Enhancing Creativity by Modifying What Subjects Say to Themselves1

Three conceptualizations of creativity, including a mental abilities approach, an ego-analytic levels analysis approach, and an attitudinal self-concept approach, were each translated into sets of self-statements which could be modeled and then rehearsed by a group of volunteer college students. This self-instructional training group (N = 7), relative to Gendlin’s focusing training (N = 7) and to an untreated waiting list control group (N = 7), manifested a significant increase in originality and flexibility on tests of divergent thinking, an increase in preference for complexity, a significant increase in human movement responses to an inkblot test, and concomitant changes in self-concept. As a result of the focusing training, which emphasized being aware of one’s bodily feelings, the subjects' self-reports indicated that they felt more creative, but this was not reflected in their performance. The implications of enhancing creativity by explicitly training subjects to talk to themselves was discussed.