THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND CREATIVITY AS A SELF-GROWTH PRACTICE by Samara V.

Serotkin

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology

California Institute of Integral Studies

San Francisco, CA 2010

UMI Number: 3428138

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CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

I certify that I have read THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELFACTUALIZATION AND CREATIVITY AS A SELF-GROWTH PRACTICE by Samara V. Serotkin, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

__________________________________________________ Mera Atlis, Ph.D., Chair Director of Clinical Training, Clinical Psychology

__________________________________________________ Lee Bach, Ph.D., External Reviewer Program Director, Michigan School of Professional Psychology

 2010 Samara V. Serotkin

Samara Serotkin [contact info withheld for privacy]

May 27, 2010

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Samara V. Serotkin California Institute of Integral Studies, 2010 Mera Atlis Ph.D., Committee Chair THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND CREATIVITY AS A SELF-GROWTH PRACTICE ABSTRACT

Self-actualization is a term used to describe a state of fully realizing ones potentials. Both Abraham Maslow (1959, 1970) and Carl Rogers (1959, 1961) spoke of self-actualization and an innate actualizing tendency all people are born with. A specific type of creativity is hypothesized to be associated with selfactualization by both of these authors: self-actualizing creativity or constructive creativity. This paper explores the relationship between selfactualizing creativity as a self-growth practice and self-actualization levels in a group of 99 volunteers recruited from the Internet to complete an online version of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI; E. L. Shostrom, 1964) as well as a questionnaire designed by the author to explore self-actualization and creative practices of the participant. No significant relationships were found, potentially due to methodological issues. Future research in this area is recommended to take these methodological issues into account.

Acknowledgements Completing this dissertation has been quite a journey, and I doubt I could have done it alone. I want to take this opportunity to thank my husband, David, for his unfailing support and patience throughout this process. He always helped me find my path, even when I felt quite lost and doubtful that I would ever complete this project. I am deeply grateful for his contribution to the completion of this journey. I also would like to thank my chair, Mera, for all of her guidance and support. This was a learning process for both of us, and my learning experience was certainly deepened by her contributions. I would also like to thank my family and my friends for all of their help and support. I appreciate every bit of it. Thank you so much. Finally, I would like to thank the little being currently residing in my womb. Thank you so much for your perfect timing and your motivating me through the final push to complete this major undertaking. I am a very fortunate woman to have had all the support and love I have experienced, through this project and beyond. I am grateful to everyone and everything that has put me exactly where I am today.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ....................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ vi List of Tables and Figure ....................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction ..........................................................................................11 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature......................................................................13 Self-Actualization ..........................................................................................13 Abraham Maslows motivational theory. ..............................................14 Self-actualization in psychotherapy. .....................................................19 Self-actualization research. ...................................................................21 Creativity .......................................................................................................23 The relationship between self-actualization and creativity. ..................25 Self-actualizing (SA) creativity versus special talent (ST) creativity. ..25 Researching self-actualization and creativity........................................28 Chapter 3: Method ................................................................................................36 Procedures .....................................................................................................36 Instruments ....................................................................................................37 Participants ....................................................................................................42 Chapter 4: Results ..................................................................................................46 Analyses ........................................................................................................46 Self-Actualization and POI Scores ................................................................46 Self-Reported Creative Practices ...................................................................49 Creative Attitudes ..........................................................................................51 Creative Practices and Self-Actualization .....................................................60 Chapter 5: Discussion ............................................................................................63 vii

Methodological Concerns and Limitations ...................................................63 Suggestions for Further Research ..................................................................68 References ..............................................................................................................70 Appendix A: Informed Consent .............................................................................77 Appendix B: Participants Bill of Rights ...............................................................79 Appendix C: Demographics Questionnaire ...........................................................80 Appendix D: Creativity Attitudes Questionnaire and Creative Practices Questionnaire .........................................................................................................81 Appendix E: Sample POI Questions and Contact Information .............................83 Appendix F: Recruitment Letter ............................................................................84 Appendix G: Summary of Items Included in Each POI Scale ...............................85 Appendix H: POI Scores Summarized by Top Three Creative Categories ...........86

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE Table 1 Scales and Subscales of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) ...................... 39 Figure 1 Flow Chart of Participant Selection. Authors image. .......................................... 42 Table 2 Ethnicity, Marital Status, and Employment Status of Participants (N =99) ......... 44 Table 3 Participants Job Types (N = 99) .......................................................................... 45 Table 4 Means and Standard Deviations of the POI Scores .............................................. 47 Table 5 Cronbachs Alphas for POI Scale Scores ............................................................. 48 Table 6 Intercorrelational Matrix for POI Scale Scores .................................................... 50 Table 7 Coding Categories and Criteria for Creative Practices ......................................... 52 Table 8 Frequency of Engagement in Creative Practice(s) (N = 99) ................................. 53 Table 9 Means and Standard Deviations for the Creative Attitudes Scores (N = 99)........ 53 Table 10 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 1 of the Creative Attitudes Questionnaire........ 54 Table 11 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 2 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire.............. 55 Table 12 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 3 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire.............. 56 Table 13 Pearson Product Moment Correlations between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 4 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire.............. 57

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Table 14 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 5 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire.............. 58 Table 15 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and the Creative Attitudes Score ..................................... 59 Table 16 Pearson Product Correlation Coefficient Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scale Scores and Creative Practices ........................................... 61 Table 17 Summary of Items Included in Each Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scale ...................................................................................................................... 84 Table 18 Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scores Summarized by Top Three Creative Categories ............................................................................................... 85

Chapter 1: Introduction The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself. Alan Alda (1980, para. 43) Creativity can be a transformative tool to bring a person back to his or her own intuitive roots. Self-actualization is a term used to describe the process of fulfilling ones greatest potentials, or an ideal state of wellness. Creativity has been theorized to be associated with self-actualization (Dunn, 1961; Garfield, Cohen, & Roth, 1969; Goff & Torrance; 1991; Rhodes, 1990; Torrance, 1962, 1978). Can creative activities actually facilitate the process of self-actualization? This project explores this question. Both Carl Rogers (1961) and Abraham Maslow (1968) spoke of an innate self-actualizing tendency that can propel individuals on their own path of selfgrowth toward self-actualization. Self-actualization is seen as a state of being, not a static end-point. It involves cultivating patience for the process of life as it unfolds for the individual experiencing it. A self-actualizing individual is able to respond to life in a flexible way that sustains self-growth. Rogers (1961) and Maslow (1968) also identified creativity as an important factor associated with ones self-actualizing tendency. Both theorized that self-actualizing people are especially creative individuals, who are able to adapt to life in a flexible and creative way. All forms of creativity are not created equal however. A distinction is made between special talent (ST) creativity and

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self-actualizing (SA) creativity (Maslow, 1968). ST creativity is found in individuals who seem to be born with a specific aptitude for something. This kind of natural creativity seems to be possible without much effort on the individuals part. It is a certain level of talent that one is simply born with. SA creativity, on the other hand, is more of a personality trait that is accessible to everyone. It is not being creative with a single medium, it is more of a way of approaching life in general. It is a tendency to do anything creatively (Maslow, 1968). What Maslow called SA creativity is described by Rogers (1961) as constructive creativity (p. 353). Rogers hypothesized that in order for a constructively creative act to occur, one must have certain internal conditions: openness to experience, an internal locus of evaluation, and the ability to toy with elements and concepts (Rogers, 1961). It is process-focused creativity, not dependant on external evaluation of a final product. While Rogers (1961) focused on how a therapist can foster these conditions, this project will explore whether it is possible to develop these conditions for oneself via creative self-growth practices. This project explores the relationship between self-actualization and creativity as a self-growth practice. The creative process is defined as any activity that an individual participates in that involves toying with new concepts or ideas, or new ways of seeing in general, and a reliance on the self as the ultimate judge of the work, as opposed to relying on outside sources for approval.

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Chapter 2: Review of the Literature Self-Actualization What motivates people to do what they do? It is difficult to overestimate the value of uncovering and unleashing an individuals own motivational force. Any therapist who has tried to guide a client toward self-growth can appreciate the value of the clients personal sense of motivation and agency for change. However, motivation can be a difficult force to cultivate and explain because everyone presents with a unique set of values and personal motivational factors. For example, at first glance, excluding some basic physiological motivators (avoiding pain, seeking pleasure, etc.), factors affecting motivation do not appear to be universal (Goldstein, 1939/1995). Consequently, any theory of motivation must take into account a wide variety of factors. Many theorists and philosophers have taken on the challenge of developing a core theory of motivation (e.g., Alderfer, 1972; Festinger, 1957; Goldstein, 1939/1995; Herzberg, 1959; Maslow, 1943). Abraham Maslow is perhaps the best known of these theorists. His work was largely influenced by Kurt Goldstein, to whom he dedicated his book Toward A Psychology of Being (1968). Goldstein (1939/1995) saw basic drives as a tension-release mechanism. Looking at the various drives that were observed in humans and in other organic life, he asked an essential question: Toward what are the drives driving? (p. 195). He posited that drives create tensions that subsequently need to be released. In healthy individuals, these tensions, when released, propel the individual

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toward a higher level of complexity and depth, thus bringing self-growth. While unhealthy individuals also seek to release the tension, they do not progress beyond this closed loop of tension-release cycles (Goldstein, 1939/1995). If healthy individuals are motivated to transcend this tension/release cycle, what then drives them? What propels them to grow? Goldstein (1939/1995) coined the term self-actualizing to describe the basic tendency of individuals to grow deeper in complexity and to go beyond themselves. According to Goldstein, there is only one drive: that of self-actualization. Normal behavior corresponds to a continual change of tension, of such a kind that over and again that state of tension is reached which enables and impels the organism to actualize itself in further activities, according to its nature (p. 197). Thus, healthy people are able to use the natural buildup of tension to propel themselves forward on the path of actualizing their potentials. Abraham Maslows motivational theory. Inspired in part by Goldsteins writings, Abraham Maslow presented his theory of motivation in the Psychological Review (1943). This theory organized human needs into a pyramidlike hierarchy that individuals were hypothesized to work through, with basic physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization at the top. The idea was that individuals would expend most of their efforts and energy toward meeting their current level of needs. Once met, higher needs would emerge and become the focus of the individuals attention (Maslow, 1943). At the base of Maslows hierarchy are the basic physiological needs. This refers to the bodys need to maintain homeostasis by getting the food, water, and so on that it needs to 14

survive. If one is lacking in these areas, all activities will be organized with the priority being to meet these needs (Maslow, 1943). Once an individual is able to satisfy these physiological needs, he or she next focuses on maintaining safety. This might include obtaining stable shelter, developing methods of self-defense and learning to avoid danger. Thus, the individual focuses his or her activities to establish ways to secure the stability and safety of his or herself (Maslow, 1958). Once the individual develops enough trust in his or her safety, then he or she next focuses on relationship needs and love. Here the individual seeks to establish connection and a sense of belongingness and affection. This not only includes being loved, but being able to give love as well (Maslow, 1958). When an individuals love and relationship needs are mostly met, esteem needs come into focus. This refers to the individuals need to have confidence in his or her selfworth. Maslow breaks this stage into two needs: that of feeling ones own selfworth and that of achieving prestige and the respect of others (Maslow, 1958). With such distinction of phases, it is easy to make the assumption that Maslows hierarchy of needs rigidly requires an individual to progress through the stages successively, completing one before moving on to the next. Progression through these stages, however, is actually more of a fluid and flexible process. Maslow (1954/1970) points out that needs from one level do not necessarily need to be completely satisfied before a person begins work on the next level, he envisioned the process as more of a gradual ebb and flow between the stages. People can be working on satisfying more than one level of needs simultaneously.

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After an individual has mostly satisfied the basic needs, that persons attention shifts to the higher need for self-actualization. In the following statement, Maslow (1943) defines self-actualization as the tendency for one to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming (p. 382). Self-actualizing individuals have been described as: psychologically well-adjusted and free from neurosis, psychosis, or crippling anxiety; more able to turn inward in a meditative way to solve personal problems; able to function well interpersonally with an increased capacity for intimate contact; more creative and spontaneous, and open to new experiences; less conformist and more inner-directed; having a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life empathic and more accepting of others; more altruistic and loving; and able to focus their energies on the present moment, rather then dwelling on the past or the future (Farmer, 1984; Ford & Procidano, 1990; Maslow, 1943). Self-actualization is not an endpoint to be achieved, but is more of an ongoing process or a way of life. Self-actualizing people continually work to 16

discern their unique core values and then to live congruently with them. It is an ongoing process of self-growth and integration. Making growth choices like this involves risk and courage, and may set the self-actualizing person on a difficult path that is at odds with surrounding people and norms (OConnor & Yballe, 2007). This incarnation of Maslows (1943) hierarchy of needs, with selfactualization at the top, is the one most often presented in current textbooks (Koltko-Rivera, 2006). As Maslows research progressed, however, he began to realize that there was a hole in his theory: if self-actualization was truly the top goal in motivating people, then self-actualizing people would be satisfied and not driven toward any higher goals. Nonetheless, he found that the self-actualizing people in his research remained engaged in the pursuit of something (Maslow, 1970). As such, it became clear to him that his theory was incomplete. He determined that there was indeed an additional level to his hierarchy of needs: self-transcendence. Maslow then divided his hierarchy of needs into two categories. The physiological, safety, relationship and love, and esteem needs became known as the basic needs, while self-actualization and selftranscendence were grouped together as growth needs (Maslow, 1970). Maslow hypothesized (1970) that self-actualizing people are striving towards self-transcendence, which is the goal of going beyond oneself, or literally transcending the self. It points at a feeling of one-ness with the world, of egolessness and service to a greater good (Koltko-Rivera, 2006). Self-actualizing people are drawn forward on their individual paths by the drive for self17

transcendence. They are able to negotiate moments of tension and stress in such a way that they are able to minimize suffering and maximize growth. Maslow has been criticized for implying that his theories could be applied universally (Geller, 1982). This universal application becomes especially problematic with regards to its emphasis on the self and self-growth, which reflects Western cultural valuing of the self and independence (Hill, 2004). Eastern cultures tend to value collectivism and de-emphasize the importance of the self (Pedersen, Draguns, Lonner, & Trimble, 2002). The relationship between culture and individualism and collectivism is a complex one, and a great deal of variation can exist within cultures (Brewer & Chen, 2007) and one should be careful of stereotyping, it is important to be aware of potential cultural biases when applying theoretical ideas. While Maslows concept of self-actualization does appear to value the self and self-growth, and therefore a bias towards Western culture, this bias fades when his theory includes self-transcendence as the ultimate driving force. Self-transcendence is the process of actually letting go of the self for an experience of one-ness with the universe (Koltko-Rivera, 2006). Interestingly, the concept of self-transcendence can be seen through various lenses of world religions, such as nirvana in Buddhism and ecstasy in Christianity. The concept of self-transcendence may apply to people of varying cultural backgrounds in different ways. While people dont generally achieve self-transcendence, it remains a motivating force for self-actualizing people (Maslow, 1954/1970). The closest

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most people get to self-transcendence is through peak experiences, which are characterized by the following: feelings of limitless horizons and being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless then one ever was before; feelings of great ecstasy, awe, and wonder; and the conviction that something extremely important and valuable has happened, leading to great transformation in the individuals daily life (Maslow, 1954/1970). Maslows (1970) work on self-transcendence truly transcended fields as well. It stretched beyond the field of psychology and has since also been applied in the fields of education (Rubadeau, Garrett, & Rubadeau, 1984; Snyder, 1976) and organizational development (Dye, Mills, & Weatherbee, 2005; Wilson & Madsen, 2008). Additionally, his work on peak experiences and selftranscendence appealed to the religious and esoteric community (Locke, 2002). This led to the development of the field of transpersonal psychology, and its Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, which Maslow helped to establish (O'Connor & Yballe, 2007). Self-actualization in psychotherapy. In addition to the field of transpersonal psychology, Maslows (1943) motivational theory has contributed to many theoretical orientations. Examples include psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapy, which work to identify and remove the blockages that prevent people from being able to reach their fullest potentialin other words, to selfactualize. Maslows influence, however, can most clearly be seen in the fields of 19

humanistic and positive psychologies. Carl Rogers (1961), the father of personcentered therapy and one of the founders of humanistic psychology, believed the main curative force in psychotherapy is: mans tendency to actualize himself, to become his potentialitiesthe directional trend which is evident in all organic and human life - the urge to expand, extend, develop, maturethe tendency to express and activate all the capacities of the organism, or the self. (p. 351) By offering the core therapeutic conditions of unconditional positive regard, empathy, and authenticity, a therapist helps people release their self-actualizing tendencies (Rogers, 1961). In one of his classic studies Rogers (1961) used the Q-Sort technique, Rogers collected data from a group of 29 clients at the Counseling Center at the University of Chicago before, during, and after receiving weekly individual therapy. At each interval, the participants were asked to sort a group of 100 self-descriptive statements into 9 piles from those items most characteristic of themselves to those viewed as least characteristic of themselves. Rogers found that, as the client-centered therapeutic process unfolds, clients experience a wide variety of improvements similar to Maslows description of self-actualizing individuals, including understanding previously unexamined aspects of themselves and becoming more of the following: integrated, more able to function effectively; similar to the person they would like to be; self-directing and self-confident; unique and more self-expressive; understanding and accepting of others; and

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able to cope with the problems of life more adequately and more comfortably. (p. 38)

Self-actualization research. Maslow became deeply curious about the self-actualizing person and over the years, he completed a great deal of clinical studies that involved gathering information about individuals who appeared to be self-actualizing. He found it difficult, however, to find many subjects for his research because, in our society, basically satisfied people are the exception (Maslow, 1943, p. 383). In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a great deal of interest in the concept of self-actualization, but more recently it has fallen out of favor. Currently, there is a trend in psychology towards empirically validated treatments and brief psychotherapies. Self-actualization can be a difficult concept to concretize and study empirically as some researchers feel that the essential character of this kind of experience can be lost by attempts to control and manipulate these phenomena, so its appearance in the literature has dwindled (J. Davis, 2009). The entire field of humanistic psychology, of which self-actualization is only a part, has come under fire for its lack of scientific rigor and lack of balance. The field has a history of internal conflict and passionate claims without adequate empirical validation (Grogan, 2009). Maslow (as cited by Starcher, 2006) developed a definition of self-actualization and then identified a group of people that he felt fit this description. Most of his research was based on this subject pool. He was unable to provide much actual empirical data regarding his concepts (Starcher, 2006). His process of theory development can be described as 21

exploratory and hermeneutic in nature (Rennie, 2008). Additionally, his theory of self-actualization evolved over time, leading to several different versions of his theory being published, which led to some confusion and criticism of earlier versions of the theories (Leontiev, 2008). Geller (1982) criticizes Maslows theories for their emphasis and reliance on a fundamentally positive view of human nature. Geller points out that this theory, if applied universally as Maslow suggested it could be, fails to take into account the existence of evil in human nature. Additionally, he discusses the shortcomings of the theory with regards to the limitations of his description of the final stage of self-actualization. Geller (1984) states that the end-point, or goal stage presented in Maslows theory is not objectively measurable, and can not be universally applicable. The concept of self-actualization is a valuable one to research, however. What therapist would not want to help clients actualize, or reach their fullest potentials? Well-rooted in Maslows and Rogerss work, the field of positive psychology, which focuses on the study of happiness and does not focus as much on pathology, has gained recent attention for its promise to enhance human functioning and reduce suffering (Lambert & Erekson, 2008; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000b). Attempts to empirically validate the clinical use of positive psychology have been promising (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). In a special issue of the American Psychologist that was devoted entirely to the field of positive psychology, positive psychology is lauded as an essential tool within the upcoming field of prevention (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000a). 22

Building optimism, for example, has been shown to help prevent depression (Seligman, Schulman, DeRubeis, & Hollon, 1999). Creativity Similar to self-actualization, creativity can be an elusive and slippery construct to pin down concretely (Smuts, 1992). Merriam-Websters (2009) online dictionary defines creativity as the quality of being creative, with creative defined as the ability to create. The definition of create is, according to Websters to bring into being. A deeper way to view creativity is as a basic problem-solving process, an all-encompassing form of learning in that it involves problem-solving through self-exploration, intuition, self-assessment, and insight (Talerico, 1986, p. 239). This basic problem-solving process can be viewed as an evolutionary trait - one that has allowed the human race to adapt to its ever-changing environment, and thus survive. We use creativity to adapt to novel situations, learning to avoid danger in new ways and get our needs met in an ever-changing world (Grossman, 1981; Richards, 2007). Carl Rogers (1961) defined the creative process as the emergence in action of a novel relational product, growing out of the uniqueness of the individual on the one hand, and the materials, events, people, or circumstances of his life on the other (p. 350). In other words, it is the result of a unique individuals interaction with his or her ever-changing world. It is an interactive process or coping skill that exercises an individuals cognitive flexibility (Goff & Torrance, 1991; Rhodes, 1990; Rogers, 1961).

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Creative thinking, then, can be seen as a way to exercise ones cognitive flexibilityto stretch the mind, so to speak. An individual must have a certain amount of cognitive flexibility in order to make any meaningful changes to his or her internal schemas and how he or she interacts with the world (Simonton, 2000). One needs to be able to look at his or her life through a creative lens. Creative thinking, in general, has the following benefits: encouraging the expression of feelings; fostering confidence through the risk-taking inherent in creative thinking; developing communication with the unconscious; and contributing to the development of new insights, resolution of conflict, reduction of anxiety (Talerico, 1986, p. 231). Creativity was the single common trait Abraham Maslow (1954/1970) found in all of the twenty-three self-actualizing people he studied. He described this creativity as a specific kind of inventiveness that was more a fundamental characteristic of common human nature-a potentiality given to all human beings at birth (Maslow, 1954/1970, p. 170). He described this trait of creativity as something that all people are born with, but one which seems to fade for some people over time as they grow older as they accommodate the expectations of society. Nonetheless, every person he identified as self-actualizing continued to demonstrate a high level of creativity, without exception. As described in the previous section of this paper, self-actualization is a state of optimal functioning and being psychologically well adjusted, so Maslows observations point to the 24

possibility that higher levels of creativity might be associated with higher functioning and higher levels of self-actualization. The relationship between self-actualization and creativity. Carl Rogers (1961) viewed creativity as a core factor in his picture of mental health and growth. Like Maslow, he saw a deep connection between self-actualization and creativity, hypothesizing that they both emerge from the same root. The mainspring of creativity appears to be the same tendency which we discover so deeply as the curative force in psychotherapymans tendency to actualize himself, to become his potentialities (Rogers, 1961, p. 351, emphasis added). While Rogers (1961) envisioned the relationship between creativity and self-actualization as both emerging from the same root, Maslow (1968) hypothesized that a reciprocal relationship exists between creativity and selfactualization. He saw creativity as a factor that helps propel ones self-actualizing tendency which in turn, helps feed ones creativity. Much like Rogerss (1961) belief that the actualizing tendency and creativity are so close in nature that they may be emerging from the same root, Maslow went so far as to suggest that creativity and self-actualization may even be the same thing (Maslow, 1968). SA creativity versus ST creativity. Maslow (1954/1970) made the distinction between two kinds of creativity: ST creativity and SA creativity. ST creativity is the kind of creativity that seems to be reserved for select individuals born with exceptional natural talent for somethingprodigies such as Mozart. Maslow envisioned these cases as having been specially endowed with a drive

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and a capacity with little relationship to the rest of the personality and with which, the individual was born (p. 170). Maslow (1954/1970), however, did not focus much of his research on ST creativity because this kind of creativity does not rest upon psychic health or basic satisfaction (p. 170). Some may argue that all people are born with special talents and that these talents are not recognized, supported, and fostered in some and, therefore, left dormant. In other words, Maslows definition of ST creativity may be seen as inadequate. If a person is born with special abilities or special talents, but their basic needs are not met, they may not have the opportunity to cultivate these special talents. Maslows (1954/1970) interest lay in SA creativity, which he described as a natural expression of a healthy personality and a potentiality with which all humans are born. This kind of creativity is not limited to a narrow definition of artistic endeavors. Rather, it is a part of whatever activity with which a person is engaged. In this sense a shoemaker and an accountant, for example, could both be equally creative in their work. Whatever one does can be done with a certain attitude, a certain spirit that arises out of the nature of the character of the person performing the act (Maslow, 1954/1970). Rogers (1961) emphasized that this kind of creativity can be witnessed in a wide variety of situations, and that all of them can been seen as equally creativesuch as a child inventing a new game with his playmates, Einstein formulating a theory of relativity, a homemaker devising a new sauce for the meat, or a young author writing a first novel. There is no attempt to set these creative activities in order of more or less creative (p. 350). 26

Another important aspect of SA creativity is that it does not emphasize the importance of the final product in the creative act. What is important is the creative process itself (Maslow, 1954/1970). Some authors, such as Young (1985) and Hyatt (1992) also feel that having a final product is not essential to define an act as creative. Young claims that being creative is more of an open and spontaneous attitude toward life that equates creativity with good mental health. In this view, the creative product becomes the process of living life and negotiating relationships with the world. The product becomes the process. It is living spontaneously and in the present. In other words, how you travel becomes more important then where you go (Young, 1985, p. 80). Richards (2007) has written extensively about the concept of everyday creativity, which, like Maslows SA creativity, operates beyond survival and deficiency needs, moving people toward realizing their higher human potential, and even forwarding their ongoing development. She views SA creativity as a higher level of everyday creativity, which: is about everyone, throughout our lives; it is fundamental to our survival. It is how we find a lost child, get enough to eat, and make our way in a new place and culture. It is not so much what we do as how we do it, whether this is at work or leisure. With our everyday creativity, we adapt flexibly, we improvise, and we try different options, whether we are raising our child, counseling a friend, fixing our home, or planning a fundraising event. (p. 26) Everyday creativity, or SA creativity, involves learning to trust the self as an appropriate evaluator of the creative product, or not valuing the self as a construct in the first place. Not relying on an outside evaluator to judge the worth of the creative product may help the creator develop trust in his or her own intuitive

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voice. A person who is able to rely on him or herself to evaluate the worth of something is said to have an internal locus of control, or evaluation (Capuzzi & Gross, 1999). Internal locus of control is a concept has been found to be associated with happiness and creativity. For example, in a study involving 182 college students, Pannells and Claxton (2008) found that internal locus of control was positively correlated with higher levels of happiness and creativity. Using the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI; Argyle, 2001) to measure happiness, the Runco Ideation Behavior Scale (RIBS; Runco, Plucker & Lim, 2001) to measure creativity, and the Rotters Locus of Control (Rotter, 1966), they found that people who were identified to have strong internal locus of control had significant correlations between their scores on the OHI and the RIBS (r(85) = 438, p < .01). Locus of control has been found to vary across cultures, however (Srivastava, Blakely, Andrews, & McKee-Ryan, 2007; Smith, Trompenaars, & Dugan, 1995) and it is important to take this into account as a possible confounding factor when discussing this concept. Individuals from Asian cultures, for example, have been found to generally score as having more external locus of control than individuals of North American Caucasian descent (Dyal, 1984). This suggests a possibility that ones self-actualization and creative experiences might have a strong culturally-influenced component. Researching self-actualization and creativity. Self-actualization has been described as a picture of positive mental functioning (Farmer, 1984), and Maslow (1970) identified SA creativity as the major common thread among 28

people he identified as self-actualizing. SA creativity is worth studying as a possible tool to aid in self-growth. Maslow (1959), May (1959) and Rogers (1959) all emphasize the potential of the creative process as a tool to enhance selfgrowthone that is available to the general population, not only a select few. There is a lot of theoretical discussion about a connection between creativity and self-actualization (Dunn, 1961; Garfield et al., 1969; Goff & Torrance, 1991; Rhodes, 1990; Torrance, 1962, 1978). Maslow (1970) felt that creativity and self-actualization were so connected that he felt they could be two words describing the same phenomenon. A strong argument has also been made for the connection between higher levels of creativity and wellness (Duncan, 1987). With such theoretical backing for the creative process as a therapeutic tool, several researchers have taken up the gauntlet to explore the healing potential of the creative process (Cropley, 1990; Evans, 2007; Garfield et al.,1969). One recent example of such research was a study produced by Van Lith, Fenner, and Schofield (2009) in which three art therapy facilitators at a psychosocial rehabilitation program in Australia participated in a qualitative open-ended phenomenological interview to explore the role of art making activities in mental health recovery. These researchers developed a rich description of how these facilitators viewed the art making process as a method in mental health rehabilitation. They found, for example, that when people who were in a meditative creative flow state, they were able to deal with highly traumatic material and resolve some of these issues in ways that facilitated the mergence of insight and personal growth (Van Lith et al., 2009). This study was exploratory in 29

nature, though, and with such a small sample size (N = 3), it should be treated as such and the results should not be generalized beyond the initial sample. The study does, however, point towards the usefulness of studying this idea. One of the difficulties with establishing a clear link between selfactualization and creativity is finding an instrument that accurately measures SA creativity, as opposed to ST creativity. Much of the existing research that has tried to establish a link and failed to find a significant relationship between these two constructs (Mathes, 1978; Murphy, Dauw, Horton, & Fredian, 1976). For example, Murphy et al. (1976) explored the relationship between selfactualization and creativity using a sample of 177 graduate and undergraduate students. They measured self-actualization using Shostroms (1964) Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), which is one of the primary assessment tools used to measure self-actualization. Creativity was measured using a combination of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance, 1962) and the Similes Preference Inventory (SPI; Pearson & Maddi, 1966). The TTCT uses a combination of verbal and figural forms to create measures of identical fluency, flexibility, and originality. The SPI is a structured measure of the tendency toward variety. While the authors in the Murphy et al. (1976) study listed convincing theoretical arguments for finding a relationship between creativity and selfactualization, the authors did not find any significant relationship between these variables. One possible explanation they identify for the lack of support for their hypothesis is that the instruments did not measure the constructs as clearly as possible, pointing out the likelihood that the creativity measure (TCCT) was 30

spelling out intellectual differences more distinctly than the self-actualizing measures, which are measuring personality variables (p. 43). Another possible reason is the close relationship between the definition of self-actualization and mental wellness. The authors note that the POI may have actually been measuring mental wellness as opposed to fully capturing the self-actualization variable (Murphy at al., 1976). Mathes (1978) also attempted and failed to establish a statistically significant relationship between self-actualization and creativity, citing problems with construct validity for the measures of creativity. Working with a student population of 29 male and 43 female subjects, he used the POI to measure selfactualization and a combination of tests to measure creativity: the Remote Associates Test (Mednick, 1967), the Generations Test (Barron, 1968), and four other measures created by Mathes himself. These additional measures involved having the subject draw pictures of hell and of an old man, and writing stories based on prompts by the author. These drawings and stories were then rated for creativity by four judges on a five point scale. The judges were instructed to define a creative picture or story as one that was unusual but appropriate (p. 219). Mathes hypothesized that the lack of statistically significant findings between any of the measures of creativity and POI (self-actualization) scores may have been due to the differentiation between creative living and the cognitive ability to create. In other words, just because a person appears to be living a creative and unconventional life, this does not mean that they themselves are exercising any creative abilitiesthey may simply be imitating the actions of 31

creative others. The tests that Mathes employed to measure creativity evaluated a persons creative activities, but failed to distinguish between a persons creative actions and a persons appearance as a creative individual (Mathes, 1978). Kalliopuska (1992), not satisfied with previous research that tried to establish a relationship between creativity and self-actualization, conducted a small study using 20 university students and four different measures. She used the POI to measure self-actualization, but only used four scales from it: the Feeling Reactivity scale, Spontaneity scale, Self-Regard scale, and the Self-Acceptance scale. To measure creativity, she used Sauris Test of a Creative Way of Living (Sauri, 1980, as cited by Kalliopuska, 1992), which is designed to measure the extent to which a person is ready to apply his creative capacity to activities and experiences as opposed to applying them to only one limited field (p. 11). Kalliopuska found moderate positive statistically significant relationships between scores on the Total Creativity and Spontaneity (r = 56, p < .01), Total Creativity and Feeling Reactivity (r = 44, p < .01), Freedom from Anxiety and Self-Regard (r = 58, p < .01), and Freedom from Anxiety and Sufficiency of Need Satisfaction (r = 57, p < .01). Given the small sample size, results of this study were difficult to interpret and replication of this work with a larger sample was recommended (Kalliopuska, 1992). Another small study that provided interesting results was Schwarzkopfs (1981) unpublished masters thesis (as cited in Cropley, 1990), which consisted of a longitudinal study with nine adult women over the course of a year who met weekly and engaged in various creative activities, such as knitting and sewing. 32

These women were encouraged to explore new ways of doing their crafts, like learning new patterns or combining techniques in new ways. At the beginning and end of the study, these women were rated on a number of personality traits and were shown to have less anxiety in unfamiliar situations at the end of the study as compared to the beginning, as well as increased goal-oriented behavior, more playfulness, and increased independence. While this study had a rather small sample size, it is important because it demonstrates the healing potential of a selfdirected creative activity for self-growth. These women were able to do work on their own, outside of a therapy situation, to improve their level of wellness. Citing a lack of solid empirical support the relationship between selfactualization and creativity, Runco, Ebersole, and Mraz (1991) set out to explore for the relationship of these variables in sixty-four undergraduate students by using different instruments: the How Do You Think Test (HDYT; G. A. Davis & Subkoviak, 1975), the Adjective Check List (ACL; Gough & Heilbrum, 1980), and the Short Index of Self-actualization (SI; Jones & Crandall, 1986). The HDYT scores all correlated significantly with the SI scores (r = .42, p <.03), providing a moderate support for the relationship between self-actualization and creativity. The HDYT is designed to assess attitudes, interests, motivations, values, and other personality and biographical matters which often characterize creative individuals (G. A. Davis & Subkoviak, 1975, p. 37). Since this was one of the first studies to demonstrate such a relationship, the authors recommended follow-up studies with different populations and larger sample sizes.

33

While the Schwartzkopf (1981, as cited in Cropley, 1990) and Runco et al. (1991) studies are promising, overall, the available research on SA, or everyday creativity, appear to be slim and of varying quality. Most of the available research is plagued by small sample sizes, and limited scope. Most importantly, little effort has been made to adequately distinguish between SA and ST creativity. If only SA creativity is associated with self-actualization, and most of the existing research lumps SA and ST creativity together, then it would make sense that much of this research has not been able to find a clear relationship between creativity and self-actualization. There is good reason, however, to persist with exploring this slippery construct. Based on the work of Maslow (1943,1958,1959,1968,1970) and Rogers (1959,1961) especially, and supported by more contemporary researchers such as Richards (1990), there is evidence that SA creativity has the potential to be a useful tool for enhancing mental health and self-growth. Maslows (1959) concept of SA creativity was known by other names as well. Rogers (1961) described a similar phenomenon as constructive creativity. Rogers hypothesized that in order for a constructively creative act to occur, one must have certain internal conditions: openness to experience, an internal locus of evaluation, and the ability to toy with elements and concepts (Rogers, 1961). His definition is process-focused, not depending on external evaluation of a final product. One way to foster mental health is to foster creativity in everyday life situations (Cropley, 1990; Duncan, 1987; Schwarzkopf, 1981, as cited in Cropley, 1990). While Rogers focused on how a therapist can facilitate this creativity 34

growth, this writer explores whether it is possible to develop these conditions for oneself via creative self-growth practices. This study examines the relationship between self-actualization and creativity as a self-growth practice. People who participate in some kind of creative self-growth practice are hypothesized by this writer to be more selfactualizing, on average, than people who do not participate in this kind of practice. Since creative self-growth practices are not clearly defined in the literature, each participant defines their own practices. This will allow for an investigation of the relationship between how participants define their creative self-growth practices and their levels of self-actualization.

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Chapter 3: Method Procedures Participant recruitment and data collection were completed via the Internet. The informed consent (Appendix A), participants bill of rights (Appendix B), a brief demographics questionnaire (Appendix C), and all survey questions were posted on the Internet using a site designed for creating web surveys: surveymonkey.com. The survey questions consisted of a questionnaire developed by this researcher investigating the participants creative practices (Appendix D) and an electronic version of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI). Permission was granted to this researcher from EdITS, the publisher of the POI, to administer these questions in this format (Appendix E). Participants were volunteers recruited from a mass email sent to this researchers colleagues, asking them to forward the email to their family and friends inviting them to participate in the study (Appendix F). Additionally, participants were solicited from websites that allow for research recruitment, such as Craigslist.org. All potential participants were given a website link that directed them to the surveymonkey.com questionnaire. Before gaining access to the questions, participants were asked to read through the informed consent and the participants bill of rights and were required to electronically confirm that they had read and understood the contents of these documents. Participants were then asked whether they were under 18 years of age or whether they did not live in the United States. Participants who answered yes to either of these questions were

36

excluded from the study due to the fact that the POI can only be scored for individuals 18 years or older and that the normative sample only included people residing in the United States. After completing this step, questionnaires were forwarded to the participants. Upon completion of the survey, participants were offered a chance to submit their email address, if they wished, to be entered in a raffle for the chance to win one of two $50 Amazon.com gift certificates. The Surveymonkey website assigned code numbers to each participant. Each participants responses to the POI questions were sent to the EdITS Corporation for scoring with the code numbers assigned by surveymonkey as the only identifying information. The POI results were returned to the researcher in the form of 16 scale and subscale scores for each participant. These scores were used to measure the participants level of self-actualization Instruments Self-actualization was measured by the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI; Knapp, 1976/1990), which is currently the best available tool for measuring self-actualization. This test was adapted for online administration by the author of this paper with the approval of EdITS, the tests publisher. The POI consists of 150 two-choice comparative value judgment items reflecting values and behavior seen to be of importance in the development of self-actualizing individuals (Shostrom, 1964). Test takers are asked to select one statement of a pair that they feel is most true to them. Clinically derived scales, comprising items grouped into two major scales and ten subscales, are used in comparing the responses to normative samples (Knapp, 1976/1990).

37

The POI was developed by Shostrom (1964) to differentiate selfactualized from non-self-actualized individuals according to differences in their beliefs and value orientations (Shostrom, 1964). The tests conceptualization of the self-actualizing person is based on Maslows (1954/1970) descriptions of selfactualizing people. Initial development of the test item pool was based on observed value-judgment problems seen by private-practice therapists. The POI consists of 2 major ratio scales and 10 subscales. These scales are presented in Table 1. Maslow (1971) was a part of the development and testing of the POI and supported its use in research of self-actualization: there is today a standardized test of self-actualization. Self-actualization can now be defined quite operationally, as intelligence used to be defined, i.e., self-actualization is what that test tests. It correlates well with external variables of various kinds (p. 28). Since Maslows original assertions about the POI, the validity of the POI has been tested by administering the test to adults who have been identified as selfactualizing, to non-self-actualizing adults, and to normal adults, who are neither self-actualized nor non-self-actualized (Shostrom, 1987). Mean scores of the selfactualized adults were consistently higher on 11 of the 12 scales than the mean scores for normal adults. Additionally, mean scores of the non-self-actualized adults were consistently lower than mean scores of the normal adults on all 12 scales, the ratio scales as well as the subscores (Shostrom, 1987). Statistically significant differences between the self-actualizing group and non self-actualizing group were found at the .05 level on all scales and subscales except for the Nature

38

Table 1 Scales and Subscales of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) No. of items 23 127 26 32 23 18 16 26 16 9 25

Abbreviation TI/TC O/I SAV Ex Fr S Sr Sa Nc Sy A

Scale name and description Time Ratio (Time Incompetence/Time Competence): degree to which one is present oriented Support Ratio (Other/Inner): whether reactivity orientation is basically toward other or self Self-Actualizing Value: affirmation of primary values of self-actualizing persons Existentiality: ability to situationally or existentially react without rigid adherence to principles Feeling Reactivity: sensitivity of responsiveness to ones own needs and feelings Spontaneity: freedom to react spontaneously or to be oneself Self Regard: affirmation of self because of worth or strength Self Acceptance: affirmation or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficiencies Nature of Man: degree of the constructive view of the nature of man, masculinity, femininity Synergy: ability to be synergistic, to transcend dichotomies Acceptance of Aggression: ability to accept ones natural aggressiveness as opposed to defensiveness, denial, and repression of aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact: ability to develop contactful intimate relationships with other human beings, unencumbered by expectations and obligations

28

Note. A higher score on a scale indicates a greater presence of that characteristic. Authors table; data from E.L. Shostrom (1987), Personal Orientation Inventory Manual (San Diego, CA: EdITS),p.5.

39

of Man subscale. These findings indicate that the POI demonstrates adequate construct validity. As reported by Shostrom (1987), validity has also been examined by comparing results of the POI with results of other psychosocial tests such as the the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1963) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI, Hathaway & McKinley, 1951). Test-retest reliability, with a one-week interval, of the POI is estimated at 0.71 for the Time Ratio and 0.77 for the Support Ratio (Shostrom, 1987). Concurrent validity data, describing correlations of POI measurements with that of various other standardized measurements of personality are available in a number of studies presented and reviewed by Knapp (1971). Shostrom (1987) asserted that, in general, the psychometric characteristics of the POI are at a level similar to other personality inventories and constitute a reasonable presumption of reliability. Creative practices were measured by a creative practices questionnaire (CPQ) created by the writer of this paper (Appendix D). This questionnaire was designed to clarify the kind of creative practice that would be suggested by Rogerss (1961) description of the factors associated with constructive creativity: openness to experience, absence of external evaluation, and the ability to toy with elements or concepts (Rogers, 1961). Whether or not these elements are really being used in the process is only known to the individual. As Richards (2007) put it, The mishap of a broken jar of jam on the floor is probably not creative. Yet, seeing, appreciating, and photographing its accidental pattern of deep red and

40

sparkling glass might still be (p. 5). One may create something that seems creative to the outside observer, but may only have occurred by accident. Due to the self-defined nature of the creative act, self-report was relied upon in this measure. The CPQ is divided into two parts: the first part asked participants whether or not they currently engaged in creative practices, and if they did, they were asked to describe their creative practices and how frequently they engaged in them within an open-ended question format. Responses to this question were coded by the researcher for the types of creative activities the individuals engaged in, as well as the frequency with which they engaged in creative Activities. The second part of the CPQ consists of the Creative Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ) designed to measure attitudes about creativity held by the participant. The following five statements listed below were rated by participants based on the extent to which each statement was true for them, using a seven point likert-type scale, ranging from almost always true to almost never true. It is important to me that others see and appreciate my creative products. I enjoy my creative process, regardless of the outcome. It is important to me that my end product looks like I planned it from the start. My creative process is a kind of meditation- when I get very focused on the task at hand.

41

It is important to me that my creative practices communicate something specific to others who witness it.

Participants As illustrated in Figure 1, 198 participants began the questionnaire, and 124 (62.6%) made it to the end page of the questionnaire. Of these 124 participants, 7 stated that they did not engage in any creative activities at all. These participants were excluded from analyses because it was not a large enough group to allow meaningful comparisons with those who engaged in current creative practices. An additional 18, or 9.1 % of the original pool of prospective participants, were excluded for either not completing enough POI questions or for not completing the essay question describing their creative practices. According to the test publisher, the cutoff point for scoring a POI scale is subjectively decided by the scorer. The individual who scored the tests for this study used a 50% cutoff. In other words, in order for a scale score to be obtained, a participant would need to have responded to at least half of the items contained within that scale. After excluding the incomplete questionnaires, 99 participants were left for the data analysis.

198 began the survey

124 made it to end page of the survey 7 identified as not engaging in any creative activity

117 identified as engaging in some sort of creative activity 18 did not complete enough items for scoring

99 eligible participants in the final sample

74 did not complete the survey

Figure 1. Flow Chart of Participant Selection. Authors image.

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Most of the sample consisted of young adults, although there was a large age range, with only 2 participants over 65 years of age and 4 under the age of 21 (Mage = 34.60, SD = 13.19, age range: 19-82). Overall, the sample was not as diverse as the researcher had originally expected. It was predominantly, 89% (n = 88) female. As shown in Table 2, a large proportion of participants was Caucasian, with less than 10% of the sample identifying with all other ethnicities. The majority of the participants also stated that they were married or in a committed relationship, were employed (either full or part-time), and about half were full-time or part-time students. Participants were asked what kind of job they engaged in either currently or in the past, in an open-ended format. Aggregated responses are displayed in Table 3.The most common employment types were Childcare/Education/ Librarian, the Arts, and Direct Human Service. Income levels were also collected (Mincome = $55,596.33, SD = $50,161.98, income range = $0-$400,000) suggesting that the income levels varied widely, but the majority of the respondents made enough money to get their basic needs met. Three (3.45%) of the respondents to this question stated that they had zero income. Twelve elected to not respond to the inquiry about their income level.

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Table 2 Ethnicity, Marital Status, and Employment Status of Participants (N =99) Demographic Ethnicity White/Caucasian American Indian/Alaskan Native Asian American Hispanic/Latino/Latina Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Black/African American West Indian/Caribbean Other Reporting Multiple Ethnicities Not reporting ethnicity Marital status Married / in committed relationship Single / never married Separated / divorced Widowed Employment status Employed full-time Employed part-time Unemployed & seeking employment Unemployed & not seeking employment Not reported 49 23 7 16 4 49.49 23.23 7.07 16.16 4.04 60 32 7 0 61.00 32.00 7.00 0.00 91 5 5 3 1 0 0 2 7 2 91.92 5.05 5.05 3.03 1.01 0.00 0.00 2.02 7.07 2.02 Frequency Percent (%)

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Table 3 Participants Job Types (N = 99) Job type Childcare / education / librarian Arts Direct human service Student Management Science / engineering / research Technology Retail Clerical / administrative assistant Legal Retired Law enforcement Other Unknown / not reporting Frequency 21 16 15 12 9 9 8 7 3 2 2 1 7 4 Percent (%) 21.21 16.16 15.15 12.12 9.09 9.09 8.08 7.07 3.03 2.02 2.02 1.01 7.07 4.04

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Chapter 4:Results Analyses Internal consistencies of the POI scales were calculated using Cronbachs alpha. To further explore the relationships between the POI scales, an intercorrelational matrix was calculated. Internal consistencies of the creative attitudes questionnaire items were also explored by calculating an intercorrelational matrix. The relationships between self-actualization levels (as measured by the POI scale scores) and the creative practices (as measured by the frequency of engagement in and the variety of creative practices) were explored by calculating Pearsons r and the corresponding p-values. Self-Actualization and POI Scores The POI scale scores are summarized in Table 4. Also included are data from comparative samples, as reported by Shostrom (1964). The means in the current study did not vary widely from those presented by Shostrom, but it is important to note that the data provided by Shostrom are quite old (1964). In addition to containing the relatively old data, more detailed information from the original Sholstroms samples were not available. Consequently, mean comparisons could not be calculated. Cronbachs alpha is a standard measure of reliability used to estimate the internal consistency of test items (Breakwell, Hammond, & Fife-Schaw, 2002). As shown in Table 5, the internal consistencies for most of the scales were below the generally acceptable range of 0.70 (Breakwell et al., 2002). The only

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Table 4 Means and Standard Deviations of the POI Scores Shostrom (1987) Current study (N = 99) POI scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed SelfActualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio M 15.40 7.09 83.62 40.10 20.92 20.70 14.67 12.25 11.74 14.61 11.40 7.29 15.32 SD 3.22 3.26 10.83 10.99 2.86 4.19 3.16 2.77 2.35 3.46 2.22 1.23 3.40 Selfactualizing (N = 29) M 18.9 92.9 20.7 24.8 16.3 12.7 12.9 18.9 12.3 7.6 17.6 SD 2.5 11.5 3.6 3.5 2.8 2.9 1.9 3.5 2.2 1.2 3.1 Normal adults (N = 158) M 17.7 87.2 20.2 21.8 15.7 11.6 12.0 17.1 12.4 7.3 16.6 SD 2.8 13.6 3.0 5.1 3.3 3.0 2.7 4.0 1.9 1.2 3.7 Non-selfactualizing (N=34) M 15.8 75.8 18.0 18.9 14.3 9.8 10.2 14.2 11.3 6.2 14.7 SD 3.6 16.2 3.7 5.4 3.8 3.4 3.3 4.0 2.0 1.9 3.5

17.85 3.16 2.35

3.62 2.57 1.05

20.2 7.7 3.3

3.4

18.8 5.1 2.5

4.6

16.5 2.9 1.4

4.3

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Table 5 Cronbachs Alphas for POI Scale Scores Chronbachs Alpha 0.40 0.57 0.01 0.85 0.40 0.34 0.38 0.38 0.41 0.39 0.45 0.45 0.38 0.36 0.44 0.45

POI Scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio

exception was the Outer Directed scale, with alpha level of 0.85, which demonstrates strong reliability. Overall, internal consistency coefficients are consistently lower than those reported by Shostrom (1987).

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To further evaluate the psychometric properties of the POI, an intercorrelational matrix was calculated to explore the relationships among its scales. As is shown in Table 6, most of the scales were found to be intercorrelated at statistically significant levels, indicating that the scales measured similar characteristics. Shostrom (1987) also reported high intercorrelations among the sales, ranging from .02 to .64. It is worth noting that, while the scales have been shown to be intercorrelated, Cronbachs alphas for the individual scales are not high. This indicates that the items within the scales did not vary together, but the full scales were correlated with one another. One possible reason for this is that the scales were not intended to represent independent dimensions, so some test items contribute to more than one scale (Shostrom, 1987). The overlapping items may also contribute to the high intercorrelations among scales. The majority of the items within the POI belong to multiple scales (83.33%) while only 16.67% of the items belong to only one scale. All of the items in every subscale are used in more than one scale. With such a large percentage of overlapping items, the intercorrelations are not a meaningful measure of internal consistency. See Appendix G for a complete list of which items belong to each scale and which items overlap. Self-Reported Creative Practices Participants responses to the short essay question Please describe your creative practice(s) and how frequently you engage in them were coded by the researcher to identify the types of creative activities the participants engaged in as

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Table 6 Intercorrelational Matrix for POI Scale Scores

TC TC TI Id O SAV Ex Fr S Sr Sa Nc Sy A C T-R S-R -.92** .60** -.51** .42** .56** .39** .57** .65** .49** 0.14 .34
**

TI -.92
**

Id .60 -.52** -.81** .66** .81** .74** .79** .72** .69** .33** .49
** **

O -.51 .64**
**

SAV .42 -.36** .66** -.55**

**

Ex .56 -.53** .81** -.71** .48**

**

Fr .39 -.36** .74** -.66** .48** .46** .65** .47** .35** 0.14 .37
** **

S .57 -.49** .79** -.63** .63** .61** .65** .60** .45** .22* .34
** **

Sr .65 -.65** .72** -.71* .61** .53** .47** .60** .39** .22* .41
** **

Sa .49 -.43** .69** -.55** .21* .64** .35** .45** .39** 0 .23
* **

Nc

Sy
**

A .31 -.28** .65** -.59** .40** .49** .72** .52** .43** .49** -0.11 .40
** **

C .46 -.44** .79** -.72** .40** .66** .72** .62** .60** .47** 0.07 .39
** **

T-R .83 -.84** .37** -.42** .22* .39** .28** .40** .44** .34** 0 .18
* **

S-R .41** -.52** .80** -.92** .49** .72** .62** .59** .58** .57** 0.1 .37** .55** .67** .36**

0.14 .34 0 -.30** .33** .48** 0.09 0.14 .22* .22* 0 .37
**

-.52** .64** -.36** -.53** -.36** -.49** -.65** -.43** 0 -.30

**

-.81** -.55** -.71** -.66** -.63** -.71** -.55** -0.07 -.46

**

.49** .67** .44** .37** .34** .41** .23** .37**

-0.07 -.46**

.48** .48** .63** .61** .21* .48** .67

**

.46** .61** .53** .64** 0.09 .44

**

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.31** .46** .83** .41**

-.28** -.44** -.84** -.52**

.65** .79** .37** .80**

-.59** -.72** -.42** -.92**

.40** .40** .22* .49**

.49** .66** .39** .72**

.72** .72** .28** .62**

.52** .62** .40** .59**

.43** .60** .44** .58**

.49** .47** .34** .57**

-0.11 0.07 0 0.1

.40** .39** .18* .37**

.65** .65** .23* .55** .34** .67**

.23* .34** .36**

Note. TC = Time Competence; TI = Time Incompetence; Id = Inner Directed; O = Outer Directed; SAV = Self-Actualizing Value; Ex = Existentiality; Fr = Feeling Reactivity; S = Spontaneity; Sr = Self-Regard; Sa = Self-Acceptance; Nc = Nature of Man; Sy = Synergy; A = Acceptance of Aggression; C = Capacity for Intimate Contact; TR = Time Ratio; SR = Support Ratio. *p < .01 **p < .05, two-tailed

50

well as how frequently they engaged in creative practices. Thirteen main creative practices categories were identified. These categories and the coding criteria are summarized in Table 7. The total number of creative categories each participants response qualified for was calculated and used as a measure of the variety of creative practices participants engaged in (Mvariety = 3.15, SD = 1.66, Range = 1-9). Frequencies of engagement in creative practice(s) are reported in Table 8. More than half (56%) of the participants reported engaging in an almost daily creative practice. Relatively few (11%) participants reported engaging in creative activities less than once per week. Creative Attitudes Participants attitudes about creativity were measured using the brief Creative Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ) created by the researcher. Each Likerttype response was assigned a number from 1-7, with 7 being assigned to the response almost always true, and 1 being assigned to the response almost never true. Three out of the five items were designed to have higher numerical responses corresponding to the responses most in line with Rogerss descriptions of Constructive Creativity. Two of the five were designed to have the lower numerical responses corresponding to Rogerss descriptions of Constructive Creativity, so the numbers assigned to these items were assigned in reverse order, with 1 being assigned to almost never true and 7 being assigned to almost always true. This way, higher scores for all items would be associated with creative attitudes most in line with Rogerss descriptions of Constructive

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Table 7 Coding Categories and Criteria for Creative Practices Creative practice category Writing Visual Coding criteria engagement with written forms of expression (poetry, journaling, creative writing, reading) creating with 2-dimensional forms of art (drawing, photography (including photo editing in photoshop), painting, pastel work, collage (including scrapbooking), other graphic design work). theater, acting, storytelling playing instruments, singing, songwriting creating with 3-dimensional forms of art (sculpting, ceramics, sculpture, flower arranging, handcrafts, interior decorating, cooking, gardening) use of computers and technology (multi-media production, creating flyers, blogging, web design, tv/video work, computer programming) spiritual practices (meditation, self-reflection & self-work (not specifically connected to psychotherapy), spiritual mentoring) engagement in psychotherapy (including planning for groups) focusing on ones physical being (sports, exercise, mountaineering, martial arts, walking, massage/energy healing, dance) interacting with people creatively (teaching, parenting, presentations, social planning) general engagement in imaginary processes (roleplaying games, imagination work/creating fantasies in head, seeing with the intent to create with an image later on) creativity as a way of life- (its the way I always interact with the world) genealogy, creative ways of saving money, appearance, marketing, research planning

Theater Music Crafts

Technology

Spiritual Psychotherapy Physical

Interactions Imagination

Way of Life Other

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Table 8 Frequency of Engagement in Creative Practice(s) (N = 99) Frequency of engagement 6-7 times per week 4-5 times per week 1-3 times per week Twice per month Once per month Less than monthly Not reporting Frequency 56 12 22 6 2 1 0 Percent(%) 57 12 22 6 2 1 0

Creativity. A summary of the results from this questionnaire are displayed in Table 9. None of the item means were below 3.00, which indicates that most of the participants creative attitudes were in line with Rogers description of constructive creativity. Table 9 Means and Standard Deviations for the Creative Attitudes Scores (N = 99) Item 1 2 3 4 5 Creative attitude statement It is important to me that others see and appreciate my creative products. I enjoy my creative process, regardless of the outcome. It is important to me that my end product looks like I planned it from the start. My creative practice is a kind of meditation- where I become very focused on the task at hand. It is important to me that my creative practices communicate something specific to others who witness it. M (n = 99) 3.00 3.78 5.85 4.48 4.66 SD 1.46 1.68 1.32 1.73 1.36

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Pearsons r correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the relationships between the POI scales and each Creative Attitudes Questionnaire item (see Tables 1014). In order to control for the increased Type I error associated with running multiple tests, a Bonferroni adjustment was made, setting the alpha level to .003 (Breakwell et al., 2002). With this correction, no statistically significant relationships were found between the creative attitudes items and the POI scores. Table 10 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 1 of the Creative Attitudes Questionnaire Item 1 responsesa POI scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio products. 54 Pearsons r 0.14 -0.17 0.10 -0.15 0.10 0.16 -0.03 0.04 0.15 0.08 -0.02 -0.07 -0.10 0.02 0.19 0.14 p-value 0.16 0.09 0.30 0.15 0.35 0.11 0.79 0.71 0.14 0.43 0.85 0.50 0.33 0.86 0.05 0.18

a Item 1 = It is important to me that others see and appreciate my creative

Table 11 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 2 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire Item 2 responsesa POI Scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio Pearsons r -0.16 0.20 -0.13 0.21 -0.27 -0.17 -0.12 -0.11 -0.21 0.04 -0.08 -0.23 -0.06 -0.20 -0.18 -0.12 p-value 0.11 0.05 0.20 0.03 0.01 0.09 0.23 0.29 0.04 0.68 0.42 0.03 0.54 0.05 0.08 0.23

a Item 2 = I enjoy my creative process regardless of the outcome.

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Table 12 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 3 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire Item 3 responsesa POI Scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio the start. Pearsons r 0.10 -0.10 0.05 -0.08 0.04 0.07 0.02 0.05 -0.00 0.05 -0.04 0.08 -0.02 0.04 0.14 -0.00 p-value 0.34 0.32 0.61 0.46 0.68 0.50 0.81 0.64 0.98 0.61 0.71 0.44 0.83 0.68 0.18 0.10

a Item 3 = It is important to me that my end product looks like I planned it from

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Table 13 Pearson Product Moment Correlations between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 4 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire Item 4 responsesa POI Scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio Pearsons r 0.08 -0.09 0.08 -0.14 0.06 -0.00 0.16 0.08 0.10 -0.05 -0.01 0.03 0.31 0.10 0.06 0.13 p-value 0.45 0.38 0.46 0.18 0.56 0.97 0.11 0.40 0.34 0.59 0.93 0.73 0.02 0.30 0.53 0.19

a Item 4 = My creative process is a kind of meditationwhere I become very focused on the task at hand.

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Table 14 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and Item 5 of Creative Attitudes Questionnaire Item 5 responsesa POI Scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio Pearsons r 0.11 -0.12 0.11 -0.07 0.12 0.09 0.02 0.19 0.11 0.04 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.01 0.08 0.03 p-value 0.28 0.25 0.27 0.51 0.24 0.37 0.84 0.06 0.27 0.69 0.82 0.67 0.69 0.91 0.43 0.79

a Item 5 = It is important to me that my creative practices communicate something specific to others who witness it. A total Creative Attitude Score was calculated for each participant by adding the total of all items on the CAQ (Mcreativity = 15.21, SD = 3.93, range

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= 6-26). Pearsons r correlation coefficients were then calculated to explore the relationship between these creative attitudes and the POI scale scores. As is demonstrated in Table 15, no significant correlations were identified between these measures. Table 15 Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scales and the Creative Attitudes Score Total Creative Attitude Score POI Scale Time Competent Time Incompetent Inner Directed Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio Pearsons r 0.02 -0.04 0.00 -0.03 0.07 0.08 -0.05 -0.06 0.06 0.00 0.03 0.01 -0.16 0.02 0.05 0.03 p-value 0.85 0.71 0.10 0.76 0.52 0.44 0.63 0.54 0.55 0.99 0.74 0.93 0.12 0.81 0.62 0.76

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Creative Practices and Self-Actualization To further explore the relationship between self-actualization and creativity, Pearsons r correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the relationships between the POI scales and frequency and variety of creative practices (see Table 16). In order to control for the increased Type I error associated with running multiple tests, a Bonferroni adjustment was made, setting the alpha level to .003 (Breakwell et al., 2002). With this correction, no statistically significant relationships were found between the measures of creativity (frequency of practice, variety of practices) and the POI scores. Since no statistically significant relationships were found between selfactualization levels and the frequency and variety of creativity practices, it was determined useful to explore more deeply whether or not the types of creative practice significantly affected POI levels. In other words, did people who engaged in one creative practice differ significantly in self-actualization levels then people who engaged in other creative activities? To investigate this question, the three most popular categories for creative activities were identified as Visual (n = 60), Crafts (n = 58), and Writing (n = 43). The participants whose creative activities included these top three categories were identified, and the means were calculated for each POI scale for each group (see Appendix H). There was overlap between the groups, as some participants may have qualified for all three groups. The means appear to be similar across all three groups. One possible reason the researcher did not identify any significant relationships may have been that the current study did not have enough power. 60

Table 16 Pearson Product Correlation Coefficient Between the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scale Scores and Creative Practices Creative practice(s) Frequency POI Scale
Time Competence Time Incompetence Inner Directed

Variety Pearsons r 0.10 -0.09 0.09 -0.09 -0.10 0.13 0.15 0.11 -0.07 0.12 -0.15 -0.07 0.07 0.11 0.07 0.11 p-value 0.35 0.40 0.40 0.37 0.32 0.21 0.14 0.29 0.50 0.23 0.13 0.48 0.47 0.29 0.51 0.27

Pearsons r 0.14 -0.14 0.14 -0.14 0.07 0.10 0.23 0.16 0.16 0.00 -0.06 0.05 0.10 0.10 0.11 0.07

p-value 0.17 0.18 0.18 0.15 0.47 0.34 0.02 0.10 0.12 0.96 0.54 0.63 0.33 0.33 0.28 0.49

Outer Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self Regard Self Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact Time Ratio Support Ratio

Power is a measure of the probability that a test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true. Using G*Power, a program designed to calculate statistical power (Buchner, Erdfelder, & Faul, 2001), a post-hoc power analysis was conducted on the Pearsons r tests, resulting in a power of 0.86, 61

which means that if the null hypothesis was false, to the degree we expect, the probability is 0.86 that the results of the experiment would lead us to reject the null hypothesis. This level of power falls within the acceptable range of .80 and above (Breakwell et al., 2002).

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Chapter 5: Discussion The hypothesis self-actualization and creative self-growth practices would be significantly correlated was not supported by this study. There are several potential explanations for this outcome. The measures used in this study were fraught with methodological concerns, which are important to take into account. Methodological Concerns and Limitations Many POI scales were found to be significantly intercorrelated, but to have low internal consistencies. The high intercorrelations between scales may be the result of overlapping items among the scales, since the scales are not intended to measure separate dimensions (Shostrom, 1987). Since the intercorrelations may have been inflated due to item overlap, it would be difficult to determine construct validity of individual subtests. This reduces the level of reliability that can be assigned to the results of this test for the sample collected. While the POI scales appear to be related to the same variable, which would be expected, the scales are not consistent internally. This suggests concerns with reliability of the POI and the accuracy with which this measure can be said to measure self-actualization can come into question as well. Consequently, it is recommended that future studies employ larger samples to allow for factor analysis and Item Response Theory as better ways to address and explore these concerns. As previously described in the literature review, creativity is a notoriously difficult variable to accurately measure (Mathes, 1978; Murphy et al., 1976). There are multiple definitions of creativity (Smuts, 1992) and various instruments have been developed to measure these different types of creativity, with varying

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success (Richards, Kinney, Benet & Merzel, 1988). This study attempted to isolate the process-oriented self-actualizing creativity several different ways, all of which relied on self-report. While self-report questionnaires are efficient and can be useful for their ease in administration as well as the flexibility they offer the researcher (Breakwell et al., 2002), they can also be fraught with methodological problems, such as response bias and faking good. For example, participants in this study may have been tempted to respond to the questionnaire items in such a way that reflects how they would like to be, as opposed to how they really are. In the short essay question asking the participants to describe their creative practices, it is impossible to know whether a participants response is a realistic reflection of their current creative practices or if it is more of a reflection of what they aspire to with their creative practices. If a person intends to engage in creative practices five days per week and reports this in their essay, but in reality only manages to do so once or twice a week, the measure is not accurately capturing their practices. According to Robson (1993), self-report questionnaires should be very carefully constructed in order to allow for any meaningful interpretation. It is usually desirable to conduct pilot studies when constructing new questionnaires to obtain information about construct validity and reliability, and to use this information to improve the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Due to time and resource constraints, no pilot studies were conducted with the portion of the questionnaire that was to measure creativity. It is possible that if pilot studies

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had been conducted, the quality of the test items could have been improved to increase the new measures reliability and validity. The self-report questionnaire developed for this study, the Creative Attitudes Questionnaire, was designed to measure one main underlying variable: the extent to which participants attitudes about creativity were in line with Rogerss (1961) concept of constructive creativity. As is noted in the literature review, this variable is a complex, multidimentional, and dynamic theoretical construct that is difficult to operationalize. With only five items, the Creative Attitudes Questionnaire may have limited its reliability, and consequently, was overall unable to adequately measure a variable this complex. In retrospect, it would have been a good idea to have used additional measures of creativity to investigate convergent, and possibly divergent, validity of this instrument. Additionally, responses to the creative practices short essay question were varied in quality and quantity. Some participants described their creative practices in great detail, others used simple descriptors, such as fresh. This made coding for creative categories difficult. Aggregation of data involves a significant judgment by the investigator. One way to increase the quality of selfreport questionnaires is to limit the number of open-ended questions (Robson, 1993). Future studies would benefit from offering a list of possible creative activities, asking participants to check off the ones they engage in, with a text box marked other for participants to write in any creative activities they are involved in that do not fit the prewritten categories. This would have reduced the

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amount of open-ended questions that required coding. Another option would have been to use multiple coders to aggregate the data. Another methodological concern regarding this essay question is that the frequency of creative practice question yielded varying results and proved quite difficult to capture effectively in coding. Some answered this question in vague terms (ie sometimes or infrequently). Some identified a pattern of creative bursts that would ebb and flow, such as often, a month or two will go by, then I'll sew for a few hours everyday/all day on weekends until I finish a few projects or most of my creativity is directed into sewing, which I tend to do in great binges once every couple of months or so. Some others identified seasonal creative activities, such as gardening. There is the potential, therefore, that some of this information may have been misinterpreted in the coding process, leading to not fully or accurately capturing the variable being measured. Future research of this type would be best conducted using multiple coders to reduce the potential for coding error. A final concern about this essay question also failed to capture some important variables, such as the quantity of time spent in creative activities. Most participants responded with how often they engaged in creative practices, but not how long they would engage in them at a stretch. In retrospect, this was important information that should have been captured. A person may, for example, engage in a creative activity daily, but for only five minutes at a time. Another person may only engage in an activity once per week, but for several hours that one day. Since this information was not collected, it is impossible to accurately capture

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how much time participants actually spent engaged in creative activities, a key variable I had expected to be able to identify. This study did not take into account sociocultural and cultural variables that may affect participants creativity. Gunersel (2009) conducted a study exploring common factors among Turkish writers and found that creative output was associated with, for several of the participants in the study, social and cultural events that they were reacting to. In moments of cultural upheaval, creative output was affected in various ways. Jasinowski (2002) and Lubart (1990) also emphasize the importance of taking cultural spiritual traditions may affect ones creative practices. Future research should include assessment of social or cultural events that may have affected participants creative outputs. This study did not collect information about how strongly people felt about their creative activities. This might also have been an additional way to capture the self-actualizing creativity variable. It is possible that there may have been a difference between people who passively engage in creative activities and those who engage in them fully and meditatively. The sample collected was a convenience sample based on whomever elected to respond to the call for participants. This led to a mostly homogenous sample, with over 90% of the respondents being white and 89% female. With such a biased sample, external validity is low and any results cannot be generalized to a larger population (Breakwell et al., 2002).

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Suggestions for Further Research Despite its methodological limitations, this study identified several variables within the construct of creativity that would need to be taken into account in future research in this area, such as the phenomena of creative bursts people can engage in, the relationship to sociocultural factors that may affect creative output, as well as clarifying the quantity of time one engages in creative activities, not just the frequency with which one engages in creative activities. Additionally, this research has underscored the importance of asking closed-ended questions in self-report surveys such as this. Due to the complexities involved with the variables studied, future research might do well to employ a more mixedmethods design that integrates qualitative interview data with quantitative measures. While the research within this project did not support the hypothesis, it would be impossible to draw any conclusions about the relationship between selfactualization and creativity due to the methodological issues involved with this research. This should not deter future researchers from studying these variables. With the rise in positive psychology in the field today, there is a trend to focus on human potential and strengths. Self-actualization and creativity are useful constructs to research that are relevant to the human potential movement, but as is demonstrated in this study, they can be difficult constructs to measure. The POI is the primary tool that currently exists to measure self-actualization, but it is an outdated measure originally developed in the 1950s. Psychometric instrument development and standards have come a long way since the development of the

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POI, which could benefit from some of these developments by potentially being redesigned. It is this authors hope that this research underscores the need for newer, more psychometrically reliable and valid measurements of these complex variables. With more reliable and valid measurements of these constructs, future research can more effectively explore the question about the relationship between creativity and self-actualization.

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Rubadeau, D. O., Garrett, B., & Rubadeau, R. (1984). A guide to motivational procedures for instruction. Retrieved from ERIC database: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ (Document no. ED332752) Runco, M. A., Ebersole, P., & Mraz, W. (1991). Creativity and self-actualization. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality. Special Issue: Handbook of self-actualization, 6(5), 161167. Runco, M. A., Plucker, J. A., & Lim, W. (2001). Development of psychometric integrity of a measure of ideational behavior. Creativity Research Journal. Special Issue: Commemorating Guilford's 1950 Presidential address,13(34), 393400. doi: 10.1207/S15326934CRJ1334_16 Seligman, M., Schulman, P., DeRubeis, R., & Hollon, S. (1999). The prevention of depression and anxiety. Prevention and Treatment, 2, Article 8. Retrieved from: http://www.positivepsychology.org/depprevseligman1999.pdf/ Seligman, M. E., & Czikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 514. doi: 10.1037/0003066X.55.1.5 Seligman, M. E., & Czikszentmihalyi, M. (Eds.). (2000). Happiness, excellence, and optimal human functioning [Special issue]. American Psychologist, 55(1). Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410421. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410 Shostrom, E. L. (1964). Personal Orientation Inventory. San Diego, CA: EdITS. Shostrom, E. L. (1987). Manual for the Personal Orientation Inventory (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: EdITS. Simonton, D. (2000). Creativity: Cognitive, personal, developmental, and social aspects. American Psychologist, 55(1), 151158. doi: 10.1037/0003066X.55.1.151 Smith, P. B., Trompenaars, F., & Dugan, S. (1995). The Rotter Locus of Control Scale in 43 countries: A test of cultural reliability. International Journal of Psychology, 30(3), 377400. doi: 10.1080/00207599508246576 Smuts, H. E. (1992). An interactional approach to creativity. South African Journal of Psychology, 22(2), 4451.

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Snyder, T. R. (1976). Affective education: A teacher's manual to promote student self-actualization and human relations skills. Retrieved from ERIC database: http://www.eric.ed.gov/. (Document no. ED159582) Srivastava, A., Blakely, G. L., Andrews, M. C., & McKee-Ryan, F. M. (2007). Mechanisms linking nationality and subjective well-being in managers in China and the United States. Journal of Managerial Issues, 19(4), 494516. Starcher, P.L. (2006). The relationship between self-actualization and caring behavior in nurse educators. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Dissertation Abstracts International (Publication Number AAT 3248403.) Talerico, C. (1986). The expressive arts and creativity as a form of therapeutic experience in the field of mental health. Journal of Creative Behavior, 20(4), 229247. Torrance, E. P. (1962). Guiding creative talents. Edgewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall Torrance, E. P. (1978). Healing qualities of creative behavior. Creative Child and Adult Quarterly, 3(3), 146158. Van Lith, T., Fenner., P., & Schofield, M. J. (2009). Toward an understanding of how art making can facilitate mental health recovery. Australian EJournal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 8(2), 111. Retrieved from http://amh.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/8/issue/2/article/3245/ toward-an-understanding-of-how-art-making-can. Wilson, I., & Madsen, S. R. (2008). The influence of Maslow's humanistic views on an employee's motivation to learn. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 12(2), 4663. Young, J. G. (1985). What is creativity? Journal of Creative Behavior, 19(2), 7787.

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Appendix A: Informed Consent Samara Serotkin, a doctoral candidate at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco is conducting a study on self-actualization and creative self-growth practices. Participation in this study involves completing an online survey.! ! To help protect your confidentiality, the survey will not contain information that will personally identify you. We will not collect identifying information such as your name or IP address. The results of this study will be used for scholarly purposes only. All data will be stored in a password protected electronic format, using SSL encryption. At the end of the survey, you will be offered a chance to provide your email address to be entered into a raffle to win one of two $50 Amazon.com gift certificates. If you choose to submit your email address, it will only be accessed by this researcher to contact you if you win the raffle. Nobody else will have access to your e-mail information, which will be destroyed after completion of this research project. Chances of winning depend on the number of participants in this study. No other compensation, either monetary or resulting from the experience itself, is offered or guaranteed. ! ! Your participation in this research study is voluntary. You may choose not to participate. If you decide to participate in this research survey, you may withdraw at any time. If you decide not to participate in this study or if you withdraw from participating at any time, you will not be penalized in any way. ! !

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If you have any concerns or questions regarding your rights as a participant in this study, or if you feel that you have been placed at risk because of your participation in this study, you may report them to Chair of the Human Research Review Committee, California Institute of Integral Studies, 9 Peter York Way, San Francisco, CA 94109, telephone (415) 674-5555, extension 157.! ! By checking yes below, I certify that I am over 18 years of age and that I agree to participate in this study and that I have read and understood the information contained in this consent form.

______ Yes ______ No

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Appendix B: Participants Bill of Rights As a research participant, you have the right to... ! ! - be treated with dignity and respect; ! ! - be given a clear description of the purpose of the study and what is expected of you as a participant; ! ! - be told of any benefits or risks to you that can be expected from participating in the study; ! ! - know the research psychologist's training and experience; ! ! - ask any questions you may have about the study; ! ! - decide to participate or not without any pressure from the researcher or his or her assistants; ! ! - have your privacy protected within the limits of the law; ! ! - refuse to answer any research question, refuse to participate in any part of the study, or withdraw from the study at any time without any negative effects to you; - be given a description of the overall results of the study upon request. ! ! - discuss any concerns or file a complaint about the study with the Human Research Review Committee, California Institute of Integral Studies, 1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. ! ! By checking "yes" below, you indicate that you have read and understood the information in this bill of rights. ______ Yes ______ No

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Appendix C: Demographics Questionnaire What is your age? _____ What state do you currently live in? ______ What is your gender? _____ What is your race/ethnicity? (please check all that apply) _____Hispanic/Latino/Latina _____Black or African American _____Asian American _____White/Caucasian _____Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander _____American Indian or Alaska Native _____West Indian/Caribbean _____ Other (please specify) __________________________________ What is your marital status? (Please check one) _____Single/never married _____Married/in a committed relationship _____Separated/Divorced _____Widowed What was your households annual income in 2009? (If possible, please estimate to the nearest $5000) ______________ In the past 6 months, have you been a student at an educational institution? (e.g. college or university?) _____No _____ Yes (part-time) _____ Yes (full-time) What is your current employment status? _____Employed/self employed full time _____ Employed/self-employed part-time _____ unemployedseeking employment _____ unemployedNOT seeking employment What is your main professional occupation? (even if right now you are not currently employed or working in this occupation)

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Appendix D: Creativity Attitudes Questionnaire and Creative Practices Questionnaire For each of the following statements, please check the statement that most accurately reflects the extent to which the statement is true for you.
Sometimes but infrequently true

Almost always true It is important to me that others see and appreciate my creative products I enjoy my creative process, regardless of the outcome It is important to me that my end product looks like I planned it from the start My creative practice is a kind of meditation where I become very focused on the task at hand It is important to me that my creative process communicate something specific to others who witness it

Usually true

Often true

Occasionally true

Usually not true

Almost never true

Please describe your creative practices and how frequently you engage(d) in them:

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Appendix E: Sample POI Questions and Contact Information

Due to copyright restrictions, the Personal Orientation Inventory in its entirety cannot be reprinted here. Presented below are five sample questions from the POI. For additional information regarding the POI, please contact the tests publisher: EdITS Publishers; PO Box 7234; San Diego, CA 92167. Please read each statement and decide which of the two paired statements most consistently applies to you. Please select the statement which is TRUE or MOSTLY TRUE as applied to you. If neither statement applies to you, or if they refer to something you don't know about, do not select either statement and move on to the next item. Remember to give YOUR OWN opinion of yourself and do not leave any items blank if you can avoid it. 1. a. I am bound by the principle of fairness. b. I am not absolutely bound by the principle of fairness. 2. a. When a friend does me a favor, I feel that I must return it. b. When a friend does me a favor, I do not feel that I must return it. 3. a. I feel I must always tell the truth. b. I do not always tell the truth. 4. a. No matter how hard I try, my feelings are often hurt. b. If I manage the situation right, I can avoid being hurt. 5. a. I feel that I must strive for perfection in everything that I undertake. b. I do not feel that I must strive for perfection in everything that I undertake. Reproduced with permission of the publisher, from E. L. Shostrom (1964). Personal Orientation Inventory. San Diego, CA: EdITS.

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Appendix F: Recruitment Letter

***Participants Needed for Research Study***

I am conducting a research study for my dissertation to measure the effects of individuals creative practices. This study involves taking a questionnaire online, which should take between 30 and 45 minutes. In order to compensate you for your time, after completing the survey you will be given a chance to be entered into a raffle to win one of two $50 Amazon.com gift certificates. If you are interested in participating in this study, please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/serotkin Thank you for your participation.

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Appendix G: Summary of Items Included in Each POI Scale Table 17 Summary of Items Included in Each Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scale Scale TC I Items within scalea 48,59,82,87,88,90,102,104,105,110,111,112,113,125,129,133,136,140, 142,143,144,145 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,2 7,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,49,50, 51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74 ,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,83,84,85,86,89,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100, 101,103,106,107,108,109,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,1 26,127,128,130,131,132,134,135,137,138,139,141,146,147,148,149,15 0 6,10,20,27,36,38,43,68,80,89,92,98,99,100,103,114,118,121,123,128,1 33,135,138,141,146,147 1,2,3,5,8,9,11,18,19,21,31,36,44,45,54,56,57,64,67,74,80,86,89,92,96, 98,111,124,130,143,148,149 4,10,13,15,16,33,38,47,52,53,55,58,61,62,69,76,91,93,94,95,101,117,1 31 1,6,27,35,41,52,54,62,68,74,81,84,85,86,101,123,137,138 7,16,31,32,38,39,40,48,60,68,78,118,121,128,132,149 3,5,12,14,22,24,26,28,29,37,41,42,48,50,63,65,66,70,71,72,77,87,107, 128,134,150 36,40,43,73,78,83,92,98,115,116,119,122,126,139,141,147 36,80,89,92,98,137,141,144,146 13,24,33,56,63,93,109,118,122,123,131,135,146 1,2,8,19,21,25,33,36,44,45,49,52,53,54,55,57,60,61,67,70,76,81,103,1 08,106,107,117,127

SAV Ex Fr S Sr Sa Nc Sy A C

Note. The Time Incompetence scale is not included here because the items that comprise it are identical to those within the Time Competence scale. The items are reciprocala positive response to one results in a negative response on the other. The Outer Directed scale is not included for the same reason: It has a reciprocal relationship with the Inner Directed scale. TC = Time Competence; I = Inner Directed; SAV = Self-Actualizing Value; Ex = Existentiality; Fr = Feeling Reactivity; S = Spontaneity; Sr = Self-Regard; Sa = Self-Acceptance; Nc = Nature of Man; Sy = Synergy; A = Acceptance of Aggression; C = Capacity for Intimate Contact. a Items in bold indicate items that are used in more than one scale.

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Appendix H: POI Scores Summarized by Top Three Creative Categories Table 18 Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Scores Summarized by Top Three Creative Categories Creative category POI Scale TC TI Id O SAV Ex Fr S Sr Sa Nc Sy A C TR SR Visual (n = 60) M 15.35 7.20 83.92 40.12 20.78 20.87 14.85 12.28 11.72 14.73 11.27 7.24 15.40 18.07 3.02 2.37 Mdn 16.00 7.00 84.50 41.00 22.00 20.50 15.00 13.00 12.00 16.00 11.50 7.00 16.00 19.00 2.29 2.10 SD 3.19 3.26 11.64 11.29 2.81 4.43 3.15 2.86 2.54 3.67 2.16 1.19 3.72 3.65 2.30 1.10 M 15.47 7.10 83.90 40.10 20.69 20.78 14.81 12.38 11.69 15.00 11.31 7.19 15.30 17.91 3.04 2.34 Crafts (n = 58) Mdn 16.00 7.00 85.50 39.00 22.00 21.00 15.00 13.00 12.50 16.00 11.50 7.00 16.00 19.00 2.29 2.10 SD 3.22 3.21 11.71 11.18 2.96 4.30 3.09 2.94 2.64 3.57 2.08 1.27 3.41 3.81 2.36 0.98 Writing (n = 43) M 15.05 7.40 82.81 40.26 20.81 20.51 14.58 11.86 11.56 14.56 11.28 7.34 15.34 17.67 2.91 2.32 Mdn 15.00 7.00 83.00 41.00 21.00 20.00 14.00 12.00 12.00 15.00 11.00 7.00 15.50 18.00 2.29 2.02 SD 3.31 3.43 11.70 11.01 3.10 4.46 3.18 3.15 2.58 3.62 1.97 1.24 3.88 3.49 2.22 1.07

Note. There is some overlap between creative categories because some people reported participating in more than one creative activity. TC = Time Competence; TI = Time Incompetence; Id = Inner Directed; O = Outer Directed; SAV = Self-Actualizing Value; Ex = Existentiality; Fr = Feeling Reactivity; S = Spontaneity; Sr = Self-Regard; Sa = Self-Acceptance; Nc = Nature of Man; Sy = Synergy; A = Acceptance of Aggression; C = Capacity for Intimate Contact; TR = Time Ratio; SR = Support Ratio.

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