A Model of Creative Aging (MOCA): Unlocking the Potential of Constraints for Creativity in Older Adults

This article is motivated by two apparent paradoxes. The first concerns the relationship between constraints and creativity: despite the pervasive myth of the freedom to create, constraints have been shown to benefit creativity. The second paradox concerns the relationship between creativity and aging: despite a general decline associated with getting older, advanced age offers key advantages for creativity, such as increased knowledge and time availability. We propose that these two paradoxes are related. An analysis of the complex role of constraints in creativity, as the first paradox invites us to develop, provides valuable insights for the second apparent paradox. Our Model of Creative Aging (MOCA) advances the idea that creativity in older age depends on individual and sociocultural attitudes toward creativity and aging, on the framing of constraints as exclusionary (cannot do x) or focusing (should do y), and on creative expertise. The model's contributions include specific predictions as well as practical implications for promoting focusing constraints for creativity in aging adults.