Creative ability and the handling of personal and social conflict among bright sixth graders

Twenty-two sixth graders (11 boys and 11 girls), with IQs ranging between 118 and 130, were measured for their creative ability with verbal and pictorial material, their degree of perceptual defense regarding individual conflicts found in projective test measures, and their manner of resolving social conflict situations. Hypotheses regarding the relation of creative thinking ability to the handling of personal conflict and the resolution of social situation conflicts were tested. There were no age or sex differences among participants, but, according to the hypotheses, participants high in creative thinking ability, when contrasted with participants low in creative thinking ability, were less repressive in their responses to conflictful projective material, introduced more new ideas in the resolution of social conflicts, and formulated more solutions in which all interested parties’ needs were considered and met.