Capturing Creativity:

TCT-DP
Test for Creative Thinking / Drawing
Development
Klaus Urban (Hannover University, Germany)
Hans Jellen (University of California)

Andrea Krpti
Fulbright Research Scholar
at NIU, School of Arts
ELTE University, Budapest,
Hungary

karpatian@t-online.hu

The Creative Person:

Motivation and attitudes
Creatrix Inventory (C & RT) (Byrd, 1986)
8
styles:

Reproducer
Modifier
Challenger
Practicalizer
Innovator
Synthesizer
Dreamer
Planner

Creativity tests measure

specific cognitive
processes such as thinking
divergently, making
associations, constructing
and combing broad
categories, or working on
many ideas
simultaneously.

Creativity is the result of

the relation between
the person that is marked as
creative,
the evaluator who provides
that
judgment
the social context in which
evaluation happens.
(Westmeyer, 1998)

Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test (STAT)

Creative skills performance tasks
Written and oral
stories
Stories are rated on 5
points scales for:
Originality
Complexity
Emotional
evocativeness
Descriptiveness

(Sternberg, 2006)

Torrance Tests of Creative

Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance,
1966~1999)
Thinking Creativity with Words
Six verbal activities:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Asking
Guessing Causes,
Guessing Consequences,
Product Improvement,
Unusual Uses,
Unusual Questions,
Just Suppose.

Scores on three dimensions:

Fluency, Flexibility and Originality.

Creative Product Semantic Scale

(Besemer and OQuin, 1987):
Novelty: original, surprising
and germinal
Resolution: valuable,
logical, useful, and
understandable
Elaboration and
Synthesis: organic, elegant,
complex, and well- crafted)

Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)

(Ellis Paul Torrance, 1966-1999)

Drawing task: Thinking Creativity with Pictures

Three figural activities:

Picture Construction
Picture Completion,
Lines/Circles.

Scores on five
mental characteristics:
Fluency
Originality
Elaboration
Abstractness of Titles
Resistance to
Premature Closure.

Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing

Production
(TCT-DP - Urban-Jellen, 1993)
An incomplete drawing
containing 5 elements in a
large square frame:

Test sheet A

1. semi-circle,
2. right angle,
3. point,
4. curved line,
5. dashed line),
6. small open square
(located outside the
square frame)

Test sheet B

Test sheet
A

Test sheet B

Same elements, rotated with 180

degrees

Test sheet
A

Test sheet A

solutions

Test sheet
B

Test sheet B
solutions

Evaluation criteria

Continuation, (Cn)

Completion, (Cm)

New Elements, (Ne)

Connections made with Lines, (Cl)

Connections that Contribute to a Theme,

(Cth)

Boundary-breaking

being Fragment-dependent,

(Bfd)

Boundary-breaking
(Bfi)

being Fragmentindependent,

A test sheet

Continuation

A test sheet

Completion

A test sheet

Completion
(with text)

A test sheet

New elements

A test sheet

Connections
made by
lines

A test sheet

Connections
made by
theme

A test
sheet

A test
sheet

B
test
sheet

A test
sheet

A test sheet

Boundary-breaking,
Fragment
independent

A test sheet

Boundary-breaking,
Fragment
independent

Perspective

A test sheet

B test sheet

Perspective

Unusual scoring criteria

Humor or Affectivity /Emotionality/ Expressive

Power of the drawing, Hu)

Unconventionality, (Uc) in the use of tools or

paper

Sebessg (Speed, Sp) is only assessed if drawing

is near or above average

A test sheet

Humorous
or
emotional
qualities

A test sheet

Humorous or
emotional
qualities

A test sheet

Humorous
or
emotional
qualities

A test sheet

Humorous or
emotional
qualities

A test sheet

Unconventional
solution

A test sheet

Unconventional
solution

A test sheet

Unconventional solution

A test sheet

Unconventional
solution

Conventional
solution

A test sheet

Conventiona
l solution

Solutions in different drawing styles

B test
sheet

A test
sheet

A test
sheet

A test
sheet

Solutions in
different drawing
styles

Solutions in different
drawing styles

Coloured solutions

Coloured solutions

Coloured solutions

I drew a bear standing on two legs and playing

with a ball. He throws the ball over a very low
tree, low as he himself. But that tree in fact is not
small, but he is very big, the biggest bear alive.
Lonely, without company, he goes to take his ball
that he made in order to be big enough for him.
The bear, a dangerous animal, and in addition to
that if he is the biggest in the world, cannot make
friends as some other kinds of animals. He
remains alone with his ball.

TCT-DP and
narrative
about image

Tanja, aged 14

Example No. 1: LIVING ROOM

(Jana, girl, aged 13)
In my grandmas house, on the ground floor, there is a room that I will always remember. In that
room, playing, I spent the first years of my childhood, and that is why I have nice memories about
it.
I made my first steps in it, spoke my first words and learned to recognise colours and shapes. In
my favourite corner, there was a big blue armchair where my granny often sat and told me
bedtime stories, swinging me gently in her lap. I would also usually fall asleep there together with
my granny, and woke up again the next day in her warm embrace. In front of it there was a shelf
with the picture of me, my mom and dad and a big lamp. I had always loved that lamp. While I
was young, my dream was to grow tall enough and reach for that lamp. Next to it, there was a big
picture of a girl praying for something. I kept asking granny who was in the picture, but she just
smiled mysteriously. Beneath it was a small table where there were always fresh flowers picked in
our garden.
Today when I enter the room, only the most beautiful memories stir inside of me. I slowly walk on
the black-and-white tiles and come closer to the lamp on the shelf. I remember my childhood
dream and light it with a smile.

Results of Hungarian sample Test Sheet A

(Krpti, A. and Gyebnr, V., 1993-95)

Results (means), Test sheet

A
Age

N (total sample) = 1037

A magyar vizsglati minta eredmnyei B / lap

(Krpti A. s Gyebnr V., 1993-95)

Results (means), Test sheet B

Age

N (total sample) = 803

Simultaneous verbal and

graphic use of TCT-DP
Study: Qualitative Analysis Of Creative Products
Of Primary School Pupils by Slavica evkui* &
Slavica Maksi, Institute for Educational Research,
Belgrade, Serbia

Pupils wrote a story about the drawing as their

solution of TCT-DP
Connections revealed between the tale, indicator
of verbal creativity, and scores obtained on TCTDP, indicator of graphic creativity.

Qualitative story analysis

could be valid method of measuring creativity
and that it can be used as a way to improve the
quantitative measures of creative products of
pupils.
contributes to the more complete description
of a creative product than quantitative
measures, because it shows the variety and
richness of the components involved in a
creative product.

Method: Narrative analysis

Narrative analysis is scientific procedure of
studying language structures based on the
assumption that objects of reality are grounded in
language, its structures and grammar as well as
the ways of its usage.

Evaluation: searching for creative format of the

story, meanings and components that were built in

it, which could point out to the creative expression
of pupils.

Criteria are applied most often:

who are the characters
whether the text has the beginning, the middle and the end
whether it is oriented towards the past
whether it has a linear sequence
whether it has a plot
whether it makes sense to the person telling it
variations that can raise the tension in the story

(Denzin, 1989).

Evaluation of the stories (N=151)

The creativity of stories was evaluated
independently by 2 qualified evaluators (a
psychologist and a pedagogue).
1. Using global-synthetic approach (based on the
first impression), 20% of stories was singled out
(1st evaluator), that is, 30% (2nd evaluator).
2. Through discussion and clarification of meanings,
evaluators singled out 14 most creative stories,
which comprises nearly 10% of evaluated stories.

Structure of results
1) Characteristics of linear and non-linear
format of the story;
2) Creative components of stories in both
formats;
3) The link between evaluation of story
creativity and scores obtained on TCT-DP.

Linear format of the story

linear timeline
regular, expected sequence of events
participants are most often people
events are oriented towards the past
good composition (part-whole ratio;
introduction, elaboration and conclusion)
type: once upon a time...

Creative components
of linear format
detailed, rich descriptions
elegant sentences, stylistic figures of speech
creating atmosphere, emotional experiences
responding to the topic
successfully guided narration
taking a moral stand (what good is, what
happiness is...)

Example No. 1: LIVING ROOM

(Jana, girl, aged 13)
In my grandmas house, on the ground floor, there is a room that I will always remember. In that
room, playing, I spent the first years of my childhood, and that is why I have nice memories about
it.
I made my first steps in it, spoke my first words and learned to recognise colours and shapes. In
my favourite corner, there was a big blue armchair where my granny often sat and told me
bedtime stories, swinging me gently in her lap. I would also usually fall asleep there together with
my granny, and woke up again the next day in her warm embrace. In front of it there was a shelf
with the picture of me, my mom and dad and a big lamp. I had always loved that lamp. While I
was young, my dream was to grow tall enough and reach for that lamp. Next to it, there was a big
picture of a girl praying for something. I kept asking granny who was in the picture, but she just
smiled mysteriously. Beneath it was a small table where there were always fresh flowers picked in
our garden.
Today when I enter the room, only the most beautiful memories stir inside of me. I slowly walk on
the black-and-white tiles and come closer to the lamp on the shelf. I remember my childhood
dream and light it with a smile.

Non-linear format of the story

sequence, meanings and logic of events are irregular,
unpredictable or unclear
events are placed in the future
sudden, dramatic turns, unexpected resolution
there is a tension between text elements (for example,
between the title and the story)
participants are often imaginary creatures or animals
participants have non-stereotypical thoughts, feelings
and behaviour

Creative components
of non-linear format
- existence of unreal
- connecting the non-connectable
- unusual, non-stereotypical solutions
- atypical word meaning, neologisms
- multi-perspectiveness
- humour
- taking a critical attitude (what is not good,
what could be better)

I drew a bear standing on two legs and playing

with a ball. He throws the ball over a very low
tree, low as he himself. But that tree in fact is not
small, but he is very big, the biggest bear alive.
Lonely, without company, he goes to take his ball
that he made in order to be big enough for him.
The bear, a dangerous animal, and in addition to
that if he is the biggest in the world, cannot make
friends as some other kinds of animals. He
remains alone with his ball.

TCT-DP and
narrative
about image

Tanja, aged 14

The link between evaluation of story creativity &

scores obtained on TCT-DP

Analysis of variance
factor the group chosen according to the
evaluation of the story by 2 evaluators;
dependent variable total score on TCT.
There is a significant statistical
difference between the groups by
Mean on TCT-DP.

Table 2: M and S.D. on TCT-DP score

for creative and non-creative story writers

Groups

Mean

Non-creative
Creative
Total

137
14
151

25.9051
35.7143
26.8146

F=9.98

Df=1,149

Mse=122.53

Std.
Deviation
10.96108
12.14292
11.39556

P=0.002

Results of qualitative analysis

indicate that
essential characteristics of creativity are recognised in
larger measure in non-linear format and its components,
while the influence of school curriculum as the context in
which creativity is encouraged is perceived in the linear.
significance of broader conception of creativity which is
defined as the novel and personally meaningful
interpretation of experiences, actions, and events
(Beghetto & Kaufman, 2007).

Conclusions

It is difficult to explain why something was evaluated as creative,

and something else as non-creative.

It is difficult for different evaluators to have the same relation

towards the actual product if they are guided by the defined criteria,
because the characteristics of an actual product never exactly match
the previously planned categories.

It is more useful for evaluation of a creative product to clarify the

subjective meanings of independent evaluators and to reach an
agreement on these meanings for an actual product, than the
previously developed criteria for evaluation of creativity.

Some implications for

school syllabus
The need for introducing creative writing
as a special subject in, with the aim of
nurturing pupils creativity.
Pupils to get introduced with different
narrative formats and components of
creative writing (the linear narrative
format is encouraged in a larger degree in
school).