Biographical Assessment of Creativity

Biographical assessment of creativity typically involves assessment of a person's life experiences, activities, education, and family history. It also can include data on interests, motivations, hobbies, social involvement, personality traits, and actual creative achievements. Therefore, the reader should review other sources dealing with assessment of creative personality characteristics, creative environments, and creative products for overlap in assessment methods, instruments, and findings.

There are many definitions of creativity, creative thinking, or creative problem solving in the literature. For the purposes of this entry, the relatively common view is used—that a creative product is something new but also useful and that the new idea or product is judged as a positive contribution in some way. In addition, creative thinking or creative problem solving is considered as a complex ...