On surface and core predictors of real-life creativity

• Core (intelligence and personality aspects) and surface (creative self-concept) characteristics play a role in real-life creativity. • Creative activity serves as a prerequisite of creative achievement. • Creative activity in art is strongly predicted by the Openness aspect. • Creative activity in science is strongly predicted by the Intelligence and Intellect aspect of personality. • Creative achievement in science is predicted by activity in the domain and low Enthusiasm and Politeness aspects. Which factors drive creative activity and achievement? Here, we explore this question with a special focus on both core, to a large extent biologically rooted (e.g., personality, intelligence), and surface, more malleable and socio-culturally conditioned (e.g., creative self-concept), predictors of real-life creativity. Using a series of multivariate structural equation models ( N = 803), we examined how creative self-concept, lower-level personality aspects, and cognitive ability (divergent thinking and intelligence) relate to creative activities and achievements across domains. Creative activity in certain domains (i.e., science or art) fully mediated the links between creative self-concept, intelligence, divergent thinking, personality, and creative achievement. No cross-domain effects were observed; while creative activity in art predicted achievement in art, it did not predict science accomplishment. Similarly, the activity in science predicted achievement in science, but not in the arts. The structure of the most relevant predictors of creative activity across domains differed. Creative activity in science was mainly predicted by intelligence, divergent thinking and the Intellect aspect of the Openness to Experience trait. Creative activity in art was predicted by the Openness aspect of the Openness to Experience personality trait and creative self-concept. For everyday creative activity, intelligence, personality, and creative self-concept played a more balanced and similar role. We discuss the implications of these findings and propose directions for future research.