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Moreover, judgments of the creativity of an object seem to be explained mainly by its novelty, which suggests the possible sufficiency of that criterion. The studies that are examined here converge on the idea that the standard definition is not internally consistent, because its two proposed criteria (i.e., novelty and value) are largely independent. In this article, question of the necessary and sufficient criteria for defining creativity is approached from an empirical (i.e., psychometric) perspective. Much of the discussion of this issue has been based on semantic analysis, a logical analysis of the concepts involved and the usefulness of the various proposed criteria. However, other definitions, based on a single criterion or on more than two criteria, have also been proposed. The most frequent definition – the standard definition – incorporates the criteria of novelty and value. In scientific research on creativity, there has been considerable debate concerning the criteria by which a production can be judged more or less creative, that is, about the definition of creativity. Barker, 1961 Goodman, 1972 Sober, 1981 Sober and Lewontin, 1982).1 simply assume it, as did Ockham and others, as a first principle, one which, in the absense ofarguments to the contrary, must always be applied.
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No defense of the principle is offered, for, as I note below, I believe that no definitive defense is possible and acknowledge that the principle does not guarantee that a theory will be adequate or correct (cf. I then briefly trace the history of the concept in modem psychology and, subsequently, apply the concept to recent research with both chimpanzees and pigeons. In this essay I first develop a modem variant of what has been called the "principle of parsimony" by commenting on a quotation on the nature of science by Ernst Mach. The practice is exemplified by recent accounts of chimpanzee behavior. A modern principle of parsimony may be stated as follows: Where we have no reason to do otherwise and where two theories account for the same facts, we should prefer the one which is briefer, which makes assumptions with which we can easily dispense, which refers to observables, and which has the greatest possible generality_Psychologists often violate this principle, particularly in attributing complex behavior to cognitive processes.