Het verband tussen inhibitie, omgevingsfactoren en creativiteit bij basisschoolkinderen

Abstract

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the concept of creativity. Creativity is currently seen as an important concept in the society, and the current study contributes specifically to the understanding of creativity among children. This research investigates the relationship between creativity, inhibition, and environmental cues among children in elementary school. A total of 69 Dutch-speaking children from the fifth and sixth grade participated in this study, of which 28 were boys (41%) and 40 were girls (59%). The children, who had an average age of 11.06 years, participated in a creative task in which they were asked to think of new, innovative uses for a certain object. The subtest ‘Inhibitory Control’ of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire was used to measure inhibition. Fluency, flexibility, originality, inhibition, and environmental cues were measured. In this study we used two conditions: one without environmental distractions and the second with environmental distractions. The results of this research demonstrate that inhibition has no effect on fluency, flexibility, and originality. Strikingly, the environmental cues only have a significant effect on flexibility (p < .00, = .15). No significant effect was found on fluency and originality. Children in the condition without distractions scored significantly higher than children in the condition with distractions. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that environmental cues could have an impact on children’s creativity. Follow-up research could focus on the association between environmental cues at school and the creativity of children.