Creativity and anxiety: An experimental study

Tested a group of 31 psychiatric patients with anxiety as one of their main symptoms using a percept-genetic (PG) test measuring creativity or willingness to reconstruct subjective interpretations of the stimulus. A control group of 43 from an earlier study was also included. For half of the subjects a threatening motif was presented subliminally during part of the PG series. By means of an interview, an estimation was made of the subjects' urge to create and of the severity of their anxiety. The Meta-Contrast Technique (MCT) was used to describe defenses in the clinical group. Taking into account their urge to be creative, the clinical subjects received relatively few positive scores on the PG test. The subliminal addition to the anxiety level did not facilitate creative functioning as was the case with the normal subjects. The main obstacles to creative functioning seemed to be grave anxiety and rigid defense mechanisms or, to generalize, low tolorance of the anxiety necessarily associated with creative work.     

Lateralization of defence mechanisms related to creative functioning

Eighty-four undergraduate students were randomly divided into left and right visual half-field groups. They were tested in either visual half-field with a percept-genetic test of anxiety and defense mechanisms (the MCT). The subjects also took a test of creative functioning (the CFT) and degree of lateralization in the MCT was related to level of creativity in the CFT. Subjects low in creativity were significantly lateralized on measures typical for the right visual half-field group (isolation and repression) and tended to differ on a left visual half-field measure (regressive strategies). For high creative subjects no differences were found between the visual half-field groups. Also, high creative persons more often responded with non-hemisphere-specific defenses than low creative ones. The results were interpreted as due to differing levels of transmission of information between the two hemispheres of the brain.     

Initial Attraction to Organizations: The influence of trait inferences

Organization personality perceptions have been defined as the set of personality characteristics associated with organizations. Previous research supports five distinct factors of organization personality perceptions: Boy Scout, Innovativeness, Dominance, Thrift, and Style. The purpose of this research was to understand how individuals' initial attraction to firms is influenced by their perceptions of the degree to which firms display these traits. Results of the present investigation indicated that organization personality perceptions accounted for significant variance in initial organizational attraction, after controlling for perceptions of the degree to which the jobs at the organizations offer traditional attributes. In addition, several self‐rated Big Five personality characteristics interacted with dimensions of organization personality perceptions to influence attraction. Implications for the use of organization personality in future recruitment research are discussed.     

Relations between University Teachers' Assessed Degree of Creativity and Productivity and Views Regarding Their Organization

A stratified sample of 118 university teachers took part in an investigation in which they assessed their organization on 17 dimensions. Two of the dimensions, creativity and productivity, were regarded as consequences of organizational conditions. Each of two factor analyses carried out, one including gender and the other not, yielded five factors, one of them formed by the dimensions of creativity, productivity, sufficient resources, and organizational climate. Productivity was also found to be related to the variables of human orientation, developmental orientation and academic values.     

Multivariate modelling and personality organization: A comparative study of the Defense Mechanism Test and linguistic expressions

The main aim of the study is to establish an empirical connection between perceptual defences as measured by the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT)–a projective percept-genetic method–and manifest linguistic expressions based on word pattern analyses. The subjects were 25 psychiatric patients with the diagnoses neurotic personality organization (NPO), borderline personality organization (BPO) and psychotic personality organization (PPO) in accordance with Kernberg's theory. A set of 130 DMT variables and 40 linguistic variables were analyzed by means of partial least squares (PLS) discriminant analysis separately and then pooled together. The overall hypothesis was that it would be possible to define the personality organization of the patients in terms of an amalgam of perceptual defences and word patterns, and that these two kinds of data would confirm each other. The result of the combined PLS analysis revealed a very good separation between the diagnostic groups as measured by the pooled variable sets. Among other things, it was shown that NPO patients are principally characterized by linguistic variables, whereas BPO and PPO patients are better defined by perceptual defences as measured by the DMT method.     

工作-家庭支持对员工创造力的影响探讨

采用问卷调查法, 以773对上级-下属配对数据为样本, 探讨了工作-家庭支持对员工创造力的影响及其内在作用机制。结果表明, 在我国文化背景下, 工作-家庭支持由组织支持、领导支持、情感性支持和工具性支持四个因素组成, 其中组织支持和领导支持统称为工作领域支持, 情感性支持和工具性支持统称为家庭领域支持; 工作投入中介工作领域支持对员工创造力的影响; 创造性人格在工作投入与员工创造力关系之间起调节作用。     

Flexing Work Boundaries: The Spillover and Crossover of Workplace Support

Using boundary theory and conservation of resources theory, we examined how job incumbents’ perceptions of supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support influence outcomes for both the incumbent and the spouse. First, we examined how supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support shape incumbents’ perceived ability to flex work boundaries and thus affect their experience of family functioning and their organizational commitment. Second, we examine the effects of supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support on spousal martial satisfaction and the spouse's commitment to the incumbent's employing organization as mediated through boundary flexibility and the spouse's perception of successful boundary management by the incumbent. Using a matched set of 503 subordinates and their spouses, this study found that both supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support contribute to work boundary flexibility. Further, for the incumbent, family functioning and organizational commitment were enhanced through work boundary flexibility, whereas for the spouse, marital satisfaction and commitment to the incumbent's organization were enhanced through both incumbent work boundary flexibility and the spouse's perception of successful boundary management by the incumbent. We discuss the study's implications for theory, research, and practice while suggesting new research directions.     

主动性人格与员工行为的关系：政治技能视角下有中介的调节模型

本研究通过两时点纵向问卷调查,探讨主动性人格与组织公民行为、任务绩效之间的关系,考察主动社会化行为在其中的中介作用,以及政治技能的调节作用。结果表明：（1）主动社会化行为在主动性人格和组织公民行为、任务绩效之间起中介作用;（2）政治技能对主动社会化行为在主动性人格和组织公民行为、任务绩效之间的中介效应起调节作用：当政治技能水平上升,主动性人格通过主动社会化行为对组织公民行为及任务绩效的预测更加明显。     

主动性人格与员工行为的关系：政治技能视角下有中介的调节模型

本研究通过两时点纵向问卷调查,探讨主动性人格与组织公民行为、任务绩效之间的关系,考察主动社会化行为在其中的中介作用,以及政治技能的调节作用。结果表明：（1）主动社会化行为在主动性人格和组织公民行为、任务绩效之间起中介作用;（2）政治技能对主动社会化行为在主动性人格和组织公民行为、任务绩效之间的中介效应起调节作用：当政治技能水平上升,主动性人格通过主动社会化行为对组织公民行为及任务绩效的预测更加明显。     

Revisiting Mednick's Model on Creativity‐Related Differences in Associative Hierarchies. Evidence for a Common Path to Uncommon Thought

Fifty years ago, Mednick [Psychological Review, 69 (1962) 220] proposed an elaborate model that aimed to explain how creative ideas are generated and why creative people are more likely to have creative ideas. The model assumes that creative people have flatter associative hierarchies and as a consequence can more fluently retrieve remote associative elements, which can be combined to form creative ideas. This study aimed at revisiting Mednick's model and providing an extensive test of its hypotheses. A continuous free association task was employed and association performance was compared between groups high and low in creativity, as defined by divergent thinking ability and self‐report measures. We found that associative hierarchies do not differ between low and high creative people, but creative people showed higher associative fluency and more uncommon responses. This suggests that creativity may not be related to a special organization of associative memory, but rather to a more effective way of accessing its contents. The findings add to the evidence associating creativity with highly adaptive executive functioning.     

Linking Individual Value Orientations to Employee Attitudes: An Exploratory Analysis

This study tested the relationships of individualism, power distance, and mastery orientation to 2 employee attitudes (organizational trust and organizational commitment) that are associated with employees’ psychological benefits within the organization. Results from university employees (N = 706) showed that individualism negatively, whereas mastery positively, related to trust and commitment. Power distance positively related to trust only. The moderating role of mastery was also identified. These findings can help employment or organizational counselors to appreciate value‐related factors that facilitate employees in psychologically integrating into the organization and to explore new ways for employers to foster employees’ positive attitudes.     

教师创造性教学行为与小学生创造性思维的关系：有调节的中介模型

以471名小学生为被试,采用儿童报告法考察教师创造性教学行为与小学生创造性思维的关系,同时探析小学生创意自我效能感的中介作用以及开放性人格的调节作用。结果发现:(1)在控制儿童性别、年龄和父母受教育程度后,感知到的教师创造性教学行为显著正向预测小学生创造性思维的流畅性、变通性和独特性;(2)感知到的教师创造性教学行为可以通过创意自我效能感影响小学生创造性思维的流畅性、变通性和独特性;(3)开放性人格能够调节感知到的教师创造性教学行为对小学生创意自我效能感的作用,个体开放性人格水平越高,小学生感知到的教师创造性教学行为对创意自我效能感的预测作用越强。研究表明,创意自我效能感和人格开放性可能是教师创造性教学行为与学生创造性思维关联的重要机制,改善教师的创造性教学行为,提高创意自我效能感和人格开放性水平,有助于促进小学生的创造性思维发展。     

Linking Proactive Personality to Creative Performance: The Role of Job Crafting and High-Involvement Work Systems

This study proposed that job crafting serves as a mechanism reflecting how proactive personality affects creative performance, and this study explored whether these relationships are moderated by high-involvement work systems. Drawn from the conservation of resources theory to develop a cross-level moderated mediation model, a three-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 346 employees and their supervisors in 27 high technology firms in China. This study found that proactive personality was positively related to creative performance and that job crafting mediated the relationship between proactive personality and creative performance, and an indirect effect of proactive personality on creative performance through job crafting was significant when high-involvement work systems was low but not high. Thus, the research results indicate that when human resource management involves less participatory management, incentive rewards, extensive training and information sharing, proactive employees can draw from their personality to craft their job tasks, relations and cognitions, thereby improving creative performance. The theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.     

创造性人格与员工创造力:一个被调节的中介模型研究

本文基于动机行动和成就动机理论,构建一个被调节的中介模型以检验创造性人格对员工创造力产生的作用机理。以251套来自主管-下属配对的问卷数据为样本,实证分析结果表明:创造性人格可预测员工创造力产生,学习目标导向与绩效证明目标导向在两者之间起部分中介作用;内在动机能够强化个体目标导向对创造力的作用,并显著正向调节创造性人格对员工创造力的间接效应。最后,论文讨论了研究发现对员工创造力产生的理论和实践意义。     

Identification with an aggressor or a victim and its relation to creativity

Studied identification using a meta-contrast design. The first stimulus was the word 'I'. The second stimulus depicted an aggressor and a victim facing each other. The subliminal 'I' was flashed on either the victim or on the aggressor, or completely withheld. The subjects were 33 school children, aged 10–12 years. They also took a percept-genetic (PG) test of creativity, measuring willingness to return to and recognize early conceptions of a stimulus picture (a still-life). The results showed that the creative children reacted with less anxiety and defense when manipulated to identify with the aggressor than with the victim. The uncreative children showed the opposite reaction, namely a preference for the passive, surrendering victim.     

Leadership and Organizational Culture: Linking CEO Characteristics to Cultural Values

Purpose  The purpose of this study was to empirically examine organizational culture theorists’ assertions about the linkages between leadership and the cultures that emerge in the organizations they lead. Specific hypotheses were developed and tested regarding relationships between chief executive officers’ (CEO’s) personality traits, and the cultural values that are shared among their organization’s members. Design/Methodology/Approach  Thirty-two CEOs completed measures of the Big-Five personality traits and personal values. A total of 467 employees across the 32 organizations completed a competing values measure of organizational culture. Findings  Results indicate support for several hypothesized relationships between CEO personality and cultural values. Exploratory analyses indicated that several CEO personal values were related to culture values. Implications  Organizations need to seriously consider the “fit” between the current or desired organizational culture and CEO characteristics. Organizations attempting to change fundamental aspects of its functioning may need significant behavioral—or personnel—changes at the top of the organization in order to achieve those changes. Originality/Value  This is the first empirical study to establish a link between specific CEO characteristics and the cultural values of their organizations. This study provides evidence that CEO characteristics are felt throughout the organization by impacting the norms that sanction or discourage member behavior and decision making, and the patterns of behavior and interaction among members.     

Personality and anxiety disorders: a review

In this article, we summarize research on how normal personality and personality disorder traits may relate to anxiety disorders as predisposing factors, complications, and results of common underlying etiologies. We outline important questions and how these may be addressed through future research using genetically informative longitudinal and other designs, including: Are high neuroticism/cluster C personality traits causally related to the development of anxiety disorders? To what extent does the state of having an anxiety disorder influence the assessment of personality traits? Do high neuroticism/personality disorder traits and anxiety disorders co-occur because of shared genetic and environmental determinants? And, do personality disorder traits add to the prediction of anxiety disorders when normal personality traits are taken into account?     

纪检干部腐败容忍度与其组织忠诚的关系

探讨在人格调节和工作倦怠中介作用下,纪检干部的腐败容忍度与其组织忠诚度的关系。采用腐败容忍度量表、组织忠诚量表、工作倦怠量表以及大五人格量表对193名纪检干部进行测查,研究结果表明：（1）纪检干部的腐败容忍度与其组织忠诚显著负相关;（2）腐败容忍度能显著负向预测个体组织忠诚度,容忍度越低,组织忠诚度越高;（3）工作倦怠在腐败容忍度和组织忠诚间起部分中介作用;（4）腐败容忍度与组织忠诚的关系受到纪检干部大五人格的调节作用,大五人格中情绪稳定性、外向性水平越高,腐败容忍度与组织忠诚的关系越弱。     

Personality Correlates of Depressive Style in Autobiographies of Creative Achievers

This study compared neurotic and depressive personality characteristics in creative achievers versus eminent but non-creative achievers. Forty-eight subjects' (25 men, 23 women) autobiographies were assessed by trained raters on personality using the California Q-Set. Creative achievers included literary and visual artists whereas the control group consisted of political, military and social leaders. The Q-Set ratings were used to assess the five factors of personality (neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness). Neuroticism was further divided into subscales that assessed depressive style, impulsivity and anxiety. Results showed that creative achievers were rated significantly higher than controls on general neuroticism, as well as on depressive style and impulsivity. Creative achievers did not differ from controls in anxiety. It was also found that creative achievers were rated significantly higher than controls on openness to experience and agreeableness, but lower on conscientiousness. None of the effects for creativity was affected by subjects' sex.