Barriers to creativity

Davis (1998; 1999) lists six categories of barriers: 1) learning and habits, which lead to stereotypic ways of thought and action; 2) rules and traditions, which restrict, inhibit or prohibit personal initiative (including organizational barriers characteristic for bureaucratic structures); 3) perceptual barriers (perception set, functional fixedness); 4) cultural barriers, which are culturally specific manifestations of the other types of barriers; 5) emotional barriers (anger, fear, anxiety, hate, and even love); and 6) resource barriers (shortage of people, money, time, information, etc.). See also Von Oech (1983) and Nebel (1988).