Creative Thinking-Drawing Production Research Articles

Is Negative Affect that Bad? The Effect of Affective States on Conventional and Unconventional Creative Thinking in University Students.

The role of affective states on the creative process has been receiving the attention of researchers and has led to contradictory results. Most research in creativity has emphasized the role of affective states, mainly positive ones, on creativity levels, namely those resulting from divergent thinking tasks that reveal the unconventional way of thinking in the creative process. However, there are no studies to date that focus on the impact of affective states on conventional and unconventional thinking, during the same creative process, which consider a single creative assessment task. The aim of this experimental study was to analyze the effect of induced affective states on both conventional and unconventional thinking of creativity in adults by using the TCT-DP (Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production). Seventy-five university students, mostly female, with a mean age of 26.95 years, were randomly assigned into three affect elicitation conditions (pleasant vs. unpleasant vs. neutral). Results indicated that the negative affective state led to higher levels of conventional thinking when compared to positive and neutral affective states. However, no significant differences were found on unconventional thinking across the three conditions. Our results do not support the assumption that the negative affect has a hindering effect on creativity nor the positive affect increases creativity. Negative affect seems to promote conventional thinking, perhaps due to its cognitive correlates, which can be manifested in focusing attention and analytic thinking. Practical and theoretical implications for future research on the role of affective states on creativity are discussed.

The predictive power of dispositional mindfulness and dispositional serenity for creative functioning

This study aimed to investigate the roles of two positive personal characteristics – dispositional mindfulness and dispositional serenity – in creative functioning from the perspective of positive psychology. A total of 598 (51.3% females) university students in Hong Kong took part in the study. Dispositional mindfulness and serenity were assessed with the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale and the Brief Serenity Scale, respectively. By adopting a multiple-measurement approach to creativity, creative functioning was assessed with three commonly used creativity tests: (1) a divergent thinking test, (2) the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production, and (3) a creative problem-solving test. Each of these tests focuses on a specific aspect of creative functioning (i.e., idea generation, combinatory ability, and restructuring ability). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were applied to test the hypothesized positive role of dispositional mindfulness and serenity in predicting creative functioning. Lending support to the positive psychology perspective, our findings suggest that dispositional mindfulness and serenity have unique contributions to creative functioning. Enriching the discourse of the positive psychology perspective, our findings on the one hand suggest that the predictive power of dispositional mindfulness varies across aspects of creative functioning; on the other hand, however, dispositional serenity presents a somewhat consistent and stable predictive power across aspects of creative functioning. These findings shed light on improving creative functioning by promoting positive human characteristics.

Creativity across the lifespan: changes with age and with dementia

BackgroundIt is well known that older age is associated with losses in cognitive functioning. Less is known about the extent to which creativity is changing with age or dementia. Aim of the current study was to gain more insights into psychometric aspects of creativity in younger and older people as well as people with dementia.MethodOur sample comprised three groups, (1) participants between age 18—30 years (n = 24), (2) participants 65 + years without cognitive impairment (n = 24), and (3) participants 65 + years with cognitive impairment / dementia (n = 23). Cognitive abilities were assessed via the Standard Progressive Matrices Test (SPM), Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCa), and Trail Making Test (TMT). Creativity was assessed via the Creative Reasoning Task (CRT), Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP), and Alternate Uses Task (AUT).ResultsCompared to younger people, older people scored significantly lower in only two out of eleven creativity sub-scores (one in the CRT and one in the TCT-DP). Performance in the SPM was significantly associated with these two sub-scores and age. Cognitively impaired older people had significantly lower scores in the creativity task AUT compared to cognitively healthy older people and younger people. The associations between MoCa and AUT scores were also significant.ConclusionCreativity appears relatively stable in older age, with exception of those creativity skills that are affected by abstract reasoning (SPM), which appear susceptible to aging. As our findings suggest, cognitive impairment in older age might impair only some aspects of creativity with other creativity aspects being comparable to cognitively healthy people. The age-related and the cognitive status-related effects seem to be independent. The preserved creative abilities can be used in dementia care programs.

Motor Development and Painting Creativity of Primary School Children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychomotor development and visual creativity. Thirty students ranging in age from 6 to 7.5 years had participated in the study. For the measurement of psychomotor development, the Degree of Kinetic Performance was used from the application of a Set of four kinetic tests of K.T.K. test (Schillinh & Kiphard, 1974). To measure artistic creativity, three tests were administered which were a combination of the Test Torrance of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1998) and the Test for Creative Thinking Drawing Production (Urban & Jellen, 2010). Specifically, the Test Torrance of Creative Thinking used the element of completing the circle and in the (Urban & Jellen, 2010) test the element of humor was used, as one of the factors measuring creativity. The tests of creativity were evaluated by two different judges who were visual artists and professors at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Ioannina. The results showed that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the Degree of Kinetic Performance and artistic creativity and in particular with aptitude, originality and processing. Psychomotor development reveals the inextricable link between mental and motor activities, addresses the whole of the human condition and it is a key area of pre-school and school education of kinetic development with artistic creativity. Future research could also look at an extended sample of the relationship between physical-motor performance and visual creativity in early and late childhood students possibly with a larger number of diagnostic tests.

Measuring Creativity in the Fermi Problem, a Type of Mathematical Modelling, Applying Information Theory

Many methods of measuring creativity have been studied - mainly in psychology. In recent years, there have been attempts to incorporate such creativity into mathematical modelling, a topic handled in mathematics education. Accordingly, some studies have been trying to assess creativity in it. However, there have been no clear criteria or formulas that can be used for any problem, since a rubric has been created for each problem and evaluated individually. In the present study, to measure creativity in the Fermi problem, a type of mathematical modelling, a formula that applies information theory used in information science is proposed and examined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A survey of Japanese junior high school students (n = 364) was conducted and analyzed, and the results show that the model using the formula proposed in the present study is a good fit. In addition, a moderate positive correlation (r = .41, p < .01 ) is found between creativity in the Fermi problem and creativity in psychology measured by the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP).

Middle School Students From China's Rice Area Show More Adaptive Creativity but Less Innovative and Boundary-Breaking Creativity.

The present study aimed to conduct a cross-cultural comparison of creative thinking among Chinese middle school students from the rice- and wheat-growing areas in China through the lens of the rice theory, which postulates that there are major psychological differences among the individuals in these agricultural regions. Differences in cultural mindsets and creativity between the rice group (n = 336) and the wheat group (n = 347) were identified using the Chinese version of (1) the Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale (AICS) and (2) the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT–DP), respectively. Interesting findings were obtained. The results of latent mean analyses indicate that the rice group showed significantly more collectivism and adaptive creativity than the wheat group but less individualism and innovative and boundary-breaking creativity. However, the two groups showed no significant differences in their overall creative performance, as reflected in the TCT–DP composite score. Moreover, results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that collectivism was positively related to adaptive creativity but negatively related to innovative and boundary-breaking creativity; however, a reverse pattern was found for individualism. These findings enrich the discourse regarding the rice theory and shed important light on the effect of culture on creativity.

Does Home Schooling Improve Creative Thinking and Social Competencies among Children? Home Schooling in Israel

ABSTRACT Homeschooling is on the rise in many Western countries, reflecting families’ growing preference for teaching their children at home, in a family environment. This increasing trend has a social derivative, as learning at home may develop alternative competencies. The objective of this research is to examine the effectiveness of homeschooling by analyzing the levels of creative thinking and social competencies among homeschoolers and by comparing these abilities to those of traditional learners. Participants included 549 schoolchildren between the ages of 8 and 12 (280 homeschoolers and 269 public school students). The participants were asked to fill in two questionnaires: 1) the Creative Thinking Drawing Production (TCT-DP) questionnaire to evaluate their creative thinking, and 2) the Social Competencies Rating System (SSRS) questionnaire to evaluate their social competences. The findings of the multiple regression analyses indicate that homeschoolers exhibit higher level of creative thinking and higher social competencies than traditional learners. Policy implications highlight the need to develop creative thinking and social competencies among traditional learners.

KORELASI ANTARA KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KREATIF DENGAN KETERAMPILAN MENULIS TEKS NARASI SISWA SD

Writing is often associated with a child's creativity. In this study, creativity was assessed using TCT-DP (The Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production) where students were asked to continue drawing the available patterns. This study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between students who are able to continue drawing patterns by writing narrative text well. This research was conducted in one of the SDN Citangkil District with a population of 2 classes totaling 88 students. The method used in this research is correlational descriptive. In this study, data from the creative thinking test uses 11 out of 14 criteria, namely: continuations, completion, new elements, the connection made with a line, the connection made to produce a theme, boundary-breaking that is fragment dependent, boundary-breaking that is fragment independent. , perspective, humor, and affectivity, unconventionally, and speed. These criteria are translated through scores of 1-3. The results showed that there was a relationship between students who had the ability to think creatively and write good narrative texts.

How reliable and valid are frequency-based originality scores? Evidence from a sample of children and adolescents

Creativity—as any other object of scientific endeavor—requires a sound measurement that adheres to quality criteria. For decades, creativity science has been criticized as falling short in developing valid and reliable measures of creative potential, activity, and achievement. Recent years have witnessed growth of theoretical and empirical works that focused on improving creativity assessment. Here, we apply one of such recently developed approaches based on item response theory to examine ideas’ and person score reliability in a divergent thinking task. A large sample (N = 621) of children and adolescents solved the Circles task from Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural and two other figural tests measuring creative thinking (Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production) and creative imagination (Test of Creative Imagery Abilities). By employing response propensity models, we observed that separate ideas’ reliability tended to fall below recommended thresholds (even liberal ones, e.g., 0.60) unless the sample size as well as the number of generated ideas (fluency) were large. Importantly, reliability at the idea-level affected reliability at the person-level much less than could be assumed based on recent findings. We propose a systematic perspective on divergent thinking assessment that considers responses as nested in tasks and tasks as nested in tests. Finally, we recommend that adding more tasks to divergent thinking tests might increase reliability at the test-level.

Validity and Utility of the Test of Creative Thinking Drawing Production for Dutch Adolescents

We examined the divergent validity and utility of the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT-DP) in an identification protocol for high-ability students that included measures of intelligence, school motivation, inquisitiveness, creativity, and academic achievement. Data were collected from seventh-grade students across 6 years ( n = 710). Small significant correlations between the different measures indicated that the TCT-DP did measure a construct separate from intelligence, school motivation, inquisitiveness, and academic achievement. Furthermore, creativity did not significantly affect academic achievement when controlling for intelligence, school motivation, and inquisitiveness. We did not find support for threshold theory. Finally, we concluded that the TCT-DP provides useful additional information on creativity for high-ability identification in which measures of intelligence, school motivation, and inquisitiveness are already included. Thus, this study’s findings provide evidence for the utility and divergent validity of the TCT-DP when used with a Dutch population.

Gender differences in creativity: Examining the greater male variability hypothesis in different domains and tasks

The Greater Male Variability Hypothesis (GMVH) suggests that males demonstrate greater variability than females and are overrepresented in the lowest and highest ranges of cognitive ability. Several studies have found evidence for the GMVH in creative performance, yet nearly all have used the same task (i.e., Test of Creative Thinking Drawing-Production) limiting inference to a single domain and modality of creative ability. In two studies, we examine the GMVH in relation to performance by adults (Study 1; N = 120) on a creative writing task and by adolescents (Study 2; N = 529) on a creative drawing task, as well as figural and verbal divergent thinking tasks. The variability of scores did not differ substantively between males and females on any of the tasks in either study and the pattern of the proportions of males and females in different regions of the distribution of scores was inconsistent across tasks. Although males received significantly greater mean scores than females on the verbal divergent thinking task in Study 2, no significant mean differences were found for any other task. Overall, our results do not support the GMVH and suggest that, if any, gender differences in creative variability are likely inconsistent across domains and tasks.

Exploring the Effects of Age, Gender, and School Setting on Children’s Creative Thinking Skills

AbstractThe current study aimed to investigate whether age, gender, and testing environment may have an effect on children’s creativity in a real‐life setting. Participants included 111 children aged from seven to eleven years. They were given one verbal (Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task) and one figural (Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production) creative thinking task either in their everyday classroom or in their school “art room.” On average, in the verbal task, girls tended to outperform boys in fluency and flexibility. Contrary to the 4th‐grade slump found in previous studies, divergent thinking, on average, increased with age for verbal originality and verbal elaboration. These results suggest the potential importance of experience on verbal creativity tasks. In the verbal task, for the originality score, and in the drawing task, participants in the art room displayed, on average, greater levels of creative thinking than those in the classroom. These findings suggest that the physical environment can affect differently children’s creative potential.

Do parenting styles matter? Perceived dimensions of parenting styles, creative abilities and creative self-beliefs in adolescents

On a sample of 552 high school students, the present study investigated the relationships between perceived parenting dimensions, and children’s creative abilities assessed by the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) as well as their creative self-beliefs (i.e. creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity). Results indicated that the dimension of parental child acceptance and autonomy support were weakly but positively related to children’s creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between parental autonomy support and children's creative abilities. In this sense, this study provides preliminary evidence for the effect of parental style dimensions on children’s creative self-beliefs. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed. Recommendations are also given to researchers for conducting further studies on the topic.

Physical activity and creativity of children and youths

BackgroundChildhood is an important period for developing maturity in thinking. Accumulating evidence shows the association between physical activity and cognitive function. Although both the intelligence quotient and emotional quotient have been reported to be associated with physical activity, there is a limited amount of published research regarding the association between physical activity and cognitive function in children and youths. With respect to creativity, an important skill for the twenty-first century, little evidence on the creative quotient promotion in childhood is available. The present study, therefore, is designed to explore the correlation between physical activity and creativity.MethodsThe participants included 1447 students with different age groups in 34 schools from Southern Thailand. Age groups were categorized according to Thailand’s 2016 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, where 521 students were aged 6–9 years, 487 students were aged 10–13 years, and 439 students were aged 14–17 years. Creativity was measured through the use of the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP). Active play, time with family and peers, and sedentary behavior were monitored by the Thailand Physical Activity Children Survey-the Student Questionnaire (TPACS-SQ).ResultsThe correlation between the TCT-DP score representing creativity and active play was noticed in adolescents (r = 0.148, p = 0.001), but not found in participants aged 6–13 years. Active play was associated with time with family and peers in all age groups (r = 0.485, p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe present data supports the idea that optimal physical activity is required during childhood for developing thinking process. Promotion of active play with family and peers may facilitate creativity skills.

A 4-Year Longitudinal Study of the Sex-Creativity Relationship in Childhood, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood: Findings of Mean and Variability Analyses.

The relationship between sex and creativity remains an unresolved research question. The present study aimed to approach this question through the lens of the developmental theory of sex differences in intelligence, which posits a dynamic pattern of sex differences in intellectual abilities from female superiority in childhood and early adolescence to male superiority starting at 16 years of age. A total of 775 participants from three age groups (i.e., children, adolescents, and emerging adults) completed a 4-year longitudinal study comprising four assessments of creative thinking at 1-year intervals. Creative thinking was assessed with the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production. While the results revealed female superiority in childhood and early adolescence, male superiority was not found in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Rather, greater sex similarities and greater male variability were found based on mean and variability analyses, respectively. This study elucidated the link between sex and creativity by (1) taking a developmental perspective, (2) employing a 4-year longitudinal design in three age groups (i.e., children, adolescents, and emerging adults), and (3) analyzing sex differences based on both mean and variability analyses.

Exploring the Creative Process: Integrating Psychometric and Eye-Tracking Approaches.

This exploratory study aims at integrating the psychometric approach to studying creativity with an eye-tracking methodology and thinking-aloud protocols to potentially untangle the nuances of the creative process. Wearing eye-tracking glasses, one hundred adults solved a drawing creativity test – The Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) – and provided spontaneous comments during this process. Indices of visual activity collected during the eye-tracking phase explained a substantial amount of variance in psychometric scores obtained in the test. More importantly, however, clear signs of methodological synergy were observed when all three sources (psychometrics, eye-tracking, and coded thinking-aloud statements) were integrated. The findings illustrate benefits of using a blended methodology for a more insightful analysis of creative processes, including creative learning and creative problem-solving.

Problem Space Matters: Evaluation of a German Enrichment Program for Gifted Children.

We studied the development of cognitive abilities related to intelligence and creativity (N = 48, 6–10 years old), using a longitudinal design (over one school year), in order to evaluate an Enrichment Program for gifted primary school children initiated by the government of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Entdeckertag Rheinland Pfalz, Germany; ET; Day of Discoverers). A group of German primary school children (N = 24), identified earlier as intellectually gifted and selected to join the ET program was compared to a gender-, class- and IQ- matched group of control children that did not participate in this program. All participants performed the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) test, which measures intelligence in well-defined problem space; the Creative Reasoning Task (CRT), which measures intelligence in ill-defined problem space; and the test of creative thinking-drawing production (TCT-DP), which measures creativity, also in ill-defined problem space. Results revealed that problem space matters: the ET program is effective only for the improvement of intelligence operating in well-defined problem space. An effect was found for intelligence as measured by SPM only, but neither for intelligence operating in ill-defined problem space (CRT) nor for creativity (TCT-DP). This suggests that, depending on the type of problem spaces presented, different cognitive abilities are elicited in the same child. Therefore, enrichment programs for gifted, but also for children attending traditional schools, should provide opportunities to develop cognitive abilities related to intelligence, operating in both well- and ill-defined problem spaces, and to creativity in a parallel, using an interactive approach.

The Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production Test in Preschool Children with Predominantly Migration Background—Psychometrics of the German TCT-DP

The study examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the Creative Thinking – Drawing Production Test (TCT-DP). This test evaluates creative potential with 14 content-related criteria, constituting a total score. Age norms exist for children from 4–16 years. A total of 269 children with predominantly migrant background, aged 36–71 months, from German preschools participated. Total scores of 4- and 5-year-old children were significantly below the German age norms published in the test manual, but did not differ with the degree of the migrant background (both vs. one or none migrant parents). In contrast to boys, scores from girls were slightly higher. Discriminant validity could be confirmed: Total scores did correlate neither with intelligence, nor with gender, fine motor skill, educational, or socio-economic status of the parents. The German TCT-DP respectively revealed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .69–.73). For the first time, cumulative percentages for 3-year-olds are provided as a kind of preliminary age norm. The German TCT-DP proved to be applicable in 3-year-old children with migrant background, albeit not all content-related criteria can be interpreted. Its psychometric properties support its use for research rather than for clinical purposes.

Emotional Reactions Mediate the Effect of Music Listening on Creative Thinking: Perspective of the Arousal-and-Mood Hypothesis.

This study examined the effect of music listening on creative thinking through the lens of the arousal-and-mood hypothesis, which posits that emotional reactions (i.e., arousal and valence) mediate the effect of music listening on cognitive functioning. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups: a positive music group (n = 198), a negative music group (n = 195), and a control group (n = 191). Creative thinking and emotional reactions were assessed with the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production and the Affect Grid, respectively. The results showed that both positively and negatively arousing music enhanced creative thinking. The results further revealed that arousal, regardless of valence, significantly mediated the music-creativity relationship. This study enriches the research on the arousal-and-mood hypothesis by (1) providing direct empirical testing on the mediating roles of emotional reactions; (2) including both positively and negatively arousing music in the study design; and (3) identifying that only arousal, and not valence, was a significant mediator in the music-creativity link.

Not Only Jumps, Slumps, but also Mini Plateau. Creative Potential Assessed by the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production. A Cross-Sectional Study of Polish Students Aged from 7 to 18

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the developmental trajectory of creative potentials of Polish students. A total of 1,522 Polish students aged between 7 and 18 from lower and upper primary school, middle school, and high school participated in the study. Creative potential was measured by means of the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production. The findings showed that older students achieved higher scores than the younger ones, drops in mean scores among students aged 13 and 16 were noted, and levelling of scores was found among students aged from 10 to 13, with a slight drop at the age of 13. Moreover, a phenomenon was discovered which was described as a mini plateau, i.e., an emergence of similar mean scores in 2 consecutive age groups. Possible explanations of the results are discussed, including interpretations in the context of the CMC and educational and environmental conditions which act as inhibitors or stimulators of the development of creative abilities.