Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol 20(1), Feb 2026, 47-55; doi:10.1037/aca0000703
Creativity is commonly defined as a combination of originality or novelty and task-appropriateness or usefulness. This article proposes that the meaning of the latter criterion varies across levels of creativity and answers different essential questions. Beyond originality, creativity can be defined by four forms of quality: (a) meaningfulness: for mini-c (personal creativity), the essential question is whether ideas or acts hold personal relevance and are helpful in creating connections or insight (e.g., factual correctness of personally meaningful applications in learning); (b) relevance: for little-c (everyday creativity), the essential question is whether ideas or acts meet the demands of their specific domain, purpose, or task requirement (e.g., objects listed as round can be construed as such in the Instances divergent thinking test); (c) Effectiveness: The essential question defining Pro-c (professional creativity) asks to what extent ideas or acts fulfill their goals or solve a problem in ways that can be recognized by intended audiences (e.g., a new work process results in greater efficiency); (d) impact: the essential question for Big-C (eminent creativity) is whether ideas or acts have value or influence that persists over time (e.g., scientific theory that continues to be cited or examined in new research). Implications are discussed for definition and assessment of creativity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)