The serendipitous mind: An interdisciplinary exploration of the importance of accidents to creative cognition

During the fourteenth seminar organised by My Experience Molise Project, Wendy Ross (Metropolitan University London) presented a talk intitled "The serendipitous mind: An interdisciplinary exploration of the importance of accidents to creative cognition".
Emerging interdisciplinary research suggests that the phenomena of serendipity underlies many of our tales of creativity and scientific discovery. Drawing from cognitive psychology, philosophy, and anthropology, the scholar will propose that serendipity cannot be understood either as a fortuitous event nor as cultivated mindset but rather should be understood as an emergent and contingent outcome of dynamic cognitive states, surrounding environments, and material attunement.
The presentation explored the underlying psychological mechanisms that make individuals and systems receptive to serendipitous occurrences. It argued that uncertainty serves as an essential cognitive catalyst that enhances creativity, with a particular focus on the interplay between internal cognitive states and external environmental and material factors. Through a synthesis of lab based empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, and anthropological case studies ranging from problem solving experiments to detailed analysis of making processes, the presentation demonstrated how serendipity emerges from a complex web of cognitive and environmental factors. These include not only traits and states such as openness and cognitive flexibility but also elements of surrounding environments and, most important, material attunement.