Psychological Development and Education ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (1): 32-41.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2025.01.04

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The Relationship between Creativity Anxiety and Real-life Creativity: Chain Mediating Effects of Cognitive Flexibility and Creative Process Engagement

XIANG Shuoqi1, LI Yadan1, YE Chaoqun1, YANG Weixing2, GUO Xipei1, ZHANG Lingling1, HU Weiping1,3   

  1. 1. MOE Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi' an 710062;
    2. Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250000;
    3. Shaanxi Normal University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University, Xi'an 710062
  • Published:2025-01-22

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Abstract: Based on the Attentional Control Theory (ACT) and the Creative Process Theory (CPT), this study explored the relationship between creativity anxiety and real-life creativity (creative activities, CAct; creative achievements, CAch) and examined the potential chain mediating roles of cognitive flexibility (alternatives, AS; control, CS) and creative process engagement (problem identification, PI; information searching and encoding, ISE; idea generation, IG) between them. Four hundred and ten college students (M = 20.320, SD = 0.694) were recruited randomly. The results were as follows: (1) Creativity anxiety negatively predicted both creative activity (CAct) and creative achievement (CAch); (2) Creativity anxiety associates with creative activity (CAct) through the chain mediating effect of three paths (CA→AS→PI→CAct; CA→AS→IG→CAct; CA→CS→PI→CAct); (3) Creativity anxiety associates with creative achievement (CAch) through the chain mediating effect of another three paths (CA→AS→ISE→CAch; CA→AS→IG→CAch; CA→CS→ISE→CAch). This study is beneficial to understanding the underlying mechanism between creativity anxiety and real-life creativity and expanding the application scope of ACT and CPT. More importantly, these findings for intervening adverse effects of creativity anxiety on creative performance provide an adequate basis.

Key words: creativity anxiety, cognitive flexibility, creative process engagement, real-life creativity, undergraduate

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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