Redefining Creativity: A New Approach To Understanding Divergent And Convergent Thinking And Personality

Researchers and practitioners have long been interested in understanding creativity and related aspects of thinking. For example, studies have focused on the ways in which convergent and divergent thinking and personality factors relate to creativity (Guilford, 1950). Traditionally, convergent thinking involves finding the correct answer to a problem; in contrast, divergent thinking involves generating a creative response through spontaneous exploration of different ideas, perhaps via associative processes (Guilford, 1950). Past research shows that divergent thinking and openness to experience, an aspect of personality that involves imagination and exploration, are related (e.g., Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008; MacKinnon, 1962, 1965; Silvia et al., 2009). The goal of our study is to further explore the relations between various measures of convergent and divergent thinking and openness to experience. Participants will be 100 ISU students 18 years or older recruited through the Department of Psychology online sign-up system. They will complete our measures via an online survey methodology that will include the Remote Associates Test (RAT), the Unusual Uses Test, a vocabulary test, the 10-item TIPI Personality questionnaire, and a demographic survey. The RAT is a well-known test of convergent thinking, where three unrelated words are shown, and participants must relate the fourth word. The Unusual Uses Test is a popular test of divergent thinking, where participants must come up with creative and uncommon uses for an object. But, according to Gabora (2019), the RAT may be more suitably classified as a divergent thinking test, especially when insight is involved. If the RAT relies on divergent thinking, then we would expect to observe strong, positive correlations between the RAT and Unusual Uses Test and openness to experience measures from the personality questionnaire. However, we would expect to observe no correlations with vocabulary, a convergent thinking measure. These results would provide a better understanding of creativity processes.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/urs2021psych/1004/thumbnail.jp

The Ted Bundy Effect: The Chemistry Behind the Killer

This presentation - prepared for a Fundamentals of Communication assignment - takes a closer look at the macabre world of serial killers by examining advances in brain chemistry that sheds new light on crime and the mind of the criminal. Faculty Supervisor: John Karnat

The Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland consensus guidelines in surgery for inflammatory bowel disease.

AIM There is a requirement of an expansive and up to date review of surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can dovetail with the medical guidelines produced by the British Society of Gastroenterology. METHODS Surgeons who are members of the ACPGBI with a recognised interest in IBD were invited to contribute various sections of the guidelines. They were directed to produce a procedure based document using literature searches that were systematic, comprehensible, transparent and reproducible. Levels of evidence were graded. An editorial board was convened to ensure consistency of style, presentation and quality. Each author was asked to provide a set of recommendations which were evidence based and unambiguous. These recommendations were submitted to the whole guideline group and scored. They were then refined and submitted to a second vote. Only those that achieved >80% consensus at level 5 (strongly agree) or level 4 (agree) after 2 votes were included in the guidelines. RESULTS All aspects of surgical care for IBD have been included along with 157 recommendations for management. CONCLUSION These guidelines provide an up to date and evidence based summary of the current surgical knowledge in the management of IBD and will serve as a useful practical text for clinicians performing this type of surgery