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IEA 2018, 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association, FLORENCE, ITALIE, 26-/08/2018 - 30/08/2018; The ``probe' technique aims to support user-centred design by facilitating the exploration and collection of new ideas concerning technology use and services with a participatory design orientation. This technique consists essentially in introducing and providing targeted ``potential' users with one (or more) simple artefact(s) illustrative of the considered emerging technology so that the participants can put and use it at home, in their daily environment during a long time, i.e. several days or even weeks. The main assumption is that users' ideation is stimulated by handling the artefact and projecting possible uses from their individual's daily physical and social environment. This study examines to what extend the «probe» technique can support users in their elicitation of creative uses as possible precursors of «latent needs» related to an emerging technology. The technique was compared with a standard prototype exploration situation where subjects came to the laboratory to be introduced to, to manipulate and to test the artefact before eliciting creative uses. Additionally, two eliciting conditions (individual vs. group) were contrasted in order to investigate the effect of social construction on the generation of creative ideas. The results suggest that the ``probe' condition significantly exceeds the in-laboratory prototype-based production condition both in terms of quantity and quality of ideas. We also replicated the result that individuals working alone produced significantly more idea than those working interactively within a group. We finally discussed the factors that may explain these results and the perspectives.

Users have been for a few decades recognized as precious contribution to the creative design process. However, the gap of knowledge and motivation between users and designers may weaken the collaboration between participants of co-design meetings. With the emergence of new technologies, design meetings inside virtual environments are developing. This study aims to determine whether virtual environments enhance the creative performance and the quality of collaboration inside co-design workshops. Besides, we tried to determine whether user-designer collaboration inside a virtual environment was more or less effective than “only-user” collaboration. Thirty teams of three participants each took part to creative design workshops whose purpose was to create a new solution to improve mobility in Paris. The teams were distributed into 3 experimental conditions: mixed teams in virtual environment, user teams in virtual environment and user teams in real environment. The workshops consisted in a 10-min step of idea-generation followed by two 10-min steps of solution-selection (one short-term and one long-term solution). In the idea-generation step, user teams produced more ideas in the virtual environment than in the real one. In the solution-selection step, teams in real environment performed a better time management than teams in virtual environment. Finally, mixed teams produced more useful solutions than user teams, and teams in real environment produced more useful solutions than teams in virtual environment, while no effect of the conditions has been evidenced on the level of originality of the produced solutions.

This chapter offers a new conceptualization of culture, focusing on domains of professional activity. Culture is understood as a dynamic system integrating material, symbolic, and social elements and describing the context of human action. From this perspective, culture exists not only between nations but also within nations, at the level of different groups and communities. Professional groups are cultural units, which bring together people who share a number of norms and values, work within a given set of material constraints, and co-construct a common identity. Artists, scientists, and designers represent distinctive professional groups associated with recognized forms of creative activity. Research is presented concerning (a) the factors involved in creative expression in art, science, and design, and (b) the creative processes specific for different stages of creative work within each of these domains. The findings are interpreted in terms of cultural and contextual influences.

This article reviews developmental studies of creativity in children and adolescents with a focus on " peaks " and " slumps " that have often been described in the literature. The irregularity of the development of creativity is interpreted in light of conceptual and measurement issues and with regard to the interaction between individual-level resources, task-specific demands, and environmental influences, resulting in apparent individual differences in the development of creativity. The need for longitudinal designs, multidimensional and multi-domain assessment of creative potential limiting the contribution of task-specific factors is outlined and discussed as an important direction for developmental research on creativity.

The literature on creativity has often focused on the analysis of artists and scientists. The ability to generalize these findings to respective professional sub-disciplines is examined. In particular, the present study addresses the generalizability of the personality profile of creative scientists to creative social scientists. Autonomy was found to be the most important personality feature for creativity in social sciences. These results suggest the importance of fostering an autonomous working style.

This study provides new evidence concerning task specificity in creativity—examining through a cross-cultural perspective the extent to which performance in graphic versus verbal creativity tasks (domain specificity) and in divergent versus convergent creativity tasks (process specificity) are correlated. The relations between different creativity tasks in monocultural and multicultural samples of Chinese and French children were compared. Electronic versions of the Wallach and Kogan Creativity Test (WKCT, Wallach & Kogan, 1965; Lau & Cheung, 2010) and the Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC; Lubart, Besancon, & Barbot, 2011; Barbot, Besancon, & Lubart, 2011) were used. Both measures showed satisfactory psychometric properties and cross-cultural structural validity. The results showed that culture has an impact on the structure of creative ability: It appeared that correlation patterns were different across Chinese and French groups and across monocultural and multicultural groups. Such results show that it is crucial to take task specificity into account when investigating the effect of culture on creativity. Indeed, our study implies that cultural differences that are found using one specific creativity task might not be automatically generalizable to all sorts of creativity tasks. Limitations are discussed and perspectives for future research on culture and task specificity in creativity are proposed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide new elements to understand, measure and predict managerial creativity. More specifically, based on new approaches to creative potential (Lubart et al., 2011), this study proposes to distinguish two aspects of managerial creative problem solving: divergent-exploratory thinking, in which managers try to generate several new solutions to a problem; and convergent-integrative thinking, in which managers select and elaborate one creative solution. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, personality is examined as a predictor of managerial creative problem solving: On one hand, based on previous research on general divergent thinking (e.g. Ma, 2009), it is hypothesized that managerial divergent thinking is predicted by high openness to experience and low agreeableness. On the other hand, because efficient people management involves generating satisfying and trustful social interactions, it is hypothesized that convergent-integrative thinking ability is predicted by high agreeableness. In all, 137 adult participants completed two divergent-exploratory thinking managerial tasks and two convergent-integrative thinking managerial task and the Big Five Inventory (John and Srivastava, 1999). Findings – As expected, divergent-exploratory thinking was predicted by openness to experience (r=0.21; pr=−0.22; pr=0.28; p Originality/value – Contrary to most research on managerial creativity (e.g. Scratchley and Hakstian, 2001), the study focuses (and provides measure guidelines) on both divergent and convergent thinking dimensions of creative potential. This study replicates and extends previous results regarding the link between personality (especially agreeableness) and managerial creativity.

Based on Glăveanu’s target article, issues raised about the psychometric approach to creativity research are examined. Criticisms of divergent thinking tests, such as the unusual uses of an object test, are examined. Arguments supporting the theoretical and practical utility of divergent thinking tests are presented. It is furthermore suggested that tests are best conceived and used in contextualized ways. The example of measures of divergent thinking which were designed for managers is presented. Finally, the psychometric approach encompasses many aspects of creativity beyond divergent thinking, as illustrated by recent work on the evaluation of creative potential (the EPoC battery). In the EPoC assessment, both divergent-exploratory thinking and convergent-integrative thinking are measured in a range of contextual domains, such as the visual-graphic, verballiterary, social problem solving ones. This work contrasts with the simplistic, and restrictive view of the unusual uses of an object test as the epitome of the psychometric approach to creativity.

Creativity at work can be seen as the result of the interaction between individual (cognitive, conative, and affective) and environmental characteristics. Thus, individuals with creative potential will be more or less willing and able to act on this capacity depending on the presence or absence of psychological and environmental factors. The present chapter presents the different individual and environmental factors influencing creativity in organizations. It introduces different tools to assess creative potential and organizational climate for creativity as well as methods to evaluate creative accomplishments.

Recent research on creative person has been enriched with a new perspective that brings together the study of brain functioning with the analysis of creative mind and creative behaviour. This chapter attempts to contribute to this effort, by reviewing the literature on brain activity and creativity, within the theoretical framework offered by the multivariate approach. According to this approach the multidimensional creative process is conceptualized as the interaction between person-centred factors, such as cognitive abilities, motivational drives, and personality traits, and contextual influences derived from the environment. Using this approach as a unifying theoretical framework, a coherent picture of the neurological phenomenology of creativity is provided. The viewpoint presented in this chapter should motivate investigators to reflect on the creative brain using wide theoretical lenses such as the one offered by the multivariate approach.

In the present study we experimentally manipulated language switching among bilinguals who indicated to be more or less habitual language switchers in daily life. Our aim was to investigate the impact of forced language switching on originality of produced ideas during divergent thinking, conditional on the level of habitual language switching. A sample of bilinguals was randomly assigned to perform alternate uses tasks (AUT's), which explicitly required them to either switch languages, or to use only one language while performing the tasks. We found that those who were instructed to switch languages during the AUT's were able to generate ideas that were on average more original, than those who were instructed to use only one language during the AUT's, but only at higher levels of habitual language switching. At low levels of habitual language switching, the effect reversed, and participants who were instructed to use only one language found ideas that were on average more original, than participants who were required to switch languages during the AUT's. Implications and limitations are discussed., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

As creativity has become a requisite skill for engineers and a part of their basic training, one of the challenges in engineering education is to supply students with a good understanding of creativity and development tools. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of these tools during a conceptual product design challenge. Students were introduced to creativity and development techniques and were provided the opportunity to choose and apply various methods during a hands-on project over 10 sessions distributed over 8 weeks. The analysis of the workbook used to record their progress showed individual differences in the creative process stages and performance as well as the nature of the tools used, when these tools were applied, and their effectiveness. The most creative students (C+) came up with original unique concepts, employed significantly more tools than the less creative ones (C−) and sustained their effort to find ideas up to the very end of the project. Most students who used Analogies, Personas, mind mapping, purge, and/or reverse brainstorming produced unique ideas, a variety of concepts as well as technological innovations. Structured and rational methods, such as functional analysis were used by both groups C+ and C−. This structured approach resulted in a mere reformulation of the specifications’ brief that helped students to clarify the problem and to better understand the functions and the constraints and they felt “ready to get started”. As it was observed with TRIZ, FAST, SADT, APTE and IRAD, the majority (78%) of the students who applied functional analysis did not come up with any unique or original kitchen concepts. The findings are discussed in relation to the effectiveness of the creativity training to improve the students’ confidence in their creative potential, as well as the fit between the tools used and (a) the conceptual design challenge, (b) the phase of the creative process, and (c) individual preferences such as the need for structure and closure.

Revising Snyder’s (1974) original Self-Monitoring Scale, Lennox and Wolfe’s (1984) double-sided approach distinguishes two aspects of self-monitoring: (a) the active, high self-esteem, and extrovert side, measured by the Revised Self-Monitoring Scale (RSMS); and (b) the protective, low self-esteem and anxious side, measured by the Concern for Appropriateness Scale (CAS). This study aims at moving forward the assessment of self-monitoring by providing a valid French translation of these two scales. Six hundred and 34 participants were asked to complete the RSMS and the CAS, as well as other measures to assess construct validity. Distribution, scale score reliability, temporal stability, and factor structure were examined. Using a split-sample procedure, construct validity was also investigated, using several criteria (self-esteem, social desirability, extraversion, openness, trait anxiety, self-consciousness, gregariousness, straightforwardness), including new criteria that provide a more accurate definition of the two underlying constructs. The French RSMS and the French CAS replicate the psychometric properties of the other versions (Bachner-Melman, Bacon-Shnoor, Zohar, Elizur, & Ebstein, 2009; O’Cass, 2000) and appear to be psychometrically robust. Strengths, weaknesses, and potential uses of both scales are discussed.

Evaluating individual creativity is an important challenge in creativity research. We developed a training module for non-expert judges in which participants learned the definitions of components of creativity and received expert feedback in an interactive creativity judgment exercise. We aimed to test whether and how the training module would increase the reliability and validity of non-expert ratings. Study 1 (N = 79) showed that the training had a positive effect on the test–retest reliability and validity of creativity ratings. Study 2 (N = 126) replicated the results on test–retest reliability and validity but with low absolute values, indicating that trained participants cannot substitute experts. In addition, Study 2 showed that the effect of the training module on the validity of creativity ratings was mediated by increased validity of ratings of novelty and elaboration. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical relevance.

A partir du debut des annees 1890, les psychologues ont essaye de clarifier au plan scientifique les caracteristiques individuelles, a savoir leur type intellectuel ; ils ont cree la psychologie individuelle. La psychologie individuelle avait pour objectif principal l’etude des differences individuelles dans les processus psychologiques. En 1896, Alfred Binet (1857-1911) et Victor Henri (1872-1940) ont examine les tests mentaux proposes par divers auteurs (par ex., Cattell, 1890), et les ont trouves tres incomplets ; de plus, ils n’etaient pas representatifs, parce que chaque test mental laissait de cote la mesure des processus mentaux superieurs. Dans ce contexte Binet et Henri ont propose de mesurer : 1. la memoire ; 2. la nature des images mentales ; 3. l’imagination ; 4. l’attention ; 5. la faculte de comprehension ; 6. la suggestibilite ; 7. le sentiment esthetique ; 8. les sentiments moraux ; 9. la force musculaire et la force de la volonte ; et 10. l’habilete motrice et le coup d’œil. De nombreux tests ingenieux ont ete utilises par Binet et Henri ; ceux-ci ont ete selectionnes dans des domaines ou les variations inter-individuelles etaient les plus marquees. Ce programme de psychologie individuelle a ete la premiere etape qui a conduit a l’elaboration d’un test d’intelligence propose par Binet et Simon en 1905. Cet article fournit: 1. un examen des travaux de Binet entre 1892 et 1903 dans le domaine de la psychologie individuelle ; 2. une traduction de l’article fondateur de Binet et Henri (1896) sur la psychologie individuelle afin que cette contribution importante puisse etre portee a l’attention de la communaute anglophone.

Visual aesthetic sensitivity has been conceived as an intelligence-independent and personality-independent disposition (Frois & Eysenck, 1995). However, recent research suggests that aesthetic experience and its outcomes can be predicted by personality traits (Furnham & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2004; Furnham & Walker, 2001; McCrae, 2007; Rawlings, Barrantes-Vidal, & Furnham, 2000) and is cognitively facilitated (Leder, Belke, Oeberst, & Augustin, 2004; Reber, Schwarz, & Winkielman, 2004; Silvia, 2005, 2006; Smith & Smith, 2006). Following these new findings, three studies (the first ones in France) examined the Visual Aesthetic Sensitivity Test (Gotz, Borisy, Lynn, & Eysenck, 1979; Gotz, 1985) on young adult samples (Total N = 345). It was hypothesized that visual aesthetic sensitivity is related to general intelligence (study 1), specific personality traits (study 2) and figural creativity (study 3). The Visual Aesthetic Sensitivity Test was found to be predicted by intelligence (r = .27; p < .01) openness to aesthetics (r = .27; p < .01) and figural divergent thinking (r = .40; p < .001). Implications for further research are discussed.

Since its inception, the psychology of creativity has been concerned primarily with the study of individual creators. In contrast, this research is dedicated to an exploration of (a) who has a significant impact on a creative professional's activity and (b) what the contribution is that others make to creative outcomes. The research included interviews with 60 professionals working in science and creative industries in France. The following categories of others emerged: family and friends, peers and students, clients and funders, critics and gatekeepers, and the general public – and they were related to themes depicting the interaction between these different others and the creator. Findings reveal both similarities and differences across the five domains in terms of the specific contribution of others to the creative process. Social interactions play a key formative, regulatory, motivational and informational role in relation to creative work. From ‘internalized’ to ‘distant’, other people are an integral part of the equation of creativity calling for a de-centring of the creative self and its re-centring in a social space of actions and interactions.

Research on creative artists has examined mainly their personality traits or cognitive abilities. However, it seems important to explore also their emotional traits to complete the profile. This study examines two emotional characteristics: alexithymia and affect intensity. Even if most research suggests that artists are less alexithymic and experience more intensively their emotions, Botella, M., Zenasni, F., and Lubart, T. (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5, 251, 2011) observed that art students were as alexithymic as psychology students and more alexithymic than a normative population. The aim of this study was to examine these issues with artists and non-artists and to compare artists to art students. Results indicate that artists are less alexithymic and present higher affect intensity than non-artists. Moreover, results show that art students present more difficulties processing their emotions than artists.

In a postmodern society, constructivist approaches—focusing on the “self”—such as the life-designing paradigm offer contemporary perspectives in understanding one’s life trajectory. Self-construction appears as a fundamental concept. The present chapter examines how creativity is involved, and can be considered as a relevant resource to foster self-construction. The changing nature of the labor market has raised challenging issues in the field of career counseling that offer new perspectives on creativity and self-development.

Creativity is a 21st-century skill that is receiving increasing attention in schools.One of the key issues that needs to be solved to facilitate the education of creativity is its’ measurement. There is however ongoing controversy on the measurement of creativity. This is an issue of debate concerning both children, adolescents’ and adults’ creativity. A growing scholarly literature, since the earliest attempts to measure creativity more than a century ago, has not yet resolved this issue. To mention just a few of questions that remain to be resolved, we can cite: 1. What is creativity? 2. Why measure it? 3. How can creativity be measured? 4. Who is the best judge of creative work? These questions will be examined in this chapter and a new tool for the evaluation of creative potential in educational settings will be described.

In a time of economic turmoil, finding executive managers with high potential is increasingly important in the business world. Structural constraints (such as flexibility and reactivity linked to constant environmental change), and demographic trends (such as replacement of leaders who retire) are two challenges, among others, that companies have to face. The question of high potential is raised most often with concern to executive management. Who are these high potential managers? What are their profiles and their competencies? How can we identify them and help them develop themselves? These questions are mainly raised by human resource specialists, and those involved in HR career development, whose mission is to anticipate and identify the need of the company by setting up tools and strategies that would be fruitful for the continuous development of the firm. Some authors have described the current situation as a “War of the talents” (e.g., Handfields-Jones, 2001). This article takes an evidence...

This study examined possible bicultural effects on creative potential of children in four groups of Chinese and French children in Hong Kong and Paris. An international battery of widely used divergent measures (Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests; WKCT) and newly constructed divergent-plus-integrative measures (Evaluation of Potential Creativity; EPoC) was established for assessment. Study 1 showed that most measures of WKCT and EPoC were reasonably high in reliability and they had expected correlations with the fluency scores of some subtests of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Study 2 found some interestingly mixed bicultural effects favoring verbal divergent responses for French children and graphic integrative responses for Chinese children. Compared with Paris-French children, the bicultural Hong Kong-French children had significantly higher scores in figural fluency, figural flexibility, and figural uniqueness of WKCT (requiring only verbal divergent responses) but significantly lower scores in the ...

The present research investigates the cognitive and conative profile underlying scientific creativity in psychology. An innovative creativity test including both divergent and convergent thinking was used. Intelligence and personality were also measured. The sample consisted of 121 social science students. Intelligence played a major role for scientific creativity in psychology. With regard to personality, openness and negative agreeableness favored additionally scientific creativity in psychology. In future research, the profile of scientific creativity could be compared with profiles of artistic creativity and everyday creativity.

In this study, we explored whether creativity was domain specific or domain general. The relationships between students’ scores on three creative problem-solving activities (math, spa-tial artistic, and oral linguistic) in the DIS-COVER assessment (Discovering Intellectual Strengths and Capabilities While Observing Varied Ethnic Responses) and the TCT-DP (Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Produc-tion), a non-verbal general measure of creativi-ty, were examined. The participants were 135 first and second graders from two schools in the Southwestern United States from linguisti-cally and culturally diverse backgrounds. Pearson correlations, canonical correlations, and multiple regression analyses were calcu-lated to describe the relationship between the TCT-DP and the three DISCOVER creative problem-solving activities. We found that crea-tivity has both domain-specific and domain-general aspects, but that the domain-specific component seemed more prominent. One im-plication of these results is that educators should consider assessing creativity in specific domains to place students in special programs for gifted students rather than relying only on domain-general measures of divergent think-ing or creativity.

Resume Dans un contexte de grands changements psychosociaux, l’adolescence est une periode determinante pour le developpement de la creativite. Reciproquement, la creativite pourrait etre une composante centrale de la « transformation de soi » a l’adolescence car elle favorise les processus de la pensee impliques dans la formation identitaire, permet de developper et maintenir une representation positive et creative de soi, et facilite l’expression de soi sur des supports d’interets dans lesquels l’adolescent s’est engage. Cet article presente un examen des travaux existants sur le developpement de la creativite a l’adolescence et sur son role dans le developpement de soi, ouvrant sur des implications pratiques en termes de promotion des activites creatives, particulierement importantes durant cette periode de la vie.

Creative thinking in music has received only limited attention in the psychology of art and creativity, yet it appears to be one of the most important issues in the field of music education. As creative thinking in music exists in the general population and increasing evidence suggests the positive effects of active engagement with music, it seems that research on this topic offers promising implications beyond musical education itself. However, there is a lack of suitable measures of creative ability in music for individuals without prior musical training, and many important facets, such as the original use of sound material, are often disregarded in existing assessments. To fill these conceptual and empirical gaps—a prerequisite to any research on musical creativity—we present a new multimethod framework for its evaluation: the Musical Expression Test (MET). This method combines a systematic observational approach with a focus on musical exploratory behaviors and a product-based assessment of musical pieces resulting from musical activities, involving a sound-production set and a computer-based recording system. A study with the MET on a sample of adolescents with and without musical training is presented and provides the first empirical evidence of the MET’s reliability, convergence between behavioral and product-based assessment, and suitability for individuals without particular musical skills. A typology of product-based “creative styles” and their behavioral correlates is presented. The potential uses and implications of the MET for the future of musical creativity assessment and research are discussed.

The aim of this study is to describe naive conceptions of creativity and offer some explanation for their variability. Two methods are used to analyze conceptions of creativity. The first one consists of analyzing adjectives that are associated by naive judges with the notion of creativity of an advertisement. The second one consists of predicting the evaluation of creative level of advertisements by naive judges, through the assessment of dimensions such as the originality of these advertisements or the quality of their design. Results show that with both methods, originality is always the most characteristic dimension of creativity. Moreover, the results show that the variability of the importance given to the dimensions of creativity is linked to certain characteristics of judges. In particular, factor g is positively related to the weight given to originality in creativity. A personality trait, preference for novelty, is also positively associated with greater weight for originality in creativity judgments.

Creativity is increasingly recognized as a key component to success in the workplace. This article explores the detection of creative potential in managers. In a first part, creative potential is defined and a multivariate approach concerning the psychological resources for creativity is presented. Then, in a second part, an application of this approach to the detection of creative potential of managers is proposed, with two empirical illustrations. The profile of cognitive and conative characteristics associated with creative managers is examined and contrasted with the profile for a different line of work, creative design. In a further study, managers completed several creative thinking divergent production tasks, the results of which showed some task specificity. Thus, the profile for managerial creativity varies, to some extent, with the kind of managerial task, rather than being a general ability.

To examine the impact of emotion on creative potential, experimental studies have typically focused on the impact of induced or spontaneous mood states on creative performance. In this report the relationship between the perceived pleasantness of tasks (using divergent thinking and story writing tasks) and creative performance was examined. Overall perceived pleasantness did not differ between tasks. However, results indicate that the perceived pleasantness of the story writing task increased during task completion whereas the perceived pleasantness of divergent thinking tasks remained stable during task performance. The number of generated ideas in a divergent thinking task (fluency) was significantly related to overall perceived pleasantness of the task.

The creative process in artistic work is examined. The creative process has often been considered in terms of a sequence of stages that leads to a creative product. A dynamic approach to the artistic creative process, including an affective component is proposed. Two studies with art students were conducted. Results support our hypothesis that the creative artistic process is not exclusively sequential and linear. Moreover, students' affects tended to vary at each phase of the creative process.

Relations between measures of creative potential and different scoring methods were examined in 154 French schoolchildren. The Test for Creative Thinking — Drawing Production (TCT-DP), parallel lines task from the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking, and an object-based creative drawing task were used. Factor analysis of TCT-DP subscores showed an originality factor and an appropriateness factor. The relations between these factors, judge's creativity ratings of the same drawings, and statistical originality scores based on the frequency of elements in the drawings were tested by means of a LISREL model. Moreover, TCT-DP scores correlated positively but weakly with performance in the parallel lines task and the object-based drawing task.

(2010). A New Look at Creative Giftedness. Gifted and Talented International: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 53-57.

Five years ago, most research in computer science seemed to concentrate on specifying the ways a computer could support creativity in various areas of human activities such as brainstorming, creative problem solving (CPS), arts and design, to name just a few. Two contrasted approaches (generic vs. specific) were clearly represented in the literature. Some work considered technology at a rather global and generic level, attempting to propose and to establish general relationships between computer technology and how it could/should support creativity (see Shneiderman et al., 2006). These papers were usually very enthusiastic, providing a list of potential values and positive effects of information technology on developing creativity in organizations (Dewett, 2003). Alternatively, a second approach has been to advance from empirical evidence and theories related to a specific targeted activity to derive fine-grained requirements for skill-based tools (e.g., Burleson, 2005; Yamamoto & Nakakoji, 2005) and, in some work, to extract design principles to apply for designing tools that aim to foster creativity (e.g., Hewett, 2005). In this introductory, we examine the two featured papers in this issue which illustrate three evolutions of research in the field of computer support for creativity. First, collecting empirical evidence is needed to embrace different aspects of creativity with multiple methods that bridge the disciplines of computer science, human–computer interaction (HCI), ergonomics and psychology. Second, evaluation approaches are conceptualizing computers as tools and/or computers as (digital) spaces. Third, collaborative and social aspects should be also considered when studying creativity in order to get a more ecological picture of variables that practically affect creative processes as well as creative outcomes.

International audience; De nombreux auteurs proposent que la créativité soit une composante importante du phénomène du haut potentiel. La créativité – capacité à générer des idées nouvelles et adaptées aux contraintes contextuelles – sera examinée en termes de ses bases neurocognitives, conatives et environnementales. En effet, il est montré, par exemple, qu'au cours de résolution de tâches les enfants « surdoués » présentent un fonctionnement inter-hémispherique plus intégré : il y aurait chez ces enfants une meilleure coordination des deux hémisphères favorisant ainsi une plus grande flexibilité cognitive et une plus grande pensée divergente. Concernant les facteurs conatifs, le perfectionnisme, une soif de connaissances, et le désir de nouveauté sont associés au haut potentiel créatif. Sur le plan environnemental, les recherches mettent en évidence que certaines approches pédagogiques sont plus à même de favoriser le haut potentiel créatif. ABSTRACT High creative potential Numerous authors propose that creativity is an important component of giftedness. Creativity – the capacity to generate ideas that are new and adaptive-will be examined in terms of its neurocognitive, conative and environmental foundations. For example, research indicates that gifted children show a high degree of integrated interhemispheric coordination favouring cognitive flexibility and divergent thinking. Futhermore, concerning conative factors, such as curiosity, perfectionnism, a thirst for knowledge, and novelty-seeking are linked to high creative potential. In terms of the environment, research shows that some pedagogies improve children's creative potential.

Theoretical proposals suggest that emotional intelligence (EI) may favor creativity. In the present paper, two studies are reported with French adults to examine the degree to which the ability to identify emotion is related to creative performance. This component of ability EI was hypothesized to be positively associated with a divergent thinking task involving emotional information. Contrary to our expectations, the first study (n = 95) indicated that ability to identify emotions in faces and images was negatively related to idea generation ability. The second study (n = 100) including a measure of alexithymia confirmed this relation. Moreover, evaluating emotional creativity, we observed a significant negative link between the ability to identify emotions and the tendency to experience emotions differently from those of others. We discuss these results suggesting an opposition between consensual/convergent thinking concerning emotions (ability EI) and divergent thinking. The impact of emotional states on creativity has been examined in a large range of studies (Zenasni & Lubart, 2008). Results from these studies diverge. Some studies show that positive emotional state favors creativity whereas others show that it inhibits it. Moreover, studies have suggested that stable emotional characteristics modulate the impact of emotional experiences on creativity. George and Zhou (2002) found that clarity-of-feelings trait is positively associated with creative performance. This result is consistent with the idea that the ability to treat emotional information favors creativity: emotional intelligence (EI) may favor clear perception of an emotional context and thus foster creative productions. Two kinds of models of EI currently exist: trait EI and ability EI. As indicated by Petrides, Pita, and Kokkinaki (2007), ‘‘trait EI (or trait emotional self-efficacy) concerns emotion related dispositions and self-perceptions measured via self-report, whereas ability EI (or cognitive-emotional ability) concerns emotion-related cognitive abilities measured via performance-based tests” (p. 273; see also Keele & Bell, 2008).

The present study shows that the impact of emotional states on creativity depends on individual emotional characteristics as well as the type of task used. The results found during the last 30 years diverge concerning relationships between emotion and creative cognition. For this reason, we conducted a study to explore whether the impact of emotional states on creative potential is moderated by individuals’ emotional traits. Using a multivariate approach, we measured (1) emotional valence and arousal level of participants after an emotional induction, (2) emotional traits (e.g., alexithymia, emotional expressivity, affective intensity, emotional idiosyncrasy), and (3) quantity, originality, and valence of generated ideas in two distinct divergent thinking tasks. Participants were 107 undergraduate university students. Regression analyses confirm our hypothesis showing that the impact of emotional states on creative performance is not uniform, but depends on participants’ emotional state and emotion-related traits. For example, we observed that the more individuals had difficulty with emotional information and the higher their level of arousal, the less they generated pleasant ideas. Several processes such as arousal regulation may explain the observed results.

In this chapter we review literature on Western and Eastern conceptions of creativity, and we differentiate between ‘vertical’ creativity conceptions that are process-oriented, from ‘horizontal’ creativity conceptions focused on novelty and rupture. In the second part of this chapter, we investigate the possible effects of cultures on creative potential through the impact that different cultural conceptions have on cognitive and conative characteristics of their members. We offer a discussion on possible commonalities between these contrasting views on creativity, which may help creativity researchers around the world to come to a common, pan-cultural understanding regarding creativity. In the last part of this chapter, we note that there is more and more multicultural exposure through digital media and other globalization processes, and we propose a new focus that emphasizes the cultural diversity in our contemporary world—in which East really meets West—as a construct that might be more relevant than the traditional opposition between East and West.

The present work proposes an integrative model of creativity that includes personality traits and cognitive processes. This model hypothesizes that three high-order personality factors predict two main process factors, which in turn predict intensity and achievement of creative activities. The personality factors are: Plasticity (high openness, extraversion, energy, and inspiration), Divergence (low agreeableness and conscientiousness, high nonconformity and impulsivity), and Convergence (high ambition, precision, persistence, and critical sense). The process factors are Generation (idea production and originality) and Selection (idea evaluation and formalization). We hypothesized and found that: (a) Plasticity and Divergence predict positively Generation, (b) Convergence predicts positively Selection, (c) Generation, Selection, and their interaction predict positively both intensity and achievement of everyday creative activities.

The article tackles the topic that refers to giftedness beyond academic areas. Specifically, it focuses on musical talent. The work is differentiated into two parts. In the first part the authors expose the case of gifted students' heterogeneity. To do so, they present a previous research focused on the study of different patterns of response of gifted students to the WISC-IV. Such study illustrates the case of gifted students' diversity, showing that higher IQ students present higher inter-variability in their cognitive profiles. The second part of the article focuses on musical talent. In a first moment authors introduce the concept of musical talent and a literature review on the factors that influence that talent. From there, authors question if it could be possible to isolate the variables that differentiate the development of musical talent. To do so, Authors present a retrospective study based on interviews and questionnaires to parents and teacher of 42 non-gifted and 42 students identified as promising talent in music. The questionnaire assessed: Implication of parents, Motivation of the pupil, Work of the pupil and Contribution of the teacher. The authors are able to distinguish between developmental trends in the formation of musical talent, depending on children's age and styles on dealing with their musical assignments and work-load (experience music as a passion vs. as an obligation).