Using a ‘taboo response’ measure to examine the relationship between divergent thinking and psychoticism

Abstract

Several previous studies have shown a relationship between psychoticism (P), as measured by the various scales of the Eysencks, and divergent thinking (DT) tests of creativity. It is argued that this relationship may result in part from the tendency of high P subjects to produce relatively large numbers of mildly antisocial or ‘taboo’ responses in the DT task. Using 93 student subjects, taboo responses were differentiated from the ‘original’ (unique) responses studied in earlier experiments. We examined the relationship of DT measures to P and to separate measures of schizotypy (using the Schizotypal Personality Scale or STA) and over-inclusive thinking (using a modified version of Lovibond's Object Sorting Test or OST). Correlations between P and taboo response measures were greater than between P and original response measures when ‘total’ scores were used; correlations were of roughly equal magnitude when ‘proportion’ scores were used. However, regression analyses suggested that P made a more substantial independent contribution to the prediction of original than taboo responses. The results suggested that the P-DT correlation reflects two relatively independent processes associated respectively with the tendency to show unusual thinking and the willingness to make mildly antisocial responses in the experimental situation.