Creativity and Intuition Revisited

This study used the recently revised Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and a variety of validated creativity measures to replicate a classic finding — that sensing-intuition predicts creativity — and to evaluate whether the other MBTI scales add to the prediction of creativity. 94 undergraduates completed the MBTI (form M self-scorable) and criterion measures including the Creative Personality Scale, an abbreviated Creative Behavior Inventory (self-reported past accomplishments) and the Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (creative product ratings using consensual assessment). Results showed that intuition predicted all three criteria but that, contrary to expectation from past research, judging-perceiving did not add to the prediction model. Thinking-feeling emerged as a possible suppressor variable. We suggest that judging-perceiving predicts creativity as an artifact of its relation with intuition and that the combination of intuition and feeling best characterizes high scorers on a composite creativity measure.