How can creativity be measured?
Assessing creativity is a particular challenge. As creativity is a very multifaceted construct, there are specific assessment instruments for the individual facets. Creative cognitive potential, for example, is usually measured using divergent thinking ability. In the FWF research project Advancement of Divergent Thinking Assessment (ADTA), we are investigating how this ability can best be assessed (Project number: P 35661; Grant-DOI: 10.55776).
We are also working on instruments to assess creative activities and achievements. Many standard procedures in this area are freely available (siehe Open Science Framework).
Further Reading:
- Benedek, M. & Beaty, R. E. (2025). Envisioning the future of creative thinking assessment. Journal of Creative Behavior, 59(2), e70036. doi.org/10.1002/jocb.70036
- Benedek, M., Christensen, A. P., Fink, A., & Beaty, R. E. (2019). Creativity Assessment in Neuroscience Research. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13, 218-226. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000215
- Diedrich, J., Jauk, E., Silvia, P.J., Gredlein, J.M., Neubauer, A.C., & Benedek, M. (2018). Assessment of real-life creativity: The Inventory of Creative Activities and Achievements (ICAA). Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 12, 304-316. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000137
- Saretzki, J., Forthmann, B., & Benedek, M. (2024). A Systematic Quantitative Review of Divergent Thinking Assessments. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000691
- Saretzki, J., Andrae, R., Forthmann, B., & Benedek, M. (2025). Investigation of Response Aggregation Methods in Divergent Thinking Assessments. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 59(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.1527
- Ceh, S. M., Edelmann, C., Hofer, G., & Benedek, M. (2022). Assessing raters: What factors predict discernment in novice creativity raters?. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 56(1), 41-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.515.
Automated Creativity Assessment
Assessing the creative quality of ideas and products is a challenging task, on which even human raters do not always agree. Current research shows that large language models (LLMs) are increasingly approaching human creativity judgments, which enables efficient measurement across different languages. In doing so, we aim to better understand the possible strengths but also the limitations of this approach and of LLMs specifically.
Further Reading:
- Luchini, A. S., Moosa, M., Patterson, J. D., Johnson, D., Baas, M., Barbot, B., Bashmakova, I., Benedek, M. … & Beaty, R. E. (in press). Automated assessment of creativity in multilingual narratives. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000725
- Meinzer, N., Saretzki, J., Ceh, S. M., & Benedek, M. (2026). Automated Scoring of Creative Achievement. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 60(2), e70104. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.70104
- Saretzki, J., & Benedek, M. (2026). Investigating the Validity Evidence of Automated Scoring Methods for Divergent Thinking Assessments. Creativity Research Journal, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2025.2607669
- Saretzki, J., Knopf, T., Forthmann, B., Goecke, B., Jaggy, A.-K., Benedek, M., & Weiss, S. (2025). Scoring German Alternate Uses Items Applying Large Language Models. Journal of Intelligence, 13(6), 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13060064
