Revisiting the Investment Theory of Creativity

This research further examines Sternberg and Lubart's (1995) investment theory of creativity by testing the newly constructed Multifaceted Assessment of Creativity (MAC). The MAC measures the extent to which people take into account the 6 resources for creativity (intelligence, knowledge, intellectual styles, personality, motivation, and environment) when they evaluate (a) hypothetical cases and (b) the importance of the six resources for identifying creativity. Two forms of the MAC (one assessing school boys and the other assessing school girls) were administered to 270 (120 male and 150 female) Chinese university students. Overall, results strongly supported the investment theory of creativity. Meanwhile, the 2 types of evaluation tasks yielded diverse results centered on the importance of intelligence and of styles. Furthermore, differential expectations were expressed for boys versus girls regarding what counts in creativity.