Approaches to creativity from daily actions: first-person records

Abstract

We understand creativity as the potential of people to transform objects and environments. We try to move away from conceptions of creativity as the exclusive preserve of a few, to understand everyday creative processes. The objective of the study is to understand, from the perspective of the participants, the particularities of creative actions and to analyze emerging emotions. The sample was made up of 10 people, 6 women and 4 men, who recorded daily creative actions for a week. The participants shared the records of the actions (photos, videos, audios) by Whatsapp. In addition, we investigate meanings built on the processes through questionnaires and virtual interviews. The results show diversity of actions and contexts where people consider being creative. Most of these creative activities were associated with pleasurable emotions of happiness, satisfaction, and self-fulfilment. Participants link creativity to novelty, transformation, imagination and the ability to solve problems. Technologies play a prominent role in creative practices, both in the development and dissemination of products. The article contributes to the understanding of the specificity of daily creativity processes, recognizing the importance of the emotions that underlie these processes.