Autonomous creativity: The implicit autonomy motive fosters creative production and innovative behavior at school

ABSTRACT

Theories of creativity and empirical evidence have highlighted the importance of autonomy as a motivational source of creativity. However, we know little about the relationship between the implicit autonomy motive and creativity. Using a multi-method multi-informant design, we investigated the relationship between implicit autonomy motives and creative production. We assessed the implicit and explicit autonomy motives of N = 108 adolescents using the Operant Motive Test (OMT) and an explicit motive questionnaire. Then participants completed a creative figural drawing task. In addition, we collected teacher ratings regarding participants’ innovative behavior. Results revealed that implicit autonomy dispositions predicted not only production in a figural drawing task, but also teacher ratings of innovative behavior. These positive relationships remained stable when controlling for achievement motivations and other autonomy-related variables. In contrast, explicit autonomy dispositions could not predict creative production or teacher ratings of innovative behavior. We conclude that the implicit autonomy motive is an energizing force of creative production.

KEYWORDS:

• Autonomy disposition
• creativity
• motivation

Authors’ Note

The authors declare that this article has not been published elsewhere, nor has it been simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere. No potential conflicts of interest exist with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Ingrid Rita Baum

Ingrid Baum MSc. graduated with her Master of Science in psychology from the University of Trier in 2015. She is currently a doctorial candidate and research associate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Trier. Ms. Baum belongs to the lab for Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology, and Diagnostics. Her research interests include the validation and measurement of implicit motives as well as self-regulation.

Nicola Baumann

Prof. Dr. Nicola Baumann received her doctorate from the University of Osnabrück in 1998. She has been a professor at the University of Trier in the Department of Psychology since 2008 in the lab for Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology, and Diagnostics. Her research interests include personality interactions, need-congruentgoal orientations, affect sensibility and self-regulation, and implicit motives.