Creativity Is Influenced by Domain, Creative Self-Efficacy, Mindset, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Esteem

Jean E. Pretz, Elizabethtown College
Danielle Nelson, Elizabethtown College

Abstract

In this chapter, we examined the relationship between self-perceived creativity, creative performance, and other measures of the self. Past work has shown that global creative self-efficacy was more strongly related to personality or past creative accomplishments than current performance on creative tasks [Pretz, J. E., & McCollum, V. A. (2014). Self-perceptions of creativity do not always reflect actual creative performance. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8, 227-236]. Here we report two follow-up studies further exploring the relationship between self-perceptions and performance. Study 1 showed that the validity of self-perceptions of creativity varies by domain. In Study 2, we explored how creative self-perceptions are associated with related constructs including general self-efficacy, self-esteem, and creative mindset. We concluded that self-perceptions of creativity are more accurate for the students interested in arts, humanities, and social sciences. Furthermore, we concluded that creative self-efficacy is more strongly associated with actual creative performance than with general self-efficacy. Self-esteem was found to be associated with higher levels of fluency but not originality on a divergent thinking task.