The Genetic Basis of Creativity and Ideational Fluency (original) (raw)
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Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2008
Silvia et al.'s (2008) primary motivations for exploring and proposing their subjective scoring method are their perceived deficiencies of current divergent thinking tests. First, scores on divergent thinking tests frequently correlate highly with general intelligence. Second, the scoring of divergent thinking tests has changed little since the 1960s. Third, the necessity of instructing people to be creative prior to taking divergent thinking tests is integral to obtaining useful responses and needs to be reaffirmed. Fourth, and finally, the problems posed by uniqueness scoringconfounding with fluency, ambiguity of rarity, and the seeming "penalty" imposed on large samples-that need to be addressed. First, Kim's (2005) meta-analysis indicated that the relationship between divergent thinking test scores and IQ (r ϭ .17) is negligible, which supports the underlying belief that creativity and intelligence are separate constructs. According to Kim's (in press) meta-analysis, divergent thinking test scores predict creative achievement (r ϭ .22) better than IQ (r ϭ .17). Further, 51.8% of the 274 correlation coefficients incorporated in the study used the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance, 1996), and the TTCT predicted (r ϭ .33, p Ͻ .0001) creative achievement better than other measures of creative potential (e.g.
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The inspirational aspect of creativity remains shrouded in mystery. Methodological problems have hindered research into creativity, and such a situation makes the interpretation and comparison of studies problematic. The link between creativity and psychopathology is overstated by the print, electronic, and celluloid media. This paper attempts to explain the creative process from a psychological and psychiatric perspective leaving room for different unexplained aspects of generativity for open discussion. A selective survey of the literature was performed to identify scholarly views of creativity and psychopathology. Data sources included PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. The concept of inspiration was examined from psychological, psychopathological, and biological standpoints. A better understanding of creativity has clinical implications. Psychopathology can facilitate creativity, but it is not the maker of creativity that involves a harmonious blending of divergent and converge...
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Developmental Review, 1992
Children's creative thinking is often assessed with divergent thinking tests. This article reviews the literature on divergent thinking tests and suggests that the strengths of these tests include their solid theoretical bases, their reliability, their selective validity, and the vast literature available to assist interpretations. Specific conclusions supported by the research include the following. First, divergent thinking test scores are predictive of some types of performance (e.g., writing) but are not predictive of performance in other domains (e.g., art). Second, divergent thinking tests have discriminant validity, but the traditional scoring technique (with fluency, originality, and flexibility) may be inadequate, and the level of ability of the examinees must be taken into account when comparing ideational scores with intelligence test scores. Third, several personality traits (e.g., independence) and familial variables (e.g., birth order, family size, age gap) are associated with performance on tests of ideational creativity. Finally, performance on divergent thinking can he influenced by models, including parental divergent thinking, incentives and reinforcement, task perception, environmental cues, stimulus characteristics, and age. Overall, the research suggests that these tests are useful as estimates of children's potential for creative thinking. o I992 Academic Press, Inc. The value of children's creativity is widely recognized. Creativity is, for example, thought to be related to psychological health and the ability to solve problems. There are, however, concerns about creativity being stifled by specific educational procedures, and there is a debate over development trends in creativity. Steffin (1983) argued that the typical classroom environment, peer pressure, and the format of school assignments each inhibit the creativity of children. Along the same lines, Torrance (1968) described a fourth-grade slump of creative performances. Gardner (1982) offered a cognitive explanation for developmental trends and suggested that creativity drops when children enter a literal stage. With the recognized value of creativity and the concerns about its development, it behooves us to closely monitor the creativity of children. Are the theories of the development of creative abilities built on sound research using meaningful assessments ? Are the measures being used The author expresses his gratitude to
The Nature of Creativity: The Roles of Genetic Factors, Personality Traits, Cognitive Abilities, and Environmental Sources , 2015
was initiated by Alois Angleitner, Rainer Riemann, and Frank M. Spinath as a joint research project with funding from the Max Planck Research Prize awarded to Alois Angleiter. In addition, many other investigators contributed to both studies. We thank the whole GOSAT and BiLSAT research teams as well as the twins for spending part of their lifetime with both study projects. We are also indebted to the many experimenters for collecting the data, in particluar to Simone Penke and Anna-Karen Stürmer for their help in rating the T-88 creativity test data. Finally, we thank our master students Katharina Buchenau, Miriam
Predicting children's creative performance
Sønzmary.-The predictive validity of the fluency index of divergent-thinking tests was evaluated, with extracur¡icula¡ creative performance in seven domains as the criteria. The unique aspects of this project were (a) that gifted and talented children were represeûted in the samÞle of 150 subjects, (b) that both performarìce quantity and, quality scores were used as citeil^, and (c) that fluency, fluency2, and an inte¡action of IQ ¡ fluency were tested as predictors. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that fluency has predictive validity; however, this is limited to certain a¡eas of perfoimance, e.g., writing and crafts. IQ was significantly ¡elated to othet areas of performance, e.g., science and performing arts, but there was little indication of a quadraric relationship or an inreraction of IQ \ fluency.