Postdoctoral Associate
Tufts University
Contact Information:
490 Boston Avenuey
Department of Psychology
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155
USA
Telephone: (603) 866-9878
The present study aimed to identify types of creative activities and to examine which personality traits differentiate these behavioral types. Participants reported their activities concerning creative life-style, artistic creativity, and intellectual achievement. Also, they completed measures of personality traits concerning whole personality, emotions and motivation, cognition, social expression, and self-regulation. Five types of individuals were identified based on the profiles of creative activities in which they participated: conventional, everyday creative individuals, artists, scholars, and renaissance individuals. One set of traits distinguished conventional from other groups (traits general to different kinds of creativity) and another set of traits distinguished scholars from other groups (traits specific to one kind of creativity). Implications for the study of creative personality and development of creativity are discussed.