Christophe Mouchiroud

Children's Original Thinking: An Empirical Examination of Alternative Measures Derived From Divergent Thinking Tasks

Abstract Childrens creative potential is often assessed using cognitive tests that require divergent thinking, such as the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT; E. P. Torrance, 1974, 1976, 1990). In this study the authors investigated the effect of various scoring systems on the originality index, evaluating the high intercorrelation of fluency and originality measures found in the TTCT scoring system and the applicability of TTCT scoring norms over time and across age groups. In 3 studies, the originality of elementary school children was measured using TTCT norms and various sample-specific scoring methods with the TTCT Unusual Uses of a Box test as well as social-problem-solving tasks. Results revealed an effect of scoring technique on creativity indices as well as on the reliability of originality scores and the relationship between originality and other ability measures. The usefulness of the various measures for understanding childrens original thinking are discussed.

Social creativity: A cross-sectional study of 6- to 11-year-old children:

We assessed children’s social creativity through interviews during which participants imagined original solutions to interpersonal problems. In addition, we compared performances in the social domain with those obtained in object-oriented problem-solving tasks such as the Unusual Uses of a Box creativity test designed by Torrance (1974) and the Similarities subtest of the WISC (1996). A total of 88 French children participated in this study. First, we observed links between social creativity tasks as well as consistent developmental trends showing that social creativity can be considered as a unitary construct. Second, with regard to the integration or differentiation of creative abilities in children’s development, results showed a distinct creative ability in the social domain for younger children and the emergence of a more general creative ability in older children. Third, the relationship between fluency and originality indices was stable across age groups and task domains, supporting Simonton’s constant-probability-of-success model (1990) for children. Implications for the study of creative abilities in the social domain and for understanding how children interact with others in various social settings are discussed.

Does Experience of Failure Decrease Executive, Regulatory Abilities and Increase Aggression?

Recent advances in the study of affective-cognitive regulation of aggressive behavior suggest positive correlations between poor executive capacities (ECF) and dispositional negative reactivity (Posner & Rothbart, 2000). If the global assumption is correct what are the likely implications of predicted relation? The central issue in present research was to verify this assumption and examine how situational characteristics could alter executive performance in persons with Dysexecutive Syndrome (DES, Baddeley, 1998) and healthy adults (students, health workers) to explore some of the consequences of those modifications for aggressive tendencies. Precisely, we expected the positive correlations between poor executive performances and high aggressive tendencies at dispositional as well situational levels, except for health workers, given their professional duties. In order to assess cognitive capacities and dispositional as well as situational aggressive tendencies, during two studies (First study: N=60 students; Second study: N= 60 students, N= 24 patient with Dysexecutive Syndrome, N= 45 health care workers) right-handed French-speakers participants completed twice, during an initial phase of the study and one week after, a series of standard executive functions neuropsychological tests and aggression questionnaires. During second phase, participants executed a task introducing the experimental feedbacks (success, neutral, failure) before completion of neuropsychological tests and questionnaires. The results provided evidence of a dispositional relationship between poor executive functioning and aggressive tendencies, and extended it to situational level. For all participants, it showed that increases in impulsiveness (negative emotionality and aggressive choices) due to a negative feedback were concomitant with an inability to focus individuals’ attention on ongoing tasks.

Why does self-experimentation lead to creative ideas?

According to a multivariate approach on creativity, self-experimentation may well provide many of the conditions that allow for new ideas to occur. This research method is valuable in particular because the researchers high level of participation in the search for a solution fosters the involvement of the necessary cognitive skills and conative traits.