Recent accounts of conceptual development have emphasized the important role intuitive theories play in concept formation; however, it is still not clear exactly how these theories exert their influence. We present evidence that elementary school age children use theories to link together specific features associated with individual concepts. The results of our first experiment indicate that theory-based correlations play a prominent role in typicality judgments and in decisions about category membership. In a second experiment, we demonstrate that children's theories play an important role in determining which attributes will be considered most central to the concept. The results of these studies suggest that feature correlations can serve to link children's concepts with their intuitive theories of the world.

Creative thinking was explored from several approaches to further understanding of the interrelationship of perception, personality, and cognition. College students (N = 45) were administered the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), the Remote Associates Test (RAT), a questionnaire concerning RAT strategy, and two self-report scales. Field independent subjects were found to be significantly (p less than .001) more creative than field dependents. Correlations between the RAT and GEFT and the self-report measures of conformity and creativity, while largely nonsignificant, were in the predicted directions. Results demonstrated that advanced strategy levels and insightful responses were significantly related to high performance on the RAT. Theoretical links between cognitive style and Piagetian concepts were discussed in regard to creative thought. Overall, these findings support the contention that the creative processes should be studied, not as isolated structures, but with relational and multifaceted emphasis.

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