Creativity in old age: a longitudinal study.
A creativity test was administered to a selected sample of 52 subjects all 70 years old and repeated in the same group 13 years later. The stimuli used were diffuse ink-blots coded for three components of creativity: fluency, flexibility and originality. The three components were also summed to form a composite creativity score. Repeated analyses showed no age-related changes in the creativity scores obtained at the two testing times. Furthermore, no gender differences nor age and gender inter-actions were found. The results of this longitudinal study indicate that, contrary to earlier findings from cross-sectional studies, creativity does not seem to decline significantly in old age.
Andersson
E
E
University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Berg
S
S
Lawenius
M
M
Ruth
J E
JE
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D003405:Creativity; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors