[Paper Review] Cross-Domain Influences on Creative Processes and Products

Victoria S. Scotney, Sarah Weissmeyer+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 18, 2018

Creativity in Education and Neuroscience39 references3 citations

TL;DR

This study investigates cross-domain influences on creative processes using the honing theory of creativity, which posits that creative outputs emerge from a self-organizing, inconsistency-minimizing worldview. Among 758 creative influences, 67% were cross-domain, supporting the idea that inspiration frequently arises from outside the primary problem domain, necessitating broader cultural lineage tracking beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries.

ABSTRACT

According to the honing theory of creativity, 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 limited to the problem domain, and influences on creativity from domains other than that of the final product are predicted to be widespread. We conducted a study in which participants with varying levels of creative experience listed their creative outputs, as well as influences (sources of inspiration) on these outputs. Of the 758 creative influences, 13% were within-domain narrow, 13% within-domain broad, 67% cross-domain, and 6% unclear. These findings support the hypothesis that to trace the inspirational sources or 'conceptual parents' of a creative output, and thus track its cultural lineage, one must look beyond the problem domain to the creators' self-organizing, inconsistency-minimizing worldview at large.

Motivation & Objective

• To investigate the extent to which creative outputs are influenced by domains outside their primary field.
• To test the hypothesis that creative processes are driven by a self-organizing, inconsistency-minimizing worldview that integrates cross-domain influences.
• To map the 'conceptual parents' of creative works by identifying inspirational sources beyond the final product's domain.
• To challenge the assumption that creativity is confined to a single domain by quantifying cross-domain influence in real-world creative outputs.

Proposed method

• Participants with varying creative experience listed their creative outputs and sources of inspiration.
• Creative influences were categorized into four types: within-domain narrow, within-domain broad, cross-domain, and unclear.
• A coding scheme was applied to classify each influence according to domain proximity to the final creative output.
• The data were analyzed to determine the proportion of influences originating from cross-domain versus within-domain sources.
• The findings were interpreted through the lens of the honing theory, which emphasizes consistency minimization in conceptual networks.
• The study used a qualitative-quantitative mixed approach to trace cultural lineages of creative works.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 To what extent are creative outputs influenced by sources outside their primary domain of creation?
• RQ2 How do cross-domain influences compare in frequency to within-domain influences in creative processes?
• RQ3 Do creators draw inspiration from a broad, self-organizing worldview rather than just their immediate problem domain?
• RQ4 Can the cultural lineage of a creative work be meaningfully traced beyond its final domain of application?

Key findings

• 67% of the 758 recorded creative influences were cross-domain, indicating that most inspiration originates outside the primary domain of the creative output.
• Only 13% of influences were within-domain narrow, suggesting limited reliance on direct domain-specific sources.
• An additional 13% of influences were within-domain broad, showing moderate influence from related but not identical domains.
• 6% of influences were classified as unclear, reflecting ambiguity in domain categorization.
• The distribution of influences strongly supports the honing theory’s claim that creative processes are shaped by a holistic, inconsistency-minimizing worldview.
• The findings imply that tracking the cultural lineage of creative works requires examining influences beyond the final product’s domain.