Abstract

Creativity is increasingly understood as a dynamic process influenced by biological, psychological, and contextual factors. Previous research has linked chronotype, sleep quality, affect, curiosity, and creative self-efficacy to creative performance; however, relatively little is known about how these factors jointly relate to creativity among college students or whether they predict creative performance over time. The present study examined concurrent and prospective relationships in undergraduate students at RIT (T1: n = 210; T2: n = 38), between these variables and creative performance using a two-timepoint design. Creative performance was assessed using the Alternative Uses Task and scored for creative quality and fluency. Results indicated that chronotype, sleep quality, affect, curiosity, and synchrony were not significantly associated with creative quality or fluency either concurrently or prospectively. Creative self-efficacy positively predicted fluency at Time 1. Creative quality significantly declined across the follow- up interval, whereas fluency remained stable. Of the baseline predictor variables, only sleep quality significantly predicted change in creative performance over time, such that better sleep quality at Time 1 was associated with a greater increase in fluency; no other predictors significantly predicted changes in creative quality or fluency. These findings suggest that trait- level characteristics may have limited utility in predicting short-term creative performance among college students. Instead, creativity may be more strongly influenced by immediate contextual and motivational factors than by stable individual differences.

Publication Date

8-4-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Experimental Psychology (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Psychology, Department of

College

College of Liberal Arts

Advisor

Dustin Haraden

Advisor/Committee Member

Tina Sutton

Advisor/Committee Member

Stephanie Godleski

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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