Cambridge Creativity Meetup #05 - Dean Simonton - "The Combinatorial Theory of Creativity" Q&A
Channel: Cambridge Creativity
Date: 2021-04-11

This Q&A session with Professor Dean K. Simonton followed the viewing of a pre-recorded talk that he gave at Stanford University in 2019 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD5ClBwf6LQ - find it in Cambridge Creativity’s playlist).

C = (1-p) u (1-v) and everything finally makes sense: creativity is the combination of originality (1-p), utility u and surprise (1-v).

Dean Keith Simonton is one of the most cited worldwide specialists in the study of creativity and genius. As a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at University of California Davis, he is particularly interested in the study of human intelligence, creativity, greatness, and the psychology of science.

One of his findings was that the 10 years' experience of deliberate practice, which states that 10 years of practice and experience are needed to achieve creative success, is not a rule, but an average with significant variation around the mean. He found that the people who achieved the greatest lifetime productivity and highest levels of eminence required the least amount of time to achieve expertise. Another finding is his combinatorial theory of discovery and invention, embodied into the C = (1-p) u (1-v) formalism, which provides a meaningful common structure to many of the questions surrounding the distinction between incremental and radical innovation, the inevitability of failure in creative endeavours, and many of the defining aspects of creativity.

Dean has over 340 publications, including 13 books. One of his books, The Origins of Genius, received the William James Book Award. His writings reflect a strong personality and knowledge, blended with a healthy dose of irresistible wit and humour: you might be scared, but he is approachable, so you might also end up charmed.

More information is available on Dean’s website: https://simonton.faculty.ucdavis.edu/