Creative Prisoners: Do They Exist?

There is evidence that prisoners are unlikely to be creative (Eisenman, 1992). Through this study, I sought to find creative prisoners. In a sample of 40 incarcerated felons, I found that a minority of them were nominated by raters as creative and that these prisoners also were often chosen as creative in both the areas of song and dance, based on independent ratings of their videotaped performances (p < .001). However, replicating Eisenman (1992), they did not score as creative on ratings of their Thematic Apperception Test (Morgan & Murray, 1935) stories. It is suggested that prisoners are most likely to show creativity in areas that demand little or no structure. This is seen as consistent with their dislike of any socially imposed rules and their choice of crime as a career. Implications for work with creative and noncreative people are presented.

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