Poster #29 - Individual Differences in Young Children’s Divergent Thinking

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Creativity is increasingly lauded as a “21st century skill” that parents and teachers should promote (Lubart et al., 2013). However, relatively little is known about the construct of creativity in early childhood, its development, or the underlying cognitive processes. The present study focused on a specific aspect of children’s creativity: divergent thinking, the ability to generate diverse responses to an open-ended prompt. Using a child-friendly adaptation of the Alternate Uses test of divergent thinking (AUT; Wallach & Kogan, 1965), we examined whether children’s divergent thinking performance was associated with a set of characteristics that have been theoretically linked to creativity (executive function, intelligence, temperament, and fantasy orientation) and whether these associations varied with age. We also sought to evaluate the validity of the adapted AUT by examining its correlations with an alternative creativity assessment. Typically developing children (N = 102; 52 4-year-olds and 50 6-year-olds) completed the Minnesota Executive Function Scale (Carlson & Zelazo, 2014), the draw-a-person assessment of creativity (Mottweiler & Taylor, 2014), and the Stanford-Binet routing subtests (Roid, 2005). They were then randomly assigned to complete the AUT with stimuli that were either very familiar, somewhat familiar, or novel. Parents completed questionnaires about their child’s temperament (the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire - Very Short Form; Putnam & Rothbart, 2006) and pretend play habits (Taylor & Carlson, 1997). Previously presented analyses showed an effect of AUT stimulus familiarity on children’s originality – the number of ideas generated during the task, weighted by their uniqueness relative to other children in the sample. To control for this effect in the present analyses, AUT scores were standardized within familiarity condition. Correlations between these scores and other child characteristics were then calculated separately by age group, to examine developmental changes in the nature of these relations (Table 1). In both groups, weighted originality scores on the AUT were moderately, positively associated with scores on the draw-a-person task. Other correlates of AUT performance varied by age group. Among 4-year-olds, the strongest correlate was executive function, with stronger EF skills predicting lower AUT scores. Among 6-year-olds, the strongest predictors were IQ and surgency (a facet of temperament that encompasses sensation-seeking and lack of shyness), both of which predicted higher AUT scores. Highly fantasy-oriented 6-year-olds (those who had an imaginary companion or frequently engaged in role-play) also had higher AUT scores, on average, than less fantasy-oriented 6-year-olds, t(46) = 2.57, p <.05 (Figure 1). The draw-a-person task showed a similar pattern of correlations with other measures as the AUT, although the associations were generally weaker. While these analyses are provisional, they suggest that the adapted AUT and Mottweiler and Taylor’s (2014) draw-a-person task likely tap into a similar set of skills, supporting their validity as assessments of childhood creativity. The differing patterns of correlations across age groups further suggest a developmental shift in the mental processes involved in AUT performance, which warrants further investigation. Future work will seek to replicate these associations and examine whether some of the non-significant correlations with AUT scores might be masking interaction effects.

Authors

• Julie Vaisarova, University of Minnesota
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie M. Carlson, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author