Creative development as acquired expertise: Theoretical issues and an empirical test

Although outstanding creativity has been viewed as an acquired expertise, c reative development might operate differently than occurs in sports, games, and music performance. To test the creative-expertise hypothesis, the care ers of 59 classical composers were examined according to the differential a esthetic success of their 911 operas. The potential predictors were seven m easures of domain-relevant experience: cumulative years (since first operas , first compositions, and first lessons) and cumulative products (genre-spe cific operas, all operas, all vocal compositions, and all compositions). Th e nonmonotonic longitudinal trends and the relative explanatory power of th e expertise-acquisition measures indicate that complex specialization ("ove rtraining") and versatility ("cross-training") effects may determine creati ve development across the life span. The broader implications of the findin gs are then discussed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.