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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.

It has been argued that creativity evolved, at least in part, through sexual selection to attract mates. Recent research lends support to this view and has also demonstrated a link between certain dimensions of schizotypy, creativity, and short-term mating. The current study delves deeper into these relationships by focusing on engagement in creative activity and employing an expansive set of personality and mental health measures (Five Factor Model, schizotypy, anxiety, and depression). A general tendency to engage in everyday forms of creative activity was related to number of sexual partners within the past year in males only. Furthermore, schizotypy, anxiety, and Neuroticism were all indirectly related to short-term mating success, again for males only. The study provides additional support for predictions made by sexual selection theory that men have a higher drive for creative display, and that creativity is linked with higher short-term mating success. The study also provides support for the contention that certain forms of mental illness may still exist in the gene pool because particular personality traits associated with milder forms of mental illness (i.e., Neuroticism & schizotypy) are also associated directly with creativity and indirectly with short-term mating success. (Contains 4 figures and 4 tables.)

Self-evaluations or self-perceptions of creativity have been used in the past both as predictors of creative performance and as criteria. Four measures utilizing self-perceptions of creativity were assessed for their usefulness as criterion measures of creativity. Analyses provided evidence of domain specificity of self-perceptions. The scales correlated with self-report measures of creativity, but not with objective measures. Self-perceptions of creativity had strong to moderate relationships with personality and creative self-efficacy. These results suggest that although self-perceptions of creativity may provide some information about creativity, researchers should be cautious when using this measure as a criterion.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which non-cognitive constructs (personality, thinking styles, motivation, and psychological well-being) would predict self-reported creativity across different domains among 266 college students. Consistent with hypotheses, openness, legislative thinking styles, and intrinsic motivation were significant predictors of overall self-reported creativity and across several domains. Extraversion was also a key predictor. Some other relationships consistent with past research (such as disagreeableness and math/science creativity) were also noted. (Contains 4 tables.)

Non-cognitive factors represent a chance to learn more about how to help students succeed in early college experiences. This study examined personality and motivation as predictors of first-quarter GPA in a sample of 315 non-traditional undergraduates at a Hispanic-serving institution. Our results provide support for the importance of high levels of conscientiousness, intrinsic motivation, and low levels of extrinsic motivation in first-quarter school success. Implications and possible interventions are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

Creativity, and more recently dark creativity, have yet to be studied in relation to moral foundations, especially against the background of dark traits. This study identified moral foundations that predicted creativity, particularly malevolent creativity, after accounting for Dark Triad/Tetrad traits. Data (N = 529, Mage = 20.10 years, SD = 4.55) on self‐reported creativity, personality, and moral foundations were collected. Results indicated that lower concerns for binding foundations (loyalty, authority, and purity) explained creativity, especially malevolent creativity. In contrast, higher concern for individualizing foundations (care and fairness) predicted creativity, whereas lower regard for these morals predicted malevolent creativity. Planned mediations indicated that lower concerns for all foundations explained greater malevolent creativity due to higher dark personality dispositions. Limitations and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the personal characteristics that distinguish the creative scientist from the less creative scientist? This study used the concept of implicit theory in a four-part study of scientists and graduate students in science. In the first part, we collected 1382 adjective words that describe the personal characteristics of the creative scientist from 354 scientists. In the second part of the study, 542 additional scientists assessed these adjectives. We determined that the personal characteristics of the creative scientist fit into four factors: personality, thinking ability, research ability, and uniqueness. In the third part of the study, we found that the concepts of thinking ability and uniqueness would positively predict 221 graduate students' self-perceived creativity, and research ability would positively predict their creative motivation. The last part of the study involved having 283 creative scientists and 264 less creative scientists from 30 research institutions rated by three colleagues on the above four factors. A logistic regression found that thinking ability was best able to identify creative scientists while personality best predicted less creative scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates how the construct intellect, according to the Theoretical Intellect Framework (TIF), predicts creativity. The TIF is a theoretical model describing the structure of the construct intellect, a sub-dimension of the Big Five domain openness to experience. People (N = 2709) from two sub-samples (undergraduate students and Amazon MTurkers) completed one of three creativity tasks (self-reported, remote associates, or rated photo caption) and the Intellect Scale. The results support hypotheses derived from the TIF, as the operation Create, rather than the operations Think or Learn, significantly and in some cases uniquely predicted the self-reported creativity indicators. Creativity indicators with a strong cognitive load (remote associates test and rated photo caption), however, were predicted by the operation Think. Results are discussed with regards to the nomological net of the operation Create and the construct validity of the creativity assessments. We provide implications for applied purposes and call for further examination of the TIF with additional creativity measures. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the factor structure of a Chinese version of the Revised Creativity Domain Questionnaire ( CDQ-R; Kaufman, Waterstreet, Ailaouni, Whitcomb, Roe, & Riggs, 2009) as well as its relation to Big Five personality traits within a Chinese sample ( N = 787). Analyses indicate the appropriateness of the Chinese version of the CDQ-R in terms of internal consistency, factorial validity as well as convergent and divergent validity concerning the Big Five personality factors. Revealing some culture-specific variation, confirmatory factor analysis indicated a slight superiority of a five-factor model for this Chinese sample over the existing four-factor model established with American samples. This higher level of differentiation in terms of one factor of the creativity domain could be explained on the basis of the specific characteristics of the Chinese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers examine implicit beliefs about creativity to understand what laypeople think. Past work has looked at cultural differences, characteristics associated with creativity, and the positive or negative valence that people feel toward creativity. In this study, we focused on the Four C Model of Creativity (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2007; Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009) to discover if laypeople perceive nuances in different levels of accomplishment. We found that although Pro-c and little-c merged into one factor, Big-C, mini-c, and Not-c (not creative) were distinguishable. Personality (particularly agreeableness and openness) predicted how participants rated different levels of creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite much research on how interests are related to personality and creativity, comparatively little work has focused on how different college majors as categorized by the RIASEC model compare on these constructs. In this study, 3295 college students (207 Realistic, 1945 Investigative, 447 Artistic, 480 Social, and 216 Enterprising) completed a five-factor personality measure, a brief self-report of creativity, and the Compound Remote Associates Task (CRAT). Investigative and Artistic majors scored higher on openness and self-assessed creativity than Realistic and Social majors, and Investigative majors were much more agreeable than other majors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It has been argued that creativity evolved, at least in part, through sexual selection to attract mates. Recent research lends support to this view and has also demonstrated a link between certain dimensions of schizotypy, creativity, and short-term mating. The current study delves deeper into these relationships by focusing on engagement in creative activity and employing an expansive set of personality and mental health measures (Five Factor Model, schizotypy, anxiety, and depression). A general tendency to engage in everyday forms of creative activity was related to number of sexual partners within the past year in males only. Furthermore, schizotypy, anxiety, and Neuroticism were all indirectly related to short-term mating success, again for males only. The study provides additional support for predictions made by sexual selection theory that men have a higher drive for creative display, and that creativity is linked with higher short-term mating success. The study also provides support for the contention that certain forms of mental illness may still exist in the gene pool because particular personality traits associated with milder forms of mental illness (i.e., Neuroticism & schizotypy) are also associated directly with creativity and indirectly with short-term mating success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which non-cognitive constructs (personality, thinking styles, motivation, and psychological well-being) would predict self-reported creativity across different domains among 266 college students. Consistent with hypotheses, openness, legislative thinking styles, and intrinsic motivation were significant predictors of overall self-reported creativity and across several domains. Extraversion was also a key predictor. Some other relationships consistent with past research (such as disagreeableness and math/science creativity) were also noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is creativity domain-specific? The authors describe the value of latent class analysis for appraising domain generality, and the authors report two studies that explore the latent class structure of creative accomplishments (using Carson, Peterson, and Higgins's Creative Achievement Questionnaire; n = 749) and creative self-descriptions (using Kaufman and Baer's Creativity Domain Questionnaire; n = 3,534). For creative achievements, clear latent classes were found: the majority of people belonged to an "uncreative" class, and smaller classes were found for visual arts and performing arts. For creative self-descriptions, however, latent classes were not found: people's views of themselves as "creative people" varied quantitatively but not qualitatively. Implications for the assessment and analysis of creativity are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Non-cognitive factors represent a chance to learn more about how to help students succeed in early college experiences. This study examined personality and motivation as predictors of first-quarter GPA in a sample of 315 non-traditional undergraduates at a Hispanic-serving institution. Our results provide support for the importance of high levels of conscientiousness, intrinsic motivation, and low levels of extrinsic motivation in first-quarter school success. Implications and possible interventions are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We reviewed the literature on "noncognitive" predictors-specifically, personality as it pertains to graduate education. The review is divided into 3 sections. In the first section, we reviewed measures typically used in studies of graduate school outcomes, such as attrition and time to degree. We also reviewed which student qualities faculty and administrators said they desired and cultivated in graduate programs. We also noted that there are many qualities faculty ranked high in desirability but which could only imperfectly be gleaned from sources such as letters of recommendation and personal statements. In the second section, we reviewed general personality factors (e.g., the "Big Five"), specifically, definitions, measures, correlates, and the validity of those measures. We concluded with a discussion of how personality factors might be used in admissions and guidance applications for graduate education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of writers have focused on Western writers, including studies of personal characteristics and success. The Chinese culture has traditionally had a much different view of creativity. Would a study of modern Chinese writers mirror past Western findings, indicating that Chinese and Western conceptions of creativity may be converging, or would there be different results? This study examined 722 twentieth-century Chinese writers and yielded two main findings, which generally correspond to past, Western-based research. First, female writers, particularly poets and fiction writers, were more likely to suffer a personal tragedy than male writers. Second, writers who were politically persecuted were more likely to eventually receive an award than those not politically persecuted. Explanations and implications for future studies are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study reported here was to explore the relationship of Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test scores to selected personality traits—conscientiousness, rationality, ingenuity, quickness, creativity, and depth. A sample of 342 GRE test takers completed short personality inventory scales for each trait. Analyses revealed statistically significant, but slight (positive) correlations of GRE verbal, quantitative, and analytical scores with both creativity and quickness. (Quickness was defined here by, for instance, the ability to handle a lot of information and the ability to understand things.) The results also revealed significant, but very slight (negative) correlations of GRE scores with conscientiousness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Creativity research has suggested that creative people are low in agreeableness. To explore this issue, we applied the HEXACO model of personality structure, which offers an expanded representation of interpersonal traits, particularly a distinction between Honesty–Humility and Agreeableness. A sample of 1304 adults completed the HEXACO-60 and several measures of creative achievement and activities. Latent variable models found that Agreeableness had no relationship with creativity, but Honesty–Humility did: people lower in Honesty–Humility had higher creativity scores, consistent with past work on arrogance and pretentiousness among creative people. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Media entertainment has a tremendous impact on many aspects of life, yet individual preferences for media have been understudied. Following in the footsteps of Rentfrow, Goldberg, and Zilca (2011), we extend the study of entertainment preferences to the domain of creativity while controlling for gender, socioeconomic status, and personality. Our findings are consistent with past work, in that women prefer Communal themes while men prefer Dark, Thrilling, and Cerebral themes and that Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness positively predict effects on genres of entertainment while Conscientiousness and Neuroticism negatively predict these same effects. In new findings, a preference for Aesthetic content positively predicted general creativity, effects of the "Highbrow" preference on creativity were higher than that of "Lowbrow" in all domains except Everyday Creativity, and Communal and Aesthetic preferences had positive effects on 4 creativity domains. The clarity of relationship between entertainment preferences and creativity shed light on the profound value media may bring to education and social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports including the use of linguistic analysis in tracing song lyrics, the relationship of personality, social networks, schizotypy and intelligence and the phenomenon of aesthetic chills or piloerection.

Myths about creativity keep contributing to its mysterious aura despite our increasing scientific understanding of this complex phenomenon. This study examined the prevalence of known creativity myths across six countries from diverse cultural backgrounds and explored why some people believe in them more than others. Results revealed persistent, wide-spread biases in the public conception of creativity, such as attributing creative achievements to spontaneity and chance rather than persistence and expertise. Firmer belief in creativity myths was related to lower education, stronger reliance on undependable sources, and personality traits reflecting the willingness to accept questionable notions and to rely on opinions of others. The findings highlight the need for better communication of evidence-based knowledge to enable more effective support for creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]