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Creativity is motivated by novelty. Curiosity is triggered by uncertainty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2024

Aditya Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India j.adityasingh@gmail.com
Kou Murayama*
Affiliation:
Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany k.murayama@uni-tuebingen.de https://motivationsciencelab.com Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, Kami City, Kochi, Japan
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Although creativity and curiosity can be similarly construed as knowledge-building processes, their underlying motivation is fundamentally different. Specifically, curiosity drives organisms to seek information that reduces uncertainty so that they can make a better prediction about the world. On the contrary, creative processes aim to connect distant pieces of information, maximizing novelty and utility.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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