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Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal
Published on: April 18, 2017
Creative potential, creative achievement, and personal growth
1Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley 94720-5050, USA. helson@socrates.berkeley.edu
Abstract:
We tested the idea that young people who have creative potential (are complex and unconventional) increase in intrapsychic awareness as they mature but often have difficulty with psychosocial growth, especially the development of a cohesive identity; and that for some women commitment to creative work solves the problem of psychosocial integration and leads to creative achievement. In a longitudinal sample of 109 women, these ideas were supported: Creative potential and creative achievement were both associated with intrapsychic growth but only creative achievement was associated with psychosocial growth. Regression analyses showed that the development of a cohesive identity from early to middle adulthood added to and interacted with creative potential in the prediction of creative achievement.
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