Creative Self and Fear of Rejection

Abstract. Realization of creative potential in everyday life, sharing an original product or idea with others involves the risk of being rejected. In the current study, we explored the factors affecting the process of realization of creative potential in creative activities and creative achievements. We examined whether creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity, on the one hand, and fear of negative evaluation and rejection sensitivity, on the other hand, moderate the relationship between creative potential and real-life creativity (i.e., creative activities and achievements). According to the results, the relationship between creative potential and real-life creativity is stronger when people with creative potential have high creative personal identity and fear of negative evaluation scores. However, the relationship between creative potential and real-life creativity is not significant when people with creative potential have high scores on the creative self-efficacy and rejection expectancy scales (a cognitive aspect of rejection sensitivity). Possible explanations of the different results related to the different indicators of creativity and implications for future research are discussed.