An ecological approach to creativity in making

Abstract

Cognitive accounts of creativity generally assume that novel ideas originate in the head and precede the actual materialization of them. Over the last decades, this cognitive view has been criticized by, among others, proponents of a sociocultural perspective. In the present paper, we aim to further this critique by developing a genuine ecological approach to creativity in making. We do so by incorporating Ingold's theory of making into the ecological perspective that was initiated by Gibson. It is argued that because action is not preplanned but continuously unfolds over time, creativity is to be found in the process of making. Indeed, creativity can be conceived of as the discovery and creation of unconventional affordances (action possibilities) of objects and materials. Discussing the primacy of exploratory actions in this process, we argue that the concepts and research tools of ecological psychology may help to deepen the understanding of the creative process.

Does Technology Enabled Design-Thinking Influence Digital Innovation? An Innovation Affordance Perspective

“…Specifically, we unearth the key role of ICT enabled design-thinking process as an actualized innovation affordance mechanism for effectuating digital innovations [17] and thus answer to the calls for integrating creativity and digital innovation literature [1]. In addition to highlighting the need for conceptualizing innovation affordances rather than just thinking of technology and the users of technology, our study validates the efficacy of ICT enabled design-thinking approach for creative innovation process, thereby contributing to the growing interactional or ecological perspective on creativity and digital innovation [8].…”

“…These factors can be classified into two major categories -(1) 'innovation agent factors', i.e. the aspects related to the capabilities, skills, and knowledge of the human agents involved in the creative process, and 2'innovation affordance factors' related to the interaction and use of technology by human agents for creative innovation process [7] [8]. Traditionally, innovation has been linked to the creative ability of the individuals involved in the innovative process.…”

Efficient search under constraints and not working memory resources supports creative action emergence in a convergent motor task

“…Accordingly, learning new motor skills implies a continuous search to adaptively solve a motor problem rather than acquiring one single optimized movement pattern Orth, van der Kamp, & Button, 2019;Savelsbergh, Kamper, Rabius, de Koning, & Schöllhorn, 2010). From this perspective, it is during this search process, wherein the individual aims to satisfy constraints, that creative actions emerge (Hristovski et al, 2011;Orth et al, 2017;Withagen & van der Kamp, 2018).…”

Learning to be adaptive as a distributed process across the coach–athlete system: situating the coach in the constraints-led approach

“…Smith and Cushion 2006;Partington and Cushion 2013). However, here we argue that research paradigms examining interpersonal coordination can be adapted to examine the coach-athlete relationship and, in doing so, shed light on how an individual's learning and skill is necessarily embedded in a larger sociocultural context (Riley et al 2011;Withagen and van der Kamp 2018).…”

“…In some cases, this can lead to the emergence of new or unexpected behaviour. Assuming that the learning context is representative of the properties (including variation) of the context that the individual seeks to adapt to, this can extend the boundaries of their learning and performance environments (Orth et al 2017a); it allows them to discover new affordances for action (Withagen and van der Kamp 2018). Buszard et al (2014) provides a good example of these theoretical ideas within an experimental context, exemplifying how equipment scaling can be used in tennis (as a candidate control parameter) to examine the effect on the tennis forehand action (the candidate order parameter).…”