Domain specificity in creativity testing: A comparison of performance on a general divergent-thinking test and a parallel, content-specific test

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which domain-specific components, such as content and type of task, influence divergent thinking and creativity by comparing the performance of 112 ninth-grade students on two parallel divergent-thinking tests. The Verbal Forms of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) represented the domain-independent measures, while two forms of a Creativity in History Test (CHT), whose items corresponded closely to those of the TTCT, served as the content-specific measures. The results indicated that both content-specific and task-specific factors have significant effects on divergent-thinking and creative performance. Implications concerning the definition of creativity as a construct and its measurement are discussed.