Creative Personality At Work Katya Stoycheva Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences Sofia, Bulgaria

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AT WORK I. Research approaches to the study of creative personality II. Findings on creative personality and work III. Implications for creativity in the workplace

CREATIVE PERSONALITY RESEARCH

 The creative person Has creative achievements  The “could-be” creative person Has creative potential  The creative personality Has creative personality

THE CREATIVE PERSON

Selection of persons with creative achievements Study of the personality of the creative achievers Assessment of creative personality Expert evaluation; Quantity and quality of creative achievements Interviews; Observations; Ratings; Projective methods; Experiments; Standardized personality measures Control group(s); Correlation with creativity criteria; General population norms;

THE CREATIVE PERSON Recognized creators in human history Measures of eminence Data from auto/biographies Creatively achieving adolescents and adults Measures of creative achievements Personality data Individuals performing high on creative tasks Evaluation of the performance on experimental creative activities Personality data Recognized contemporary creators Evaluation of creative achievements Personality data

THE CREATIVE PERSON The recognized creator: a solution or a problem? Objective, hence limited? Levels of creativity Replication of findings, non replication of samples

THE “COULD-BE” CREATIVE PERSON

THE “COULD - BE” CREATIVE PERSON Selection of persons with creative potential Study of the personality of the potential creators Assessment of the creative personality Tests of creative ability Interviews; Observations; Ratings; Projective methods; Experiments; Standardized personality measures Control group(s); Correlation with creativity criteria; General population norms

THE “COULD - BE” CREATIVE PERSON Tests of associative ability e.g. Remote Associates Test (RAT) by Mednick; tests of Wallach and Kogan Other measures of creative production e.g. Test of drawing production TCT - DP by Jellen and Urban; percept-genetic test (CFT) by Smith et al. Cognitive style measures e.g. Barron and Welsh Art Scale Tests of creative thinking skills e.g. Guilford’s tests, Torrance tests of creative thinking

THE “COULD - BE” CREATIVE PERSON The creative potential: a fact or a fiction? Predictive validity of tests of creative ability Individual and societal differences in creativity How much is enough in measuring creative potential?

THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY PERSONALITY

THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY Definition of the creative personality Development of new instruments for the study of the creative personality Assessment of the creative personality Based on theory or on empirical findings Measuring creative personality traits and processes in different populations Personality inventories, scales, questionnaires

THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY Empirically derived measures e.g. Adjective Check List: ACL Scales of Creative Personality Scales of creative attitudes, interests, preferences, values Theory - based measures e.g. Self-actualization measures Torrance’s Creative motivation scale

THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY A creative personality? Yes ! And then what? Validity of the creative personality measures Forms of creativity Many facts, few findings - a challenge to theory of personality and creativity research

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK The notion of WORK relates to:  individual’s effort and exertion  something that is done, made or accomplished through the agency of someone or something  builds and structures the creative personality  is the inner working of the creative personality WORK also:  being engaged in a specific activity

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK Creative effort sustained investment of much time and great effort exercise of creative talent difficult and challenging tasks task involvement enjoyment, giving up and recreation

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK Creative activity prefer artistic, intellectual, imaginative, innovative activity interest in the unusual and uncommon sensitivity to problems broad interests openness to experiences, novelty and change

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK Agency in creative work autonomy, independence, non-conformity drive, ambition and dominance take initiative and take risks self-confidence the ability to be alone and away from others sense of destiny

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK Work and creative development builds one’s identity on creative work creative lives as work: phases of learning (B.Bloom), commitment to work creative personality as creator’s best work: complexity of self-organization flexibility of self-regulation

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AND WORK How creative personality works? Example from personality research TOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY * describes personality self-regulation in ambiguous situations * how individuals perceive, interpret and react to ambiguous situations

Tolerance of Ambiguity: Studies 1. Relation to Gender, Age and Education a) 147 men and 157 women aged 18 to 69 b) 392 high school students, 472 university students, 116 non-university youth aged c) 60 university students and 53 non-university youth aged (Glutnikova, 2000) How creative personality works? Example from personality research 2. Family and School Influences a) 303 high school students, aged 14 to 19, 52 of their teachers and 236 of their parents

Tolerance of Ambiguity: Studies How creative personality works? Example from personality research 4. Relation to Vocational Preferences and Choice a) 35 men and 87 women aged 18 to 62 (Komneva, 1999) 3. Relation to Personality a) 55 High and 51 Low TA adolescents aged b) 31 boys and 75 girls aged 14 to 19 c) 84 adults aged 20 to 35 (Lessenska, 2002)

Tolerance of Ambiguity and Creative Thinking TA positively relates to intelligence, generation of original ideas in verbal tasks, generation of imaginative and abstract titles to pictures in figural tasks How creative personality works? Example from personality research

Tolerance of Ambiguity and Motivation for Creativity How creative personality works? Example from personality research Tolerance of Ambiguity Creative Motivation Need for Achievement

Tolerance of Ambiguity and Creative Vocation TA positively relates to preferences for occupations with high degree of ambiguity and high degree of freedom How creative personality works? Example from personality research

CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE  Knowledge About creative personality  Technology For research and identification  Techniques Psychological instruments and tools What do we get from creative personality research ?

CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE  To have a creator in the workplace  To develop the creative potential in the workplace  To promote creative personality in the workplace

CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE Have a creator in the workplace: it is success but it is also a burden

CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE Develop the creative potential in the workplace: an advantage that carries risks

CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE Promote creative personality in the workplace: a challenge which outcomes are uncertain

CREATIVE PERSONALITY AT WORK The poet’s labor is to struggle with the meaninglessness and silence of the world until he can force it to mean; until he can make the silence answer and the Non- being be. Archibald MacLeish Poetry and Experience