Differences in creativity across Art and STEM students: We are more alike than unalike

Kim van Broekhoven*, David Cropley, Philipp Seegers

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

35 Citations (Scopus)
54 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to investigate creativity differences, and the magnitude and nature of those differences, among university students. More specifically, we examined differences in creativity within and between: (a) General Thematic Areas (Art and Science); (b) Specific Science domains (STEM), and; (c) Engineering micro-domains, for a total of 2277 students in German tertiary institutions. The results showed many statistically significant, but uniformly small, differences at all levels, across a range of Person, Process and Product variables. The pattern of results suggests that Openness, Creative Self-Efficacy and Divergent Thinking may be general pre-requisites for creativity. In contrast, the way that characteristics of creative products (e.g. originality) are perceived appears more complex. This research sheds additional light on long-standing debates regarding domain-generality/specificity and creativity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100707
JournalThinking Skills and Creativity
Volume38
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)

Research programs

  • ESSB PSY

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