The Role of Individual Values and Motivation in Creative Writing Productivity of Poets and Prose Writers

The aim of this study was to identify differences in factors related to productivity in different micro-domains of literary creativity (writing prose and writing poetry). This study examined the relations between values (according to S. Schwartz's approach), motivation types (according to SDT by E. Deci and R. Ryan) and creative writing productivity among "poets" and "writers". The sample consisted of 240 representatives of "little creativity" involved in writing poetry or prose during last year. The research used such questionnaires for data gathering as revised PVQR by S. Schwartz, authors' questionnaire to measure frequency of creative behavior (based on CBI by S. Dollinger) and questionnaire of motivation to creative behavior developed by the HSE International Scientific Socio-Cultural Laboratory on the basis of E. Deci and R. Ryan's questionnaire. We used such methods of data processing as confirmatory factor analysis, T-test for comparing means, regression analyses and path-analysis in AMOS. We revealed that "poets" and "writers" have differences in values and their relations to creativity. For poets Social Focus values were more important than for prose writers, while for prose writers Personal Focus values were more important than for poets. Different sets of values were related to literary creative productivity among "poets" and "writers": Openness to Change and Self-Transcendence values among "poets"; and Conservation, Self-Enhancement and Self-Transcendence values among " prose writers". Autonomous motivation played a mediator role in the relations between values and creativity in both groups. Thus, the conducted research revealed the heuristic potential of the approach differentiating creativity in micro-domains.