The Ubiquity of Cross-Domain Thinking in the Early Phase of the Creative Process

Abstract

To what extent are creative processes in one domain (e.g., technology) affected by information from other domains (e.g., music)? While some studies of professional creators suggest that creative abilities are domain-specific, other studies suggest that creative avocations stimulate creativity. The latter is consistent with the predictions of the honing theory of creativity, according to which the iterative process culminating in a creative work is made possible by the self-organizing nature of a conceptual network, or worldview, and its innate holistic tendency to minimize inconsistency. As such, the creative process is not restricted to the creative domain; influences from domains other than that of the final product are predicted to impact the creative process and its outcome. To assess the prevalence of cross-domain influences on creativity we conducted two studies: one with creative experts, and one with undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds. Participants listed both their creative outputs, and the influences (sources of inspiration) associated with each of these outputs. In both studies, cross-domain influences on creativity were found to be widespread, and indeed more frequent than within-domain sources of inspiration. Thus, examination of the inputs to, rather than the outputs of, creative tasks supported the prediction of honing theory that cross-domain influences are a ubiquitous component of the creative process.

The Development of a Sustainability-Oriented Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Education Framework: A Perspective Study

“…A comprehensive framework of cognition, affection, and skills is indispensable to education development (Kraiger et al, 1993;Yusuf, 2007). In CIE education, innovation demands diverse sources of knowledge and cross-domain learning (Hunter et al, 2008;Scotney et al, 2019). The present study proposes that in CIE education, various disciplines can conduct cross-domain construction learning based on educators' professional domains of knowledge and skills.…”

An Evolutionary Process Without Variation and Selection

“…For example, a network-based analysis of Baltic psaltery data that incorporated not just superficial physical attributes but also abstract conceptual attributes (such as markings indicative of sacred symbolic imagery), it was possible to resolve ambiguities arising from a phylogenetic analysis and generate a lineage more consistent with other historical data [70]. Horizontal cultural transmission may involve change in superficial features despite a preservation of deep structure, as occurs in metaphor [47], analogy [26, 33], and cross-domain transfer, in which a source from one domain (e.g., music) inspires or influences a creative work in another (e.g., painting) [59, 61]. This kind of complexity and hierarchical structure cannot be captured without taking a network approach to cultural evolution, which provides further support for the theory that culture evolves through SOR.…”

From Uncertainty to Insight: An Autocatalytic Framework

“…We now show how creative insight through analogical transfer can be modeled using RAF networks. The focus is not on the mechanisms underlying analogy itself; thus, the model is consistent with theories that emphasize different aspects of analogy such as structure mapping (Gentner, 1983), constraint satisfaction (Holyoak & Thagard, 1996), and potentiality and honing (Scotney et al, 2020). We keep the internal structure of MRs and their associative links-which can be modeled using existing methods-to a minimum, so as to lay bare the proposed approach to importing network science into creativity research.…”

“…Although in creativity research one often comes across the term 'problem domain,' concepts readily 'jump' domains; for example, ISLAND is in the domain but KITCHEN is not, and BUNNY is in the ANIMAL domain, but CHOCOLATE is in the FOOD domain. This is particularly true when concepts are used creatively, as occurs in metaphor (Lakoff, 1993), analogy (Gentner, 1983;Holyoak & Thagard, 1996), or cross-domain transfer, in which a source from one domain (e.g., music) inspires or influences a creative work in another (e.g., painting) (Ranjan, Gabora, & O'Connor, 2013;Scotney, Weissmeyer, Carbert, & Gabora, 2019). For example, George Mestral's invention of Velcro was inspired by analogy to burdock root seeds (Freeman & Golden, 1997) which, in turn, inspired 'shoelace-less runners' (or 'shoelace-less sneakers').…”