Methods to Measure the Extent to which Teachers’ Points of View Influence Creativity and Factors of Creative Personality: A Study with Italian Pupils

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to verify, in a sample of Italian pupils (aged 13-14) and their teachers, whether pupils’ divergent thinking and creative personality were affected by social attitudes expressed by teachers towards thought and creative personality. The Williams’ Test of Creative Thinking and Test of Creative Personality were used to explore creativity and creative personality in pupils; the Williams’ Scale of Assessment of creative performance and rating scales regarding definition and nature of creativity were employed for analyzing teachers’ social attitudes. The results showed that teachers of artistic subjects evaluated pupils as more divergent compared to teachers of foreign languages; teachers of maths and technology, compared to the others, assessed their pupils as less creative in personality. Social attitudes expressed by teachers seemed to affect curiosity and willingness of pupils to take risks. No relationship between social attitudes exhibited by teachers and pupils’ divergent thinking was found. In future research in different school environments and levels of age of pupils will be analyzed to further develop the topics of the present study.