Creative Inhibition: How and Why

Abstract

It is notoriously problematic to rationalize creativity; creativity is ubiquitous yet elusive. It is difficult to study in the laboratory, and the science of creativity is correspondingly underdeveloped; we know little of the origin, causal mechanisms, and influencing factors. We do observe that it is not homogenous, being more or less present in different individuals, organizations and societies. But we can‘t, with certainty, declare that it is increasing; we have no way of measuring that. It could simply be that is increasingly talked about as an increasingly legitimate target for scientific inquiry. But the literature on creativity is asymmetric; those who are interested in the topic are overwhelmingly affirmative concerning the benefits and desirability of encouraging creativity. There are few dissenting voices; those who find the topic uninteresting don‘t research and write about it. If there are actually substantive reasons for impeding creativity, we should examine them. Uncritical endorsement adds little to any rational debate.