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Title EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY OF EPISTEMIC CURIOSITY AND SELF-REGULATION IN MIND WANDERING AND CREATIVITY OF ADULTS

Author(s) Maria Samiullah

Abstract Mind wandering, a distinctive human activity which refers to a period of time in which an individual’s mind is off-track, that is, the individual's thoughts are not focused on the task being undertaken. While thinking is not always useful, it has few advantages, including helping solve problems creatively, but also make the individual curious about the incoming information and keeping oneself regulated and focused on the task at hand. The current research aims to look at how mind wandering contributes to creativity of a person and how epistemic curiosity and self-regulation mediates the process. It was a cross sectional study, with a convenience sample of 514 participants categorizing as emerging adults, establishing adults and middle adults whose ages range from 19-60 years. The subjects were selected from both employed and non-employed groups in the private and government sectors of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In the first part of the study i.e. pilot study, firstly the English scales were translated in to Urdu by using the Brislin method of translation. The scales used were translated for the understanding, suitability and ease of filling the questionnaires. The assessment tools that are translated and used for this study are Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind Wandering (Carriere et.al., 2013), Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (Kaufman, 2012), Epistemic Curiosity Interest and Deprivation Type (Litman, 2008), and Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Brown et.al., 1999). Next statistical analyses were used to draw the reliabilities of these scales and moved on to the second and main part of this study. Results showed that there exists a positive correlation between deliberate mind wandering and various aspects of creativity except scientific creativity whereas there is negative correlation between the spontaneous mind wandering and various aspects of creativity except the scholarly type of creativity. Further the results are depicted that epistemic curiosity and self-regulation are also correlated. Moreover results also revealed that artistic type creativity and total creativity was found to be more significant for the individuals in nuclear family type. It was also found out that adults who belonged to the working class showed more significant differences in different types of creativity i.e. every day, scholarly, and total creativity with a slight difference on the interest type epistemic curiosity. Significant differences were also reported that adults who prefer to day dream scores higher on the deliberate mind wandering, performance creativity and total creativity.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Social Sciences

Department Psychology

Language English

Publication Date 2025-01-06

Subject Psychology

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