Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2014

Distributed Creativity

Thinking Outside the Box of the Creative Individual

  • Introduces a basic framework for the study of distributed creativity
  • Draws on systemic models of creativity and studies of creative collaboration as well as on cultural psychological sources and recent developments within cognitive science
  • Discusses consequences for theory, methodology and practical interventions
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Psychology (BRIEFSPSYCHOL)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vi
  2. Distributed Creativity: What Is It?

    • Vlad Petre Glăveanu
    Pages 1-13
  3. Creativity and Sociality

    • Vlad Petre Glăveanu
    Pages 33-48
  4. Creativity and Materiality

    • Vlad Petre Glăveanu
    Pages 49-63
  5. Creativity and Temporality

    • Vlad Petre Glăveanu
    Pages 65-79
  6. Why do We Need to Distribute Creativity?

    • Vlad Petre Glăveanu
    Pages 81-93
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 95-98

About this book

This book challenges the standard view that creativity comes only from within an individual by arguing that creativity also exists ‘outside’ of the mind or more precisely, that the human mind extends through the means of action into the world. The notion of ‘distributed creativity’ is not commonly used within the literature and yet it has the potential to revolutionise the way we think about creativity, from how we define and measure it to what we can practically do to foster and develop creativity. Drawing on cultural psychology, ecological psychology and advances in cognitive science, this book offers a basic framework for the study of distributed creativity that considers three main dimensions of creative work: sociality, materiality and temporality.

Starting from the premise that creativity is distributed between people, between people and objects and across time, the book reviews theories and empirical examples that help us unpack each of these dimensions and above all, articulate them into a novel and meaningful conception of creativity as a simultaneously psychological and socio-material process. The volume concludes by examining the practical implications in adopting this perspective on creativity.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Vlad Petre Glăveanu

About the author

Vlad Petre Glăveanu is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Associate researcher at LATI, Universite Paris Descartes and Affiliate of the Creativity Marketing Centre, ESCP Europe (London campus). He obtained his BA in Psychology from the University of Bucharest and his MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology and PhD in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He interests are in creativity and innovation, cultural psychology, social representations, social development, pragmatism and history and psychology. His current work develops a cultural psychological approach to creativity that considers this phenomenon as distributed between self, others, new and existing artefacts. Glăveanu has published theoretical and empirical studies in a variety of journals such as Review of General Psychology, Culture & Psychology, Theory & Psychology, New Ideas in Psychology, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Creativity Research Journal, Journal of Creative Behavior, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, Thinking Skills and Creativity, etc. He is Editor or Europe’s Journal of Psychology (EJOP), a quarterly peer reviewed open access publication edited by PsychOpen (Germany).

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access