Record Details
Traits relevant to creativity present in four year old nursery school children
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Traits relevant to creativity present in four year old nursery school children |
| Names |
Cooper, Beverly McKnight
(creator) Carlin, Marian C. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1967-07-13 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1968 |
| Abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine if personality traits relevant to creativity in adults are measurable in four year old nursery school children. Instruments and scoring techniques were developed to measure six specific traits. These traits are the intellectual aptitude abilities of figural fluency, elaboration, originality and penetration and the non aptitude traits of curiosity and autonomy. Subjects of the study were 28 children in attendance at Oregon State University nursery schools who were four years zero months to and including four years eleven months at the time of testing. The four intellectual aptitude traits were measured by two tasks which are independent measures of the subjects' individual response to a creative situation. A revision of the Minnesota Bureau of Research's Incomplete Figures Task and the Lowenfeld Kaleidoblocs were used with scoring procedures developed specifically for this research. A curiosity instrument patterned after one designed by Starkweather was developed to measure interest in the unknown. Autonomy was rated by the subjects' nursery school teachers on a scale designed after separate instruments used by Joel and Heather. The results were considered in terms of the distribution of raw scores to determine if the tests discriminated in the measurement of the abilities of the subjects. Correlation coefficients were calculated to determine interrelationships between the traits. As the scores for several traits were distributed over a narrow range interpretation was limited, therefore, the analysis of the correlations was in terms of clusters of scores rather than independent correlations. Finally the subjects were ranked according to their individual creative ability. Six highly creative and five noncreative subjects were isolated and a comparison was made between the two groups. It was concluded that a definite value of both the Incomplete Figures and Kaleidobloc Tasks was their initial appeal and ability to maintain the interest of the subjects. The distribution of scores of the tasks was indication that the two instruments discriminate in the measurement of the abilities of the subjects. A significant correlation was found between the Incomplete Figures and Kaleidobloc Tasks which suggests that the two instruments measure the same traits. There was no correlation between curiosity and the creativity traits implying either that there is no relationship between an interest in the unknown and/or creativity at four years of age in a similar population, or that the instrument is not a reliable and/or valid instrument of measurement. Autonomy was not found to be correlated with the traits of creativity. As the scale appeared to be a valid measure of autonomy and the distribution of scores suggested some reliability it was hypothesized that autonomy is not relevant to creativity at four years of age. The rationale is that the concept of autonomy includes not only independence but sociability, conformity, and intolerance to disorder. The conclusion to be drawn from this study is that two instruments were developed which appear useful as measurement of some intellectual aptitude traits of creativity in preschool children. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Creative ability |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/47089 |
