During 1961–1988, creativity research coalesced around a componential perspective, combining domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant processes, intrinsic motivation, and social environment into a single explanatory frame. This view treats creativity as the outcome of the interaction among ability, motivation, and context, guiding experimental designs, assessments, and organizational practices. The period also popularized cross-disciplinary methods to foster creative thinking, including collaborative approaches and structured ideation practices, and highlighted the role of feedback, incentives, and recognition in shaping who contributes to advances. These patterns laid the groundwork for later research across psychology, education, and organizational studies. Historical Significance: The era produced breakthroughs that unified previously fragmented strands of creativity research under a coherent framework, enabling subsequent advances in psychology, education, and the science of science. The componential framework served as a durable lens for linking cognitive skills, motivational drivers, and contextual factors to creative performance, influencing later theories of collaboration and innovation. Foundational syntheses and cross-disciplinary forums introduced experimental designs and collaborative methods that shaped future creativity research, while systematic reviews of ideation techniques and associative thinking established enduring tools for training and ideation.