Versatility,Openness to Experience,and Topical Diversity in Creative Products: An Exploratory Historiometric Analysis of Scientists,Philosophers, and Writers

Creative individuals are considered versatile when their achievements extend beyond their most commonly cited domain, thus indicating remarkable and varied interests and abilities. The present study examined the association between versatility and (a) the personalities of eminent creators and (b) the topical diversity of their creative products. The main sample consisted of 67 eminent scientists, creative writers, philosophers, and scholars drawn from the history of Western Civilization, with a subsample of 38 creators obtaining observer‐based scores on openness to experience. Versatile creators were found to have produced works with greater topical diversity than did their non‐versatile counterparts. In addition, topical diversity was positively associated with openness. These relationships varied according to the domain of creative achievement.