Preference for Subordinating Or Superordinating and Creativity in Engineers,Scientists,Designers,and Artists 1

Abstract

Summary,—It was hypothesized that a basic preference for categorizing events in a subordinate direction (genus-species) would characterize highly creative scientists and designers, while their less creative peers would prefer to categorize first in a superordinate direction (species-genus). Physical science researchers and product design students showed a preference for subordination but, unexpectedly, visual designers showed the opposite preference, a preference for superOrdination. A subsequent study of art students supported the findings that a preference for superOrdination characterized individuals who were highly creative in visual arts. The possible implications of this differential relationship between thinking style and kind of creativity was discussed.