Core77

A recent study published in "Personality and Individual Differences" claims that conservatives are less creative than liberals. The creativity of 422 American college students was measured with questionnaires and exercises such as drawing and photo essays. The findings appear in an article by Stephen J. Dollinger and cites many previous suspicions for the same conclusions--here are three of them from G.D. Wilson:

First, individuals who are threatened by uncertainty may be disposed to focus on lower order needs to increase their safety and security.

Second, conformity to what is conventionally accepted focuses the individual on traditions (what is old), whereas all definitions of creativity include a focus on what is new.

Third, the authoritarian and anti-hedonistic elements of the construct would lead conservatives to devalue imagination.

Devalue the imagination?! Maybe that's why our clients hesitate when we ask them to join us outside of the box. And then again, isn't their hesitation a part of what drives creativity in the first place?

Unfortunately, the entire article is not yet available online. But the abstract is here, and if you want more you'll have to take it up with your local librarian.

via freakonomics