Is Stereotypical Masculinity and Femininity in Women Associated With Their Creativity? An Examination of Gender Roles and Creativity

Li P, Zhang ZS, Hopp MD, Luo L, Wang C (2024)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2024

Journal

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts American Psychological Association

DOI: 10.1037/aca0000714

Abstract

Previous research has examined the relationship between stereotypical gender roles and creativity. However, few studies have examined how masculinity and femininity influence women’s creativity, and particularly when their creative effort was not well received. To understand the relationship between gender roles and different types of creativity for college women, we planned two studies using four distinct measures of creativity. Specifically, Study 1 (N= 612) examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship between gender roles, psychological resilience, global creative self-assessment, and creative behaviors through a questionnaire survey. Findings showed that masculinity had a stronger link to global creative self-assessment and creative behaviors than femininity. Psychological resilience and global creative self-assessment played a chain-mediating role between masculinity and creative behaviors. Study 2 (N =368) used an experiment to investigate the effects of gender roles and negative feedback on female students’ creative potential and taskspecific creative self-assessment. Findings showed that negative feedback improved recipient creative potential and task-specific creative self-assessment. Masculinity positively predicated task-specific creative selfassessment. Neither masculinity nor femininity was related to creative potential before negative feedback, but after negative feedback, femininity became negatively associated to creative potential. Overall, these results suggested that masculinity plays a more significant positive role than femininity in women’s psychological resilience, creative self-assessment and creative behaviors, while femininity plays a negative role in creative performance during times of adversity. Embracing more masculine traits and breaking free from traditional feminine stereotypes can help women become more resilient, maintain creative confidence during challenging creative journeys, and thus demonstrate greater creative achievement.

Involved external institutions

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen DE Germany (DE) Universität Regensburg DE Germany (DE) Shandong Normal University / 山东师范大学 CN China (CN) Chengdu Normal University CN China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Li, P., Zhang, Z.S., Hopp, M.D., Luo, L., & Wang, C. (2024). Is Stereotypical Masculinity and Femininity in Women Associated With Their Creativity? An Examination of Gender Roles and Creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000714

MLA:

Li, Pin, et al. "Is Stereotypical Masculinity and Femininity in Women Associated With Their Creativity? An Examination of Gender Roles and Creativity." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (2024).

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