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The present study was performed to describe the involvement of gender-role and personality traits in a cluster of tests to ascertain individuals' creative ability. Participants were 200 students at Karlstad University. Five gender-role types, based upon masculinity/femininity scales were derived, namely the androgynic, stereotypic, retrotypic, midmost and undifferentiated types. Results indicated that the androgynic group scored higher than the other groups on creativity, creative attitude (trend), dispositional optimism and graffiti/scrawling - with the exception of the stereotypic group which scored non-significantly higher on optimism. Nor was the the androgynic group significantly different from the retrotypic group with respect to creativity although this group scored significantly higher than did the stereotypic group. Small, or negligible, gender differences were found on the masculinity/femininity scales.
A vast array of studies have been aimed at the definition and description of the putative differences between male and female creativity (for a comprehensive review, see Abra and Valentine-French, 1991). As recurringly maintained almost as historical fact, there are-and have been-more distinguished men than women within the widespread enterprises of art, literature, music, science and technical development (Eccles, 1985). Modern research seems, however, to indicate that explanations for gender differences in these areas of endeavor ought to be sought primarily in gender role imprinting, which is underlined by the observation that between-gender differences decrease concurrently with the emancipation of women (Becker & Hedges, 1984; Feingold, 1988; Rosenthal & Rubin, 1982).
An area with considerably less research pertains to the combination of "male" and "female" in the mental processes of individual creativity. McKinnon (1962) reported that creative men and women exhibit attitudes and interests more readily considered typical for the opposite sex. In the western culture, sensitivity is considered a feminine virtue - whereas independence is masculine (Ekvall, 1991). Torrance (1963) has found that creative boys possess more feminine characteristics than their peers, and that creative girls are perceived as more masculine than other girls. In an investigation of female scientists (Helson, 1967) a prestigious group of successful female mathematicians was compared with another group of female mathematicians adjudged as having more average ability. The creative group received significantly higher judgments for the following characteristics: individualism, originality, concentration, artistry, complexity, courage, emotion, fascination, self-orientation. This gives an assortment of typically female and...