Obstacles to Personal Creativity between Brazilian and Mexican University Students: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Obstacles to Personal Creativity between Brazilian and Mexican University Students: A Comparative StudyThe study focused on personal obstacles to creativity between 385 Brazilian and 305 Mexican university students. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory, designed and validated by Alencar (1999b), was administered to these students. The results indicated that Lack of Time/Opportunity was the most frequent obstacle. Significant differences were observed between Brazilian and Mexican students in the cluster of obstacles named Lack of Motivation, and between male and female students in the cluster of obstacles named Inhibition/ Shyness. The results point to several obstacles to personal creativity which are common among university students. These obstacles should be known by those involved in education in order for them to help students to be less susceptible to obstacles that hinder their creativity.There is a growing recognition of the decisive role of creativity in the present day scenario which involves an increasing pace of change, complexity, uncertainty and instability. In most theoretical approaches in psychology, it is also recognized that creativity is a human natural resource that has been severely inhibited by sociocultural and personal obstacles.The numerous obstacles that hinder the expression of the creative potential have been largely discussed in the literature on creativity. These obstacles have been classified in many ways by different authors. Shallcross (1981), for example, categorized the barriers to utilizing creative potential into historical, biological, physiological, social, and psychological barriers. Adams (1986) identified a list of blocks which includes perceptual, emotional, cultural, environmental, intellectual, and pages 37-3-3.p65

Obstacles to Personal Creativity Among Arab Women from the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

“…Although the mean scores for the Inhibition/Shyness and Social Repression factors were lower than the mean scores for the Lack of Time/Opportunities and Lack of Motivation factors in the current study, these means were higher than the mean scores reported in the comparative studies: Alencar et al (2003) and Alencar (2001) (see Table 2).…”

“…Previous works on barriers to creativity have investigated a wide range of obstacles, including those related to organizations (e.g., Mostafa & El-Masry, 2008;Rickards & Jones, 1991;Rosenberry, 2005;Sadi & Al-Dubaisi, 2008), work environment (e.g., Isaksen, Lauer, Ekvall & Britz, 2000-2001Walter, 2012;Witt & Boerkrem, 1989), and personal situations (e.g., Alencar, 2001;Alencar, Fleith & Martinez, 2003;Reis, 2002). The current study focused on the personal obstacles to creativity in a population that has been rarely studied: women from the GCC countries.…”

Creativity in the Brazilian Culture

“…In a cross-cultural study conducted by Alencar, Fleith, and Martínez (2003), personal obstacles to creativity between 385 Brazilian and 305 Mexican University students were investigated. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory, designed and validated by the first author, was administered to these students.…”

Perceptions of Barriers to Personal Creativity: Validation of an Inventory Involving High Education Students

“…In Brazil, the Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity (Alencar, 1999) was validated using university students and already there have been various studies with this population (Alencar, 2001;Alencar, Fleith, & Martínez, 2003;Joly & Guerra, 2004). It was considered relevant then to validate the aforementioned inventory for Portugal.…”