Why Isn't Creativity More Important to Educational Psychologists? Potentials, Pitfalls, and Future Directions in Creativity Research
Abstract
The construct of creativity has a great deal to offer educational psychology. Creativity appears to be an important component of problem-solving and other cognitive abilities, healthy social and emotional well-being, and scholastic and adult success. Yet the study of creativity is not nearly as robust as one would expect, due in part to the preponderance of myths and stereotypes about creativity that collectively strangle most research efforts in this area. The root cause of these stereotypes is the lack of adequate precision in the definition of creativity. The body of the article is devoted to specific suggestions for conceptualizing and defining creativity to maximize its potential contributions to educational psychology.
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Subjective assessments commonly rely on scales such as perceived creativity, originality, or novelty-terms that show some overlap conceptually but are occasionally operationalized as distinct constructs.
“Subjective assessments commonly rely on scales such as perceived creativity, originality, or novelty-terms that show some overlap conceptually but are occasionally operationalized as distinct constructs [35].”
From Generative AI and Creativity: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
Previous evidence indicates that co-creation tasks are particularly beneficial for human-GenAI collaboration when there are inherent synergies between humans and GenAI systems, allowing each to leverage their respective strengths-unlike in many analytical, decision-making contexts.
“Previous evidence indicates that co-creation tasks are particularly beneficial for human-GenAI collaboration when there are inherent synergies between humans and GenAI systems, allowing each to leverage their respective strengths-unlike in many analytical, decision-making contexts [35].”
From Generative AI and Creativity: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
Cites
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“Subjective assessments commonly rely on scales such as perceived creativity, originality, or novelty—terms that show some overlap conceptually but are occasionally operationalized as distinct constructs [35].”
The effect of gamified project-based learning with AIGC in information literacy education
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“…signi � cant role in improving problem-solving, fostering innovation, boosting productivity, and contributing to personal socio-emotional well-being, satisfaction, and life success [7, 77, 92, 95, 96], highlighting its signi � cance for both individual development and societal advancement.”
BackgroundFu, Y., Zhou, T., Han, B., Wang, M., Chen, Y., Gomes Da Costa Lai, Z., Pang, R. Y., Reinecke, K., Wobbrock, J. O., & Hiniker, A. (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791329 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“…creativity’s significant role in improving problem-solving, fostering innovation, boosting productivity, and contributing to personal socio-emotional well-being, satisfaction, and life success [6, 76, 93, 96, 97], noting its significance for both individual development and societal advancement.”
- Authors
- Plucker, J. A., Beghetto, R. A., & Dow, G. T.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- Venue
- Educational Psychologist
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2004-06
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 83-96
- ISSN
- 0046-1520 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-6985
- OpenAlex
- W2095965470
- Cited by
- 1,794
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 115 · 2025: 149 · 2024: 124 · 2023: 186 · 2022: 153 · 2021: 153 · 2020: 119 · 2019: 109 · 2018: 105 · 2017: 105 · 2016: 93 · 2015: 76 · 2014: 69 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 49
- FWCI
- 10.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Educational Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Educational Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Keywords
- creativity, creativity research, definition of creativity, conceptualization of creativity, problem solving, social and emotional wellbeing, educational psychology
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