Rewards and punishments used by parents and development of creativity

Abstract

Family infl uences the personalities of all its members by creating conditions for individual development. As it also infl uences the development of creative personality, it was investigated to what extent rewards and punishments used by parents infl uence the development of children’s creative abilities. A diagram explaining the way family enhances creativity was made and verifi ed. It was based on M. Tyszkowa’s paradigm, which makes a cognitive interpretation of ecological theories possible. Also, the theory of psychosocial phases in individual development by E. Erikson was used as well as his description of confl icts, which are characteristic of each phase. It was assumed that appropriate conditions of development allow to avoid serious confl icts and to cope with tasks in each phase of development. Th e results show a co-relation between the development of creative abilities and parents’ reactions to the activities that children aged 8–9 perform on their own in order to check their own competence. Th e research examined two groups of children, who obtained extremely high and low scores in the creativity test: high creativity group and low creativity group. Each group consisted of 30 children, presenting analogic features. Th e children’s level of creative abilities was measured with J. Zborowski’s Test. Th e projective test was used to investigate the forms of reward and punishment used by parents. Th e results of the research show that the development of creative abilities depend on rewards and punishments used in family. Th e role of father is particularly important in this context.