Preschool Picassos to University Underestimators: Are We Really As Creative As We Think?

What is it about?

Have you ever wondered how people perceive their own creativity? Our study explores how people of all ages view their own creativity. We focused on "divergent thinking" - coming up with lots of ideas. We found that some people tend to overestimate their creative abilities, while others underestimate them. This phenomenon is known as the "unskilled and unaware" effect. Surprisingly, we discovered a group of people who are not very skilled but are aware of it. Imagine three groups: those who think they're better than they are, those who are better but don't realize it, and those who know they're not that good. And all three groups were present from little kids to young adults. However, preschoolers tended to overestimate while university students underestimated more. We also noticed that people tend to rate others more highly than themselves when it comes to creativity. This has implications for how we view our own abilities compared to others. These results teach us that creative confidence develops over time. Even creative geniuses can feel uncreative sometimes! In the future, we hope to explore this further and identify individuals who are both skilled and aware of their abilities. Our study highlights the importance of understanding how people assess their creativity and suggests that there's more to it than a simple "good" or "bad" judgment.

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Photo by Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash

Photo by Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash

Why is it important?

"How accurately do you self-assess your performance when generating creative ideas?" Our recent research explores this question of creative metacognition by evaluating creative thinking across different ages - from preschoolers to university students. Alongside the commonly found "unskilled and unaware" and "skilled and unaware" groups who either overestimate or underestimate their creativity, we uncovered a third group - those who are less skilled yet aware of their capabilities. Furthermore, the distribution of these groups evolves with age, suggesting a developmental progression in accurate creative self-assessment. As creativity becomes increasingly crucial for education and the job market, these findings have real importance. Boosting accurate self-appraisal allows better calibration of skill improvement. By embracing the spectrum of creative confidence, we can nurture this vital asset at all ages.

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