Creative Worth and Creative Value: Clarifying Process and Outcome in Creativity Assessment

Abstract Despite sustained interest in creativity across psychology and education, its assessment remains conceptually unstable. This paper argues that a persistent limitation in creativity assessment arises from the conflation of the creative process with creative outcomes. In response, a dual-process framework is proposed that distinguishes Creative Worth (the objective activation of cognitive competencies that enable creative thinking) from Creative Value (the subjective interpretation of meaning, impact, and significance in creative outcomes). Drawing on prior work that conceptualizes creativity as a system of interacting cognitive processes operating within a structured environment, Creative Worth is operationalized through a domain-general competency framework, and the paper outlines a process-level assessment methodology. Objective measurement is reframed as a regulatory feedback mechanism that supports diagnostic resolution, system calibration, and equitable attribution of failure, while subjective judgment is explicitly preserved as essential for assessing creative value. The framework is proposed as a conceptual and methodological clarification rather than a comprehensive theory of creativity or a fully validated assessment instrument. By clarifying the distinct functions of objective and subjective assessment, the framework addresses long-standing tensions in creativity measurement research and offers a coherent basis for assessing creative thinking without reducing it to a single evaluative score.