Individual differences in emotional creativity as manifested in words and pictures

Two studies were conducted to demonstrate the viability of emotional creativity as a theoretical construct Participants were selected on the basis of their scores on a self-report inventory designed to measure individual differences in emotional creativity. In Study I, participants wrote narratives about emotionally challenging events and drew pictures of specific emotions. In Study 2, participants completed a story about an emotionally ambiguous situation and made collages integrating three incompatible emotions. In each study, participants who scored higher oil the trait measure of emotional creativity showed greater creativity in expressing emotions, both verbally and nonverbally.