Introduction
Human beings can apply their creativity and ideas in a wide range of fields and domains. Practitioners, artists, leaders, and researchers have been focusing on creative performance and some of the elements associated with it. Specifically, much attention has been devoted to personality traits and values since they have the potential to transform people’s performance in a wide range of operations or work domains. Different personality traits and attributes have been found to be directly linked to creative performance, such as agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, under-control, and resilience.
Understanding Creative Performance
Creative performance is a term that used to describe the generation of concepts, insights, products, ideas, and aspects that are novel in nature and capable of empowering human beings. In most cases, creativity is treated as a talent whereby the performers are capable of presenting original, non-redundant, fluent, and flexible content. The presented ideas also tend to be elaborate and properly refined. The unique process of creativity occurred in such a way that performers experience positive emotions that eventually trigger joyous states in their minds (Lebuda et al., 2019). With the delivery of the intended outcome, the person will tend to become more confident and satisfied. Consequently, such a state will foster additional explorations and spontaneous learning.
Past analysts have been keen to analyze and study creative performance as a unique attribute of human nature. For instance, Engin Deniz and Seydi (2017) observed that creativity was one of the true pillars of human development and civilization. Societies that promote the practice will record additional milestones in the areas of education, work, and even innovation. This reality explains why there has been a need to investigate creative performance much further and present additional measures to promote the practice. One of the areas that continue to attract attention of educationists, guardians, parents, and instructors is the power of personality traits.
Personality Traits and Creativity
Within the past seven decades, researchers have been interested in the role of personality in influencing creative performance. According to Jain and Jain (2016), the three-facet model of neuroticism, psychoticism, and extraversion has been studied widely in an effort to understand how it influenced a person’s creativeness. For example, Puryear et al. (2017) indicate that past analysts have singled out psychoticism as a powerful force that is capable of promoting creative performance. However, the three-facet model would soon become less significant after the emergence development and promotion of the Five-Factor Model. Similarly, Engin Deniz and Seydi (2017) believe strongly that intelligence and creativity tend to interact in the human mind to generate ideas and concepts that could be described as creative in nature. These foundational arguments and insights have formed the basis for most of the studies completed in the recent past.
Formulated in 1992 and updated in 2008, the McCrae and Costa Five-Factor Model identify neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, experience, and conscientiousness as strong personality attributes. Each of them has been described as capable of shaping or influencing a person’s creativeness. For instance, Puryear et al. (2017) assert that openness is a trait that encourages individuals to focus on new elements and concepts. A good example would be someone who is always ready to embrace aesthetics and pursue better ideas. Such a person could also be keen and ready to engage in additional discussions. Engin Deniz and Seydi (2017) go further to indicate that persons who are open to emerging concepts tend to focus on novel scenarios and would be naturally curious. This personality trait is, therefore, capable of dictating a person’s willing to engage in creative performance.
Conscientiousness is another personality attribute that is defied under the Five-Factor Model and it captures a number of features, including goal-setting, reliability, and personal discipline (Engin Deniz & Seydi, 2017). Individuals scoring high under this attribute will be keen to engage in actions that could be labelled creative. Engin Deniz and Seydi (2017) indicate extraversion is a trait exhibited by persons who tend to be visible and interactive. When such individuals step out of their cocoons, chances are high that they will be focusing on the best approaches to reinvent themselves and choose new ideas. With these arguments, it would be agreeable that much of the work aimed at describing the predictors of creative performance and relationship with personality have revolved around this model.
In some additional studies, divergent views have emerged whereby some of the personality traits have been negatively linked or associated with creative performance. A good example would be a study by Cai et al. (2020) that showed that conscientiousness was not found to promote creativity in the artistic domain. Additionally, Puryear et al. (2017) observed that there were other forces that were capable of triggering creative performance, such as the surrounding environment, educational level, and aptitude. The concept of agreeableness has also featured prominently in different studies focusing on creative performance. For instance, Jain and Jain (2016) revealed that such a trait was capable of predicting creativeness in a positive manner. Those who possess such an attribute will be more involved and ready to achieve their goals in different fields.
Extrinsic motivation remains a powerful element or personality that compelled most of the people to focus on new experiences and notions. Consequently, such people found it easier to engage in creative activities and achieve their goals much faster (Engin Deniz & Seydi, 2017). Educationists can consider the nature of these personality traits and encourage their followers to examine how they can pursue their goals. When agreeable and open people are presented with the right attitude and environment, chances are high that they will become empowered and willing to complete their roles diligently (Puryear et al., 2017). Consequently, they will record positive or desirable creative performance in their respective fields.
Some recent studies have gone further to offer additional insights for analyzing personality traits and describing how they can promote creativeness. For example, Lebuda et al. (2019) offered three unique profiles that have become common in the fields of sociology and psychology. These include resilient, over-controlled, and under-controlled. When someone falls under the resilient category, chances are quite high that he or she would be ready to complete numerous tasks and consider some of the best ways to achieving the intended goals. However, a controlled person would be unable to record higher or acceptable achievements in his or her creative field.
Individuals who tend to be under-controlled will be willing to focus on the best ways to achieve their maximum potential. For instance, some will be willing to invent or engage in various creative writing. This outcome means that they might be willing to engage in activities that are related to hour, dance, and culinary art. Some of these individuals will have higher chances of remain obedient and achieving their maximum potential (Puryear et al., 2017). While some sceptics have identified these profiles as inadequate, it would be appropriate to scholars to complete additional investigations and present new ideas. The end result is that more people will be informed and willing to focus on the best ways to become creative and successful.
The modern society is presently characterized by dynamic challenges and problems that require evidence-based solutions. Creativity emerges as one of the best tools for finding sustainable solutions to such issues. The insights gained from the above discussion need to guide different professionals and educationists to guide their followers accordingly. Persons who exhibit some of the personality traits associated with creative performance should get the relevance support (Cai et al., 2020). The process will result in personal development and ensure that the identified beneficiaries achieve their aims. The insights can also form the basis for empowering other people and encouraging them to consider new ways of becoming more creative and successful.
Conclusion
The above discussion has identified creative performance as a process that has played a significant role in promoting human civilization and addressing some of the problems affecting different people. The description has also indicated that there is a strong link between personality traits and creativity. Some of these attribute includes conscientiousness, agreeableness, resilience, and openness to new ideas. The emerging message is that educationists, leaders, and parents can consider some of the outlined attributes and combine them with the right attitude and environment to take more individuals closer to their goals.
References
Cai, W., Khapova, S., Bossink, B., Lysova, E., & Yuan, J. (2020). Optimizing employee creativity in the digital era: Uncovering the interactional effects of abilities, motivations, and opportunities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(3), 1038-1056. Web.
Engin Deniz, M., & Seydi , A. S. (2017). The relationships between big five personality traits and subjective vitality. Anales de Psicología, 33(2), 218-224. Web.
Jain, R., & Jain, C. (2016). Employee creativity: A conceptual framework. Management and Labour Studies, 41(4), 294-313. Web.
Lebuda, I., Karwowski, M., Galang, A. J. R., Szumski, G., & Mankiewicz, A. F. (2019). Personality predictors of creative achievement and lawbreaking behavior. Current Psychology, 1(1). Web.
Puryear, J. S., Kettler, T., & Rinn, A. N. (2017). Relating personality and creativity: Considering what and how we measure. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 53(2), 1-14. Web.
