Rigidity, tolerance for uncertainty and creativity in the system of intellectual and personality potential

In this paper, we report the results from an empirical study that used a college students sample (n=304, Mean=19.49, SD=2.11; 206 females, 98 males) and investigated the relationship among rigidity variables, acceptance of uncertainty (tolerance/intolerance for uncertainty, risk readiness), rationality and reflexivity, intelligence (analytical and practical), and creativity. We used the following measures: The New Tolerance for Uncertainty Questionnaire, Personality Factors of Decision Making, Tomsk Rigidity Questionnaire, Reflexivity-27 Questionnaire, and the ROADS battery. We tested a set of hypotheses regarding the positive relationships between rigidity and a set of variables that included rationality, reflexivity, and intolerance for uncertainty, regarding the relationships between creativity and tolerance for uncertainty, risk readiness, and rigidity, as well as regarding the relationships between personality variables and academic achievement (GPA). We found that verbal creativity was positively related to reflexivity and negatively — with attitudinal rigidity. Crystallized intelligence was positively related to both academic achievement and creativity. Fluid intelligence was negatively related to rationality, and although both intelligence measures were positively inter-correlated, fluid intelligence was not related to creativity. We also showed that creativity is a positive predictor of achievement, whereas premorbid rigidity is a negative one; tolerance for uncertainty, creativity, and rationality were not related to achievement. However, reflexivity was related to creativity measured with the “Creative Stories” task: higher creativity was related to higher personality reflexivity and low attitudinal rigidity. Intolerance for uncertainty and risk readiness, on the other hand, are negatively related to achievement in college students.