Personality and boredom proneness in the prediction of creativity and curiosity

Abstract The present study investigated the contributions of an overall personality taxonomy (HEXACO) and boredom proneness to creativity and curiosity. Past research has indicated that creativity and curiosity are related processes that are informed by personality variables. Prior, largely theoretical, work also suggests that the tendency to experience boredom may be linked to creativity and curiosity. In the present study, hierarchical multiple regressions were used to evaluate the role of personality and boredom proneness in the prediction of creativity and curiosity. The results confirmed the importance of personality (especially Openness to Experience) as an important predictor of creativity and curiosity. Furthermore, we found that boredom proneness was a positive predictor of curiosity in several forms once its shared variance with overall personality structure was partialled out. In addition, while the literature has found that boredom as a state triggers creativity, the results of this study indicate that boredom as a personality trait is not predictive of creativity. These findings suggest several interesting possibilities. Of note, if its inhibited qualities could be overcome, boredom proneness might be able to play a positive role in curiosity.

[1]  Gregory J. Feist.  A Meta-Analysis of Personality in Scientific and Artistic Creativity , 1998, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[2]  Jean E. Pretz,et al.  Individual differences in creativity: personality, story writing, and hobbies , 2001 .

[3]  J. Eastwood,et al.  The Measurement of Boredom , 2013, Assessment.

[4]  John T. Willse,et al.  Assessing Creativity With Divergent Thinking Tasks: Exploring the Reliability and Validity of New Subjective Scoring Methods , 2008 .

[5]  Jordan B. Peterson,et al.  Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure of the Creative Achievement Questionnaire , 2005 .

[6]  Jordan Litman.  Interest and deprivation factors of epistemic curiosity , 2008 .

[7]  A. Furnham,et al.  Creativity, Intelligence, and Personality: A Critical Review of the Scattered Literature , 2006, Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.

[8]  Todd B. Kashdan,et al.  Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in life: Traits, states, and everyday behaviors , 2007 .

[9]  Facilitating creativity by regulating curiosity. , 2002 .

[10]  Paul J Silvia,et al.  The Latent Structure of Trait Curiosity: Evidence for Interest and Deprivation Curiosity Dimensions , 2006, Journal of personality assessment.

[11]  Judith Glück,et al.  How Creatives Define Creativity: Definitions Reflect Different Types of Creativity , 2002 .

[12]  P. Silvia,et al.  A snapshot of creativity: Evaluating a quick and simple method for assessing divergent thinking , 2009 .

[13]  Neil A. Culp.  The relations of two facets of boredom proneness with the major dimensions of personality , 2006 .

[14]  F. Fincham,et al.  Facilitating creativity by regulating curiosity. , 2002, The American psychologist.

[15]  S. Mann,et al.  Does Being Bored Make Us More Creative? , 2014 .

[16]  J. Eastwood,et al.  Is Trait Boredom Redundant , 2013 .

[17]  M. J. Blanchard,et al.  Boredom Proneness and the Need for Cognition , 1994 .

[18]  H. Day,et al.  Curiosity and Intelligence: Two Necessary Conditions for a High Level of Creativity , 1969 .

[19]  Jun Hu,et al.  How to behave as Alice in Wonderland-about boredom and curiosity , 2010, Entertain. Comput..

[20]  Wallace H. Maw,et al.  Nature of creativity in high- and low-curiosity boys. , 1970 .

[21]  P. Silvia,et al.  Cantankerous creativity: Honesty–Humility, Agreeableness, and the HEXACO structure of creative achievement , 2011 .

[22]  Heather C. Lench,et al.  On the Function of Boredom , 2013, Behavioral sciences.

[23]  H. Gough.  A Creative Personality Scale for the Adjective Check List , 1979 .

[24]  P. Silvia,et al.  The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II: Development, Factor Structure, and Psychometrics. , 2009, Journal of research in personality.

[25]  Steven J. Kass,et al.  A Factor Analytic Study of the Boredom Proneness Scale , 1990 .

[26]  Karen Gasper,et al.  Approaching novel thoughts: Understanding why elation and boredom promote associative thought more than distress and relaxation☆ , 2014 .

[27]  John D. Watt,et al.  Effect of Boredom Proneness on Time Perception , 1991, Psychological reports.

[28]  S. R. Carlson,et al.  Disinhibited characteristics and binge drinking among university student drinkers. , 2010, Addictive behaviors.

[29]  R. Farmer,et al.  Boredom proneness--the development and correlates of a new scale. , 1986, Journal of personality assessment.

[30]  Jordan A. Litman,et al.  Epistemic curiosity, feeling-of-knowing, and exploratory behaviour , 2005 .

[31]  Children’s Creativity in Art: A Study of Types , 1965 .

[32]  P. Mussel.  Epistemic curiosity and related constructs: Lacking evidence of discriminant validity , 2010 .

[33]  F. Fincham,et al.  Curiosity and Exploration: Facilitating Positive Subjective Experiences and Personal Growth Opportunities , 2004, Journal of personality assessment.

[34]  John D. Watt,et al.  Self-Report Measures of Boredom: An Updated Review of the Literature , 2016, The Journal of psychology.

[35]  J. Eastwood,et al.  Causes of boredom: The person, the situation, or both? , 2014 .

[36]  Richard W. Bargdill.  THE STUDY OF LIFE BOREDOM , 2000 .

[37]  M. Ashton,et al.  The HEXACO–60: A Short Measure of the Major Dimensions of Personality , 2009, Journal of personality assessment.

[38]  S. Mann,et al.  Boredom in the lecture theatre: An investigation into the contributors, moderators and outcomes of boredom amongst university students , 2009 .

[39]  R. Kuhn.  The Demon of Noontide: Ennui in Western Literature , 1976 .

[40]  Andreas Elpidorou,et al.  The bright side of boredom , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[41]  Sheri J. Broyles,et al.  Creativity and the Five-Factor Model , 1996 .

[42]  D. Vidler,et al.  A study of curiosity, divergent thinking, and test-anxiety. , 1975, The Journal of psychology.

[43]  M. Harris,et al.  Correlates and Characteristics of Boredom Proneness and Boredom1 , 2000 .