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Commitment and Creativity

Publication Authors: 
Seana Moran

From a Vygotskian perspective, what does commitment do for creators? Vygotsky argued that creativity is the construction and synthesis of experience-based meanings and symbols embodied in cultural artifacts (i.e., creative products) that endure to be appropriated by future generations. His ideas are useful for examining how people “stay the course” in creative work. Staying the course implies commitment. Commitment encompasses the resources a person invests (assets) and the role dimensions to which he or she commits (targets). Commitment interacts with supports/obstacles in the environment. Commitment brings the past (what has been invested already) and the future (what is expected) into a person’s consideration of the current situation.