1. Beliefs In Free Will/Determinism and Creativity
William G. Collier
University of North Carolina at Pembroke

2. Belief in Free Will & Determinism
There is increased interest in studying beliefs in free will and determinism (Paulhus & Carey, 2011).
Paulhus & Carey (2011) have created the Free Will and Determinism Plus Scale (FAD-Plus) that identifies four different beliefs, including:
Free Will
Scientific Determinism
Fatalistic Determinism
Unpredictability

3. Creativity There continues to be interest in studying creativity.
One approach is to identify different domains of creativity.
Kaufman (2012) created the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS) that identifies 5 domains, including:
Self/Everyday
Scholarly
Performance
Mechanical/Scientific
Artistic

4. Musical Experience
Previous research (Goncy & Waehler, 2006) has found a correlation between musical experience and creativity.
This study will use the Scale of Musical Experience (SME; Goncy & Waehler, 2006).

5. Mindfulness
There has been an increased interest in topics within the area of positive psychology.
One rapidly growing area in recent years is the study of mindfulness.
Mindfulness refers to an individual’s awareness both internally (awareness of their own thoughts) and externally (awareness of what is happening in their environment).

6. The Current Study
This study examines relationships between beliefs in free will/determinism, creativity, musical experience and mindfulness.
Previous research (Collier & Shi, 2015) found no differences between high and low mindful people on beliefs of free will/determinism, so we do not expect to find any relationship between mindfulness and beliefs in free will/determinism.
We expect to find a relationship between the SME and performance creativity on the K-DOCS.
We expect to find a relationship between the Scientific Determinism Scale of the FAD-Plus & the Mechanical/Scientific Creativity Scale of the K-DOCS.

7. Methods Participants 202 undergraduate students
Ages (M = 19.63, SD = 4.62)
129 female (63.9%) & 72 male (35.6%)
58 African American (28.7%), 81 Caucasian (40.1%), 26 Native American (12.9%), 18 Multi-Ethnic (8.9%), 6 Latin American (3%), 9 Other (4.5%), 1 Asian (0.5%), 2 Polynesian (1%)

8. Recruitment
Participants were enrolled in Introduction to Psychology courses.
Participants were recruited on SONA – an online participant management software program that is used by the department of psychology.
Participants completed the surveys online through the SONA system.

9. Materials
Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003)
Free Will and Determinism Plus Scale (FAD-Plus; Paulhus & Carey, 2011)
Creative Personality Scale (CPE; Goncy & Waehler, 2006)
Scale of Musical Experience (SME; Goncy & Waehler, 2006)
Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS; Kaufman, 2012)
Ten-Item Personality Inventory (Gosling, Rentfrow & Swann, 2003)
Demographic Questions

10. Results & Discussion Preliminary Analyses
Mindfulness for all participants (N = 202, M = 3.55, SD = .88).
Since the FAD-Plus was developed solely on a Caucasian sample, Caucasian (N = 81) and African Americans (N = 58) scores on it were compared. There was a significant difference on the Fatalistic Determinism scale [t(137) = -2.50, p < .05] with African Americans scoring higher (M = 3.05) than Caucasians (M = 2.72).
3 is the mid-point & is labeled “Unsure” on the FAD-Plus.
So, African Americans were “Unsure” about Fatalistic Determinism, whereas Caucasians slightly disagreed with it.
1 = Totally Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Unsure, 4 = Agree, 5 = Totally Agree

11. Preliminary Analyses (cont.)
Differences on the SME and K-DOCS between African Americans and Caucasians were also examined.
On the K-DOCS, there was a significant difference on the Performance Creativity scale [t(137) = -2.66, p < .01] with African Americans scoring higher (M = 3.35) than Caucasians (M = 2.97).
3 is the mid-point & is labeled “neither more nor less creative”
So, African Americans scored higher on performance creativity, whereas Caucasians rated themselves as being neither more nor less creative on this scale.
1 = Much less creative, 2 = less creative, 3 = neither more nor less creative, 4 = more creative, 5 = much more creative

12. Bivariate Correlations Between FAD-Plus, SME, & K-DOCS Note:. = p <
Bivariate Correlations Between FAD-Plus, SME, & K-DOCS Note: * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; *** = p < .001

13. MAAS
As predicted, scores on the MAAS did not correlate significantly with any of the subscales of the FAD-Plus.
In addition, scores on the MAAS did not correlate significantly with scores on the SME or any of the subscales of the K-DOCS.
Beliefs in free will/determinism, self-rated creativity and musical experience do not seem to be related to mindfulness.
One can be mindful independent of one’s belief in free will/determinism and one’s perceived creativity. Musical experience also seems to be independent of mindfulness.

14. FAD-Plus & SME (musical experience)
Significant correlation between the Free Will Scale & SME score
r = .14, p < .05
Significant correlation between the Scientific Determinism Scale & SME score
r = .139, p < .05
Curious that both beliefs in free will & scientific determinism correlated significantly with scores on the SME.
Perhaps those with musical experience believe that there are some predictable aspects to life and some freely made choices too.

15. Unpredictability Scale & Scholarly Creativity Scale
Significant correlation between the Unpredictability Scale & the Scholarly Creativity Scale
r = .141, p < .05
Perhaps people believe they have high scholarly creativity are more likely to believe events are unpredictable…as if you never know where your research on a topic will lead you.
Alternatively, perhaps those that believe events are unpredictable are attracted to scholarly endeavors.

16. Unpredictability Scale & Artistic Creativity Scale
Significant correlation between the Unpredictability Scale & the Artistic Creativity Scale
r = .146, p < .05
Perhaps those that see themselves as being more artistic have a tendency to believe events are unpredictable…as if you never know when/how that masterpiece will be created.
Alternatively, people that believe events are unpredictable may gravitate towards art.

17. Scientific Determinism Scale & Mechanical/Scientific Creativity Scale
As predicted, there was a significant correlation between the Scientific Determinism Scale & the Mechanical/Scientific Creativity Scale
r = .223, p < .001
Those that believe in scientific determinism rate themselves as having more mechanical/scientific creativity.

18. FAD-Plus & Performance Creativity on K-DOCS
Significant correlation between the Scientific Determinism Scale & the Performance Creativity Scale
r = .157, p < .05
Significant correlation between the Fatalistic Determinism Scale & the Performance Creativity Scale
r = .172, p < .05
Perhaps those with higher performance creativity have a tendency to believe in determinism…as if the performance was fated to come out the way it did.

19. SME & K-DOCS
Significant correlations between Scores on the SME and each Scale of the K-DOCS were found.
Note: * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; *** = p < .001
We predicted a relationship between musical experience and performance creativity, but musical experience was significantly correlated with every creativity sub-scale on the K-DOCS.
People that are more involved in music may see themselves as more creative overall (or as using all aspects of creativity) in what they do.
Self Creativity
Scholarly Creativity
Performance Creativity
Mechanical Creativity
Artistic Creativity
SME
.265***
.397***
.533***
.202**
.455***

20. FAD-Plus & Self/Everyday Creativity on K-DOCS
Significant correlation between the Free Will Scale & the Self/Everyday Creativity Scale
r = .308, p < .001
Significant correlation between the Unpredictability Scale & the Self/Everyday Creativity Scale
r = .298, p < .001
Significant correlation between the Fatalistic Determinism Scale & the Self/Everyday Creativity Scale
r = .169, p < .05
Self/Everyday Creativity does not seem to be associated with one particular belief in Free Will/Determinism.

21. Weaknesses Online survey. Should include catch trials in the future.
Should include unrelated questionnaires in the future too.

22. Next step Examine the other questionnaires the participants completed:
Creative Personality Scale (CPE; Goncy & Waehler, 2006)
Ten-Item Personality Inventory (Gosling, Rentfrow & Swann, 2003)
Demographic Questions
Examine the high correlations between the subscales of the FAD-Plus.
Examine the high correlations between the subscales of the K-DOCS.
Replicate with participants coming in person to complete the surveys.

23. References
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84,
Collier, W. G., & Shi, X. (2015). Examining mindfulness, emotion and belief in determinism. Paper presented at annual meeting of SEPA, Hilton Head Island, SC.
Goncy, E. A., & Waehler, C. A. (2006). An empirical investigation of creativity and musical experience. Psychology of Music, 34,
Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Counting the muses: Development of the Kaufman domains of creativity scale (K-DOCS). Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6,
Paulhus, D. L., & Carey, J. M. (2011). The FAD-Plus: Measuring lay beliefs regarding free will and related constructs. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93,
Vohs, K. D., & Schooler, J. W. (2008). The value of believing in free will: Encouraging a belief in determinism increases cheating. Psychological Science, 19,