On the cognitive, metacognitive, and agentic effects of creativity training

Abstract

This article examines the mechanisms by which creativity training enhances creative abilities and confidence. An extensive creativity training program (5 months of weekly training for almost seven hundred participants aged 10-17, assigned to the intervention and control group) was used to examine two alternative hypotheses. The first predicted that the increase in creative confidence due to training is mediated by the rise in creative abilities: the abilities-shape-confidence-effect. An alternative hypothesis posited that the increase in creative abilities due to training is mediated by the rise in creative confidence: the to-believe-is-to-rise effect. Although both these effects occurred, the change in participants’ creative abilities fully mediated their growth in creative confidence. This pattern suggests metacognitive mechanisms through which creativity training works. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of those results and provide recommendations for creativity training.