Abstract Reasoning and Big Five Personality Correlates of Creativity in a British Occupational Sample

Abstract

In the present study, 585 British adults attending an assessment center completed a series of tests that included measures of personality (the Revised NEO Personality Inventory), abstract reasoning (the Graduate and Managerial Assessment), and divergent thinking (DT; the Consequences Test). Correlation analyses showed that DT was significantly and positively correlated with abstract reasoning and the Big Five personality factors of Openness to Experience and Extraversion. A multivariate forward stepwise regression showed that DT was significantly predicted by “Openness,” Abstract Reasoning, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. Further analyses showed that DT was significantly correlated with 5 of the 6 Openness facets and 4 of the 6 Extraversion facets (as well as with several facets from Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness). Overall, however, abstract reasoning and personality accounted for only 7% of the variance in DT, suggesting that these variables are only modestly associated wtih DT in a British occupational sample.