College teachers: Their effect on creativity of students

Carried out a nationwide study concerning the relation of classroom behavior and student-teacher relationships to facilitation of creativity in college students. Teachers were identified by evaluating the research of psychology and chemistry doctoral students who had studied under them and who nominated them as having had the most facilitating effect on their creative development or as having had a significant inhibiting effect. Matched normative groups also nominated teachers. The classroom behavior and student-teacher relations of 671 teachers were described by nominating students. Clear-cut behavioral patterns differentiated teachers who facilitated creative development from those who hindered it. Encouragement outside the classroom was the most important aspect affecting creativity.