Figure reversals and creativity: a research note

In a series of studies, Bergum and Bergum (1979a, 1979b) noted a positive relationship between college students' self-perceptions of creativity and their passive rates of ambiguous figure reversal. While these authors suggest that a relationship may also exist between figure-reversal rate and creativity, as assessed by external measures, their research does not support this claim. Indeed, other research has not substantiated a relationship between rate of figure reversal and objective tests of creativity (Bloomberg, 1971; Bergum & Flamm, 1975). It may also be the case that students' perceptions of their own creative ability differ markedly from externally-derived measures of such ability. As part of a larger study relating figure-reversal rate, creativity, and handedness, the present authors attempted to replicate and extend the work of Bergum and Bergum through the use of professors' judgments of students' creativity. The subjects were 48 senior students of architecture (40 males, 8 females). Each student initially read a description of six factors commonly associated with creativity in the psychological literature and then rated himself in creative ability in comparison to his classmates. In accordance with Bergum and Bergum (1979a, 1979b), the students passively viewed (and recorded) figure reversals of six ambiguous figures. The six figures were presented for 60 sec. each, with 10-sec. intervals, in two random orders. Students' creative ability was also determined from rankings by two architecture professors who were familiar with the students' work. To guide their rankings, the professors used the same description of creativity as was given to the students.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)