PT10603 PERSONALITY AND

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
CREATIVITY
 Introduction
Is associated with a wide range of
concepts
motivation, imagination,
metacognition, social influence,
intuition, potential, leadership, humor
& mental illness (Runco, 2004)
 Definitions
Creative & uncreative people, behaviors &
works
Creative & uncreative professions
Creativity can be used to refer to
individuals, processes, products &
environments alike
Creative behaviors are original but not all
original behaviors & works are considered
creative
 Creative products should not only be
original but useful
Creativity is the production of an
idea/ product that is both novel &
useful (Sternberg & OHara2000)
 Problems with definition
Few ideas are effectively new
The usefulness of the idea may depend on
a subjective/ personal evaluation: useful to
whom?
Will depend on whether one refers to
socially valuable products/ intrinsically
creative processes (Barron &
Harrington,1981)
Have focused on the level of difficulty.
Esthetic value/ impact of creative
products
 CREATIVITY ACROSS
DIFFERENT PSYCHOLOGICAL
PARADIGMS
May be classified by psychological
paradigms (evolutionary, biological,
cognitive & differential)
Behavioral- conceptualizes creativity
in term of novel associations & tries
to identify the behavioral correlates
of novel learning processes
 Biological- looks at the physiological
correlates of creative thinking & how
these processes may be manifested
at the level of brain structure &
neutral processes
Clinical- looks at the extent to which
creativity is associated with
abnormal behavior either as a cause/
consequence of psychological
disorders
 Cognitive- emphasizes the role of cognitive
processes (attention & memory in regard
to creativity)
Technique brainstorming (a technique for
generating ideas in a group setting which
involves individuals saying everything that
comes to mind about a topic without self-
censorship/ inhibition
Developmental- attempts to identify
changes in creativity throughout the
lifespan & how certain characteristics of
the family may affect levels of creativity
 Educational- formal education &
attempts to asses how different
teaching modalities may influence
students creativity.
Educational settings tend to praise
convergent thinking rather than
divergent thinking
convergent thinking (the generations of
a response to a problem that requires a
single, correct answer)
divergent thinking (regarded as an
aspect of creativity; generation of
multiple, unique answers to a problem
Approaches to Creativity
The person approach- Attempts to identify
the major characteristics of creative
individuals, looking primarily at the
personality traits & ability levels of
creative people
The process approach- aims at
conceptualizing the cognitive mechanisms
underlying the process of creative thinking
The product approach- studies the
characteristics of creative
outcomes/ products
The press approach- looks at the
relationship between individuals as
creators & their environments
Creativity & Intelligence
Guilford became the first leading figure in
creativity research
Any attempt to conceptualize, understand
& measure creativity would have to take
into account established ability constructs
Sternberg & O Hara (2000) considered 5
possible ways in which creativity &
intelligence may be related:
1) Theories conceptualizing creativity as
part of intelligence
2) Theories conceptualizing intelligence as
part of creativity
3) Theories conceptualizing creativity &
intelligence as identical constructs
4) Theories conceptualizing creativity &
intelligence as unrelated constructs
5) Theories conceptualizing creativity &
intelligence as related constructs
Theories conceptualizing creativity
as part of intelligence
Creativity is associated not only with novel
but also with appropriate responses, there
is arguably a clear component of
intelligence in creative thinking (Sternberg
& Lubart,1995)
Guilford (1967) proposed a comprehensive,
multi-dimensional model of intelligence
that encompassed more than 120 abilities
 Divergent production: refers to an
individuals production of multiple solutions
to problem rather than the identification
of a single response
Guilford (1975) identified a number of
important aspects of creativity
(flexibility, problem identification, fluency
& originality
R.B. Cattell (1971a)
Theory that conceptualized creativity as a
form of intelligence & creativity as a
combination of primary skills (fluid intelligence)
Personality traits determine & explain
individual differences in creative performance
& integrating personality & intelligent
approaches to creativity
 Gadner (1993)- theory of multiple
intelligences which comprises 8
independent abilities (interpersonal,
logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-
kinesthetic, interpersonal, musical,
naturalistic & linguistic)
 Theories conceptualizing
intelligence as part of creativity
Sternberg & Lubart (1995,1996)s
investment theory- creative individuals
have an extra ordinary ability to invest in
ideas
Creativity is an important determinant of
intelligence thinking & intelligent behavior
because it enables individuals to think
differently & defy the crowd
 Sternberg & Lubarts (1995) model in
which 6 different factors converge
to determine creativity (intelligence,
knowledge, thinking styles,
personality, motivation & the
environment)
Sternberg argued that three aspects
of intelligence underlie individual
differences in creativity (synthetic,
analytical & practical intelligence)
 Synthetic intelligence- used to
combine different cognitions &
produce novel associations
Analytical intelligence- enables
creative individuals to judge the
value/ appropriateness of an idea
Practical intelligence- advantageous
for applying creative idea in everyday
life & selling them to others
 Creativity & intelligence
as identical constructs
Haensly & Reynolds (1989), conceptualized
creativity & intelligence as a unitary
phenomenon in which creativity would be
regarded as the ultimate manifestation of
intellectual ability
Weisberg & Alba (1981) argued that no
qualitative differences exist between
creativity & intelligence
 Theories conceptualizing
creativity & intelligence as
unrelated constructs
Intelligence refers to adaptation to
existing environments
Creativity involves changing existing
environments to create a new one
(Sternberg,1985)

If a response is intelligent, it cant be

creative & if behaviors is creative, it cant
be intelligent
 Theories conceptualizing
creativity & intelligence as
related constructs
Early attempts to document the
relationship between intelligence &
creativity were based on biographical
measures of creativity & intelligence
Cox (1926)- The correlation between
eminence/ level of creative impact &
intelligence was significant but modest
(r=.06)
 Barron (1963)- results showed correlations
between creativity & intelligence measures
in the region of r=.40)
Barron & Harrington (1981)- Variable
correlations between intelligence &
creativity ranging from as little as r=-.05
up to r=.30.
Horn (1976) & Richards (1976)-
correlations between intelligence &
divergent thinking tend to be higher,
averaging r=.30.
 Shouksmith (1973)- intelligence is needed
to provide correct responses to problems;
creativity is required to provide good
responses
Guilford (1967)- Threshold theory of
creativity & intelligence: a minimum level
of intelligence is required to be creative
Renzulli (1978,1986)- Three ring theory of
giftedness: giftedness at the crossroads
between creativity, IQ & task commitment
 Creativity & Personality
Traits
Barron- 1 of the first to emphasize the
personality differences between creative &
non-creative individuals (higher & lower
intellectual ability)
Creative individuals with lower intellectual
ability- affected, aggressive, demanding,
dependent, dominant, forceful, impatient,
taking initiative, outspoken, sarcastic,
strong & suggestive
 Higher intelligent but lower
creativity- mild, optimistic, pleasant,
quiet, unselfish
Creative individuals are also though
to be more intrinsically motivated
than their non-creative counterparts
Non creative individuals tend to be
involved in activities they enjoy, not
necessarily per se but their benefit
 Creativity in
psychopathology
Eysenck (1999)- there is substantial
overlap between the process
underpinning creative &
psychopathological thinking.
Eysencks psychoticism trait was
though of as a predictor of creativity
 Overinclusive thinking- the tendency
to use irrelevant information/ to
introduce complexity in solving
problems, characteristic of both
creative & psychopathological thinking
Maslow (1971) & Roger (1980)
believed that creative individuals have
a greater sense of self-actualization,
longevity & good physical health
 Farmer (1974) found that Psychoticism was
highly correlated with divergent thinking
Gotz & Gotz (1979a) showed that
professional artists tended to have
significantly higher scores on Psychoticism
that a control group.
Possibility a curvilinear relationship
between creativity & psychopathology
whereby a moderate level of originality is
indicative of normal creativity whereas
extremely high levels of originality may
refer to Psychoticism/ mental disorders
(schizphrenia)
 Creativity & persoanlity are examined
across different occupational domains,
Psychoticism levels are significantly higher
in creative professions
Most important element to distinguish
between creativity & psychopathology is
the manifestation of symptoms
Creative individuals may have every
intention to produce original associations
whilst psychotic individuals may have little
alternative & control over their original,
unusual/ eccentric ideas
 Creativity in normal
behavior
Creativity is Openness to Experience
(aesthetic preferences, values, fantasy,
feeling, actions & ideas related to novelty
& intellectual experiences.
Openness, Extraversion &
Conscientiousness could be used to
accurately distinguish between scientists
& non- scientists.
 Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham
(2005) organized the Big Five
Personality traits.
Neuroticism, Extraversion & openness to
Experience are positive linked to
creativity
Agreeableness & Conscientiousness are
negatively corrected with creativity
 Testing Creativity
The 1st attempts at measuring creativity
date back to the beginnings of IQ testing,
when Binet developed open-ended tests
Open-ended problems were soon replaced
by multiple-choice questions
Multiple-choice questions are useful to
measure abilities but poor predictors of
creativity
 Alternate Uses Test- requires individuals
to name all the things you can do with x
object & can be scored in terms of
originality, fluency, flexibility &
elaboration.
Also consider the appropriateness of
responses, as creative ideas should not
only be original but also useful (Runco &
Charles,1993)
Scoring method- Originality, Fluency,
Flexibility, Elaboration & appropriateness
 Remote Associations Test (Mednick
& Mednick, 1967)
30-item psychometric test is based
on items with a single correct
response rather than open-ended
questions
a) rat-blue-cottage-?
b) Railroad-girl-class-?
c) Surprise-line-birthday-?
 If you guesses the answers, you may have
noticed that there is still a degree of
subjectivity in the choice of correct
response , more so than in standard IQ
test items
Predictive validity- scores on creativity
measures predict real-life indicators of
creativity
Incremental validity- creativity tests
account for unique variance in selected
outcomes beyond say, personality & ability
measures
 Discriminal validity- creativity tests
measure a unique construct,
different from established
personality & ability traits
Reliability- how appropriate a
creative response may be
 Torrance Test of Creativity &
Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance, 1074)
Based on Torrances (1966) creativity
test
Measures divergent production of
semantic units
1) Name all the things you can think of
that are red & edible
2) In what ways are dogs & cats related
3) Write as many sentences you can using
the world rain, station & summer
 Creativity in Different
Fields
The 1st attempts to identify significant
personality differences between groups
(artists Vs scientists)
An analysis of within group differences &
aims at comparing the personality profiles
of highly creative & non-creative
individuals working in the same field.
 Conclusions
Creativity is a complex & multi-determined
psychological construct that has rarely
been measured through objective means.
Creativity contributes to greater
flexibility (Flach,1990;Runco,1986)
Creativity is useful & effective response
to evolutionary changes (Runco,2004)
 Creativity indicators to be significantly
correlated with late-life adaptation &
growth (Dudek & Hall, 1991)
Personality & intelligence are important to
explain some of the characteristics of
creative & non-creative individuals
Individual differences in creativity can not
be explained merely in terms of
personality & ability factors but may also
depend on individuals interests, self-belief
& motivation
 THANK YOU