What Do We Know About the Development of Creativity in South America?

We review recent research about the development of creativity in South America focusing on studies of individual differences in creativity and educational and developmental studies of children and adolescents' creativity. Most South American researchers are influenced by mainstream psychometric approaches, although computational and cultural approaches are also considered. Two main areas of inquiry are: (a) the relationship between creativity and other constructs, and (b) the structural and cultural inhibitors of creativity in school. Studies conducted beyond the school shed light on the role resilience has in fostering creativity. The lack of studies testing interventions aimed at promoting creativity is concerning. There is also a surprising lack of observational studies related to the pedagogy of creativity. Last but not least, there is a need to advance research on other factors, in addition to the educational ones, that may play a role in fostering creativity in South America.

An Exploratory Study on Mind Wandering, Metacognition, and Verbal Creativity in Chilean High School Students.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between mind wandering, metacognition, and creativity in a sample of Chilean high school students. Two hundred and twenty-eight secondary students took three self-report scales on mind wandering, metacognitive strategies and reading difficulties, two verbal creativity assessments, a test of fluid intelligence and a measure of attentional capacity. Correlational analysis, a single multiple hierarchical regression, and a three-way moderation model were performed on data. Controlling for fluid intelligence and reading difficulties, metacognition and attention predicted creativity while mind wandering did not. Additionally, a three-way interaction showed that mind wandering had a positive impact on creativity only among students with both high attention and high metacognition. These results reflect the relevance of cognitive self-regulation for creativity during the high school years. Educational implications are discussed.