The Creativity Dare: Attitudes Toward Creativity and Prediction of Creative Behavior in School

Abstract In a sample of high school students (preliminary study: N = 224; main study: N = 235 and 194 at two time points in the beginning and the end of the school year), we developed and tested a self‐report measure of attitudes toward creativity. Exploratory factor analyses identified and replicated one factor of positive attitudes toward creativity—valuing creativity, and two factors describing negative attitudes—anticipating negative social consequences and anxious risk aversion. These aspects of attitudes toward creativity showed convergent and discriminant validity in relation to measures of personality and motivation (e.g., attitude of anxious risk aversion correlated with academic performance avoid goals, valuing creativity positively correlated with openness to experience, while risk aversion and anticipating negative social consequences negatively correlated with openness). Regression analyses showed that attitudes toward creativity predict creativity variables beyond openness to experience (incremental predictive validity). Lending support for the context‐specific nature of attitudes toward creativity, attitudes predicted motivation for engaging with creative challenges at school and creative behavior at school (measured through both observer and self‐reports), but not overall creative achievement (not specific to the school context).