Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2010
  • Article
  • Annual Review of Psychology

Creativity

By: Beth A. Hennessey and Teresa M. Amabile
    ShareBar

    Abstract

    The psychological study of creativity is essential to human progress. If strides are to be made in the sciences, humanities, and arts, we must arrive at a far more detailed understanding of the creative process, its antecedents, and its inhibitors. This review, encompassing most subspecialties in the study of creativity and focusing on twenty-first-century literature, reveals both a growing interest in creativity among psychologists and a growing fragmentation in the field. To be sure, research into the psychology of creativity has grown theoretically and methodologically sophisticated, and researchers have made important contributions from an ever-expanding variety of disciplines. But this expansion has not come without a price. Investigators in one subfield often seem unaware of advances in another. Deeper understanding requires more interdisciplinary research, based on a systems view of creativity that recognizes a variety of interrelated forces operating at multiple levels.

    Keywords

    Creative Ability; Creativity; Social Psychology; Research; Interdisciplinary Studies

    Citation

    Hennessey, Beth A., and Teresa M. Amabile. "Creativity." Annual Review of Psychology 61 (2010): 569–598.
    • Read Now
    • Purchase

    About The Author

    Teresa M. Amabile

    Entrepreneurial Management
    →More Publications

    More from the Authors

      • August 2021
      • Academy of Management Perspectives

      The Undervalued Power of Self-relevant Research: The Case of Researching Retirement While Retiring

      By: Teresa M. Amabile and Douglas T. (Tim) Hall
      • January–February 2021
      • Harvard Business Review

      How to Help (Without Micromanaging)

      By: Colin M. Fisher, Teresa M. Amabile and Julianna Pillemer
      • September 2020
      • Academy of Management Discoveries

      Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and a World of Surprises

      By: Teresa M. Amabile
    More from the Authors
    • The Undervalued Power of Self-relevant Research: The Case of Researching Retirement While Retiring By: Teresa M. Amabile and Douglas T. (Tim) Hall
    • How to Help (Without Micromanaging) By: Colin M. Fisher, Teresa M. Amabile and Julianna Pillemer
    • Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and a World of Surprises By: Teresa M. Amabile
    ǁ
    Campus Map
    Harvard Business School
    Soldiers Field
    Boston, MA 02163
    →Map & Directions
    →More Contact Information
    • Make a Gift
    • Site Map
    • Jobs
    • Harvard University
    • Trademarks
    • Policies
    • Digital Accessibility
    Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College