Creativity Research: More Studies,Greater Sophistication and the Importance of “Big” Questions

In the past 20 years, there has been a strong and steady increase in the number of publications concerned with creativity and in the number of outlets for that work. More importantly, there has been an increase in the level of detail and sophistication of answers provided for the most fundamental questions in the field. We illustrate that phenomenon with a focus on personality traits and cognitive processes. We anticipate that the trends will continue in the future and urge that progress continue to be guided by the “big” questions of what creative people are like and how creative ideas are generated. Beyond progress in distinct research areas, such as personality and cognition, future progress is likely to grow from recent attempts to integrate across the areas.