Artistic creativity beyond divergent thinking: Analysing sequences in creative subprocesses

Publication date: Available online 7 November 2019Source: Thinking Skills and CreativityAuthor(s): Gregory BoldtAbstractWhile the creative process has been the subject of intensive research, the manner in which cognitive subprocesses interact during authentic creative production is not presently understood. The majority of existing creativity research has focused on divergent thinking, leaving many potentially impactful subprocesses and their interactions unexplored. In this pilot study, four graduate education students participated in a creative drawing task while modeling their thought processes via the think-aloud method. A novel coding scheme assessed participants’ engagement in eight creative subprocesses: generation, selection, evaluation, exploration, synthesis, goal refinement, comparison to other creative works, and application of domain-specific knowledge. A subsequent analysis identified how frequently subprocesses preceded and succeeded one another. Results revealed the coding scheme accurately described 96% of clauses identified in participants’ verbal protocols, and generation, selection, exploration, evaluation, and refinement accounted for 82% of observed subprocesses. The analysis of subprocess sequencing revealed several prevalent pathways between these high-frequency subprocesses. While further research is necessary to confirm and expand these preliminary findings, this study suggests that overlooked creative subprocesses play an active role in authenti...
Source: Thinking Skills and Creativity - Category: Science Source Type: research