Beliefs about Creativity: myths or truths? an evaluation scale

Abstract

The study of creativity is currently of the greatest relevance; however, myths persist about creativity
and the creative person in different populations, namely in Education. Thus, it is pertinent to build
assessment instruments about the presence of correct and wrong beliefs, specially in the educational
context, since there will be no correct actions based on false conceptions. In view of the scarcity of
instruments to assess beliefs, true and false beliefs, in view of the concepts of creativity and creative
teacher and student, this study designed and validated in Portugal the Scale of Beliefs on Creativity
in the Educational Context (ECC-CE) consisting of 25 items. A sample of 390 participants was used.
Factor analysis verified the existence of two factors (myths and correct beliefs) with good internal
consistency with Cronbach's Alphas of .84 and .76. The instrument has good psychometrical qualities
and can contribute to future investigations and practices.