Author examines results of creativity and aptitude tests for subjects from early childhood through graduate student level, and concludes that creative production is directly related to information supply (or "knowledge-at-hand"), and that it is the structuring of this information that implies potential for creativity. (RW)

Research on divergent thinking (mental activity directed to open-end problems for which there is no one correct answer) indicates that the characteristics associated with divergency (fluency of thinking, flexibility of thinking, originality, redefinition, and elaborating) are right brain functions. To assess right brain function and verbal…

The study deals with the motivational characteristics which relate to divergent thinking and tests three hypotheses: no significant difference with regard to their fluency, flexibility, originality or combined divergent thinking scores exists between children with (1) high and low need for approval, (2) high and low anxiety, and (3) approval needs…

This study compared the creative self-direction, creative behavior, and creative activities of preschool children to determine if students and teachers trained in the creative process and in observation techniques can, with reliability, observe the creative potential of young children. Creative abilities of 155 children from four preschool centers…

Eighty-nine college students with varying levels of divergent thinking aptitude participated in a study focusing on the processing of concrete and abstract stimuli. The subjects were administered three divergent thinking instruments. Their processing of concrete and abstract stimuli was studied in two separate free-response tasks. It was…

Ss were administered Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM), traditional Piagetian measures of conservation of number and mass, modification Piagetian tasks, and the Sequential Assessment Mathematics Inventory. Among findings was that creative thinking ability, as assessed by the TCAM, significantly predicts cognitive performances that…

The validity of 6 indices of divergent production was examined in relation to creative output by 144 undergraduates in 8 domains: visual arts, music, literature, theater, science and engineering, business, apparel design, and video and photographic work. Semantic fluency, ideational fluency, originality, and remote consequences correlated with…

Forty New Zealand children (ages 3-4) were given false-belief and creativity tasks to investigate whether those with a Theory of Mind outlook are better at searching their own minds for creative answers. The numbers of appropriate and original responses in the creativity test correlated positively with performance on false-belief tasks. (Author/CR)

Through randomness we create structure, and through structure we accommodate randomness. The structures we create have basic premises shared by all life forms and forces. These patterns are repeated and shared. Creative thinking has similar characteristics. (MSE)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether creativity could be facilitated by a training method based on a salient characteristic of the creative individual, namely, his ability to synthesize elements from two disparate psychological entities: (1) visual experiences; and (2) emotional states. A four-session training program is described in…

A study examined domain specificity and domain generality of creativity in 109 second-graders. Children exhibited a range of creative abilities across different domains, rather than a uniform creative ability in diverse domains. Divergent thinking measures did not predict creative performance in at least two of three domains assessed in the study.…

Discussed are the relationship between learning and divergent production and implications for the development of academic abilities. (Author/JYC)

The history of divergent-thinking tests suggests that new approaches to creativity testing are needed. Research has focused on the relation of creativity to insight, divergent problem solving, problem finding, and intelligence. A proposed situational model of creativity defines creativity as a meaningful response to open-problem, open-solution…