Abstract:Divergent thinking is central to the study of individual differences in creativity, but the traditional scoring systems (assigning points for infrequent responses and summing the points) face well-known problems. After critically reviewing past scoring methods, this article describes a new approach to assessing divergent thinking and appraises its reliability and validity. In our new Top 2 scoring method, participants complete a divergent thinking task and then circle the two responses that they think are their most creative responses. Raters then evaluate the responses on a 5-point scale. Regarding reliability, a generalizability analysis showed that subjective ratings of unusual-uses tasks and instances tasks yield dependable scores with only 2 or 3 raters. Regarding validity, a latent-variable study (n = 226) predicted divergent thinking from the Big Five factors and their higher-order traits (Plasticity and Stability). Over half of the variance in divergent thinking could be explained by dimensions of personality. The article presents instructions for measuring divergent thinking with the new method.

Given curiosity's fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two factor model-motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; 5 items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; 5 items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II.Corresponding Author: Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, MS 3F5, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, Email: tkashdan@gmu.edu, Phone: 703-993-9486, Fax: 703-993-1359; website: http://mason.gmu.edu/~tkashdan. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Curiosity is a powerful facet of human motivation (Berlyne, 1960(Berlyne, , 1971Izard, 1977) and one of the fundamental strengths and personality traits studied by psychologists (Peterson & Seligman, 2004;Reiss, 2000). Out of 24 fundamental strengths studied by psychologists, curiosity was the most commonly endorsed by 12,439 adults in the United States and 445 adults in Switzerland (Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, & Seligman, 2007). Sylvan Tomkins (1962), a seminal researcher of positive emotions, believed curiosity had benefits of profound evolutionary significance: "The importance of curiosity to thought and memory are so extensive that the absence…would jeopardize intellectual development no less than the destruction of brain tissue…there is no human competence which can be achieved in the absence of a sustaining interest" (p. 347). NIH Public AccessDespite being interesting to research...

Abstract:The Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales-the Perceptual Aberration, Magical Ideation, Physical Anhedonia, and Revised Social Anhedonia Scales-have been used extensively since their development in the 1970s and 1980s. Based on psychometric analyses using item response theory, the present work presents 15-item short forms of each scale. In addition to being briefer, the short forms omit items with high differential item functioning. Based on data from a sample of young adults (n = 1144), the short forms have strong internal consistency, and they mirror effects found for the longer scales. They thus appear to be a good option for researchers interested in the brief assessment of schizotypic traits. The items are listed in an Appendix A. HighlightsShort forms (15 items each) of the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales were developed. Based on IRT and DIF analyses, items with high discrimination but low DIF were selected. Internal consistency and intercorrelations were good and consistent with past work with the long scales. The brief scales had construct-consistent relations with measures of personality and mood disorder symptoms.Keywords: schizotypy | wisconsin schizotypy scales | item response theory | assessment | psychology Article:

The Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales are widely used for assessing schizotypy in nonclinical and clinical samples. However, they were developed using classical test theory (CTT) and have not had their psychometric properties examined with more sophisticated measurement models. The present study employed item response theory (IRT) as well as traditional CTT to examine psychometric properties of four of the schizotypy scales on the item and scale level, using a large sample of undergraduate students (n = 6,137). In addition, we investigated differential item functioning (DIF) for sex and ethnicity. The analyses revealed many strengths of the four scales, but some items had low discrimination values and many items had high DIF. The results offer useful guidance for applied users and for future development of these scales. The items for the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales are available from Thomas R. Kwapil.

To investigate the reliability of the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales, this study applied generalizability analysis with two college student samples who completed the scales at two time points. The results indicated that the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale had acceptable levels of score dependability, but that the score dependability for the other scales (the Physical Anhedonia Scale, the Perceptual Aberration Scale, and the Magical Ideation Scale) was below an acceptable level of .80. The patterns of variance components suggested that the scales' items need improvement. Researchers can use the included tables to choose the number of items and occasions needed to get dependable score interpretations.