Part Three

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

SEERCP 2009, Sofia, Bulgaria

WS_N: Tolerance for ambiguity, creativity and personality

Katya Stoycheva

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

European Year

Creativity and Innovation

2009

http://create2009.europa.eu

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

©ambiguity tolerance and creative performance

©the relation of ambiguity tolerance to creative motivation and need for achievement

©ambiguity tolerance and creative personality

Topics

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Ambiguity tolerance

and

creative performance

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

High TFA adolescents :

generated more original ideas and solutions to the verbal tasks of the TTCT

generated less descriptive and more abstract titles to the figural tasks of the TTCT

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

High TFA students:

provided more broad and generalised problem redefinitions

received higher mean creativity score on their solutions to redefined problems

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Ambiguity tolerance

and

creativity motivation

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

McDonald’s AT-20/BG 117 Students aged 17 - 43

r = 0.34 * * 279 Adults aged 17 - 69

r = 0.45 * * * Torrance’s creative motivation

Norton’s MAT-50/BG-3 106 Adolescents aged 14 - 19

r = 0.32 * * 135 Students aged 19 - 34

r = 0.38 * * *

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Creative motivation items that differentiate students with high and low tolerance of ambiguity

don’t pay attention to the wild ideas

dislike getting into things where I don’t know what’s going to happen

enjoy work in which must keep trying new approaches

fascinated by new ideas, whether or not they have practical value

enjoy tackling a job that involves many as yet unknown difficulties

get excited about trying out a new idea that may have no practical value

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Creative motivation and need for achievement are positively related

106 Adolescents aged 14 - 19 r = 0.32 * *

135 Students aged 19 - 34 r = 0.38 * * *also

1286 Adolescents aged 14 - 19 r = 0.40* * *

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Creative motivation items that differentiate students with high and low need for achievementput a lot of energy and hard work in what they do

enjoy getting into things that involve unknown difficulties

get excited when an idea begins to work out

Need for achievement items that differentiate students with high and low creative motivationtake up several things to do at the same time

give up something that can be achieved only with great efforts

always interfere if a question is being incompetently discussed

get enthusiastic when they talk about their work and plans

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Creative motivation empowers the individual in his/her intrinsically motivated engagement with creative pursuits.

Need for achievement empowers the individual in his/her expenditure of time, energy and efforts in the creative work.

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Tolerance for ambiguity is related positively to creative motivation but is not related

to need for achievement.

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

Tolerance of ambiguity may empower the intrinsically motivated exploration of novel, unusual or complex stimuli and situations.

However, ambiguity tolerance is not related to the search for the best standards of achievement in the results of the creative work.

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009)

©ambiguity tolerance and creative performance

©the relation of ambiguity tolerance to creative motivation and need for achievement

©ambiguity tolerance and creative personality

Topics

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

Katya Stoycheva (SEERCP 2009

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jacobs Foundation

NATO Research Fellowship

Laboratory of Cognition and Development University Rene Descartes, Paris, France

Institute of Psychology, Academy of SciencesSofia, Bulgaria

The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Ambiguity Tolerance and Creativity

SEERCP 2009, Sofia, Bulgaria WS_N: Tolerance for ambiguity, creativity and personality

THANK YOU

FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Katya Stoycheva