While intelligence plays an important role in understanding human behavior, it is through creativity that we can understand a human's ability to cope with challenging situations in novel and appropriate ways. This fastback explores theories and research on creativity. Its chapters are: (1) "Looking for Creativity," describing six multidisciplinary…

Two batteries of creativity tests measuring traditional'' creativity and creativity as defined by Wallach and Kogan were factor analyzed along with measures of verbal and non-verbal intelligence. (Authors)

No significant relationships were found between creativity and grade point average. (AG)

Exploratory studies of the role of hemisphericity in creative functioning were made of graduate students. Results from instruments assessing hemisphericity, creative style or personality, and creative ability or level indicate that measures of creative style are positively related to the right hemisphere style of information processing. (CJ)

This study examined the reliability and validity of the Preference Inventory (PI) as a measure of adult creative potential. Capabilities of creatively productive persons include mental examination and manipulation of ideas, curiosity, need to create, and originality. Undergraduates' PI scores were significantly correlated with four other indices…

Two experiments examined the kinds of questions asked by male and female undergraduates identified as relatively creative and relatively noncreative. (CM)

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Verbal Form A were given to 39 fifth-grade children in a rural elementary school and scored for fluency, flexibility, and originality. (Author/MP)

Results of a multivariate analysis of variance indicated that upper class children scored better than lower class children on creativity measures, but when IQ or achievement level was covaried, differences between SES groups were not significant. (Author)

A total of 86 black fourth-grade children and 111 white fourth-grade children randomly selected from normal classrooms in a rural county school system in Tennessee were compared on Torrance's Unusual Uses and Ask and Guess activities. No differences were found on the frequency or flexibility measures for either activity. (MS)

Proposes a narrow and more manageable definition of creativity in order to consider the question of whether and how children's art-making may be said to be creative. (Author/RK)

The Unusual Uses subtest of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and the Rotter Social Reaction Inventory were administered to 168 graduate students. Internals were found to have significantly higher scores on the flexibility and originality measures, while the externals had significantly higher elaboration scores. (Author)

The paper describes methods of identifying giftedness, instruments for assessing creativity, and the need for a single measure of many different kinds of talent. Development of the Khatena-Morse Multitalent Perception Inventory, which identifies talent in the areas of art, music, leadership, and creativity, is discussed. (JDD)

Two experiments investigated the relationship between creativity and the effects of manipulations of self-image. Among conclusions on self-confidence and fixedly adult identities were that high-creative subjects (n=58) did not appear to have as fixedly adult identities as medium- and low-creative subjects. (Author/PB)