An Exploratory Study on the Relationship between Creativity, Religion, and Religiosity

Abstract

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATIVITY, RELIGION, AND RELIGIOSITY by Kim-lien T. Nguyen Religiosity and religion are often said to be negative influences on one's creativity level. Creativity and religiosity have been looked at as a single dimension, which is a simplistic view. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between creativity and religiosity using scales that measure each construct multidimensionally. Religiosity was measured by one's level of inclusion of transcendent reality and symbolic interpretation of religious content. Creativity was evaluated in terms of fluency, originality, elaboration, abstractness, and resistance to premature closure. It was predicted that participants who exhibit high inclusion of transcendence and literal interpretation of religious content would be correlated with lower creativity. Creativity levels of Buddhists and Christians were also compared. It was predicted that Buddhists would have higher creativity levels than Christians based on Buddhists teachings involving impermanence and mindfulness. Participants completed three drawing tasks and surveys pertaining to their personality. Christian participants completed an additional religiosity scale. The dimensions of religiosity were related to some of the different dimensions of creativity. However, no difference in creativity scores was found between Buddhists and Christians. The results indicated that the religion with which one identifies may not be as important as one's commitment to religion when creativity levels are examined. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help, support, and encouragement from so many people. First, I would like extend my heartfelt gratitude to my thesis committee, Dr. Gregory Feist, Howard Tokunaga, and Jeffrey Danese. A special thank you to my advisor, Dr. Feist, for his commitment and belief in my success. Thank you to my family and friends. Dad, Anh, Hung, and Vi, you have been my motivation to work hard and push through the difficulties the past 2 years. Thank you to my many aunts, uncles, and cousins (especially NTLTN, Julie, and Tuyen). Thank you to my temple family, Ky Vien. You guys always gave me encouraging words, hours of laughter, and pictures that would take more than a thousand words to describe. Chi Tho, David, Diana, Nancii, Son, Hien, and Huyen, you guys are my rock. A big thank you to all my friends for their support, especially Tran, Nom, Mia, Tiffany, Christine, and Ingrid, who have been so patient with me. A special thank you to my San José friends, Tarhata, Jennifer, Bethany, Crystine, and Trey, for making San José my second home. I would also like to acknowledge my El Camino Community College family. Dr. Richard Mascolo, Dr. Amy Himsel, Julio Farias, and Dr. Angela Simon, thank you for encouraging me to pursue my goals. You all have remained a constant source of support and there are no words to express my appreciation. Finally, I would like to dedicate my thesis to my mom. She showed me that abo...

Familial Factors Influencing Creativity among Married Employees of Financial Technology Organisations in Cotonou: Mediatory Role of Proness to Divorce

“…Regarding the negative correlation between marital satisfaction and creativity, this finding was consistent with that of Yipeng et al [32], who found that an employee's inventiveness at work is indirectly related to their quality marriage. However, the results of this study were at odds with those of Nguyen [33] and Dollinger [34], who found no connection between creativity and religiosity.…”