Perfectionism and creative potential : Is repetitive thinking the common link?

Details

Supervisors

Philippot, Pierre ; Delor, Bérénice

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité approfondie

Abstract

The goal of the present study is to shed light on the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and creative potential by examining the role of repetitive thinking as a potential mediator. Specifically, we hypothesize that Perfectionistic Strivings will contribute to enhanced creative potential, while Perfectionistic Concerns will not significantly affect it; but that the two dimensions of perfectionism will significantly interact in predicting creative potential. We also expect Perfectionistic Concerns to predict the tendency to engage in abstract-evaluative repetitive thinking (AERT), while Perfectionistic Strivings may predict concrete-experiential repetitive thinking (CERT). In turn, these two repetitive thinking modes might support different building blocks of creative potential: CERT could predict divergent-exploratory thinking processes (DT), whereas AERT could predict convergent-integrative thinking processes (CT). We additionally wish to explore the relationship between perfectionism facets and the creative-dendritic mode repetitive thinking (CDRT) recently discovered by researchers from our lab. To put this to the test, we chose to adopt a process-based approach to the assessment of creative potential. This required us to develop a new task that measures DT and CT processes in adult participants. In doing so, we opted for literary composition as a creative domain, allowing us to conduct our study online. We administered this task to French-speakers from around the world, alongside self-report questionnaires assessing multidimensional perfectionism, repetitive thinking trait, anxiety, and depression (our control variables). We evaluate the reliability and validity of our creative potential task, before conducting a series of moderated regression analyses to evaluate our hypotheses. We then discuss our results in light of existing theory and research to see what conclusions we can draw as to how multidimensional perfectionism relates to creative potential.