Personality and Creativity: The Dual Pathway to Creativity Model and a Research Agenda

Abstract

To better understand the relation between personality traits and creativity, we invoke the Dual-Pathway to Creativity model (DPCM) that identifies two pathways to creative outcomes: (1) flexible processing of information (cognitive flexibility) and (2) persistent probing, and systematically and incrementally combining elements and possibilities (cognitive persistence). DPCM further proposes that dispositional or situational variables may influence creativity through either their effects on flexibility or persistence. Here, we propose the idea that approach-related traits (e.g., openness to experience, extraversion, positive affectivity, and power-motivation) may lead to greater creativity because they link to enhanced cognitive flexibility, whereas avoidance-related traits (e.g., negative affectivity and neuroticism) under the right circumstances may lead to greater creativity because they link to enhanced cognitive persistence. Empirical support for this proposition is discussed, and a research agenda for future work on personality and creativity is set.

Anodal tDCS to Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Facilitates Performance for Novice Jazz Improvisers but Hinders Experts

“…fMRI studies of musical improvisation suggest that widespread frontal-lobe deactivation, particularly in the right hemisphere, is characteristic of expert-level jazz musicians and that the magnitude of these deactivations is predicted by musicians' number of hours spent improvising (Pinho et al, 2014). Thus, expert jazz improvisation contradicts the view that creativity is primarily supported by top-down control, analytical processing (Nijstad et al, 2010; Baas et al, 2013), and executive function (Nusbaum and Silvia, 2011; De Dreu et al, 2012). Instead, neuroimaging studies of expert-level jazz improvisation suggest decreased activation of prefrontal and parietal cortices, increased activation of the default-mode network (posterior cingulate, medial prefrontal cortex, angular gyrus, etc.…”

Creatividad y personalidad a través de dominios: una revisión crítica

“…El último modelo destacado es el modelo de Doble Vía (DPCM; Baas, Roskes, Sligte, Nijstad y de Dreu, 2013;De Dreu, Baas y Nijstad, 2008). El modelo se centra especí-ficamente sobre el pensamiento divergente y propone un doble camino hacia él: la vía de la flexibilidad cognitiva y la vía de la persistencia cognitiva.…”

Assessing interactions between cognition, emotion, and motivation in creativity: The construction and validation of EDICOS

“…A growing body of evidence suggests that creativity could be domain specific (Baer, 2010). In fact, there are cognitive processes, ways of conceptualizing and solving problems, personality or motivational attributes, and work habits or styles that vary widely from domain to domain (Kaufman & Baer, 2005).…”