Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation (Third Edition)
Published by Oxford University Press in 2023
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Explaining Creativity is a dramatic milestone in the history of creativity research: a book that reviews the full range of scientific knowledge about creativity. In this new edition, Sawyer and Henriksen added three chapters, including chapters on creativity and technology, creativity and well-being, and creative identity and self-beliefs. The book is written to be accessible to readers in a wide range of academic disciplines and creative fields. Explaining Creativity is appropriate as a textbook in undergraduate and graduate courses.
Explaining Creativity considers not only the arts, but also science, stage performance, the workplace, and creativity in everyday life. Its approach is interdisciplinary; in addition to psychological studies of creativity, the authors draw on research by anthropologists on creativity in non-Western cultures, and research by sociologists about the situations, contexts, and networks of creative activity. The book moves beyond the individual to consider the social and cultural contexts of creativity, including the role of collaboration in the creative process.