The Field Guide › Paper

Towards a Theory of Creativity

Rogers · Origins, Trust & Interpersonal · ETC: A Review of General Semantics (1954); reprinted in Vernon, Creativity (1970) · 1954 · Open access

The paper that coined the term 'psychological safety'. Rogers argued that creativity requires two external conditions: psychological safety — established through unconditional worth, absence of external evaluation, and empathic understanding — and psychological freedom. Predates Schein & Bennis by eleven years and Kahn by 36.

Connected concepts (6)

• Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work (paper)
• What is PS?
• Personal and Organizational Change Through Group Methods: The Laboratory Approach (paper)
• Psychological Safety Comes of Age: Observed Themes in an Established Literature (paper)
• History of PS
• PS & Creativity