The prediction of mathematical creativity scores: Mathematical abilities, personality and creative self-beliefs

Abstract

Despite the increasing importance of mathematical creativity, it is still largely unclear which variables contribute to performance in mathematical creativity tasks. While there is some evidence that mathematical achievement is positively related to creativity, our understanding of the relevance of personality traits and creative self-beliefs is limited. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between mathematical creativity, mathematical abilities, personality traits, and creative self-beliefs among 167 university students. The findings revealed that mathematical creativity was positively associated with arithmetic fluency, creative self-efficacy, and self-rated mathematical creativity skills. The assessed variables could explain 27 % of the variance. Personality traits did not exhibit significant associations, contrary to expectations based on domain-general creativity research. Notably, the correlation between creative self-beliefs and creativity measures was higher when self-beliefs were assessed after the creativity measure. This study contributes to our understanding of mathematical creativity but underscores that further research in this area is necessary.

Educational relevance and implications statement

Creativity has been recognized as a key competence and one of the most important skills for success in the 21st century, especially creativity in the domain of mathematics. This study examined which factors can explain individual differences in mathematical creativity. Evaluating the relevance of mathematical abilities, personality traits, and creative self-beliefs, we found that some aspects of mathematical abilities (i.e., arithmetic fluency) and creative self-beliefs (i.e., self-rated creativity) were positively associated with mathematical creativity while several personality traits were not important. Understanding mathematical creativity and its relations is the first step toward fostering mathematical creativity in education.