Katherine N. Cotter

Curve Appeal: Exploring Individual Differences in Preference for Curved Versus Angular Objects

A preference for smooth curvature, as opposed to angularity, is a well-established finding for lines, two-dimensional shapes, and complex objects, but little is known about individual differences. We used two-dimensional black-and-white shapes—randomly generated irregular polygons, and arrays of circles and hexagons—and measured many individual differences, including artistic expertise, personality, and cognitive style. As expected, people preferred curved over angular stimuli, and people’s degree of curvature preference correlated across the two sets of shapes. Multilevel models showed varying patterns of interaction between shape and individual differences. For the irregular polygons, people higher in artistic expertise or openness to experience showed a greater preference for curvature. This pattern was not evident for the arrays of circles and hexagons. We discuss the results in relation to the nature of the stimuli, and we conclude that individual differences do play a role in moderating the preference for smooth curvature.

Commentary: The Development of Creativity--Ability, Motivation, and Potential.

A major question for research on the development of creativity is whether it is interested in creative potential (a prospective approach that uses measures early in life to predict adult creativity) or in childrens creativity for its own sake. We suggest that a focus on potential for future creativity diminishes the fascinating creative world of childhood. The contributions to this issue can be organized in light of an ability × motivation framework, which offers a fruitful way for thinking about the many factors that foster and impede creativity. The contributions reflect a renewed interest in the development of creativity and highlight how this area can illuminate broader problems in creativity studies.

Reopening Openness to Experience: A Network Analysis of Four Openness to Experience Inventories

ABSTRACT Openness to Experience is a complex trait, the taxonomic structure of which has been widely debated. Previous research has provided greater clarity of its lower order structure by synthesizing facets across several scales related to Openness to Experience. In this study, we take a finer grained approach by investigating the item-level relations of four Openness to Experience inventories (Big Five Aspects Scale, HEXACO–100, NEO PI–3, and Woo et al.s Openness to Experience Inventory), using a network science approach, which allowed items to form an emergent taxonomy of facets and aspects. Our results (N = 802) identified 10 distinct facets (variety-seeking, aesthetic appreciation, intellectual curiosity, diversity, openness to emotions, fantasy, imaginative, self-assessed intelligence, intellectual interests, and nontraditionalism) that largely replicate previous findings as well as three higher order aspects: two that are commonly found in the literature (intellect and experiencing; i.e., openness), and one novel aspect (open-mindedness). In addition, we demonstrate that each Openness to Experience inventory offers a unique conceptualization of the trait, and that some inventories provide broader coverage of the network space than others. Our findings establish a broader consensus of Openness to Experience at the aspect and facet level, which has important implications for researchers and the Openness to Experience inventories they use.

The Creative Self in Context: Experience Sampling and the Ecology of Everyday Creativity

Abstract This chapter explores how ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods can illuminate everyday creativity, the often humble creative acts people do in their natural environments. After describing the notion of everyday creativity that guides this work, the present chapter reviews some common research designs and salient methodological issues for readers interested in conducting EMA research. Later, we review studies that have applied EMA methods—particularly experience sampling studies—to understand creativity in everyday environments. For creativity researchers, the ability to study creativity naturalistically—people working on their own creative goals at the times and places of their choosing—will offer new insights into what creativity looks like in the real world and the kinds of environments that spark and sustain it.

Remotely Close Associations: Openness to Experience and Semantic Memory Structure: Remotely close associations

Openness to experience—the enjoyment of novel experiences and ideas—has many connections to cognitive processes. People high in openness to experience, for example, tend to be more creative and have broader general knowledge than people low in openness to experience. In the current study, we use a network science approach to examine if the organization of semantic memory differs between high and low groups of openness to experience. A sample of 516 adults completed measures of openness to experience (from the NEO Five–Factor Inventory–3 and Big Five Aspect Scales) and a semantic verbal fluency task. Next, the sample was split into half to form high (n = 258) and low (n = 258) openness to experience groups. Semantic networks were then constructed on the basis of their verbal fluency responses. Our results revealed that the high openness to experience groups network was more interconnected, flexible, and had better local organization of associations than the low openness to experience group. We also found that the high openness to experience group generated more responses on average and provided more unique responses than the low openness to experience group. Taken together, our results indicate that openness to experience is related to semantic memory structure.

Do People Have a Thing for Bling? Examining Aesthetic Preferences for Shiny Objects

Researchers in the evolutionary aesthetics tradition have suggested that people prefer shiny objects because glossiness connotes water. We consider some methodological issues in past research and present an experiment that manipulated the glossiness of metal objects. Young adults (n = 134) viewed silver coins that were either dull or in “brilliant uncirculated” condition as well as copper cylinders that were either rough and tarnished, polished with a brushed surface, or polished with a mirror finish. Ratings of attractiveness showed that people preferred the shiny over the tarnished coin and the glossy copper bar over the tarnished and brushed ones. These effects were not simply due to perceived quality or implied effort. The findings demonstrate that, after many potential confounds have been avoided or controlled for, people do seem to have a thing for bling.

Feeling Like Crying When Listening to Music: Exploring Musical and Contextual Features

Feeling like crying is a common response to music. Recent work suggests two forms of aesthetic crying: an awe-inspired, positive kind and a distressed, sad kind. Besides their emotional tone, what differentiates these experiences? The present research examined the context and subjective musical content of aesthetic crying. A sample of 961 adults described the emotional tone, musical features, and social and environmental contexts of a feeling like crying experience. Awe experiences more often involved religious or classical music that was complex and beautiful, and people were often with others and hearing the music live. Sad experiences more often involved popular genres (e.g., Pop, Soul or R&B, Country) that were cold and unpleasant, and people often noted that the music reminded them of someone or that they already felt like crying before listening to the music. The distinctions between these two kinds of experiences suggest that current theories of aesthetic crying could be fruitfully expanded.