BOYS AND GIRLS CREATIVITY Qualitative Differences in Divergent Thinking TERESA ARTOLA

SOME QUESTIONS Are there differences in the divergent thinking scores of boys and girls? Can we identify qualitative differences in the way males and females use their imagination? Can these differences between boys and girls be observed at all age levels? Are these differences important enough to be taken into account in education?

SAMPLE SAMPLE: 1377 participants De los cuales Of which

INSTRUMENTS PIC-N Creative Imagination Test for Children (Artola, Ancillo, Mosteiro y Barraca, 2004, 2010). Madrid: TEA. PIC-J Creative Imagination Test for Adolescents (Artola, Barraca, Martín, Mosteiro, Ancillo y Poveda, 2008). Madrid, TEA PIC-A Creative Imagination Tests for Adults (Artola, Barraca, Mosteiro, Ancillo, Poveda y Sánchez, 2012). Madrid, TEA

Game 1: Imagine a scene Game 1: PIC-N PIC-J Tell me all the things that could be happening in this scene

Juego 1

GAME 2: POSSIBLE USES To drink water To tie something As a bracelet As a whip To put my pencils inside To protect a cable As artificial veins… «Think of all the things for which a rubber tube could be used»

Game 3: Fantastic Situations «Imagine what would happen if squirrels suddenly transformed into dinosaurs» «Imagine what would happen if the ground became elastic» «»Imagine whar would happen if we never stopped growing»

Juego 3

GAME 4 “Please complete these drawings and add an interesting title to each drawing.»

VARIABLES GLOBAL CREATIVITY SCORE VERBAL CREATIVITY FLUENCY FLEXIBILITY ORIGINALITY GRAPHIC CREATIVITY ORIGINALITY ELLABORATION CREATIVE DETAILS

ACTION The boy is opening the chest The monkey is going to attack the boy DESCRIPTION: The boy is poorly dressed It´s very hot EMOTIONS The girl loves the boy The girl is afraid… IMAGINATION A big monster is going to jump out of the lake The boy is looking for a corpse in the water EXTENSION They will return home and become famous because of their discovery They will buy a new car with the treasure they have found QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

OVERALL RESULTS (PIC-N, PIC-J, & PIC-A) ** * Student’s t-test

CHILDREN (PIC-N) AND YOUTH (PIC-J) RESULTS Elementary Students Middle and High School Students Boys Girls Total Creativity Graphic Creativity Verbal Creativity ** * * Student’s t-test

Adults Results (PIC-A) Adults Student’s t-test

Factors of divergent thinking in children(PIC-N) and youth people (PIC-J) Elementary Students Middle and High School Students ** * Student’s t-test

Factors of divergent thinking in adults (PIC-A) Student’s t-test

Category of response in children(PIC-N) and young people (PIC-J) Elementary Students Middel and High School Students ** * * * Student’s t-test

Category of response in adults Adults * Student’s t-test

SOME QUESTIONS Are there differences in the divergent thinking scores of boys and girls? Can we identify qualitative differences in the way males and females use their imagination? Can these differences between boys and girls be observed at all age levels? Are these differences important enough to be taken into account in education?

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS GIRLS OUTSCORE BOYS IN GLOBAL AND VERBAL CREATIVITY. GIRLS OBTAIN BETTER SCORES THAN BOYS IN FLUENCY, FLEXIBILITY AND IN YOUNGER STUDENTS ALSO IN ORIGINALITY AS GIRLS GROW OLDER THEY BECOME MORE CONVENTIONAL IN THEIR RESPONSES QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCES CAN BE FOUND IN THE STYLE OF RESPONSE OF BOYS AND GIRLS: IN GAME 1 GIRLS GIVE MORE RESPONSES RELATED WITH DESCRIPTION AND EMOTIONS IN GRAPHIC CREATIVITY BOYS OBTAIN SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER RESULTS THAN GIRLS ESPECIALLY IN ELLABORATION AND CREATIVE DETAILS, INDICATING THEY ARE MORE DARING IN TAKING RISKS IN GAME ONE BOYS GIVE MORE RESPONSES RELATED WITH EXTENSION : REFERENCES TO PAST OR FUTURE EVENTS RELATED WITH THE SCENE THESE DIFFERENCES CAN PROBABLY BE ATRIBUTED TO DIFFERENCES IN RATE AND SEQUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF BOYS AND GIRLS SEX DIFFERENCES IN DIVERGENT THINKING ARE MORE INTENSE IN YOUNGER CHILDREN, AS THEY APPROACH ADOLESCENCE DIFFERENCES DECREASE AND DISAPPEAR IN ADULTHOOD. DIFFERENCES IN CATEGORIES OF RESPONSES REFLECT DIFFERENCES IN INTERESTS AND MOTIVATIONS OF BOYS AND GIRLS

IMPLICATIONS FOR EVALUATION Results question whether it is permissible to use the same procedures when identifying boys and girls with high creativity If tests of creativity measure fluency, flexibility and elaboration, rather than novelty and originality, it is possible that these tests are biased and are unequally valid for boys and girls. If divergent thinking tests evaluate creativity only through verbal tasks boys and men will probably be underestimated. Most creativity tests focus on verbal creativity, and therefore may be unsuitable for male populations.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING Differences between boys and girls should be taken into account when promoting creativity in schools If creativity is promoted in schools only through verbal tasks such as oral expositions or writing, boys will probably not be interested in showing creativity. Boys should be encouraged to give more responses and explore different perspectives when solving problems, since they tend to stick to their first answer and show less fluency and flexibility When confronted with new problems and situations. Girls should be encouraged to take more risks and dare to give responses which might be considered out of place by others.