View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

Stopping Short: Gender Differences in Creativity Anxiety Predict Fluency but Not Originality in Creative Performance.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Stopping Short: Gender Differences in Creativity Anxiety Predict Fluency but Not Originality in Creative Performance.
Authors: Amoukhteh, Stephanie (AUTHOR), Hartley, Isabella (AUTHOR), Daker, Richard (AUTHOR), Green, Adam (AUTHOR), Viskontas, Indre (AUTHOR)
Source: Creativity Research Journal. Jul-Sep2026, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p669-683. 15p.
Subjects: Gender differences (Sociology), Self-censorship, Creative ability, Failure (Psychology), Gender inequality, Originality
Abstract: Creative cognition plays a pivotal role in our society, especially in times of resource scarcity and change, and is particularly important in leadership positions. In many creative professions, however, there is a gender disparity at the top, with a larger proportion of men in leadership roles and greater dissemination of their work by influential institutions like art galleries, symphony orchestras, and so on. In many cases, during the process of ideation, creation, and evaluation of artistic or innovative work, creativity specific anxiety can act as a barrier to creative thinking. As previous work has shown, there is a higher incidence of creativity anxiety among women than among men. Here, we explored whether this gender difference might be associated with disparities in creative performance, both in the moment and over the course of a lifetime. In line with previous research, our findings show that females exhibited higher levels of creativity anxiety compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, as we investigated the relationship between creativity anxiety and creative performance, we found that despite higher levels of creativity anxiety in women, no significant gender differences emerged in overall creative performance. Elevated creativity anxiety in women but not men was associated with the generation of fewer ideas in the Alternate Uses Task, despite no overall differences in fluency between men and women. The originality of these ideas, however, did not correlate with anxiety, nor did it differ from those generated by men. Fluency was also found to be positively correlated with self-reported creative achievement, as was effort on the Alternate Uses Task. Furthermore, we found that creativity anxiety was related to reduced effort on the Alternate Uses Task, providing a potential mechanism through which it might lead to the generation of fewer creative ideas. Our study suggests that creativity anxiety may result in more self-censoring during the idea generation phase in women, ultimately limiting their creative achievement or leadership capacity in situations in which they are asked to create on the fly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Creativity Research Journal is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
Text:
  Availability: 1
Header DbId: pbh
DbLabel: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
An: 195517156
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Stopping Short: Gender Differences in Creativity Anxiety Predict Fluency but Not Originality in Creative Performance.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Amoukhteh%2C+Stephanie%22">Amoukhteh, Stephanie</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hartley%2C+Isabella%22">Hartley, Isabella</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Daker%2C+Richard%22">Daker, Richard</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Green%2C+Adam%22">Green, Adam</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Viskontas%2C+Indre%22">Viskontas, Indre</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Creativity+Research+Journal%22">Creativity Research Journal</searchLink>. Jul-Sep2026, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p669-683. 15p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subjects
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gender+differences+%28Sociology%29%22">Gender differences (Sociology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Self-censorship%22">Self-censorship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Creative+ability%22">Creative ability</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Failure+%28Psychology%29%22">Failure (Psychology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gender+inequality%22">Gender inequality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Originality%22">Originality</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Creative cognition plays a pivotal role in our society, especially in times of resource scarcity and change, and is particularly important in leadership positions. In many creative professions, however, there is a gender disparity at the top, with a larger proportion of men in leadership roles and greater dissemination of their work by influential institutions like art galleries, symphony orchestras, and so on. In many cases, during the process of ideation, creation, and evaluation of artistic or innovative work, creativity specific anxiety can act as a barrier to creative thinking. As previous work has shown, there is a higher incidence of creativity anxiety among women than among men. Here, we explored whether this gender difference might be associated with disparities in creative performance, both in the moment and over the course of a lifetime. In line with previous research, our findings show that females exhibited higher levels of creativity anxiety compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, as we investigated the relationship between creativity anxiety and creative performance, we found that despite higher levels of creativity anxiety in women, no significant gender differences emerged in overall creative performance. Elevated creativity anxiety in women but not men was associated with the generation of fewer ideas in the Alternate Uses Task, despite no overall differences in fluency between men and women. The originality of these ideas, however, did not correlate with anxiety, nor did it differ from those generated by men. Fluency was also found to be positively correlated with self-reported creative achievement, as was effort on the Alternate Uses Task. Furthermore, we found that creativity anxiety was related to reduced effort on the Alternate Uses Task, providing a potential mechanism through which it might lead to the generation of fewer creative ideas. Our study suggests that creativity anxiety may result in more self-censoring during the idea generation phase in women, ultimately limiting their creative achievement or leadership capacity in situations in which they are asked to create on the fly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Creativity Research Journal is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=195517156
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/10400419.2025.2530893
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 15
        StartPage: 669
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Gender differences (Sociology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Self-censorship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Creative ability
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Failure (Psychology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Gender inequality
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Originality
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Stopping Short: Gender Differences in Creativity Anxiety Predict Fluency but Not Originality in Creative Performance.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Amoukhteh, Stephanie
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Hartley, Isabella
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Daker, Richard
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Green, Adam
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Viskontas, Indre
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 07
              Text: Jul-Sep2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 10400419
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 38
            – Type: issue
              Value: 3
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Creativity Research Journal
              Type: main
ResultId 1