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.

This meta-analysis of 68 studies (770 effect sizes) used random effects models to examine whether children's achievement differed depending on whether their mothers were employed. Four achievement outcomes were emphasized: formal tests of achievement and intellectual functioning, grades, and teacher ratings of cognitive competence. When all employment was compared with nonemployment for combined and separate achievement outcomes without moderators, effects were nonsignificant. Small beneficial effects of part-time compared with full-time employment were apparent for all achievement outcomes combined and for each individual achievement outcome. Significant sample-level moderators of the associations between maternal employment and achievement for all outcomes combined included family structure, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; associations were positive when samples were majority 1-parent families and mixed 1- and 2-parent families, racially/ethnically diverse or international in composition, and not middle-upper class. Analyses of child gender indicated more positive effects for girls. Children's age was a significant moderator for the outcome of intellectual functioning. The identification of sample-level moderators of the relationship between maternal employment and children's achievement highlights the importance of social context in understanding work-family linkages.

To explore whether the facilitation effects of an explicit instruction to “be creative” vary across cultures and types of tasks, 248 U.S. and 278 Chinese college students were administered a battery of tests of verbal, artistic, and mathematical creativity. Half of the participants were tested under the standard condition, and the other half under the explicit instruction condition. Results showed that the facilitation effects of the explicit instruction varied by domains of the creativity tasks (greater for artistic and mathematical creativity than for verbal creativity), but not across cultural and ethnic groups. The explicit instruction had a small “detrimental” effect on the clarity and grammar of story writing, but not on any other aspects of the technical quality of creative products. Methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Contemporary parents lack clear guidelines for the fair and equitable allocation of family work. According to social comparison theory, under conditions of uncertainty, individuals often compare themselves to others to gain a sense of what is "normal." The authors applied social comparison theory to the examination of satisfaction with the division of housework and the experience of role strain. Results of covariance structure analysis indicated that women reported higher levels of satisfaction when they did less housework than their female friends and greater satisfaction and less role strain when their husbands did more than other male comparison referents. In contrast, men were more satisfied when their wives did more housework than their own mothers did. Satisfaction mediated the link between social comparisons and role strain. Interviews with 25 fathers revealed that some men invoke an image of the "generalized other" to make their own contributions to housework seem more noteworthy.

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). Under 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.