| A measure of creative
talent
On- Creativity |
| The cognitive abilities involved in creative thinking are
distinct from those represented on conventional "intelligence" tests. Ordinary
intelligence is thus considered necessary but not sufficient for creative
thinking. At the same time there has been some controversy as to whether
the divergent thinking skills, which are the cognitive abilities germane
to creativity, are generalizable across situations. Evidence against generalizability
has been predicated on the small and often nonsignificant relationship
between divergent thinking ability and other measures of creative behavior.
Two studies that were specifically directed at the generalizability issue did produce evidence of generalizability of creative ability. Guastello, Bzdawka, Guastello, & Rieke (1992) found that three divergent skills - ideational fluency, semantic fluency, and originality - were significantly correlated with rates of creative output over eight different content domains. Guastello and Shissler (1994) showed that individuals' creative behavior patterns frequently cross disciplinary boundaries. Arts tend to aggregate together, as do science involvements. Yet at the same time, raw abilities do not substitute for the domain knowledge that is needed to create a useful product in any discipline. (except maybe in strictly personal situations) Creative thinking also involves personality traits, motivation including risk-taking propensities, environmental and influences. There are also qualitative issues related to "style" which affect the particular nature of the outcomes. Both the personality trait profiles and measures of divergent cognitive thought explain, at least partially, the commonality among contributions to multiple creative domains. According to Guastello - 1995 -, a large section of the population is capable of some creative output, but there are also some very talented people who cannot be interpreted as extreme cases of a simple probability process. It is probably the small group of people who reside - with no appearant plausible explanation - beyond the antimode that commands the attention of the rest of society and implicitly support the view that creative talent is a relatively rare commodity. This brief to: Stephen J. Guastello, Ph.D.
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