Department of Psychology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2010 Mar;98(3):469-87. doi: 10.1037/a0017907.
Within the creativity domain, inspiration is a motivational state posited to energize the actualization of creative ideas. The authors examined the construct validity, predictive utility, and function of inspiration in the writing process. Study 1, a cross-lagged panel study, showed that getting creative ideas and being inspired are distinct and that the former precedes the latter. In Study 2, inspiration, at the between-person level, predicted the creativity of scientific writing, whereas effort predicted technical merit. Within persons, peaks in inspiration predicted peaks in creativity and troughs in technical merit. In Study 3, inspiration predicted the creativity of poetry. Consistent with its posited transmission function, inspiration mediated between creativity of the idea and creativity of the product, whereas effort, positive affect, and awe did not. Study 4 extended the Study 3 findings to fiction writing. Openness to aesthetics and positive affect predicted creativity of the idea, whereas approach temperament moderated the relation between creativity of the idea and inspiration. Inspiration predicted efficiency, productivity, and use of shorter words, indicating that inspiration not only transmits creativity but does so economically.
在创造力领域，灵感是一种被认为能激发创意实现的激励状态。作者研究了灵感在写作过程中的结构有效性、预测效用和功能。研究 1 是一项交叉滞后面板研究，表明获取创意和灵感是不同的，前者先于后者。在研究 2 中，灵感在个体间水平上预测了科学写作的创造力，而努力则预测了技术价值。在个体内部，灵感的高峰预测了创造力的高峰和技术价值的低谷。在研究 3 中，灵感预测了诗歌的创造力。与它被假定的传递功能一致，灵感在创意的想法和创意的产品之间进行了中介，而努力、积极情绪和敬畏则没有。研究 4 将研究 3 的发现扩展到小说写作中。审美开放性和积极情绪预测了创意的想法，而趋近气质则调节了创意的想法和灵感之间的关系。灵感预测了效率、生产力和使用较短的单词，这表明灵感不仅传递了创造力，而且传递得更经济。
