Domain Specificity in Creativity Testing: A Comparison of Performance on a General Divergent‐Thinking Test and a Parallel,Content‐Specific Test

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which domain‐specific components, such as content and type of task, influence divergent thinking and creativity by comparing the performance of 112 ninth‐grade students on two parallel divergent‐thinking tests. The Verbal Forms of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) represented the domain‐independent measures, while two forms of a Creativity in History Test (CHT), whose items corresponded closely to those of the TTCT, served as the content‐specific measures. The results indicated that both content‐specific and task‐specific factors have significant effects on divergent‐thinking and creative performance. Implications concerning the definition of creativity as a construct and its measurement are discussed.     

Involvement in four future events as a function of temporal distance

Abstract.— A total of 91 Swedish high-school students, in four groups, estimated their degree of involvement in each of 4 potential future events, which were assumed to occur at 5 alternative points in time within the next 75 years. In addition, estimates were made of the relative importance of the events as well as of their subjective probability and influenceability. Factor analysis revealed two different time-involvement relations: (1) involvement decreasing slowly with increasing temporal distance for the two next decades. and then rapidly approaching zero, and (2) involvement decreasing rapidly for the nearest decades, and then slowly approaching an asymptotic value. Subjects representing the first trend gave consistently higher estimates of event probability. Relative involvement for the events was judged differently by subjects in natural-science and social-science lines of education.     

Order of Information Affects Clinical Judgment

Family practice physicians read a case vignette describing a patient with a history of lung cancer, a new transient neurological disturbance, and a normal computerized tomographic (CT) scan of the head. They then estimated the probabilities of two diagnoses: transient ischemic attack (TIA) and brain tumor. Probability estimates of TIA were lower if the history of lung cancer was presented at the end of the case rather than at the beginning. This recency effect was found for both more and less experienced physicians and whether subjects were prompted for a single end-of-sequence probability judgment or multiple step-by-step judgments after each piece of information. These results are inconsistent with Hogarth and Einhorn's (1992) belief-adjustment model, which predicts a recency effect for the step-by-step condition but a primacy effect for the end-of-sequence condition.     

Perceptions of Genius: Einstein,Lesser Mortals and Shooting Stars

This paper elucidates the conceptual nature of the term ‘genius’. Two studies are reported. In the first, a total of 349 undergraduates were asked in 1984, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997 to nominate three geniuses. The main findings were: that Einstein is regarded as a stereotypical genius: that a small number of other individuals are also frequently nominated: that a large number receive occasional nominations: that the membership of this large group is often very transitory and that the ratings of an established genius such as Mozart can be boosted considerably, but temporarily, by a major anniversary. The second study used 61 subjects and 94 nominated geniuses. It was found that the nominated geniuses had been heard of on 76.7% of possible occasions, but were agreed to be geniuses on only 26.2% of possible occasions. Wide variations were found between the figures as a function of the field in which nominated geniuses worked, with artists and sports players achieving the highest and lowest ‘agreed’ figures respectively. The subjectivity and transience of the concept of genius was apparent in both studies.     

GENDER,MENTORING, AND CAREER SUCCESS: THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

This study examines the moderating effects of protégé sex and organizational context on relationships between senior-male mentors and objective and subjective career outcomes among midcareer managers and professionals. Extending signaling theory, and using a 3-way interaction, we found that associations between senior-male mentoring, cash compensation, and career progress satisfaction were greatest among women working in male-gendered industries. By contextualizing the protégé sex-by-mentoring interaction and by considering key mentor attributes, the results of this study provide important insights into where, why, and for whom access to a senior-male mentor is related to career success and contribute to building more complete models of the career attainment process.