Qu'est-ce que la connaissance? (document en anglais)

Amabile describes knowledge as all the relevant information that an individual brings to bear on

a problem. Howard Gardner goes deeper into the topic and explains that there are two types of

knowledge that may be required for creativity. On one hand, in-depth experience and long-term

focus in one specific area allows people to build the technical expertise that can serve as a

foundation, or playground for creativity within a domain. At the same time, creativity rests on

the ability to combine previously disparate elements in new ways, which implies a need for a

broader focus and varied interests. Thus, perhaps the best profile for creativity is the T-shaped

mind, with a breadth of understanding across multiple disciplines and one or two areas of indepth

expertise. Indeed, this is what Frans Johansson recommends in his book, The Medici

Effect. He explains that “we must strike a balance between depth and breadth of knowledge in

order to maximize our creative potential,” (Johansson, p. 104). He suggests that one way to 5

improve breadth is to team up with people with different knowledge bases. The educational

implications of this recommendation are perhaps in the realm of greater focus on

interdisciplinary study and having students collaborate on group projects with team members of

varied interests.

Dean Keith Simonton, professor of Psychology at UC Davis, has conducted historiometric

studies of great creators. Using a large sample size of successfully creative individuals,

historiometric studies quantify the otherwise qualitative characteristics of test cases (their

developmental, differential and social backgrounds, for example) and through analysis of the

data, attempt to derive some general laws or theories regarding the sources of creativity.

Simonton’s research supports the idea that individuals must develop in-depth domain expertise to

be creative. He explains that we can conclude with great confidence that creative output is linked

to the amount of time a person is actively engaged in a creative domain. The relationship tends

to be a curvilinear, inverted backwards J function of career age. In other words, creativity

production increases with years in the field until reaching a maximum at which point it begins to

taper off. Howard Gardner’s research into the sources of creativity supports this idea and further

extends it to a “ten-year rule”: ten years is the approximate time required to build the domain

knowledge

...