Gender differences in creativity

Reference: Baer, J., & Kaufman, J. C. (2008). Gender differences in creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 42(2), 75-105.

Abstract: Research on gender differences in creativity, including creativity test scores, creative achievements, and self-reported creativity is reviewed, as are theories that have been offered to explain such differences and available evidence that supports or refutes such theories. This is a difficult arena in which to conduct research, but there is a consistent lack of gender differences both in creativity test scores and in the creative accomplishments of boys and girls (which if anything tend to favor girls). As a result, it is difficult to show how innate gender differences in creativity could possibly explain later differences in creative accomplishment. At the same time, the large difference in the creative achievement of men and women in many fields make blanket environmental explanations inadequate, and the explanations that have been proposed thus far are at best incomplete. A new theoretical framework (the APT model of creativity) is proposed to allow better understanding of what is known about gender differences in creativity.

Notes: A highly-cited paper (I consider 150+ citations to be high in these topics anyway), which builds upon a classic study* (much less cited, interestingly) and presents a thorough literature review of the possible gender differences in creativity, which by the way overall are non-existent as we all could reasonably expect. Nonetheless, self-assessment does vary, and as we all know, attitudes by researchers, teachers and parents do change**, which is something that we all should be working to eliminate.


* Kogan, N. (1974). Creativity and Sex Differences*. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 8(1), 1-14.
** Conti, R., Collins, M. A., & Picariello, M. L. (2001). The impact of competition on intrinsic motivation and creativity: considering gender, gender segregation and gender role orientation. Personality and individual differences, 31(8), 1273-1289.