Pt10603 Personality and Individual Differences

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
intelligence as unrelated constructs
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
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
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

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PT10603 PERSONALITY AND

If a response is intelligent, it cant be

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