Honors College Theses

Publication Date

4-14-2022

Major

Psychology (B.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Faculty Mentor

Dorthie Cross, PhD

Abstract

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is an important topic to study because of its prevalence, impact, and a multitude of unknown interactions of the disorder with creativity. Creativity is a cognitive process defined by lessened cognitive control and lower inhibitions in the prefrontal cortex (Chrysikou, 2018), which are characteristics of ADHD (APA, 2017; Brunkhorst-Kanaan et al., 2021; Kirov & Brand, 2014; Laugesen et al., 2017; Moen et al., 2014; Staikova et al., 2013) This study explored how ADHD is connected with three sub-variables of creativity: divergent thinking, uniqueness of generated ideas, and flow of ideas. Connections were explored via a survey of ADHD symptoms and both subjective and objective measures of creativity in a sample of 252 college students. I hypothesized that ADHD would be associated with higher divergent thinking, higher uniqueness of ideas, and lower flow of ideas. Based on the results, ADHD was associated with higher divergent thinking and higher flow of ideas, and there was no relationship between ADHD and uniqueness of ideas. The direction and intensity of the relationships found may be impacted by factors within this study, and some findings are consistent with the field of ADHD research while other findings are not. In the future, creativity as a variable stands to need an operationalized, valid, agreed-upon measure created to accurately assess levels of creativity. Synopsized, while there are conflicting findings on the direction and intensity of the relationship between creativity and ADHD, this study found evidence that a relationship is present for at least some aspects of creativity.

Thesis Summary

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is an important topic to study because of its prevalence, impact, and a multitude of unknown interactions of the disorder with creativity. Creativity is a cognitive process defined by lessened cognitive control and lower inhibitions in the prefrontal cortex (Chrysikou, 2018), which are characteristics of ADHD (APA, 2017; Brunkhorst-Kanaan et al., 2021; Kirov & Brand, 2014; Laugesen et al., 2017; Moen et al., 2014; Staikova et al., 2013) This study explored how ADHD is connected with three sub-variables of creativity: divergent thinking, uniqueness of generated ideas, and flow of ideas. Connections were explored via a survey of ADHD symptoms and both subjective and objective measures of creativity in a sample of 252 college students. I hypothesized that ADHD would be associated with higher divergent thinking, higher uniqueness of ideas, and lower flow of ideas. Based on the results, ADHD was associated with higher divergent thinking and higher flow of ideas, and there was no relationship between ADHD and uniqueness of ideas. The direction and intensity of the relationships found may be impacted by factors within this study, and some findings are consistent with the field of ADHD research while other findings are not. In the future, creativity as a variable stands to need an operationalized, valid, agreed-upon measure created to accurately assess levels of creativity. Synopsized, while there are conflicting findings on the direction and intensity of the relationship between creativity and ADHD, this study found evidence that a relationship is present for at least some aspects of creativity.

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