Mark A. Runco

Southern Oregon University | SOU · Creativity Research and Programming

Annual CREATIVITY CONFERENCE 16-19 May 2024 www.soucreativityconference.com

Divergent thinking (DT) tests are often used to estimate creative potential. They have sound theoretical bases, good reliability, and moderate predictive validity, which varies with methodology. A previous study that sampled gifted and nongifted children and included the interactions among DT indices (fluency, originality, flexibility) in the predi...

This study examined domain specificity among 306 high-school students using the Creative Activity and Accomplishment Checklist (CAAC). The CAAC provides both quantity of activity and quality of accomplishment scores, allowing an empirical test of possible polymathy among students, some of whom were gifted. The two objectives of this investigation w...

Previous research suggests that environment can play an important role in encouraging or discouraging creative expression and productivity. Additional research has uncovered a discrepancy between the creativity students express at school and the creativity they express outside of school. One explanation for this creativity gap is that school discou...

This chapter focuses on the creative process. It explains why a focus on process is more practical than the alternatives. It reviews theories and research on the creative process. Some of the earliest process theories are summarized, as are more recent theories. Associative theory and the divergent thinking model are explored in detail and recommen...

This chapter explores theories of creativity as they relate to critical thinking and scholarly achievement. It discusses domain differences in creativity and raises the possibility that scholarly creativity is distinct from other expressions of creativity. It also covers theories and research that show creativity to be distinct from general intelli...

This article (a) draws from various theories of creativity (e.g., 4P and 6P theories) and (b) uses several concepts from the creativity literature (e.g., self-actualization, emergence) to evaluate the claim that AI can be creative. This approach suggests that, at most, the output of AI represents products which, although lacking, may be attributed...

The matrix of maybe can be defined as a way of conceptualizing the future, either imminent or distant, as a set of options, only some of which will come true. The “maybe” is meant to invoke not only the options readily available but also the uncertain nature of their consequences. For example, people may choose a job or a spouse from among several...

This chapter uses the theory that describes preconventional, conventional, and postconventional stages of development to explain how the creativity of children and adolescents develops. It also draws from the research on divergent thinking, some of which supports the theory of stages. The research on divergent thinking also explains how original id...

This empirical investigation examined the cross-cultural usefulness of a measure of creative potential, namely the short form of the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS). The RIBS has been used in several investigations and existing data show it to be a reliable criterion measure, usually with a two-factor structure. Scores from the RIBS correlat...

The present study examined cognitive flexibility as a mediator in the relationship between bilingualism and creativity. Other variables, such as cultural orientation, multicultural experience, and second language acquisition age, were also included to comprehensively understand associations with creativity. The mediation effect of cognitive flexibi...

The current study examined gender differences in divergent thinking (DT) using meta-analyses of mean difference and variation. The main objective of the meta-analysis of mean difference was to resolve contradictory findings in the creativity literature regarding the prevalence of creativity among males or females in creative potential. The meta-ana...

This article begins by presenting a definition of positive creativity. This definition is based in part on the standard view of creativity, which points to originality and effectiveness. A brief discussion of the distinction between benevolent creativity and malevolent creativity indicates that intentions should also be required of positive creativ...

This article investigated the impact of a robotic-based enrichment program on problem finding (PF) and active-openminded thinking skills (AOT) in 60 gifted female students (eighth and ninth graders) from the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The participants were randomly selected from several cohorts of gifted students who participated in an enrichm...

Creative potential is one of the most important topics for research. It is difficult to study because, unlike creative products, potential is by definition latent. There are several useful methods. One involves comparing creative activity expressed in various settings. Previous research has, for example, compared creativity expressed in school with...

This chapter draws on psychometric theory to examine several of the “C’s” in the Seven C theory. It pinpoints questions that must be asked when empirical research is conducted. These include, which population is being sampled? What is the focus, creative potential or actual creative performance? Key concerns are noted, the broadest concerning gener...

The topic of uncertainty has not received the attention it deserves. This chapter develops the view that uncertainty is a part of all creative efforts, first by going into some detail about how creativity is defined, then turning to several kinds of research on creativity that support that view. The first section about the definition of creativity...

Creative potential is one of the very most important topics for research. It is difficult to study because, unlike creative products, potential is by definition latent. There are several methods. One involves comparing creative activity expressed in various settings. Previous research has, for example, compared creativity expressed in school with t...

Investigations of differences between gifted and nongifted students have examined cognitive abilities, including intelligence quotient (IQ) differences, higher order thinking skills, and divergent thinking (DT). However, little is known about differences in problem finding (PF). Moreover, previous works on gifted students have never explored associ...

Various approaches have been developed to examine the degree to which organizations support or inhibit creativity. One approach involves comparing creative behavior expressed when a person is at work with that displayed when they are not at work. The present investigation compared creative behavior at work vs. outside of work with a sample of 164 p...

The current study examined gender differences in divergent thinking (DT) using meta-analyses of mean difference and variation. The main objective of the meta-analysis of mean difference was to resolve contradictory findings in the creativity literature regarding the prevalence of more creativity among males or females in terms of creative potential...

Despite popular media interest in uncovering the creative habits of successful people, there is a surprising paucity of empirical research on the diversity of tendencies and preferences people have when engaged in creative work. We developed a simple survey that characterized 42 creative habits along 21 independent dimensions. Data from 9,633 respo...

Performance on divergent thinking (DT) tests varies by different testing conditions. Although many studies documented that DT performance increases when more time is provided, it still remains unanswered whether DT performance continues to increase linearly or follows a rather non-linear pattern as more time is allowed. The present study examined a...

The article investigated the impact of a robotic-based enrichment program on problem finding (PF) and active-openminded thinking skills (AOT) in 60 gifted female students (8th and 9th graders) from the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The participants were randomly selected from several cohorts of gifted students who participated in an enrichment su...

EEG alpha synchronization, especially in posterior parietal cortical regions of the right hemisphere, is indicative of high internal processing demands that are typically involved in divergent thinking (DT). During the course of DT, as ideation proceeds, ideas tend to become more creative, being more likely to be drawn from new conceptual categorie...

This meta-analysis examined the association of birth order and divergent thinking (DT). The main purpose was to examine how ordinal position (only, first, middle, or last-born) is related to creativity. The results from 27 studies (k = 222; N = 4,690) were analyzed using a multilevel approach. Because some previous studies compared first- vs. later...

This textbook is a systematic and straightforward introduction to the interdisciplinary study of creativity. Each chapter is written by one or more of the world's experts and features the latest research developments, alongside foundational knowledge. Each chapter also includes an introduction, key terms, and critical thought questions to promote a...

After more than six decades of systematic study of creativity , there is still no agreement regarding components essential to define creativity. Prior studies of implicit and explicit theories have suggested adding criteria to the standard definition of what creativity is; however, an alternative approach is to explore what creativity is not. The c...

In the interview with Mark Runco, one of most prolific creativity researchers, we discuss his career, main areas of research interest, chosen research methods and share his thoughts about the future of research on creativity and effectiveness in scientific work.

This meta-analysis examined the association of birth order on divergent thinking (DT). The main purpose was to reveal how ordinal position (only, first, middle, or last-born) relates to creativity. The results of 27 studies (k = 222) were analyzed using a multilevel approach. Since some previous studies compared first- vs. later-born children where...

This review summarizes the theories, research, and methodologies associated with the study of individual differences in creativity, including individual differences in personality, cognition, style, attitude, and perception. These individual differences must be taken into account whenever there is an interest in supporting or enhancing creativity....

This review summarizes the theories, research, and methodologies associated with the study of individual differences in creativity, including individual differences in personality, cognition, style, attitude, and perception. These individual differences must be taken into account whenever there is an interest in supporting or enhancing creativity....

In recognition of the capability of text-mining models to quantify aspects of language use, some creativity researchers have adopted text-mining models as a mechanism to objectively and efficiently score the Originality of open-ended responses to verbal divergent thinking tasks. With the increasing use of text-mining models in divergent thinking re...

Quantifying the creative quality of scholarly work is a difficult challenge, and, unsurprisingly, empirical research in this area is scarce. This investigation builds on the theoretical distinction between impact (e.g., citation counts) and creative quality (e.g., originality) and extends recent work on using objective measures to assess the origin...

Many studies have explored the individual differences, including differences in IQ, higher order thinking skills, and divergent thinking (DT), between gifted and nongifted students. However, little is known about individual differences between gifted and nongifted students in terms of problem finding (PF) ability. Moreover, previous works on gifted...

Creativity research and theories have much to offer to the study of sport. This chapter begins with a review of relevant theories of creativity, with an emphasis on the concepts and ideas that are directly tied to motor performance. It reviews sport‐specific literature and identifies the main cognitive, affective, and environmental resources allowi...

Two studies investigated the effects of cognitive and school environmental factors on adolescents' creative performance. The first study tested the effects of expected evaluation and cognitive style on creativity among 89 high school students. The second study tested the effects of evaluation type and cognitive style on creativity among 92 high sch...

This study examined the relationship between problem finding (PF) and creativity. A search of published and unpublished studies in English from 1960 to 2015 resulted in 40 studies with a total of 6,649 male and female participants, with ages ranging from childhood to adulthood. Accordingly, this meta-analysis estimated the population correlations b...

Individuals who are interested in creativity can learn quite a bit from physics. This is especially true because physics has several idiosyncrasies, making it unique in various ways, which is exactly what would be expected given the domain differences so often associated with creativity. This chapter examines physics and creativity. It begins by lo...

This contribution to the Festschrift for Teresa Amabile describes the importance of intrinsic motivation for creativity and looks back at how the concept of intrinsic motivation has changed over the years. Early on the connection to creativity was vague and non-experimental, but then Amabile developed methods with good controls and in turn was able...

Three studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between motivation and malevolent creativity (MC). In Study 1, participants completed motivation scales and a measure of MC in online formats. Results showed that approach motivation accurately predicted MC, whereas avoidance motivation was negatively related to MC. In Study 2, participan...

This study investigated how creativity reveals itself in written language and showed that creative ideas can be identified in written works by discovering words and phrases (keywords) that are used to introduce new ideas. Additionally, this study sought to find a solution to alleviate creativity’s laborious scoring procedure. The sample included un...

The field of sport evolves at an extremely rapid pace. Athletes jump higher, run faster, and are stronger than ever before. Competition is becoming more and more challenging, unpredictable, and distracting. To keep the pace and stay competitive, athletes need to reinvent themselves on a regular basis (Phillips, Davids, Renshaw, & Portus, 2010). Cre...

The aim of this study was to test the notion that engagement in creative activity directly affects the flow state dimension of challenge-skills balance, and indirectly via coping strategies in the realm of sport. Two hundred and eight athletes classified as intermediate, advanced, and expert level were administered a Creative Activities and Accompl...

Previous research on divergent thinking (DT) indicates that fluency, originality, and flexibility change with time. Although there is a drop in the ideational productivity per minute, ideas tend to get more original and flexible as time passes, a phenomenon known as the order effect. The present research extends previous findings of longer latencie...

Who decides what counts as creative? Although most creativity researchers would acknowledge that both individuals and broader social audiences can offer interpretations about creativity, the way in which researchers tend to conceptualize and study creativity typically focuses on either an individual or a social perspective. Those who focus on indiv...

This article reviews research on divergent thinking (DT) and the new methods that have recently been developed. Special attention is given to the theory of Literal DT, where creative cognition does in fact branch out and diverge rather than follow linear pathways. Even more attention is given to the growing research showing the value of computerize...

Divergent thinking (DT) tests are often used for creativity assessment. They differ from many other tests in that they are open-ended. A great deal of research has examined the influence of test instructions on the number and nature of responses to DT tests. Most instructions explicitly emphasize quantity (e.g., "give as many ideas as you can"). Ot...

This entire volume is intended to challenge static conceptions of creative action and thought. The present chapter introduces a particular dynamic definition of creativity. It also explores applications of that definition, primarily for education. The definition detailed herein is only one of several, as is evidenced by the other chapters in this s...

This chapter explores the impact of politics on creativity. It begins by distinguishing creative potential from creative achievement. Creative potential is the ideal target for the educational system. The problem is that, although there are reliable indicators and predictors of creative potential, there is always uncertainty with a prediction. Poli...

The creative economy depends on various kinds of investments. Governments of all levels need to invest in education, for example, so talents will be supported and expressed. Grants for research represent another important kind of investment. Recent theory suggests refocusing these sorts of investments on skills that have been identified as most use...

Personal obstacles to creativity were investigated by sampling 297 Arab women from four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory, as self-report, was used. It assesses four types of obstacles (a) inhibition/shyness, (b) lack of time/opportuni...

Personal obstacles to creativity were investigated by sampling 297 Arab women from four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory, as self-report, was used. It assesses four types of obstacles (a) inhibition/shyness, (b) lack of time/opportun...

Building on previous research showing a negative relationship between conservatism and creativity, the present investigation focused specifically on religiosity in the context of the United States. Because of the association between conservatism and religiosity, creativity might have a negative association with religiosity, too. To this end, indivi...

Divergent thinking (DT) tests are often used to estimate the potential for creative thinking. They are usually scored for fluency, originality, and flexibility. The last of these is especially important because it allows the person to avoid rigidity and conceptual ruts. Usually, flexibility is operationalized in terms of the absolute number of conc...

The present study used a latent variable modelling approach to investigate the influence of motivation on creative achievement in different environments. This was used in conjunction and interaction with other creativity-related predictors, such as openness to new experience and response originality in a divergent thinking task. Specifically, the i...

The criterion-related validity of divergent thinking (DT) tests has been questioned because of relatively low correlations between DT test scores and creative performance. A possible inhibiting factor in previous correlations—heterogeneity of the sample—has been ignored. If groups with different DT profiles are involved in this line of research, lo...

.Abstract – In the latter half of 2015, a survey looking at attitudes and beliefs about creativity was distributed on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan. Over 2000 responses were gathered, including more than 200 in the College of Engineering. Initial quantitative results from this study were reported in 2016 in Neufeld et al [2]. In term...

This study investigated whether the experience of "breaking the walls", the embodiment of the metaphor "breaking the rules", could enhance creative performance. The virtual reality technology was used to simulate the scenario where participants could "break the walls" while walking in a corridor. Participants were asked to solve the creativity-dema...

This Commentary examines where the creativity research has been and where it is going. They key points include evolving definitions of creativity, interdisciplinarity in the creativity research, divergent thinking as a reliable index of creative potential, improvements in testing, the impact of technology, the inclusion of political, moral, and eve...

Joseph Campbell is the mythographer of the last century who has congenially opened the mythological universe to both scholars and to a wide range of people searching for pathways to enlighten their lives. His elixir of life was to help people “see myth as a reflection of the one sublime adventure of life, and then to breathe new life into it” (Camp...

This commentary is focused on Robert Sternberg’s new Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) model. The new model is well conceived and goes far beyond existing models. It is especially attractive in that the emphasis is on ethics. Now more than ever before there is a clear need for education to support ethical reasoning and beh...

This chapter explores the various relationships that exist between contradictions and creativity. The focus is education, with implications for both teachers and students. Contradictions are defined and contrasted with problems, disequilibria, and dilemmae. Product, place, personality, and process perspectives on creativity as also compared. The ad...

The inaugural issue of the Journal of Genius and Eminence (JGE) contained an editorial that called for investigations representing a wide range of fields and domains. That issue of JGE contained articles on genius and outstanding achievement in history, culture, and philosophy, the language arts, science, and the culinary arts. The present article...

The investigation replicated and extended previous research showing a negative relationship between conservatism and creative accomplishment. Conservatism was estimated, as in previous research, from voting patterns. The voting data used here were from the 2016 US Presidential election. The number of patents granted per county in the United States...

Previous research has reported that there is a discrepancy between the creativity students display when they are in school and that which they display when they are not in school. The present investigation explored this creativity gap. A measure that captures creative activity and achievement in various domains (art, science and technology, everyda...

The criterion problem was one of the focal points of early studies of creativity, but several useful criteria have been developed in the last few decades. The investigation reported here represents additional progress. This report (a) describes a new quality of creative achievement index for each domain of the Creative Activity and Accomplishment C...

Risk taking is often associated with creativity, yet little evidence exists to support this association. The present article aimed to systematically explore this association. In two studies, we investigated the relationship between five different domains of risk taking (financial, health and safety, recreational, ethical and social) and five differ...