Exploring the Relationship between Creativity and Dimensions of Religiosity

Abstract

There is a substantial body of research that investigates creativity and religiosity as separate phenomena. Creativity tends to fall in the domain of cognitive and personality psychology, while religiosity is typically a variable of interest in social psychology. While some prior research has suggested a negative relationship between religiosity and creativity (Nguyen, 2012), more research is necessary to fully understand the association between these variables. The current study will conceptually replicate and expand upon recent research showing that some dimensions of religiosity are predictive of performance on creative generations tasks (Nguyen, 2012). This study expands on that research by measuring different aspects of religiosity (including fundamentalism) and having participants complete different creative generation tasks than have been used previously. Research measuring religiosity and creativity as multidimensional constructs is limited. The present study attempts to extend current research on creativity and religion by employing different measures of creativity and more inclusive measures of religiosity. This research will help us to better understand the nature of the relationship between religiosity and creative behavior