The functionality of creativity

This dissertation is about the functionality of creativity. Why do people invest time and effort in being creative? Being creative is inherently risky, as you need to come up with something new that departs from what is already known, and there is a risk of ridicule, being singled out, or simply that what you come up with does not work. In this dissertation I examined the functionality of creativity from an evolutionary perspective. If creativity is functional in terms of evolutionary fitness and if such evolutionary functionality motivates creativity, we should see that people become more creative if it helps them to achieve evolutionary goals.