Theoretical approaches to general creativity: Definitions and assessment

General creativity is a characteristic element of progress in human society and is found in original, innovative and authentic tasks. In the context of this theoretical study, we aim to present the definitions, theoretical models and assessment tools of creativity for a better understanding of the concept and its further development. Definitions of creativity focus on four elements concerning the process, the person, the product and the environment. In addition, the theoretical models that have been proposed come from the field of psychology where creativity is connected with divergent thinking (Guildford, 1967), intelligence, knowledge, cognitive style, personality, motivation and the environment (Sternberg and Lubart, 1996), the time it occurs (Beghetto and Kaufman, 2007) as well as its social and cultural dimensions (Csikzentmihalyi, 2014). Finally, the paper describes the most common tools and instruments for assessing creativity that focus on fluency, flexibility and originality of the individuals.