Abstract
Little research has been done to examine how different personality traits (both “positive” and less desirable attributes) contribute to various aspects of creativity from a domain-specific point of view. The present study thus aimed to investigate the relationships between two types of personality traits (the Big Five and the Dark Triad traits) and three types of indicators of creativity (divergent thinking, creative activities, and creative achievements) among 559 university-level Chinese students. Results indicated that Openness served as a common core of both creative potential (divergent thinking) and real-life creativity (creative activities and achievements) at almost all levels and domains. Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness were found to be significant predictors of real-life creativity in specific domains and levels (i.e., literature and sports). No significant relationship was found between Neuroticism and any indicator of creativity after controlling for the other Big Five traits. Compared to the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits had limited influence on creativity, with only Machiavellianism being a significant and positive predictor of literary and performance activities, and Narcissism being a significant and positive predictor of originality. Implications of the findings are discussed.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was sponsored by Peak Discipline Construction Project of Education at East China Normal University. We also thank the school principals, teachers and students whose support made this study possible.
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Guo, J., Zhang, J., De Fruyt, F. et al. The bright and dark personality correlates of creative potentials, creative activities, and creative achievements. Curr Psychol 42, 3689–3700 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01710-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01710-x