Relative to males, females have historically been underrepresented among recognized creators, inventors, and innovators.
Despite vast strides toward female empowerment and gender equality in various social, political, and employment arenas, a trend of gender
imbalance in many creative endeavors has persisted into the present day. Although real-world and anecdotal evidence present a clear
disparity, the actual empirical literature regarding gender and creative capabilities presents a more muddled picture about gender
differences. Some studies have suggested female superiority; some suggest male superiority; some suggest gender equality; and still others
suggest that either gender can excel creatively depending on various measurement and contextual factors. The purpose of the current study
was 1) to systematically investigate the accumulated evidence on gender differences in creativity and 2) to explore the conceptual factors
and potential moderators that may account for past discrepancies in the literature. Specifically, a meta-analysis was conducted to address
the question of whether females and males tend to differ in mean level of creativity across the empirical literature and also whether a
variety of moderating variables (i.e., creativity construct, domain specificity of measure, measure format, sample age, study era) affect
the relationship between creativity and gender. In order to collect a pool of primary studies to address these questions, a systematic
literature search was conducted, pulling for studies across the lifespan and throughout historical eras. All studies relating gender to an
individual-level, quantitative measure of creative ability or achievement were eligible for inclusion, resulting in a variety of included
assessment instruments (i.e., divergent thinking performance tests, evaluation of creative products, self-report inventories, other-report
inventories). The literature search returned 271 eligible studies, yielding 480 independent effect sizes and a total N of 137,247
participants. Analyses showed a significant relationship between creativity and gender overall (g ̅= .056, p < .05), such that females
showed slightly higher creativity than males across all studies. Creativity construct and age were found to be marginally significant in
moderating the association between gender and creativity, and creativity test format was significant at p < .05 as a moderator.
However, in a multiple regression combining the predictive power of these three variables, age was no longer found to be a significant
moderator. Domain specificity and study era were also not found to be significant moderators. Results of the study were discussed in terms
of the strengths and limitations of the design, suggestions for future research, and practical implications for both males and females in
pursuing their creative passions. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2016. / February 29, 2016. / Creativity, Divergent Thinking, Gender, Meta-analysis, Sex Differences / Includes bibliographical references. / Steven I. Pfeiffer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen M. Clark, University
Representative; Angela I. Canto, Committee Member; Martin A. Swanbrow Becker, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_360459 |
| Contributors | Thompson, Taylor Lee (authoraut), Pfeiffer, Steven I. (professor directing dissertation), Clark, Kathleen M. (university representative), Canto, Angela I. (committee member), Swanbrow Becker, Martin Alan (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (165 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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