This study investigated correlates of domain-general and domain-specific components of creativity. 158 college students completed a questionnaire that assessed their motivational and personality traits (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, creative personality, and originality in word association) as well as intellectual abilities (SAT verbal and quantitative scores). Cinder two different instruction conditions (standard instruction or explicit "be creative" instruction), students also took a battery of multi-item, product-based tests of creativity in three domains (artistic, verbal, and mathematical creativity). Factor analyses showed evidence of domain-generality of creativity. Furthermore, results from structural equation models showed that motivational and personality traits and intellectual abilities were associated with the domain-general component of creativity. Only one variable (SAT quantitative score) was found to be associated with the domain-specific component of mathematical creativity under the explicit "be creative" instruction condition. These results affirm the domain-generality of creativity and challenge researchers to identify correlates of domain-specific components of creativity.

Does extrinsic motivation inhibit or foster creativity? Whereas previous researchers examined the effects of externally controlled extrinsic motivation on creativity, we focus on the effects of self-determined extrinsic motivation arising from one's personally held core values. In this study, we present a theoretical argument which predicts that (a) creative behavior is fostered by certain value types, inhibited by other value types, and holistically related to the total integrative-dynamic pattern of value types identified by Schwartz (1994), and (b) creative performance is synergistically promoted by the interaction between the Self-Direction value type and intrinsic motivational orientation. These hypotheses were tested in a study of 248 undergraduates whose value priorities and intrinsic motivational orientation were measured by self-report and whose creative performance was assessed across multiple tasks in the verbal, artistic, and mathematical domains. All predictions were supported. Copyright © 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

This study examines whether European Americans and Chinese differ in their creation and evaluation of drawings of geometric shapes. Two hundred ninety-four drawings created by 50 European American and 48 Chinese college students were selected from a larger study of culture and creativity. Drawings were judged by eight Chinese and six European Americans following the Consensual Assessment Technique. The drawings were coded by content to examine what the judges considered creative. Results showed high consensus between European American and Chinese judges and great similarity in the creativity of drawings generated by the two groups. Judges liked best those drawings they judged more creative. The most creative drawings typically involved representations of geometric shapes in contexts (either concrete or abstract). Results run counter to the belief that there are wide cultural variations in the evaluation of and attitudes toward creativity, demonstrate the feasibility of cross-cultural comparisons with the Consensual Assessment Technique, and provide a basis for further cross-cultural research on creativity.