Creative Ideas: Their Emergence and Evolution

Speaker: Liane Gabora
The University of British Columbia, Canada

September 25, 2024
11:15 AM - 1:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time 

Abstract
The honing theory of creativity posits that the mind is a second level of self-organized, self-mending, self-reproducing, ‘autocatalytic’ structure, and like the body, it is the hub of an evolutionary process; it is to cultural evolution what the body is to biological evolution. While imitation is the continuity-preserving component of this second evolutionary process, innovation is the generative component, ensuring that continuity is balanced with creativity. Honing refers to a reiterated process in which the output of each cognitive step suggests a new context or perspective, which catalyzes the next step, until uncertainty reaches an acceptable level. Externalizing intermediate (half-baked) thoughts (e.g., as sketches or prototypes) may further ‘catalyze’ the honing process. The unique configuration of one’s cognitive network is exploited as the individual develops their personal creative style. I will present an agent-based model of two cognitive transitions en route to the capacity for strategic creativity and cultural evolution, the results of which are consistent from data from psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, and archaeology. I will show how honing theory paves the way for a new understanding of convergent and divergent thought, and present evidence for this theory from empirical studies with musicians, artists, creative writers, dancers, and comedians.

Return to the full 2024-2025 program.