Ready, set, create: What instructing people to "be creative" reveals about the meaning and mechanisms of divergent thinking

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

Volumn 8, Issue 4, 2014, Pages 423-432

  Nusbaum, Emily C ^a   Silvia, Paul J ^a   Beaty, Roger E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO   (United States)

Author keywords

Assessment; Creativity; Divergent thinking; Fluid intelligence; Verbal fluency

Indexed keywords

EID: 84937728908     PISSN: 19313896     EISSN: 1931390X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0036549     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Almeida, L. S., Prieto, L. P., Ferrando, M., Oliveira, E., & Ferrándiz, C. (2008). Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: The question of its construct validity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 3, 53-58. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2008.03.003
2. Alvarez, J. A., & Emory, E. (2006). Executive function and the frontal lobes: A meta-analytic review. Neuropsychology Review, 16, 17-42. doi:10.1007/s11065-006-9002-x
3. Beaty, R. E., & Silvia, P. J. (2012). Why do ideas get more creative across time? An executive interpretation of the serial order effect in divergent thinking tasks. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6, 309-319. doi:10.1037/a0029171
4. Beaty, R. E., & Silvia, P. J. (2013). Metaphorically speaking: Cognitive abilities and the production of figurative language. Memory & Cognition, 41, 255-267. doi:10.3758/s13421-012-0258-5
5. Benedek, M., Beaty, R. E., Jauk, E., Koschutnig, K., Fink, A., Silvia, P. J., Neubauer, A. C. (2014). Creating metaphors: The neural basis of figurative language production. NeuroImage, 90, 99-106. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.046
6. Benedek, M., Bergner, S., Könen, T., Fink, A., & Neubauer, A. C. (2011). EEG alpha synchronization is related to top-down processing in convergent and divergent thinking. Neuropsychologia, 49, 3505-3511. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.09.004
7. Benedek, M., Franz, F., Heene, M., & Neubauer, A. C. (2012). Differential effects of cognitive inhibition and intelligence on creativity. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 480-485. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.04.014
8. Benedek, M., Jauk, E., Fink, A., Koschutnig, K., Reishofer, G., Ebner, F., & Neubauer, A. C. (2014). To create or to recall? Neural mechanisms underlying the generation of creative new ideas. NeuroImage, 88, 125-133. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.021
9. Benedek, M., Könen, T., & Neubauer, A. C. (2012). Associative abilities underlying creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6, 273-281. doi:10.1037/a0027059
10. Benedek, M., Mühlmann, C., Jauk, E., & Neubauer, A. C. (2013). Assessment of divergent thinking by means of the subjective top-scoring method: Effects of the number of top-ideas and time-on-task on reliability and validity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7, 341-349. doi:10.1037/a0033644
11. Benedek, M., & Neubauer, A. C. (2013). Revisiting Mednick's model on creativity-related differences in associative hierarchies: Evidence for a common path to uncommon thought. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 47, 273-289. doi:10.1002/jocb.35
12. Bossomaier, T., Harré, M., Knittel, A., & Snyder, A. (2009). A semantic network approach to the Creativity Quotient (CQ). Creativity Research Journal, 21, 64-71. doi:10.1080/10400410802633517
13. Bousfield, W. A., & Sedgewick, C. H. (1944). An analysis of sequences of restricted associative responses. Journal of General Psychology, 30, 149-165. doi:10.1080/00221309.1944.10544467
14. Carroll, J. B. (1993). Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor-analytic studies. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511571312
15. Carson, S. H., Peterson, J. B., & Higgins, D. M. (2005). Reliability, validity, and factor structure of the Creative Achievement Questionnaire. Creativity Research Journal, 17, 37-50. doi:10.1207/s15326934crj1701_4
16. Cattell, R. B., & Cattell, A. K. S. (1961/2008). Measuring intelligence with the Culture Fair Tests. Oxford, UK: Hogrefe.
17. Chen, C., Kasof, J., Himsel, A., Dmitrieva, J., Dong, Q., & Xue, G. (2005). Effects of explicit instruction to "be creative" across domains and cultures. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 39, 89-110. doi:10.1002/j .2162-6057.2005.tb01252.x
18. Christensen, P. R., Guilford Press, J. P., & Wilson, R. C. (1957). Relations of creative responses to working time and instructions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 53, 82-88. doi:10.1037/h0045461
19. Clapham, M. M. (2004). The convergent validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and creative interest inventories. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 64, 828-841. doi:10.1177/0013164404263883
20. Clark, P. M., & Mirels, H. L. (1970). Fluency as a pervasive element in the measurement of creativity. Journal of Educational Measurement, 7, 83-86. doi:10.1111/j.1745-3984.1970.tb00699.x
21. Dixon, J. (1979). Quality versus quantity: The need to control for the fluency factor in originality scores from the Torrance Tests. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 2, 70-79.
22. Drewes, D. W. (2000). Beyond the Spearman-Brown: A structural approach to maximal reliability. Psychological Methods, 5, 214-227. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.5.2.214
23. Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W., Harman, H. H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Manual for Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests. Princeton, NJ:Educational Testing Service.
24. Feist, G. J. (1998). A meta-analysis of personality in scientific and artistic creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2, 290-309. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0204_5
25. Feist, G. J. (2010). The function of personality in creativity: The nature and nurture of the creative personality. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 113-130). New York, NY:Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511763205.009
26. Fink, A., & Benedek, M. (2013). The creative brain: Brain correlates underlying the generation of original ideas. In O. Vartanian, A. S. Bristol, & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.) Neuroscience of creativity (pp. 207-232). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
27. Flanagan, D. P., Ortiz, S. O., & Alfonso, V. C. (2007). Essentials of cross-battery assessment (2nd ed.) Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
28. Gilhooly, K. J., Fioratou, E., Anthony, S. H., & Wynn, V. (2007). Divergent thinking: Strategies and executive involvement in generating novel uses for familiar objects. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 611-625. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2007.tb00467.x
29. Gonen-Yaacovi, G., de Souza, L. C., Levy, R., Urbanski, M., Josse, G., & Volle, E. (2013). Rostral and caudal prefrontal contribution to creativity:A meta-analysis of functional imaging data. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 1-22. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00465
30. Hancock, G. R., & Mueller, R. O. (2001). Rethinking construct reliability within latent variable systems. In R. Cudeck, S. du Toit, & D. Sörbom (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: Present and future (pp. 195-216). Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International.
31. Harrington, D. M. (1975). Effects of explicit instructions to "be creative" on the psychological meaning of divergent thinking test scores. Journal of Personality, 43, 434-454. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1975.tb00715.x
32. Heck, R. H., & Thomas, S. L. (2009). An introduction to multilevel modeling techniques (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
33. Hocevar, D. (1979a). A comparison of statistical infrequency and subjective judgment as criteria in the measurement of originality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 43, 297-299. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4303_13
34. Hocevar, D. (1979b). Ideational fluency as a confounding factor in the measurement of originality. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 191-196. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.71.2.191
35. Kaufman, A. S. (2009). IQ testing 101. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
36. Kaufman, J. C., & Plucker, J. A. (2011). Intelligence and creativity. In R. J. Sternberg & S. Kaufman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of intelligence (pp. 771-783). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511977244.039
37. Kaufman, S. B. (2013). Opening up openness to experience: A four-factor model and relations to creative achievement in the arts and sciences. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 47, 233-255. doi:10.1002/jocb.33
38. Kim, K. H. (2005). Can only intelligent people be creative? Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 16, 57-66.
39. Kim, K. H., Cramond, B., & VanTassel-Baska, J. (2010). The relationship between creativity and intelligence. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 395-412). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511 763205.025
40. McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2007). Brief versions of the NEO-PI-3. Journal of Individual Differences, 28, 116-128. doi:10.1027/1614-0001.28.3.116
41. McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2008). The five-factor theory of personality. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed.; pp. 159-181). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
42. McGrew, K. S. (2005). The Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory of cognitive abilities. In D. P. Flanagan & P. L. Harrison (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, tests, and issues (2nd ed., pp. 136-181). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
43. Mednick, S. A. (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review, 69, 220-232. doi:10.1037/h0048850
44. Merton, R. K. (1968). The Matthew effect in science. Science, 159, 56-63. doi:10.1126/science.159.3810.56
45. Niu, W., & Liu, D. (2009). Enhancing creativity: A comparison between effects of an indicative instruction "to be creative" and a more elaborate heuristic instruction on Chinese student creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3, 93-98. doi:10.1037/a0013660
46. Nusbaum, E. C., & Silvia, P. J. (2011a). Are intelligence and creativity really so different? Fluid intelligence, executive processes, and strategy use in divergent thinking. Intelligence, 39, 36-45. doi:10.1016/j.intell .2010.11.002
47. Nusbaum, E. C., & Silvia, P. J. (2011b). Are openness and intellect distinct aspects of openness to experience? A test of the O/I model. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 571-574. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.05.013
48. Plucker, J., & Esping, A. (2014). Intelligence 101. New York, NY:Springer Publishing.
49. Plucker, J. A., Qian, M., & Wang, S. (2011). Is originality in the eye of the beholder? Comparison of scoring techniques in the assessment of divergent thinking. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 45, 1-22. doi:10.1002/j.2162-6057.2011.tb01081.x
50. Prabhakaran, R., Green, A. E., & Gray, J. R. (in press). Thin slices of creativity: Using single-word utterances to assess creative cognition. Behavior Research Methods.
51. Runco, M. A. (2007). Creativity. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
52. Runco, M. A., & Acar, S. (2010). Do tests of divergent thinking have an experiential bias? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4, 144-148. doi:10.1037/a0018969
53. Runco, M. A., & Okuda, S. M. (1991). The instructional enhancement of the flexibility and originality scores of divergent thinking tests. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5, 435-441. doi:10.1002/acp.2350050505
54. Silvia, P. J. (2008a). Creativity and intelligence revisited: A latent variable analysis of Wallach and Kogan (1965). Creativity Research Journal, 20, 34-39. doi:10.1080/10400410701841807
55. Silvia, P. J. (2008b). Discernment and creativity: How well can people identify their most creative ideas? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2, 139-146. doi:10.1037/1931-3896.2.3.139
56. Silvia, P. J. (2011). Subjective scoring of divergent thinking: Examining the reliability of unusual uses, instances, and consequences tasks. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6, 24-30. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2010.06.001
57. Silvia, P. J., & Beaty, R. E. (2012). Making creative metaphors: The importance of fluid intelligence for creative thought. Intelligence, 40, 343-351. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2012.02.005
58. Silvia, P. J., Beaty, R. E., & Nusbaum, E. C. (2013). Verbal fluency and creativity: General and specific contributions of broad retrieval ability (Gr) factors to divergent thinking. Intelligence, 41, 328-340. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2013.05.004
59. Silvia, P. J., & Kimbrel, N. A. (2010). A dimensional analysis of creativity and mental illness: Do anxiety and depression symptoms predict creative cognition, creative accomplishments, and creative self-concepts? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4, 2-10. doi:10.1037/a0016494
60. Silvia, P. J., Martin, C., & Nusbaum, E. C. (2009). A snapshot of creativity: Evaluating a quick and simple method for assessing divergent thinking. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 4, 79-85. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2009.06.005
61. Silvia, P. J., & Nusbaum, E. C. (2012). What's your major? College majors as markers of creativity. International Journal of Creativity and Problem-Solving, 22, 31-43.
62. Silvia, P. J., Wigert, B., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Assessing creativity with self-report scales: A review and empirical evaluation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6, 19-34. doi:10.1037/a0024071
63. Silvia, P. J., Winterstein, B. P., Willse, J. T., Barona, C. M., Cram, J. T., Hess, K. I., Richard, C. A. (2008). Assessing creativity with divergent thinking tasks: Exploring the reliability and validity of new subjective scoring methods. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2, 68-85. doi:10.1037/1931-3896.2.2.68
64. Singer, J. D., & Willett, J. B. (2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis:Modeling change and event occurrence. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152968.001.0001
65. Skrondal, A., & Rabe-Hesketh, S. (2004). Generalized latent variable modeling: Multilevel, longitudinal, and structural equation models. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC. doi:10.1201/9780203489437
66. Thurstone, L. L. (1938). Primary mental abilities. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
67. Torrance, E. P. (1988). The nature of creativity as manifest in its testing. In R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives (pp. 43-75). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
68. Torrance, E. P. (2008). Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Normstechnical manual, verbal forms A and B. Bensenville, IL: Scholastic Testing Service.
69. Troyer, A. K., & Moscovitch, M. (2006). Cognitive processes of verbal fluency tasks. In A. M. Poreh (Ed.), The quantified process approach to neuropsychological assessment (pp. 143-160). Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis.
70. Troyer, A. K., Moscovitch, M., & Winocur, G. (1997). Clustering and switching as two components of verbal fluency: Evidence from younger and older healthy adults. Neuropsychology, 11, 138-146. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.11.1.138
71. Vernon, P. E. (1971). Effects of administration and scoring on divergent thinking tests. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 41, 245-257. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1971.tb00669.x
72. Wallach, M. A., & Kogan, N. (1965). Modes of thinking in young children: A study of the creativity-intelligence distinction. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
73. Weisberg, R. W. (2006). Creativity: Understanding innovation in problem solving, science, invention, and the arts. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511816796.042
74. Wilson, R. C., Guilford, J. P., & Christensen, P. R. (1953). The measurement of individual differences in originality. Psychological Bulletin, 50, 362-370. doi:10.1037/h0060857
75. Zabelina, D. L., Felps, D., & Blanton, H. (2013). The motivational influence of self-guides on creative pursuits. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7, 112-118. doi:10.1037/a0030464
76. Zabelina, D. L., & Robinson, M. D. (2010). Creativity as flexible cognitive control. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4, 136-143. doi:10.1037/a0017379