Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (pronounced Me-high Chick-sent-me-high) looks at
creativity in the
individual -
WHERE does it occur? In the
psychological or
sociological sense? Is is made by
nuture or
nature? In other words, will you be
creative no matter what, or does it depend on your up-bringing and the things you are
exposed to as you're
growing up?
Csikszentmahaly believes that creativity occurs between the producer of a text and the audience ; that is, the creative part of watching a film, reading a novel or viewing a sitcom occurs not only in the making of that piece of creativity, but in the way the audience understands and views it. The audience has just an important role in the creativity of a piece as the creator does.
Csikszentmihaly therefore believes that creativity is a process, not a system; that the audience influences the creativity of the artist as much as the artist influences the audience. Society, culture and the individual all have a circular causality, and as such, influence each other.
Go here for more: www.ccp.uchicago.edu/faculty/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi/html/