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. 2021 May 18;18(10):5390.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18105390.

The More Fertile, the More Creative: Changes in Women's Creative Potential across the Ovulatory Cycle

Katarzyna Galasinska  1   2 , Aleksandra Szymkow  1   2
Affiliations

The More Fertile, the More Creative: Changes in Women's Creative Potential across the Ovulatory Cycle

Katarzyna Galasinska et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Creative thinking is a defining human feature. It provides novel solutions and as such undoubtedly has contributed to our survival. However, according to signaling theory, creativity could also have evolved through sexual selection as a potential fitness indicator. In our study, we tested one implication of this theory. Specifically, we hypothesized that if creativity can serve as a signal of women's fitness, then we should observe an increase in creative thinking in the fertile phase of the ovulatory cycle compared to other non-fertile phases. In our study (N = 751), we tested creative potential throughout the ovulatory cycle. We found a positive correlation between the probability of conception and both creative originality and flexibility. Importantly, we also tested the mediating role of arousal in the relationship between the probability of conception and creative thinking. The results of our study are discussed in terms of signaling theory, through which women advertise their fitness with their creativity.

Keywords: creativity; fertility; ovulatory cycle; signaling theory; women.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The linear relationship between the probability of conception and creative fluency, flexibility and originality.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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