Creative performance results from a confluence of these elements. Main features of each resource are explained and the manner in which the 6 resources combine is discussed. Then a preliminary empirical study that tests aspects of the investment theory is briefly presented. Next, the development of creativity in terms of the 6 resources is described. Finally, potential criticisms of the investment theory are addressed. The goal of the theory is to understand in a cohesive way the foundations of creativity. To the extent that true creativity seems rare, it may be because many people are not willing to invest in it and because so many resources must converge in order to generate it.

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Metadata

Authors
Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I.
Venue
Human Development
Publisher
S. Karger AG
Published
1991
Volume
34
Issue
1
Pages
1-31
ISSN
  • 0018-716X (ISSN-L)
  • 1423-0054
OpenAlex
W2069329564
Cited by
1,088
References
0
FWCI
51.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: An Investment Theory of Creativity and Its Development. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1159/000277029
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Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1991). An Investment Theory of Creativity and Its Development. Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1159/000277029

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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.