Torrance Tests Of Creative Thinking Research Articles

Poor creativity in frontotemporal dementia: A window into the neural bases of the creative mind

BackgroundThe prefrontal cortex (PFC) supports functions critical for creative thinking. Damage to the PFC is expected to impair creativity. Yet, previous works suggested the emergence of artistic talent in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), which was interpreted as increased creativity. ObjectiveWe designed a study in patients with frontal variant (fv) of FTLD in order to verify whether: (1) creativity is impaired after frontal degeneration, (2) poor creativity is associated with frontal dysfunctions, and (3) poor creativity is related to hypoperfusion in specific PFC regions. Materials and methodsThree groups of subjects were enrolled in the study: fvFTLD patients (n=17), non-demented Parkinson's disease (PD) patients (n=12) and healthy controls (n=17). Participants performed a standardized test of creativity, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) and tests assessing frontal functions. Brain perfusion was correlated to fvFTLD patients’ performance in the TTCT. ResultsPatients with fvFTLD were strongly impaired in all dimensions of the TTCT, compared to PD patients and controls. Disinhibited and perseverative responses were observed only in fvFTLD patients, leading to “pseudo-creative” responses. Poor creativity was positively correlated with several frontal tests. Poor creativity was also correlated with prefrontal hypoperfusion, particularly in the frontal pole. ConclusionsPoor creativity is associated with fvFTLD. The results also suggest that the integrity of the PFC (in particular frontopolar) is strongly associated with creative thinking. The emergence of artistic talent in patients with fvFTLD is explained by the release of involuntary behaviors, rather than by the development of creative thinking.

The effect of a teacher professional development in facilitating students creativity

The Iranian educational system would benefit from major refinement in order to better develop the creativity of children. The extension of teachers’ understanding of creativity is one of the main factors in facilitating change. A theory and practice based professional development program was designed, therefore, to assist teachers to acquire knowledge, attitudes and skills associated with improved student creativity. In this research, the effect of creativity-oriented teaching on students’ creativity was examined using the Solomon four-group design method. The teachers and students were divided in experimental, treatment and control groups. The control group was further subdivided into two groups. Students from the experimental and one control group were pre-tested using the torrance test of creative thinking (TTCT)Teachers of the experimental group and treatment group completed a creativity training program and then used the techniques demonstrated with their students. Following the intervention, students of each of the experimental, treatment and control groups completed the TTCT a second time and the teachers completed a creativity checklist questionnaire for each student. The results indicated that teachers’ involvement in the training program had a positive effect on the creativity of their students. These results provide basic evidence that teacher professional development programs associated with the improved understanding of creativity-oriented techniques can make a positive contribution to development of Iranian students’ creativity.

Don't Be So Hard on Yourself: Self-Compassion Facilitates Creative Originality Among Self-Judgmental Individuals

Self-compassion is a multifaceted state of potential utility in alleviating the self-critical tendencies that may undermine creative expressions among certain individuals. To investigate this idea, 86 undergraduates were randomly assigned to control or self-compassion conditions, following which creative originality was assessed by a version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The manipulation was hypothesized to facilitate creative originality particularly among individuals who are prone to critical self-judgment, as assessed by a trait measure. This interactive hypothesis was supported: Self-judgmental individuals displayed lower levels of creative originality in the control condition, but equal levels of creative originality in the self-compassion condition. Results are discussed in the context of theories of creative potential, self-compassion, and chronic tendencies toward self-criticism.

Does Analogical Reasoning With Visual Clues Affect Novice and Experienced Design Students' Creativity?

Design students' creative thinking abilities should be enhanced. Yet the educational tools that will lead to this goal are not entirely clear. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether analogical reasoning with visual clues could help to achieve this goal. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)–Figural form was given 103 undergraduate students in a design-based program. Novice and experienced design students' creative-thinking skills were tested under 3 conditions: with (a) no visual clues, (b) few visual clues, or (c) many visual clues. The results showed that (a) the presence of visual clues enhanced some aspects of creativity (fluency and flexibility); (b) compared to experienced design students, novice design students showed better performance on some aspects of creative potential (elaboration); and (c) the number of visual clues influenced novice and experienced students differently. Whether the results will apply to different subject groups and methodological situations remains to be seen. Still, findings of this study have practical implications for design education. To enhance creative thinking skills, instructors may encourage design students' use of visual clues.

Creativity as flexible cognitive control.

Creative individuals have been described in terms suggestive of greater automatic processing (e.g., defocused attention, looser associations) and greater controlled processing (e.g., greater abilities to focus while working on a creative task). Both views cannot be correct from a static ability-related perspective. On the other hand, both views could be correct if creative individuals are better able to modulate the functioning of their cognitive control system in a context-sensitive manner. The present study (N 50) assessed individual differences in creativity in terms of original responses on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1974) and also in terms of creative behavior on the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005). The same participants performed a color–word Stroop task. Creative individuals were neither more nor less capable of overriding cognitive conflicts on incongruent (relative to congruent) Stroop trials. On the other hand, creative individuals displayed more flexible cognitive control, as defined by greater cognitive control modulation from trial to trial. Implications for theories of creativity and its underlying processing basis are discussed.

Hemispheric Collaboration in Creative Subjects: Cross-Hemisphere Priming in a Lexical Decision Task

The literature provides 3 proposals regarding hemispheric involvement in the creative process: the right hemisphere is “more creative,” the 2 hemispheres are complementary, and the hemispheric collaboration model that argues that the 2 hemispheres function as a collaborative unit in a synergistic manner. This study tested the hemispheric collaboration model. Forty-eight participants completed the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, Figural and Verbal forms. The participants then performed a visual half-field lexical decision task at both a 50 milliseconds (ms) and 750 ms stimulus onset asynchrony in which the primes and targets were presented either ipsilaterally or contralaterally. Results revealed that individuals scoring high on creativity exhibit higher degrees of priming to contralateral presentation of prime-target pairs, while subjects scoring low on creativity exhibit increased priming to prime-target pairs presented to the left VF, right hemisphere. The results of the study support a hemispheric collaboration model of creative cognition and suggest a mechanism for hemispheric synthesis of the left- and right-hemisphere worldviews.

Children's creative potential: An empirical study of measurement issues

Relations between measures of creative potential and different scoring methods were examined in 154 French schoolchildren. The Test for Creative Thinking — Drawing Production (TCT-DP), parallel lines task from the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking, and an object-based creative drawing task were used. Factor analysis of TCT-DP subscores showed an originality factor and an appropriateness factor. The relations between these factors, judge's creativity ratings of the same drawings, and statistical originality scores based on the frequency of elements in the drawings were tested by means of a LISREL model. Moreover, TCT-DP scores correlated positively but weakly with performance in the parallel lines task and the object-based drawing task.

Child’s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation.

When children play, they often do so in very original ways. However, with the responsibilities of adulthood, this playful curiosity is sometimes lost and conventional responses often result. In the present study, 76 undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions before creative performance was assessed in a version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT; E. P. Torrance, 1974). In a control condition, participants wrote about what they would do if school was cancelled for the day. In an experimental condition, the instructions were identical except that participants were to imagine themselves as 7-year-olds in this situation. Individuals imagining themselves as children subsequently produced more original responses on the TTCT. Further results showed that the manipulation was particularly effective among more introverted individuals, who are typically less spontaneous and more inhibited in their daily lives. The results thus establish that there is a benefit in thinking like a child to subsequent creative originality, particularly among introverted individuals. The discussion links the findings to mindset factors, play and spontaneity, and relevant personality processes.

Toward interaction of affective and cognitive contributors to creativity in bipolar disorders: A controlled study

BackgroundEnhanced creativity in bipolar disorder patients may be related to affective and cognitive phenomena. Methods32 bipolar disorder patients (BP), 21 unipolar major depressive disorder patients (MDD), 22 creative controls (CC), and 42 healthy controls (HC) (all euthymic) completed the Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI); the Barron-Welsh Art Scale (BWAS), the Adjective Check List Creative Personality Scale, and the Figural and Verbal Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Mean scores were compared across groups, and relationships between temperament/personality and creativity were assessed with bivariate correlation and hierarchical multiple linear regression. ResultsBP and CC (but not MDD) compared to HC had higher BWAS-Total (46% and 42% higher, respectively, p<0.05) and BWAS-Dislike (83% and 93% higher, p<0.02) scores, and higher MBTI-Intuition preference type rates (78% vs. 50% and 96% vs. 50%, p<0.05). BP, MDD, and CC, compared to HC, had increased TEMPS-A-Cyclothymia scores (666%, 451% and 434% higher, respectively, p<0.0001), and NEO-Neuroticism scores (60%, 57% and 51% higher, p<0.0001). NEO-Neuroticism and TEMPS-A Cyclothymia correlated with BWAS-Dislike (and BWAS-Total), while MBTI-Intuition continuous scores and NEO-Openness correlated with BWAS-Like (and BWAS-Total). LimitationsRelatively small sample size. ConclusionsWe replicate the role of cyclothymic and related temperaments in creativity, as well as that of intuitive processes. Further studies are needed to clarify relationships between creativity and affective and cognitive processes in bipolar disorder patients.

Psychometric properties of Torrance test (Persian version) of creative thinking (A form)

The aim of this study was to examine the normalization and the reliability and validity of the Torrance Test (A form) of Creative Thinking (TTCT). 1015 students (614 boys and 401 Girls) were selected through Multistage sampling and they were asked to respond to Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and Abedi Creativity Test (CT). results show that Test – retest reliability of TTCT was acceptable and Alfa Coefficient for fluency, Flexibility, Originality and elaboration subscales and total score of TTCT was 0.751, 0.812, 0.766, 0.832 and 0.784 respectively. Data analysis showed a significant relation between Fluency (0.236) and Flexibility (0.376) subscales of TTCT and TC (P<0.001).

Playing with Thinkertoys to build creative abilities through online instruction

Although the importance of teaching creativity in higher education has been widely recognized, empirical research addressing the success of such attempts, has been scant. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the effects of an online Creative Thinking Program. The program included a series of modules whose design, content and instructional media were conceptually based on past theoretical contributions and research identifying criteria affecting the success of creativity training. Pre- and post-measures revealed a significant increase in the participants’ creative self-efficacy as well as their creative abilities as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. We discuss the implications of the results for developing creativity skills in university instruction as well as in organizational training programs.

고등학교 1학년 과학영재 학급 학생의 창의적 성격과 창의적 인지력 변화 및 일반 학급 학생과의 비교

이 연구의 목적은 고등학교 1학년 과학영재 학급 학생과 일반 학급 학생의 창의적 성격과 창의 적 인지력을 비교함으로써 과학 창의성이 있는 학생이 과학영재로 선발되었는지와 과학영재 학급 수 업을 통해 창의성이 향상되었는지를 알아보는 것이다. 연구를 위하여 과학영재 학급 학생과 일반 학급 학생에 대해 Khatena-Torrance 창의적 성격검사와 Torrance 창의성 검사 중 언어검사 A형을 영재 수업 전․후에 실시하였다. 연구결과, 과학영재 학급 학생이 일반 학급 학생에 비하여 창의적인 성격을 가지 고 있는 것으로 나타났으나, 창의적 인지력 면에서는 유의미한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 과학영재 학급 학생과 일반 학급 학생의 창의적 성격의 하위 요인과 창의적 인지력의 하위 요인 사이의 상관관계가 매 우 낮아, 창의적 성격과 창의적 인지력이 서로 독립적인 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 과학영재 수업 실시 후에 과학영재 학급 학생들의 창의적 성격과 창의적 인지력은 향상되지 않았다. 따라서 과학 창의성이 있는 학생을 과학영재 학생으로 선발하는 방법과 과학영재 학생의 창의성을 향상시킬 수 있는 교수-학 습 방법에 대한 연구와 개발이 필요하다. The purpose of this study was to find out whether scientifically creative students were selected as science-gifted class students and whether their creativity improved after class for the science-gifted students by comparing the science gifted class students to general class students in the first grade of high school. This was achieved by comparing science-gifted class students with general ones on creative personality and creative thinking ability. For this study, science-gifted class students and general class students were surveyed using Khatena-Torrance creative perception inventory and Torrance test of creative thinking with words of form A, before and after class for the science-gifted group. The results showed that science-gifted class students scored significantly higher than general class students on the creative personality. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in their creative thinking ability. Also, in this study, the sub-factors of creative personality and those of creative thinking ability showed very low levels of correlation, which implies that the two variables are highly independent. In addition, science-gifted class students did not show significant improvement in their scores on the creative personality and the creative thinking ability after class. Therefore, further research and development on the selection of science-gifted students and teaching-learning methods which can improve the creativity of these students are needed.

Hemispheric connectivity and the visual–spatial divergent-thinking component of creativity

Background/hypothesis Divergent thinking is an important measurable component of creativity. This study tested the postulate that divergent thinking depends on large distributed inter- and intra-hemispheric networks. Although preliminary evidence supports increased brain connectivity during divergent thinking, the neural correlates of this characteristic have not been entirely specified. It was predicted that visuospatial divergent thinking would correlate with right hemisphere white matter volume (WMV) and with the size of the corpus callosum (CC). Methods Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analyses and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) were completed among 21 normal right-handed adult males. Results TTCT scores correlated negatively with the size of the CC and were not correlated with right or, incidentally, left WMV. Conclusions Although these results were not predicted, perhaps, as suggested by Bogen and Bogen (1988), decreased callosal connectivity enhances hemispheric specialization, which benefits the incubation of ideas that are critical for the divergent-thinking component of creativity, and it is the momentary inhibition of this hemispheric independence that accounts for the illumination that is part of the innovative stage of creativity. Alternatively, decreased CC size may reflect more selective developmental pruning, thereby facilitating efficient functional connectivity.

Relationships between Computer and Video Game Play and Creativity among Upper Elementary School Students

This study explored relationships between time spent playing video games in a typical week and general creativity, as measured by a common assessment. One hundred eighteen students in 4th and 5th grades answered questions about their video game play and completed the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Torrance, Orlow, &amp; Safter, 1990). While significant relationships were found between creativity and two variables (gender and grade), no significant relationship was found between time spent playing video games in a typical week and creativity, when controlling for gender and grade. Additional analyses examined relationships of creativity with skills used in video games and context in which the games were typically played and these also did not reveal significant relationships. This study provides initial evidence that video game play may not, in fact, influence children's general creativity levels.

Correlations Between Pro-Social State De-Individuation and Pro-Individual Trait Creativity Among Secondary School Students in Estonia

Introduction. An attempt was made to study possible correlations between pro-individual trait (creativity) and pro-social state (de-individuation), among secondary school students in different schools in Tallinn (Estonia). Aim of the Study. To show that different aspects of pro-social behaviour can correlate with and affect pro-individual trait, as creative thinking, in secondary school students, i.e. the age of increased emotional vulnerability. Materials and Methods. In the present study, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and deindividuation scale, constructed especially for the current study, was used, the empricial study was carried out in a classroom-environment. Results. There is weak correlationn between creative thinking and de-individuation state. Conclusions. Further studies on the subject are needed to identify the nature of correlations between pro-social and pro-individual traits.

Creativity in Parkinson's disease as a function of right versus left hemibody onset

Objective Creativity is heavily dependent on divergent thinking and divergent thinking appears to be strongly dependent on fontal lobe function. Since patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often have evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction we wanted to learn if these patients have a reduction of creativity, as well as learning if the side of onset (right versus left) influences the type (verbal versus visuospatial) of decrement in creativity. Design Participants of this study were patients with right (RHO) or left (LHO) onset PD as well as matched controls. All subjects were given the Abbreviated Torrance Test of Creative Thinking for Adults (ATTA), a widely used test to assess creativity that examines Fluency, Originality, Flexibility and Elaboration. Subjects were also assessed with the Controlled Word Association Test (COWAT). Results/conclusions When compared to controls the patients with RHO, but not LHO, had a decrease of verbal creative fluency. Patients with PD often have a decrease on the COWAT, but performance on the COWAT did not differ between the RHO and the LHO patients. This suggests that patients with PD who have RHO have a decrease in verbal creativity and this decrement does not appear to be related to decreased fluency.

Meta‐Analyses of the Relationship of Creative Achievement to Both IQ and Divergent Thinking Test Scores

AbstractThere is disagreement among researchers about whether IQ tests or divergent thinking (DT) tests are better predictors of creative achievement. Resolving this dispute is complicated by the fact that some research has shown a relationship between IQ and DT test scores (e.g., Runco &amp; Albert, 1986; Wallach, 1970). The present study conducted meta‐analyses of the relationships between creative achievement and both IQ and DT test scores. The analyses included 17 studies (with 5,544 participants) that established the correlation coefficients between IQ and creative achievement and 27 studies (with 47,197 participants) that established the correlation coefficients between DT test scores and creative achievement. Marginal, but statistically significant, Fisher's Z‐transformed correlation coefficients were revealed. The analysis found a significantly higher relationship between DT test scores and creative achievement (r = .216) than between IQ test scores and creative achievement (r = .167). The differences in the correlation coefficients were explained by differences in DT tests, creative achievement types, predicted time periods, and creativity subscales. The significant independent moderator effect for different DT tests indicates that the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) predict creative achievement better than any other DT test included in this study. Among the creative achievement types, music is predicted the best by IQ and all others are predicted best by DT tests. Among the time periods evaluated, the relationship between DT test scores and creative achievement had the highest correlation at the period of 11–15 years.

Criatividade escolar: relação entre tempo de experiência docente e tipo de escola

Este estudo investigou a criatividade e barreiras pessoais à sua expressão entre professores com mais e menos experiência docente da 4ª série do Ensino Fundamental de escolas públicas e particulares. Examinou-se ainda a percepção do clima de sala de aula para a criatividade entre alunos destes professores. Participaram desta pesquisa 52 professores e 967 alunos. Foram utilizados os Testes Torrance de Pensamento Criativo, o Inventário para Identificação de Barreiras à Criatividade Pessoal e a Escala Sobre Clima para a Criatividade em Sala de Aula. Os resultados indicaram diferenças significativas entre os professores com mais e menos tempo de docência em apenas uma medida de criatividade. Os professores de escolas particulares apresentaram um desempenho superior aos das escolas públicas quanto à criatividade. Quanto às barreiras à criatividade pessoal, não foi identificada diferença significativa entre os professores nos diversos fatores examinados. Os alunos dos professores mais experientes e os de escolas particulares avaliaram mais positivamente o clima de sala de aula para a criatividade.

Commentary: The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking already overcome many of the perceived weaknesses that Silvia et al.'s (2008) methods are intended to correct.

Silvia et al.’s (2008) primary motivations for exploring and proposing their subjective scoring method are their perceived deficiencies of current divergent thinking tests. First, scores on divergent thinking tests frequently correlate highly with general intelligence. Second, the scoring of divergent thinking tests has changed little since the 1960s. Third, the necessity of instructing people to be creative prior to taking divergent thinking tests is integral to obtaining useful responses and needs to be reaffirmed. Fourth, and finally, the problems posed by uniqueness scoring— confounding with fluency, ambiguity of rarity, and the seeming “penalty” imposed on large samples—that need to be addressed. First, Kim’s (2005) meta-analysis indicated that the relationship between divergent thinking test scores and IQ (r .17) is negligible, which supports the underlying belief that creativity and intelligence are separate constructs. According to Kim’s (in press) meta-analysis, divergent thinking test scores predict creative achievement (r .22) better than IQ (r .17). Further, 51.8% of the 274 correlation coefficients incorporated in the study used the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance, 1996), and the TTCT predicted (r .33, p .0001) creative achievement better than other measures of creative potential (e.g., Wallach & Kogan Divergent Thinking Tasks [Wallach & Kogan, 1965], Guilford Divergent Thinking Tasks [Guilford, 1967], Sounds and Images [Torrance, Khatena, & Cunnington, 1973], Word Association Tests [Gough, 1976], etc.). In this meta-analysis, art, music, writing, science (including mathematics, medicine, and engineering), leadership, and social skills were used to measure creative achievement. Among these different types of creative achievement, musical achievement was predicted better by IQ than by measures of creative potential, whereas art, science, writing, and social skills were predicted by measures of creative potential better than by IQ. This finding suggests that creativity test scores account for more

Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: The question of its construct validity

Some cognitive dimensions are internationally considered by psychologists to describe and to assess creativity. For example, (Guilford, P. (1976). Creatividad y Educación. Buenos Aires. Ed. Paidos) and (Torrance, E. P. (1977). Discovery and nurturance of giftedness in the culturally different. Reston, VA: Council on Exceptional Children) suggested fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration are the main cognitive processes used to define and assess creativity. However, data from several empirical studies did not confirm a factor structure in accordance with such cognitive functions, despite of the wide use of TTCT (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) in different countries. In this paper, we present new data collected in Spain and Portugal with TTCT. According to our data, those cognitive functions supposedly present on a subject's performance are not so strong as to explain the variance in scores. Elaboration factors assume some variance explanation, but the main factors are identified with the products in each subtest, suggesting the importance of format, content and demand on TTCT specific tasks. Consequently, we suggest some reflections to amplify the debate concerning the definition of creativity and its evaluation in psychology.