Creativity as self-actualization and the realization of personality traits

06 February 2023

Michael Rozenvain. Creativity — Painting by Michael Rozenvain

The main theories that view creativity as self-actualisation and the realisation of personality traits

Creativity as spontaneous, self-produced action, as a manifestation of the inner natural power of De (Lao Tzu, 6th century B.C.); Voluntary and spontaneous acts, which are carried out according to inner motives and “of one’s own free will” (Aristotle, 4th century B.C.); Creativity as spontaneity, naturalness, suchness and sincerity (Guo Xiang, 3rd century B.C.); The tendency of personality to spontaneous, unprompted development, determined by inner activity (J.J.Rousseau, 1762); Thinking and Imagination as ‘act’ of the spontaneous self-activity (Kant, 1781); Creativity as an absolute activity of self-assertion, self-determination, self-education and self-affirmation (Fichte, 1801); Pathology and deviance as sources of creativity (C. Lambroso, 1863); The manifestation of hereditary creative potential (F. Galton, 1869); Creativity as a stream of consciousness and the manifestation of free will (W. James, 1890);
Self-motivation, purposefulness, self-development, creative activity of the holistic personality (W. Stern, 1906, 1918); The principle of creative self-activity: self-creation in the process of creativity (S.L. Rubinstein, 1922); Spontaneous realisation of the essential-self (Fromm, 1941); The Overcompensation, striving for development, success, excellence and perfection (A. Adler, 1956); Creativity as self-realisation, self-determination and self-actualisation (K. Rogers, 1954, 1965); Creativity as self-actualisation and transcendent self-actualisation (A. Maslow, 1954, 1968,1971); Creativity as spontaneous behaviour and flow of “totality”, as an expression of individual uniqueness and uniqueness (H. Anderson, 1965); The manifestation of strong Ego (F. Barron, 1969, 1990; H. G. Goug, 1979; L. Briskman, 1980; D.M. Harrington, 1981, G.F. Feist, 1999);

Creativity as self-actualizing, self-development and self-enforcing personality (R. May, 1975; V.F. Ovchinnikov, 1984, N.Rogers, 1990; F. Barron, 1990); Creativity as “life creation” (L.V. Sokhan, et al. 1982, 1985, 1988).

Creative activity as the realization of specific properties and traits of personality.

Manifestation of Creative Intelligence (L.L. Thurstone, 1952); Creativity as a property of intelligence: Three-dimensional Model of Intelligence (J. Guilford, 1956, 1959, 1975); Intellectual Threshold Hypothesis (J. W. Getzels, P. W. Jackson, 1962, E. P. Torrance, 1962, 1974, J. Guilford, 1973; J. S. Renzulli, 1986); Theory of multiple intelligences (G. Gardner, 1983), Structure of Creative Giftedness (A.M. Matyushkin, 1989); Triarchical (three-component) theory of intelligence (R. Sternberg, 1985); Emotional intelligence and creativity (J.D. Mayer, P. Salovey, 1997); Five types of relationship between intelligence and creativity (L. A. O’Hara, R. J. Sternberg, 2000); The structure of creative intelligence: intuition, imagination, innovation, inspiration (Alan J. Rowe, 2004).

Emotions, motivation, will. Holistic emotional self-realization of an individual (T. Ribot, 1906; J. Rossman, 1931; A. Lowen, 1970).

Facilitating influence of emotions on thought processes and creative activity (R.S. Lazarus, 1991; A. Abele, 1992, 2001; T.P. Palfay, P. Salovey, 1993; G. L. Clore, N. Schwarz, M. Conway, 1994; M.P. Shaw, M. Runco, 1994; H.E. Hruber, 1995; S.T. Murphy, 2001; J.D. Mayer, 2001).

The influence of emotions on ease of association (A.M. Isen, 1987); on imaginative activity (M. Eckblad, L.J. Chapman, 1986; D. Schuldberg, 1990); flexibility and breadth of thinking (A.M. Isen, M.S. Johnson, E. Mertz, G.F. Robinson, 1985, T. Amabile, 1985, 2005; A.M. Isen, K.A. Daubman, G.P. Nowicki, 1987; B.L. Fredrickson, 1998, 2001; T. M. Amabile, S. G. Barsade, J. S. Mueller, 2005).

Emotional creativity as experience and expression of original, authentic emotions (J. R. Averill, C. Thomas-Knowles, 1991); The relationship of play, emotion and creativity (S.W.Russ, 1993, 2009); The model of emotional resonance (T. Lubert, I. Getz,1997). The stimulating effect of negative emotions and moods on creativity (A. M., Walker, R. Koestner, A. Hum, 1995; M. Runco, 1999; Z. Ivcevic, M. A. Brackett, J. D. Mayer,2007); The relationship between emotion and creativity on an inverted U-curve (K. James, M. Brodersen, J. Eisenberg, 2004). Emotions in artistic creation (G.J. Feist, S.Z. Dudec, R.Richards, K.A. McCarthy, 1999); The influence of positive emotions and moods on creativity (M. Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1996; N. H. Fridja, 1986; G. Kaufmann, S. Vosburg,1997; G. Kaufmann, 2003; E. R. Hirt, E. E. Devers, S. M. McCrea, 2008).

The interdependence of creativity, self-determination and intrinsic motivation.
(E. Deci, 1971, 1975; M. Ross, 1975; M. Csikszentmihalyi (1975, 1996) (Amabile, 1976, 1983, 1996); J. Condry, 1977; E. L Deci, R. M. Ryan, 1985, 1987, 2017; B. J. Zimmerman, 1985; T. M. Amabile, K. G. Hill, B. A. Hennessey, E. M. Tighe,1994; K. M. Sheldon, 1995; J. Baer, 1997, 1998; R. Eisenberger, S. Armeli, J. Pretz, 1998; M.A. Collins, R.S. Nickerson, 1999; R. J. Sternberg; T. I. Lubart, 1999; B.A. Hennessey, 1999; G. J. Feist, 1999; R. Eisenberger, L. Rhoades, J. Cameron, 1999; G.B., Moneta, F.H.Y. Wong, 2001; R. Eisenberger, L. Shanock, 2003; M. Mumford, 2003; S. N. De Jesus; C.P.Cerasoli, 2014; D. Liu , 2016; T. Amabile and M. G. Pratt, 2016.

Self-determination theory of creativity (E. Deci, R.M. Ryan, 2000, 2008; M. Vansteenkiste, W. Lens, E. Deci, 2006; K. M.Sheldon, T. Kasser, 2008; H. Weisberg, 2010; B.A. Hennessey & T. Amabile, 2010;

Intrinsic motivation increases originality but not utility (A. M., Grant, J. W. Berry, 2011).

The manifestation of specific personality traits

S.M. Cox,1926; A. Roe, 1952, 1958; R. B. Cattell, J. E. Drevdahl, 1955; C.W. Taylor, 1958; D.W. MacKinnon, 1962; F. Barron, 1963, A. Maslow, 1970; R. B Cattell, 1971; G. Domino, 1970, 1979; P. Kline, C. Cooper, 1986; H.J. Eysenck, 1993: G.J. Feist,1998; J.A. Plucker, J.S. Renzulli, 1999; L. Sundararajan, 2004; B.S. Folley, 2006; M. Batey, A. Furnham, 2006; C.G. Boeree, 2006; G. Burch, 2006; R.J. Burch, 2006; R.J. Burch, 2006; R.J. Burch, 2006; M. Batey, A. Furnham, 2006. Stenberg, 2006; M. Runko, 2007; B.W. Roberts, D. Mroczek, 2008; G.J. Feist, J. Feist, 2009; Z. Ivcevic, 2009.

Traits of a creative person that typically underlie creative behaviour

Holistic lists of creative personality traits: the complexity of outlook, openness to new experience, curiosity, risk-taking, playfulness, sense of humour, freedom, flexibility and originality, unconventionality, breadth of interest, a sense of identity, self-confidence, perseverance, interpersonal sensitivity and objectivity, sensitivity to problems, high energy levels, depth of feelings, enthusiasm (F. Barron, 1955; P.E. Vernon, 1962; D.W. MacKinnon, 1962, M.Dellas, E. Gaier, 1970; Stein, 1974; J.F. Feldhusen 1986, 1995; D. E. Smith, D. W. Tegano, 1992; H.J. Eysenck, 1993; R. Helson, G. Agronick, B. Roberts,1995, G.J. Feist,1999).
Flexibility: H.G. Gough, 1961, 1979; G.J. Feist, F. Barron, 1996;
Openness to new experiences: R. R. McCrae, 1987, 1994; G.J. Feist, 1987;
Need for novelty: J. P. Houston, S. A Mednick;
Ambitiousness, striving for achievement: B. S. Bloom, 1956; R. S., Mansfield, T. V Busse, 1984; S. Z. Dudec, 1991;
Tolerance for ambiguity, tolerance to uncertainty: P.E. Vernon, 1970; A. Furnham, 1994; R.Sternberg, 1995.
Independence: A. Roe, 1952; F. Baron, 1968, M.B. Parloff, 1968; R. Helson, 1971;
Nonconformism: W. B. Hall, D. W. MacKinnon, 1969;
Dominance, assertiveness: R.H. Van Zelst, W. A. Kerr, J. A. Chambers, 1964; K.E. Kelly, 2005;
Risk taking: S.Sitkin, A, Pablo, 1992; R. Sternberg, T. Lubart, 1995;
Perseverance and resilience: J. Rossman, 1931, R. Sternberg, 1999; K. H. Kim, 2004; J.A. Glover, 1989; R.W. Weisberg, 1993; M.I. Stein, S.J.Heinze, 1990;
Pathological traits, psychoticism: (K. O. Götz, K. Götz,1979; G.J. Feist,1989; R., Richards, D. K Kinney; G. Eysenck,1993, 1994; K. R. Jamison, 1996, E. Woody, G. Claridge; G. Burch, D.R. Hemsley, Ch. Pavelis, Ph. Corr, 2006; R.A. Chavez-Eakle, M. Lara, A. Cruz-Fuentes, 2006).
The paradoxical and dialectical structure of personality: Janusian thinking A. Rothenberg (1971, 1990), blending of apparent opposites and contradictions J.S. Bruner (1973), “synergistic swings” of traits (M. McMullan, 1976), tending to be both extroverted and introverted, smart and naïve, playfulness and discipline, rebellious and conservative… (M. Csikszentmihalyi, 1996).
Creativity and the Big Five personality traits: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (G.J. Feist, 1998; U. Wolfradt, J. E. Pretz,2001; E.N. Cholas, N.R. Perri, M. Brodersen, 2005; M. Batey, A. Furnham, 2006; Z. Ivcevic, M. A. Brackett, J. D. Mayer, 2007; P.J. Silvia, 2008; A. Furnham, V. Bachtiar, 2008; M. Batey, 2009.