Is Originality in the Eye of the Beholder? Comparison of Scoring Techniques in the Assessment of Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking (DT) tests are among the most popular techniques for measuring creativity. However, the validity evidence for DT tests, as applied in educational settings, is inconsistent partly due to different scoring methods. This study explored the reliability and validity issues of various techniques for administering and scoring two DT tests. Results show distinct differences among several methods for scoring these DT tests and suggest that the percentage scoring method (i.e., dividing originality scores by fluency scores) may be the most appropriate scoring strategy. The potential impact on educational research and practice is discussed in detail.     

Love imagined: Working models of future romantic attachment in emerging adults

An attachment theory perspective guided this investigation of emerging adults' (N = 174) expectations regarding relational patterns in their future long‐term romantic relationships. Participants' working models of future romantic attachment were assessed by having them respond to an attachment measure with respect to an imagined future committed relationship. Dimensions of future attachment predicted participants' anticipated relationship dynamics in the imagined relationship, their focus on closeness and abandonment when writing about having a future long‐term relationship, and their change in state anxiety over the course of the study. These effects of future attachment remained statistically significant after controlling for current global attachment, parental caregiving sensitivity, and conflict between parents; most of these effects were not moderated by current dating status.     

Let's be friends: Relational self‐construal and the development of intimacy

Two studies examined the role of relational self‐construal in the development and maintenance of intimacy in roommate relationships. In Study 1, 98 roommate pairs completed questionnaires assessing attitudes toward their relationship. Results showed that high relationals disclosed more personal information than lows, which was then associated with their roommates’ perceptions of relationship quality. In Study 2, 142 roommate pairs followed the Study 1 procedure with a 1‐month follow‐up session for the participants (86% returned). Results replicated the findings of Study 1 and showed reciprocated disclosure from the roommates, followed by increased disclosure by the participants at Time 2. These findings support the H. T. Reis and P. Shaver (1988) intimacy model and indicate the importance of the self‐construal in this interpersonal process.     

APTNESS OF EMOTIONS FOR FICTIONS AND IMAGININGS

Many philosophical accounts of the emotions conceive of them as susceptible to assessments of rationality, fittingness, or some other notion of aptness. Analogous assumptions apply in cases of emotions directed at what are taken to be only fictional or only imagined. My question is whether the criteria governing the aptness of emotions we have toward what we take to be real things apply invariantly to those emotions we have toward what we take to be only fictional or imagined. I argue that what counts as a reason justifying an emotion can differ across real, fictional, and imagined domains.     

Double Standards, Racial Equality and the Right Reference Class

ABSTRACT  There is a popular way of appealing to consistency of judgment or principle whose result is to rule out relevant information. To avoid the danger of judging similar cases differently, relevantly different cases are treated alike. So the information distinguishing them is lost. I try to formulate, defend and apply a requirement upon determining whether situations are similar with respect to a principle. Adherence to the requirement is a way to prevent the loss of information through illicit appeals to consistency. Part II examines a difficulty for the requirement proposed. The difficulty concerns determinateness: given the requirement's broad scope, it cannot yield judgments on specific cases without prejudging substantive issues. Without reaching any solution to the difficulty, I point out that parallel difficulties arise for similar requirements in diverse areas, and that the problem can be mitigated to varying degrees in actual applications of these requirements.     

Reanalyses of Student Responses to Creativity Checklists: Evidence of Content Generality

The question of whether creativity is content general (i.e., applied similarly across content areas) or content specific (i.e., applied differently across content areas) is one of the most controversial issues in contemporary creativity research, with recent studies providing support for both positions. Reanalyses of data from three previously published studies suggest that, contrary to the results of recent research, a content general factor may explain 40 — 50% of the variance in creativity checklist scores. The results are analyzed in light of other studies, and a hypothesis regarding the content generality-specificity of creativity is provided to guide future research efforts.