The APA 2009 Division 10 debate: Are the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking still relevant in the 21st century?

Abstract

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) are measures of creative potential and interpreted as domain-general measures of creativity. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are the most researched measures of creativity. Research has found that the TTCT have the highest predictive validity among many measures of creativity. Torrance conducted longitudinal studies with the TTCT over 40 years and the results indicated that the scores on the TTCT predict children’s later creative achievement better than IQ scores. The TTCT are the most referenced and widely used measures of creativity and are especially useful for identifying gifted and talented students. The TTCT are used for admission to gifted programs and have broadened the acceptance of students into such programs, including increasing the numbers of minority students and of students who may not show their creative potential in any other standardized manner. Therefore, the importance of the TTCT in the 21st century will continue in the identification of highly creative students and in the development of creative thinking skills in them. Whether creativity is a generalized ability or is task specific is one of the major disagreements in the study of creativity. The Guilford Tests, Torrance Tests, or personality measures are measures of creative potential that are reflected by domain generality of creativity and assume that creativity can be measured as a way of thinking or way of being that is generalizable (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 1999). In other words, while an individual’s creativity may only be expressed in a certain area or areas, creativity can be measured as a general way of thinking. However, some researchers (e.g., Baer, 1991, 1994a, 1991; Kaufman & Baer, 2004) contend that creativity is domain-specific (cf. Gardner, 1997) and believe that measures of aptitude in specific areas or assessment of specific products are more appropriate assessments of creativity.