Is There Really a Creativity Crisis? A Critical Review and Meta‐analytic Re‐Appraisal

Abstract

The idea of a "creativity crisis" is widely accepted in the creativity and education literature. Its popular interpretation as a decline in creativity across generations originates from Kim's (2011) influential analysis of the re-norming data in the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The present work offers a critical review and reappraises the findings of Kim ( 2011), while incorporating new data from the latest norming edition of the TTCT. We posit that Kim's (2011) claim of creativity decline was grounded on problematic empirical decisions, statistical approaches, data representation, and interpretation of findings. Based on a sample of over 330,000 participants across TTCT norming editions, we further present a set of cross-temporal meta-analyses to revisit generational trends. These analyses reveal no evidence for the notion of a generational decline of creativity, and even less so, for a "creativity crisis." We conclude by discussing more broadly how beyond the lack of empirical evidence, the notion of creativity crisis represents a counter-productive societal and scientific myth. A few directions for the improvement of research and assessment practices in creativity are also discussed.

Divergent thinking and creative achievement—How strong is the link? An updated meta-analysis.

“…Compared with other previously studied correlates of CA, such as openness to experience and creative self-efficacy (e.g., da Costa et al, 2015; Haase et al, 2018; Karwowski & Lebuda, 2016), it seems that CA may be poorly predicted by DT. In sum, our results may be interpreted as support for the notion that reliance on DT tests as the sole indicator of creativity may be inappropriate and misleading (Barbot & Said-Metwaly, 2021; Hocevar, 1980; Runco & Acar, 2012). Having high creative potential does not equate to enacting this potential into real-life achievements.…”

School Does Not Kill Creativity

“…Yet are we really in crisis? Importantly and fortunately, there is no evidence for that (Barbot & Said-Metwaly, 2021).…”

Creativity Landscapes: Systematic Review Spanning 70 Years of Creativity Interventions for Children

“…When re-analyzing the data of Kim (2011), by considering updated normative values from the last Torrance Test of Creativity Thinking (TTCT-Figural), Barbot and Said-Metwaly (2020) concluded that the notion of creativity decline was grounded on problematic empirical decisions, statistical approaches, data representation, TABLE 1.…”

“…When re‐analyzing the data of Kim (2011), by considering updated normative values from the last Torrance Test of Creativity Thinking (TTCT‐Figural), Barbot and Said‐Metwaly (2020) concluded that the notion of creativity decline was grounded on problematic empirical decisions, statistical approaches, data representation, and interpretation of findings. This seems to show that the operationalization of a “creativity crisis” is based on a rather narrow operationalization of the phenomenon and raises issues about the conceptualization and the measurement of creativity, which might need to be expanded beyond the “golden standard” of using the TTCT for creativity measurement (Barbot & Said‐Metwaly, 2020). However, research has shown that creativity is a skill that can be trained, with interventions presenting encouraging levels of effectiveness (Birdi, 2016; Ma, 2009; Mansfield, Busse, & Krepelka, 1978; Rose & Lin, 1984; Scott et al., 2004a).…”

“…One could expect that creativity increases with age, as we mature cognitively and accumulate experiences. However, fluctuations in creative abilities across childhood and adolescenthood are reported in the literature (Kim, 2011) and reasons behind these fluctuations are being carefully analyzed in recent literature (Barbot & Said‐Metwaly, 2020; Said‐Metwaly, Fernández‐Castilla, Kyndt, Van den Noortgate, & Barbot, 2020).…”