Perceived creatvity and the big five personality traits of specialists trained for profession: trends in their interaction

The expression of personality traits and creativity of students in different study programmes may differ. The goal of the research is to investigate and compare differences in the expression of personality traits and perceived creativity and their links in two groups of research participants: 1) where the study programmes do not include study subjects for promotion of creativity expression, and 2) where the study programmes include the study subjects that promote the expression of creativity. The research methods: the NEO Five Factor Inventory (Costa, Mc.Crae, 1992) was used to investigate the students’ personality traits. Perceived creativity was analysed applying the Questionnaire for Personality Creativity (Petrulis, 1988). The data collected during the research was processed using the method of statistical analysis. The analysis of comparing the values of the components of the personality traits and perceived creativity was conducted applying the Student-t test. Investigation of the correlations of perceived creativity with the indicators of the personality traits was carried out using the Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The research results showed that significantly higher average values in the scales of originality, childishness and pursuit of creativity were observed among students from the study programmes, which included the study subjects that enhance the expression of creativity, compared with those of students, who chose the study programmes without the study subjects that promote the expression of creativity. However, criticality was stronger expressed among the latter students. Evaluation of the expression of personality traits disclosed significantly higher average values of openness to experience and neuroticism in the group of students from the study programmes with the study subjects that promote creativity compared to the students from the study programmes without such study subjects. However, the level of extraversion expression was characteristic of the students in the latter group. The conducted correlation analysis of the interaction of perceived creativity and the Big Five personality traits disclosed different results of strength and quantity of links between the indicators of personality traits and perceived creativity in the different participants’ groups. The research results will have enduring value in the scientific debate about the peculiarities of the expression of the components of students’ perceived creativity and the personality traits and their interrelations, their practical significance foreseeing conditions and possibilities for efficiency of creativity expression in higher education.