Originality versus Creativity

Originality (Idea generating, theoretical conceptualizations)

Originality refers to the production of a new idea, without any particular care for whether these ideas will be useful or not. So when you’re brainstorming and trying to turn out as many possibilities as you can; psychologists would call this originality, not creativity. Originality is the switched on light bulb in the darkness, the "Eureka" moment.

Creativity (Idea executing, applications)

So what’s creativity then? Well, while originality is judged by the sheer number of ideas one can come up with, creativity places a more stringent criteria on these ideas – they not only have to be original, they have to be worthwhile or useful. Creativity is exploring around using the light bulb in the darkness to see what can be done but also doing it, the performance and productivity process.

A friend thought the definition of originality not quite adequate so I replied with the following...

A better definition of originality: an idea’s conceptual genesis, first time ever existing in mankind’s history?

What is possible for a human mind to apprehend uses the process of cognition and idea formulation.

The mind can apprehend or cognize

1. a perceptual true and valid reality,
2. one existing outside of itself, conceived as an extended supra or sub reality,
3. or an imagined fantasy reality.

Intuition, observation, experience, agreement, compromise, change, adjustment, validation, recordation, reference, work, testimony, and other activities of mankind stimulate our actual intellectual experience and the constructs needed to cope with reality of living existence or to escape it. Originality and creativity are used for discovery, learning, and achievement, expanding our realities proficiency attainment.