Consequences of Beliefs about the Malleability of Creativity

Abstract

Attempts to maximize creativity pervade corporate, artistic, and scientific domains. This research investigated how individual's lay beliefs about the malleability of creativity affect several measures of creative potential. Two correlational and 1 experimental study examined the relationship between malleability beliefs about creativity and creative problem-solving and prior creative achievement. In Study 1, incremental beliefs in creativity were associated with interest in creative thinking, self-reported creativity, and creative problem-solving. In Study 2, incremental beliefs were associated with prior creative achievement in a cross-cultural, professional sample. In Study 3, incremental primes of creativity led to improved creative problem-solving. All studies provide discriminant validity and domain-specificity for malleability beliefs in creativity. Specifically, Studies 1 and 2 controlled for individual differences in beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, suggesting that malleability beliefs of creativity and intelligence are meaningfully distinct. Meanwhile, Study 3 found that incremental beliefs of creativity enhance creative problem-solving but not problem-solving more generally.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (OISE-1108535) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. We thank Raymond Firmalino for his assistance coding the Unusual Uses data in Studies 1 and 3.

Notes

Note. Standardized beta coefficients.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

¹These participants did not appear to disproportionately come from specific conditions. Between our four experimental conditions, two to four participants in each group admitted to using alternate means.