We evaluated the extent to which vividness of imagery is correlated with creativity in a sample of 1361 university students from different disciplines and assessed which sensory modalities of vividness of imagery best predicted creativity. Vividness of imagery was generally poorly correlated with creativity and, for all subjects combined, explained only about 2% of total variance in creativity. Promising directions for research are mentioned.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BettsG H (1909) The distribution and functions of mental imagery. New York: Teachers College, Columbia Univer.
2.
CamposA. & GonzálezM. A. (in press) Is imagery vividness a determinant factor in creativity?Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society.
3.
CamposA., & PérezM. J. (1989) High and low imagers and their scores on creativity. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 68, 403–406.
4.
DurndellA. J., & WetherickN. E. (1976) The relation of reported imagery to cognitive performance. British Journal of Psychology, 67, 501–506.
5.
ErnestC. H. (1977) Imagery ability and cognition: a critical review. Journal of Mental Imagery, 2, 181–216.
6.
ForishaB. D. (1978) Creativity and imagery in men and women. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47, 1255–1264.
7.
GhiselinB. (1952) The creative process. Berkeley, CA: Univer. of California Press.
MartindaleC. (1990) Creative imagination and neural activity. In KunzendorfK. G. & SheikhA. A. (Eds.), The psychophysiology of mental imagery. Amityville, NY: Baywood. Pp. 89–108.
12.
RhodesJ. W. (1981) Relationships between vividness of mental imagery and creative thinking. Journal of Creative Behavior, 15, 90–98.
13.
SchmeidlerG. (1965) Visual imagery correlated to a measure of creativity. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 29, 78–80.
14.
ShawG. A. (1985) The use of imagery by intelligent and by creative school children. Journal of General Psychology, 112, 153–171.
15.
ShawG. A., & BelmoreS. M. (1982–1983) The relationship between imagery and creativity. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2, 115–123.
16.
ShawG. A., & DeMersS. T. (1986) The relationship of imagery to originality, flexibility and fluency in creative thinking. Journal of Mental Imagery, 10, 65–74.
17.
SheehanP. W. (1967) A shortened form of Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23, 386–389.
18.
SheehanP. W.McConkeyK. M., & LawH. G. (1978) Imagery facilitation and performance on the Creative Imagination Scale. Journal of Mental Imagery, 2, 265–274.
19.
ShepardR. N. (1978) Externalization of mental images and the act of creation. In RandhawaB. S. & CoffmanW. E. (Eds.), Visual learning, thinking, and communication. New York: Academic Press. Pp. 133–190.
20.
SleeJ. A. (1976) The perceptual nature of visual imagery. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Australian National Univer, Canberra.
21.
TorranceE. P., & KhatenaJ. (1970) Technical-norms manual for What Kind of Person Are You? test. Athens, GA: Georgia Studies of Creative Behavior.