Scientific creativity as constrained stochastic behavior: the integration of product, person, and process perspectives

Psychol Bull. 2003 Jul;129(4):475-94. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.475.

Abstract

Psychologists have primarily investigated scientific creativity from 2 contrasting in vitro perspectives: correlational studies of the creative person and experimental studies of the creative process. Here the same phenomenon is scrutinized using a 3rd, in vivo perspective, namely, the actual creative products that emerge from individual scientific careers and communities of creative scientists. This behavioral analysis supports the inference that scientific creativity constitutes a form of constrained stochastic behavior. That is, it can be accurately modeled as a quasi-random combinatorial process. Key findings from both correlational and experimental research traditions corroborate this conclusion. The author closes the article by arguing that all 3 perspectives--regarding the product, person, and process--must be integrated into a unified view of scientific creativity.

MeSH terms

  • Career Choice
  • Creativity*
  • Efficiency
  • Humans
  • Personality
  • Psychology, Applied
  • Psychometrics
  • Science*
  • Societies, Scientific
  • Stochastic Processes*