Opening up Openness to Experience: A Four‐Factor Model and Relations to Creative Achievement in the Arts and Sciences

Openness to experience is the broadest personality domain of the Big Five, including a mix of traits relating to intellectual curiosity, intellectual interests, perceived intelligence, imagination, creativity, artistic and aesthetic interests, emotional and fantasy richness, and unconventionality. Likewise, creative achievement is a broad construct, comprising creativity across the arts and sciences. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between openness to experience and creative achievement. Toward this aim, I factor analyzed a battery of tests of cognitive ability, working memory, Intellect, Openness, affect, and intuition among a sample of English Sixth Form students (N = 146). Four factors were revealed: explicit cognitive ability, intellectual engagement, affective engagement, and aesthetic engagement. In line with dual‐process theory, each of these four factors showed differential relations with personality, impulsivity, and creative achievement. Affective engagement and aesthetic engagement were associated with creative achievement in the arts, whereas explicit cognitive ability and intellectual engagement were associated with creative achievement in the sciences. The results suggest that the Intellectual and Openness aspects of the broader openness to experience personality domain are related to different modes of information processing and predict different forms of creative achievement.     

Are Openness and Intellect distinct aspects of Openness to Experience? A test of the O/I model

The Openness/Intellect (O/I) model proposes that Openness to Experience has two major facets—Openness and Intellect—that can be measured with the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS). Thus far, however, research has not shown distinct, unique relationships between the Openness and Intellect aspects and other outcomes. The present research evaluated the relationships between Openness and Intellect with two outcomes: creative behavior and achievement (conceptually closer to Openness) and fluid intelligence (conceptually closer to Intellect). Young adults completed the BFAS, several measures of fluid intelligence, and several measures of creative achievement. Latent variable models indicated that the Openness aspect significantly predicted creativity but not fluid intelligence; the Intellect aspect, in contrast, significantly predicted fluid intelligence but not creativity. The findings thus offer support for the validity of the O/I model.     

How Creativity Was Affected by Environmental Factors and Individual Characteristics: A Cross-cultural Comparison Perspective

The purpose of this study was to explore how environmental factors (family environment and school education) and individual characteristics (personality, creative attitudes, and divergent thinking) collectively affect creative achievement of American and Chinese college students. Data were collected from 378 college students in the United States (N = 193) and China (N = 185). Results showed that the US sample had significantly higher means in home resources, high-school education, Conscientiousness, creative achievement, and all four dimensions of the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA) than the China sample. In contrast, the China sample scored significantly higher in understanding the importance of creativity. Results indicated creative attitudes and divergent thinking sequentially mediated the effects of parental values on creative achievement for the US sample, whereas Openness mediated the effect of high-school education on creative achievement for the China sample. For both samples, creative attitudes mediated the effect of Openness on divergent thinking. The results suggested cultural differences in the effects of environmental factors on creativity, yet more similar findings in the effects of individual characteristics on creativity between the two samples. The results and implications are discussed.     

Openness to Experience,Intellect, and Cognitive Ability

An instrument designed to separate 2 midlevel traits within each of the Big Five (the Big Five Aspect Scales [BFAS]) was used to clarify the relation of personality to cognitive ability. The BFAS measures Openness to Experience and Intellect as separate (although related) traits, and refers to the broader Big Five trait as Openness/Intellect. In 2 samples (N = 125 and 189), Intellect was independently associated with general intelligence (g) and with verbal and nonverbal intelligence about equally. Openness was independently associated only with verbal intelligence. Implications of these findings are discussed for the empirical and conceptual relations of intelligence to personality and for the mechanisms potentially underlying both Openness/Intellect and cognitive ability.     

Creativity and cognition some implications for arts education

Abstract:

This study explored the relationships between creativity and cognitive skills, and the implications for arts education. The primary hypotheses were (a) that the creative arts career orientation is a valid personality construct, correlating with multiple domains of creative behavior; (b) that this orientation would be correlated with certain cognitive skills, including logical, divergent, and creative thinking; and (c) that these skills are themselves correlated with creative behaviors. Sixty‐five high school seniors were given the ACT Interest Inventory, several tests of logical, insightful, divergent, and creative thinking, and a modified version of the Creative Behavior Inventory. Results included significant correlations of the arts orientation with five domains of creative behawior and three cognitive skills. However, these skills were only correlated with two domains of creative behavior (literature and art). Discussion centered on fundamental implications for methods of arts education.     

Sources of openness/intellect: cognitive and neuropsychological correlates of the fifth factor of personality

We characterize Openness/Intellect as motivated cognitive flexibility, or cognitive exploration, and develop a neuropsychological model relating it to dopaminergic function and to the functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Evidence is reviewed for sources of Openness/Intellect shared with Extraversion and sources unique to Openness/Intellect. The hypothesis that the cognitive functions of the dorsolateral PFC are among the latter was tested using standard measures of cognitive ability and a battery of tasks associated with dorsolateral PFC function (N=175). Dorsolateral PFC function, as well as both fluid and crystallized cognitive ability, was positively related to Openness/Intellect but no other personality trait. Additionally, facet level analysis supported the characterization of Openness/Intellect as a primarily cognitive trait.     

Artistic and Scientific Creative Behavior: Openness and the Mediating Role of Interests

The arts and sciences have been identified as two specific domains that are dependent upon the creative process. A total of 369 undergraduate students served as research participants in two separate studies. In the first study, participants (N = 238) completed a measure of Openness to Experience (NEO‐PI; McCrae & Costa, 1999) and a questionnaire assessing artistic and scientific creativity (ASAS; Guastello & Shissler, 1994). Results from study 1 indicated that the Aesthetics and Actions personality traits were significantly related to artistic creativity, while the Ideas trait was the only lower level personality trait to significantly correlate with scientific creativity. In the second study, participants (N = 131) completed a measure of Openness to Experience (NEO‐PI), Vocational Interests (Holland, 1985), and an artistic and scientific creativity questionnaire (Guastello & Shissler, 1994). Findings from study 1 were largely replicated in study 2. Namely, Aesthetics and Ideas were significantly related with artistic and scientific creativity, respectively. Results from partial correlation computations were used to identify specific personality traits that were used in a series of regression models testing the second goal of the second study. Specifically, vocational interests were observed to mediate the relationship between personality dispositions and creativity. Results suggest the ability of lower level personality traits of Openness to differentiate between artistic and scientific creativity. In addition, results lend support for the motivational aspect of vocational interests.     

Who Finds Bill Gates Sexy? Creative Mate Preferences as a Function of Cognitive Ability,Personality, and Creative Achievement

Creativity is sexy, but are all creative behaviors equally sexy? We attempted to clarify the role of creativity in mate selection among an ethnically diverse sample of 815 undergraduates. First we assessed the sexual attractiveness of different forms of creativity: ornamental/aesthetic, applied/technological, and everyday/domestic creativity. Both males and females preferred ornamental/aesthetic forms of creativity in a prospective sexual partner than applied/technological and everyday/domestic forms of creativity. Secondly, we assessed the simultaneous prediction of general cognitive ability, personality, divergent thinking, self‐perceptions of creativity, and creative achievement on preferences for different forms of creativity in a prospective sexual partner. The results were generally consistent with assortative mating. The most robust predictors of a preference for applied/technological forms of creativity in a potential sexual partner were intellectual interests and creative achievement in applied/technological domains. In contrast, the most robust predictor of a preference for ornamental/aesthetic forms of creativity was openness to experience. The results suggest that openness to experience and its associated aesthetic, perceptual, and affective aspects are the primary characteristics influencing the sexual attractiveness of a creative display. Further, the results demonstrate the importance of also taking into account individual differences in personality, interests, and creative achievement when considering the sexual attractiveness of different manifestations of creativity.     

Trait Intellect Predicts Cognitive Engagement: Evidence from a Resource Allocation Perspective

Trait Intellect, one of the two ‘aspects’ of the broader Openness/Intellect ‘domain’, predicts performance on a range of cognitive tasks including tests of intelligence and working memory. This has been explained in terms of the tendency for high‐Intellect individuals to explore, or engage more effortfully with, abstract information. This theoretical perspective can be framed in the language of Resource Allocation Theory, in terms of high‐Intellect individuals allocating more of their available cognitive resources to abstract cognitive tasks. In two experiments (total N = 160), we examined the relation between Intellect and cognitive engagement during a primary word‐search task under conditions of both high and low secondary cognitive load. Both experiments revealed that high‐Intellect individuals were more vulnerable to the impact of the secondary cognitive load on primary task performance. This suggests that, under low secondary load, such individuals were indeed allocating more of their available cognitive resources to the primary task. These results held after controlling for trait Openness, trait Industriousness (an aspect of Conscientiousness) and a measure of working memory capacity (N‐back task). Our findings provide novel support for the cognitive mechanisms proposed to underlie trait Intellect. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The role of activity engagement in the relations between Openness/Intellect and cognition

The current project investigated why people with high levels of Openness/Intellect tend to have higher levels of cognitive functioning than people with lower levels of Openness/Intellect. We hypothesized that the positive relationship between Openness/Intellect and cognition might be attributable to more open people being more likely to engage in cognitively stimulating activities that are beneficial for cognitive functioning. Three conceptualizations of activity engagement based on: (a) self ratings of duration and intensity of engagement; (b) perceived routineness of one's activities; and (c) disposition to engage in cognitively stimulating activities, were investigated as possible mediators of the Openness/Intellect-cognition relations. Although several of the relevant simple correlations were of moderate size and statistically significant, we found little evidence that activity engagement mediated the relations between Openness/Intellect and cognition.     

Linkographic Evidence for Concurrent Divergent and Convergent Thinking in Creative Design

For a long time, the creativity literature has stressed the role of divergent thinking in creative endeavor. More recently, it has been recognized that convergent thinking also has a role in creativity, and the design literature, which sees design as a creative activity a priori, has largely adopted this view: Divergent and convergent thinking are seen as occurring in cyclic phases within the design process. Neurological evidence suggests that frequent shifts between defocused and focused attention to stimuli in memory activation, which equate divergent and convergent thinking, are a hallmark of creative thinking. In this article, we use linkography to show that the shifts between divergent thinking—forelinking of design moves, and convergent thinking—backlinking of moves, are so frequent that at the cognitive scale they can be seen as occurring concurrently in the ideation phase of creative designing. It is proposed that in assessments of creative potential, shifts between divergent and convergent thinking should be the yardstick instead of, or alongside measurements of divergent thinking.     

Enhanced divergent thinking and creativity in musicians: a behavioral and near-infrared spectroscopy study

Empirical studies of creativity have focused on the importance of divergent thinking, which supports generating novel solutions to loosely defined problems. The present study examined creativity and frontal cortical activity in an externally-validated group of creative individuals (trained musicians) and demographically matched control participants, using behavioral tasks and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Experiment 1 examined convergent and divergent thinking with respect to intelligence and personality. Experiment 2 investigated frontal oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration changes during divergent thinking with NIRS. Results of Experiment 1 indicated enhanced creativity in musicians who also showed increased verbal ability and schizotypal personality but their enhanced divergent thinking remained robust after co-varying out these two factors. In Experiment 2, NIRS showed greater bilateral frontal activity in musicians during divergent thinking compared with nonmusicians. Overall, these results suggest that creative individuals are characterized by enhanced divergent thinking, which is supported by increased frontal cortical activity.     

The Measurement and Prediction of Managerial Creativity

The relations between creative management performance and constructs from the cognitive ability and personality domains were explored. A new openness scale and measures of divergent thinking and general intelligence were correlated with independently obtained criterion assessments of creative-management performance for 221 managers from a variety of organizations. Divergent thinking and openness correlated significantly with key creative-management criteria. General intelligence correlated only marginally with the criteria, and when divergent thinking was statistically removed, not at all. Divergent thinking, conversely, retained its significant criterion correlations with general intelligence statistically removed. Finally, a predictive composite of both divergent thinking and openness is shown to provide solid prediction of managerial creativity and significant utility in a personnel selection context.     

Openness to experience, plasticity, and creativity: Exploring lower-order, high-order, and interactive effects

What are creative people like? Openness to experience is important to creativity, but little is known about plasticity, the higher-order factor that subsumes openness. College students (n = 189) completed measures of the Big Five and measures of creative cognition (fluency and quality of divergent thinking), everyday creative behaviors, creative achievement, and self-rated creativity. Latent variable models found broad effects of openness to experience and few effects of the other four domains. At the higher-order level, plasticity predicted higher scores on nearly all of the facets of creativity, and stability had several significant effects. For some creativity measures, plasticity and stability had opposing effects. Tests of latent interactions found no significant effects: plasticity and stability predict creatively independently, not jointly.     

Measurement of creativity: review and critique

Presently available criteria of creativity are reviewed and classified into ten categories: tests of divergent thinking, attitude and interest inventories, personality inventories, biographical inventories, teacher nominations, peer nominations, supervisor ratings, judgments of products, eminence and self-reported creative activities and achievements. These techniques for measuring creativity are then criticized in terms of their reliability, discriminant validity, dimensionality and convergent validity. It is concluded that an inventory of self-reported creative activities and accomplishments is the most defensible technique for selecting creative individuals.     

The cognitive underpinnings of creative thought: A latent variable analysis exploring the roles of intelligence and working memory in three creative thinking processes

The field of creativity has largely focused on individual differences in divergent thinking abilities. Recently, contemporary creativity researchers have shown that intelligence and executive functions play an important role in divergent thought, opening new lines of research to examine how higher-order cognitive mechanisms may uniquely contribute to creative thinking. The present study extends previous research on the intelligence and divergent thinking link by systematically examining the relationships among intelligence, working memory, and three fundamental creative processes: associative fluency, divergent thinking, and convergent thinking. Two hundred and sixty five participants were recruited to complete a battery of tasks that assessed a range of elementary to higher-order cognitive processes related to intelligence and creativity. Results provide evidence for an associative basis in two distinct creative processes: divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Findings also supported recent work suggesting that intelligence significantly influences creative thinking. Finally, working memory played a significant role in creative thinking processes. Recasting creativity as a construct consisting of distinct higher-order cognitive processes has important implications for future approaches to studying creativity within an individual differences framework.     

Predispositional Engagement,Activity Engagement,and Cognition among Older Adults

ABSTRACT

We investigated interrelationships between the predisposition toward approaching experiences in a mindful and creative way, participation in specific activities, and cognition among older adults. Participants were administered a battery measuring cognition (i.e., working memory, processing speed, divergent thinking, inductive reasoning, visuo-spatial processing), activity level, and the predisposition towards mental engagement (Need for Cognition, Mindfulness, and Openness to Experience). Results indicated that predispositional engagement and activity engagement are distinct constructs that independently contribute to different aspects of fluid ability, highlighting the importance of considering both the predisposition toward mental engagement as well as the habitual tendency to participate in activities when exploring principles of cognitive optimization.     

Exploring the Effect of Perceived Teacher Support on Multiple Creativity Tasks: Based on the Expectancy–Value Model of Achievement Motivation

The present study explores the effect of perceived teacher support on three forms of thinking related to creativity. Tests of convergent thinking (by means of the Remote Associates Test), insight thinking (explored through a brain‐teaser test), and divergent thinking (by means of a verbal creativity test) were given to 512 middle school students in China, along with assessments of their perceived teacher support and creative self‐efficacy. The results of this study indicate that perceived teacher support positively predicts convergent thinking and insight thinking, with creative self‐efficacy playing a partial mediating role between perceived teacher support and convergent thinking. However, no significant relationships were found between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking. The findings partly lend support to the expectancy–value model of achievement motivation that teacher’s behavior influences student performance through self‐belief pathway.     

不同学业成就中学生创造性思维的差异研究

本研究采用创造力量表对990名不同学业成就中学生的创造性思维进行研究,结果发现:(1)高学业成就组中学生的创造性思维、发散思维和聚合思维显著高于低学业成就组.(2)高低学业成就组中学生创造性思维、发散思维和聚合思维表现出年级差异性.(3)高低学业成就组中学生的创造性思维都随着年级发展而上升,但是两组的高峰期却出现差异,高学业成就组创造力高峰出现在初二和高二,而低学业成就组出现在高一.(4)发散思维的发展趋势上,高学业成就组呈现出曲折上升的趋势,而低学业成就组整体的发展趋势平稳.(5)高低学业成就组中学生聚合思维的发展趋势相似,都呈现出在初中阶段上升到高中阶段趋于稳定,并且在高中阶段两组的水平接近.     

Dissociative Experiences and Creativity in Fine Arts Students

Studies on creative personality have revealed that the relationship between personality and creativity remains unclear, and various types of creative thinking have been have been associated with various personality traits. To assess the influence of dissociative experiences on creativity in the context of fine arts education, in which the creative process plays a key role, a sample of fine arts students received a test of creative potential and the dissociative experiences test. The results revealed significant differences in creativity (creative imagination and creative experiences) between students scoring high or low in the number of dissociative experiences. High dissociative experiences scores were associated to high scores in creative imagination and creative experiences, and low scores in dissociative experiences were inversely related to creative imagination and creative experiences. Further studies are required to corroborate these findings.