COGNITIVE MECHANISMS IN HUMAN CREATIVITY - IS VARIATION BLIND OR SIGHTED

It is argued that the cognitive mechanisms in human creativity are, fo r the most part, sighted rather than blind. The article opens with a r eview of attempts to apply evolutionary ideas to psychology. It contin ues with an argument that blind-variation ideas seem to apply well in some areas of psychology, but that the psychology of human creativity is not one of these areas. An alternative sighted-variation framework is then proposed. It is argued, nevertheless, that the blind-variation system of biological evolution itself shows emergent creative propert ies, even though this system does not serve as an appropriate model fo r human creativity.