Personality and ability predictors of the ''Consequences" Test of divergent thinking in a large non-student sample

Over 3000 adult managers attending an assessment centre completed a battery of tests including three personality trait inventories (NEO-PIR; MBTI; and HDS), two ability tests (GMA, WG) and a well established measure of divergent thinking (the Consequences Test) used as the criterion variable for creativity. Regressions showed the NEO-PIR Big Five at facet and domain level accounted for around ten percent of the variance in divergent thinking. The MBTI, Big Four, accounted for only five percent of the total variance. Both intelligence tests were modestly correlated with creativity. Together sex, intelligence and personality accounted for 12% of the variance. Bright, stable, open, extraverted males scored most highly on the measure of creative thinking. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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