This study examined personal obstacles to creativity among 385 university students. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory was administered to this sample. This instrument focuses on several factors that may block the expression of personal creativity. The results showed that the highest mean was observed in the factor labeled Lack of Time/Opportunity, followed by Inhibition/Shyness. Significant differences in means values were observed among male and female, and private and public university students. The male students ' mean was higher in the factor labeled Lack of Motivation, while the Social Repression's mean was higher for female students. The private university students presented higher means in two clusters of obstacles: Inhibition/Shyness and Lack of Opportunity. The results point to several obstacles to personal creativity, which are common among university students. These obstacles should be known by those involved in education for them to help students to be less susceptible to obstacles that hinder their creativity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsJ. L. (1986). Conceptual blockbusting (3rd ed.). New York: Addison Wesley.
2.
AlamshahE. (1972). Blockages to creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 6, 105–113.
3.
AlencarE. M. L. S. (1993). Como desenvolver o potencial criador [How to develop the creative potential]. Petrópolis: Vozes.
4.
AlencarE. M. L. S. (1995a). Challenges to the development of the creative talent. Gifted and Talented International, 10, 5–8.
5.
AlencarE. M. L. S. (1995b). Criatividade [Creativity]. Brasília: Editora da Universidade de Brasília
6.
AlencarE. M. L. S. (1996). A gerência da criatividade [Managing creativity]. Sao Paulo: Makron.
7.
AlencarE. M. L. S. (1999a, August). Mastering creativity for education in the 21st century. Paper presented at the 13th Biennial Conference. World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, Istanbul, Turkey.
8.
AlencarE. M. L. S. (1999b). Urn instrumento de medida para identificação de barreiras à criatividade pessoal [An inventory to identify obstacles to personal creativity]. Boletim da Academia Paulista de Psicologia[Academy of Psychology Bulletin], 19, 14–15.
9.
AlencarE. M. L. S.(in press). Barreiras à criatividade pessoal: desenvolvimento de um instrumente de medida [Obstacles to personal creativity: Construction of a measuring instrument]. Psicologia Escolar e Educacional [Journal of School and Educational Psychology].
10.
AlencarE. M. L. S.MitjansA. M. (1998). Barreiras à expressão da criatividade entre profis-sionais brasileiros, cubanos e Portugueses [Obstacles to the expression of creativity among Brazilian, Cuban and Portuguesse educators]. Psicologia Escolar e Educacional [Journal of School and Educational Psychology], 2, 23–32.
11.
AlencarE.M.L.S.OliveiraA. C.RibeiroR.BrandaoS. N. (1996, October). Barreiras à expressão da criatividade entre profissionais da área de Educação [Obstacles to the expression of creativity among education professionals]. Proceedings of the XXVI Brazilian Conference on Psychology (p. 113). Ribeirão Preto, Brazil: Brazilian Society of Psychology.
12.
AmabileT. M.GryskiewicsN. D. (1989). The Creative Environment Scales: Work Environment Inventory. Creativity Research Journal, 2, 231–253.
13.
ArietiS. (1976). Creativity. The magic synthesis. New York: Basic Books.
14.
Bruno-FariaM. F.AlencarE. M. L. S. (1998). Indicadores de clima para a criatividade: urn instrumente de medida da percepção de estímulos e barreiras à criatividade no ambiente de trabalho [Climate for creativity indicators: A measuring instrument of stimulants and blockages to creativity in the workplace]. Revista de Administração [Business Administration Journal], 33, 86–91.
15.
CropleyA. J. (1997). Fostering creativity in the classroom: General principles. In RuncoM. A. (Ed.), The creativity research handbook (pp. 83–114). Cresskill, N. J.: Hampton Press.
16.
MacKinnonD. W. (1978). In search of human effectiveness. Identifying and developing creativity. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation.
17.
MontuoryA.PurserR. E. (1995). Deconstructing the lone genius myth: Toward a contextual view of creativity. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 35, 69–112.
18.
NeckaE. (1994, October) Teaching creativity in the classroom. General principles and some practical methods. Paper presented at the International Conference Education for the Future. São Paulo, Brazil.
19.
ParnesS. J. (1967). Creative behavior guidebook. New York: Charles Scribner's.
20.
RenzulliJ. S. (1992). A general theory for the development of creative productivity in young people. In MonksF. J.PetersW. (Eds.), Talent for the future (pp. 51–72). Assen/Maastricht, The Netherlands: Van Gorgum.
21.
RickardsT.JonesI. J. (1991). Toward the identification of situational barriers to creative behaviors: The development of a self report inventory. Creativity Research journal, 4, 303–315.
22.
ShallcrossD. J.GawienowskiA. M. (1989). Top experts address issues on creativity gap in higher education. Journal of Creative Behavior, 23, 75–84.
23.
SternbergR. J. (1991, July). A theory of creativity. Paper presented at the XIV ISPA Colloquium, Braga, Portugal.
24.
SternbergR. J.LubartT. I. (1995). Defying the crowd. Cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity. New York: Free Press.
25.
TorranceE. P. (1970). Encouraging creativity in the classroom. Dubuque, Iowa: C. Brown.
26.
TorranceE. P. (1995). Why fly? A philosophy of creativity. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
27.
TolliverJ. M. (1985). Creativity at university. Gifted Education International, 3 (1), 32–35.
28.
VanDemark, (1991). Breaking the barriers in everyday creativity. Buffalo, New York: The Creative Education Foundation.
