I love the definition of "Creativity" being about puzzle-creating and puzzle-solving. See previous blog post. Maybe it's because I love playing board games, and I love creating illustrations that feel useful. (note that "decorative superficial stuff" can also be useful to someone)
I jotted down these notes from Barbara Heidenreich's video on Teaching Animals "Creativity" . The takeaway message for me is that Creativity is not "insight" in a magical sense (like it just suddenly happens because the individual is a genius) but that when view through a Behaviorist lens, there are learning processes at work like Extinction and Resurgence.
Also posting here some notes I made a while back after listening to a Jesus Rosalez-Ruiz talk about The Extinction Process.
Updated image below. *I had so many versions of this on my computer. Just found the best one, I think:
"No reinforcement" (Extinction) can be bad or it can be good. I wonder if a "puzzle" is a good analogy here.
What prerequisite skills/knowledge does the individual already have? How big/small is their repertoire of behaviors? When confronted with "no reinforcement" for a previously-reinforced behavior, do they know what else they can do to get reinforcement?
An expert and ethical animal trainer will set up the environment and training plan so that extinction does NOT cause frustration or regression, and clearly communicates to the learner that "Nope. No More" is not a painful situation. There is always another way to earn reinforcement.
P.S. I am not an expert trainer.