CIET | Online Survey of Research in Education

Mehrotra, S. (1995). Effect of Imagery and Personality Traits on Creativity among Pre-adolescent Children. Unpublished. Ph.D., Psychology of Education. SNDT Womens University.

The objectives of the study were: (1) To explore the effect of Divergent- Thinking - Processing - Imagery - Exercises (DTPIE) and Synthesis Restructuring - Imagination - Imagery - Exercises (SDIIE) on Creativity and on Academic performance. (2) To investigate the Personality dimensions of Creative individuals. (3) To analyze the effect of parental education and professional background on Creativity. (4) To determine the application of Imagery exercises in a regular classroom situation.

The study was carried out on 374 subjects (236 male and 138 females) belonging to Standard IV with a mean age of nine years and six months who came from three types of Socio-Economic Status (SES), namely, low, middle and high. Care was taken to select representative schools meeting the criteria of SES. Their medium of instruction was English.

Tools used to collect data included Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), Figural Form A and B, Imagery exercises of three types, namely, DTPIE, SDIIE and DTPIE and SDIIE combined (prepared by the examine) and Children Personality Questionnaire (CPQ) Form B of Porter & Cattell.

Initially Purposive Sampling Method was applied and later subjects were randomly selected for the twelve study groups.

The collected data were treated using ANOVA (two way), t - Test, ANCOVA, Pearsons Correlation and Chi-square.

The major findings of the study were: (1) On the total Creativity index all the three Methods of Imagery had positive influence. (2) On academic performance, Mathematics marks improved among low and middle SES groups and both experimental conditions were equally effective. Among middle SES groups, Social Studies marks improved in the DTPIE experimental conditions. (3) Out of the fourteen Personality Traits, it was only Factor B of CPQ that differentiated on Total Creativity Scores. Other Personality Factors were not found to influence Creative performance. (4) The effect of Parental Education indicated that gradual level of Parental Education had some positive effect on Creativity. (5) As regards Professional background of Parents, children whose father was in business had better Total Creativity scores but the mother s profession was not found to have any Impact on the Creativity scores. (6) The dimensions such as Originality, Flexibility and Resistance to premature closure were influenced by combined exercises of DTPIE and SDIIE. The dimensions such as abstractness of title and elaboration did not show improvement due to experimental condition. (7) Imagery exercises or similar activities allowed expression of latent thoughts, imaginations and emotions without any pressure or demand.

Keyword(s): Effect of Imagery, Personality Traits, pre-adolescence