Conditions for administering creativity tests.

Abstract

Research relating to the testing conditions under which open-ended creativity tests are administered is reviewed. Wallach and Kogan's influential arguments as to the necessity for untimed game-like conditions are outlined and criticized. Conditions other than the untimed game-like condition are found to be unsatisfactory alternatives to the timed test-like condition. Finally, criteria for assessing the adequacy of various conditions are outlined. It is concluded that there is little evidence against using timed test-like conditions as the norm for administering creativity tests. The aim of this article is to discuss the research literature relating to the testing conditions under which creativity is commonly measured. At present there are two major approaches to testing creative abilities. One approach uses open-ended tests, and the general format is one in which a question is asked or a task presented and the subject has to respond with as many creative or original ideas as he can (e.g., Guilford, 1959; Torrance, 1966; Wallach & Kogan,