Creativity is surrounded by a cluster of long-held beliefs--referred to here as "myths"--which regard it as confined to aesthetic/spiritual domains and as a divine gift to a tiny few, and thus render it ineluctable, ineffable and inscrutable. As a result, treating it as part of normal psychological functioning and emphasizing its…

This article describes an application in Spain of Florida's model (2002/2010, 2005) about creativity, economy and growth. Creativity is an indicator that measures and combines technology, talent, and tolerance. Each of these is composed of three subindices. The most important conclusion from the data reported here is that creativity in particular,…

Constraints often inhibit creative problem-solving. This study examined the impact of training strategies for managing constraints on creative problem-solving. Undergraduates, 218 in all, were asked to work through 1 to 4 self-paced instructional programs focused on constraint management strategies. The quality, originality, and elegance of…

An experiment involving 90 students in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades investigated how visual examples and grade (our surrogate for age) affected variability in a drawing task. The task involved using circles as the main element in a set of drawings. There were two examples: One was simple and single (a smiley face inside a circle); the other,…

In reviewing the Lumsden and Findlay model of creative ontogeny and its potential influences on geneculture coevolution, the authors found it consistent with certain aspects of the creative process and suggestive of promising new research avenues. They also concluded that biologically based models, especially concerning cultural innovation, must…

This study explored whether the "right thinking style" relates to creativity as measured by 2 types of creativity tests, which were given to 109 undergraduates. Results correlated the How Do You Think scores positively with right thinking scores on the Your Style of Learning and Thinking test and negatively with left thinking scores.…

Highly creative children (n=100) and uncreative children (n=100) were selected from 1,450 fifth- and sixth- grade students. Comparisons using data from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking revealed significant differences in terms of quantity and quality of primary process content. Girls gave more libidinal content and boys gave more aggressive…

A study of 358 fine arts students at three large universities indicated that 23 percent experienced synesthesia in a spontaneous and consistent manner, and 49 percent reported no such experience. Results of comparative analysis are consistent with anecdotal reports that synesthetes are often successful in artistic fields, and possess high degrees…

This study explored the relationships between creativity and cognitive skills, and the implications for arts education. High school seniors (n=65) were given a battery of psychological tests emphasizing creative thought. Results indicated significant correlations of the arts orientation with five domains of creative behavior and three cognitive…

This investigation examined the relationships among a teacher's creative thinking, playfulness, and degree of sensitivity in interactions with preschool children during play. Results indicated that expected positive relationships among creativity, playfulness, and an elaborate teaching style were found only for the students. (Author/PB)

Eleventh-graders (n=91) completed realistic and unrealistic divergent thinking problems and their loci of evaluation control were assessed. Internal males and external females were most fluent on the unrealistic task, but males asked to give common ideas and females asked to give unique instructions were the most original. (Author/PB)

Findings from this investigation with 81 college students indicate ideational fluency as a valid predictor of student achievement in an interior design course. Both original and popular ideational fluency as measured by the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure were related to course grade, design criteria scores, and final project grade.…

Two experiments investigated the relationship between creativity and the effects of manipulations of self-image. Among conclusions on self-confidence and fixedly adult identities were that high-creative subjects (n=58) did not appear to have as fixedly adult identities as medium- and low-creative subjects. (Author/PB)

This study empirically examined the argument that a referent climate for creative productivity would be more useful than a omnibus measure of climate for assessing the creative norms in a specific work context. Results suggested that climate for creative productivity was related to criteria of effectiveness (convergent validity). (Author/PB)