Creativity and tolerance of ambiguity: an empirical study

This study examines the relationship between creativity and tolerance of ambiguity. Participants are parents and their adolescent children. Three measures of creativity were used: a divergent thinking task, a story-writing task and a self-evaluation of creative attitudes and behavior. Participants completed two self-report measures of tolerance of ambiguity: the short version of the “Measurement of Ambiguity Tolerance” (Norton, 1975; Zenasni & Lubart, 2001) and the “Behaviour Scale of Tolerance/Intolerance for Ambiguity” (Stoycheva, 1998, 2003). Tolerance of ambiguity was significantly and positively related to creativity. Creativity of parents was related to their adolescents’ creativity. However, parents’ tolerance of ambiguity was not related to adolescents’ tolerance of ambiguity or creativity.

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