Democratizing Creativity by Enhancing Imagery and Agency: A Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Creativity is a vital topic of various educational discourses, yet the support it receives within the school system is insufficient. This chapter focuses on four particular ways of making creativity more democratized, salient, and accessible in school settings. We start by exploring the educational benefits of egalitarian theoretical approaches to creativity. Then, we posit that democratization requires an equal focus on the cognitive aspects of creative potential and the motivational sphere of self-perception and self-regulation. Third, analyzing cognitive characteristics, we pay special attention to creative imagery: an understudied yet critical aspect of creative potential. By meta-analyzing available evidence from interventional studies, we show that there are multiple effective approaches to enhancing creative imagery, so—in a sense—supporting creative potential might be democratized as well by going beyond creativity training. Fourth, and finally, we discuss the possibilities of adapting so-called wise interventions for the educational psychology of creativity. We review available evidence of how to strengthen creative confidence and the perceived value of creativity among students, and how to make their creative self-regulation more effective.

Self-regulation for creative activity: The same or different across domains?

“…The effects of creative self-concept were substantial, ranging from β = .17 in the case of uncertainty acceptance to β = .40 in readiness for sharing and β = .42 in emotion regulation. These robust links correspond well with a recent extension of the CBAA model (Karwowski & Beghetto, 2019), theorizing creative self-concept as a prerequisite for effective self-regulation (see Ivcevic & Nusbaum, 2017; Karwowski et al, 2022; Zielińska et al, 2021). Indeed, people who believe they can deal with complex creative tasks often have a richer repertoire of different strategies for approaching these problems (see Anderson & Haney, 2021).…”

How stable is the creative self-concept? A latent state-trait analysis.

“…Even more importantly, the intervention significantly affected students’ engagement in creative activities. Even though this study was of initial, pilot character, this investigation forms a promising way to design more elaborate and targeted interventions that could strengthen creative self-concept (see also Karwowski et al, 2022).…”

How Vivid Is Your Mental Imagery?

“…Being able to imagine things and situations is a unique human capacity. It allows people to create (Karwowski et al, 2022) and helps them make plans and effectively self-regulate to achieve them (Zielińska et al, 2022). Indeed, mental imagery, defined as “an internal representation that gives rise to the experience of perception in the absence of the appropriate sensory input” (Wraga & Kosslyn, 2002, p. 466), plays a vital role in people’s functioning, including health (Pearson et al, 2013), sports activity (Simonsmeier et al, 2021), learning (Guarnera et al, 2019), or creativity (Jankowska & Karwowski, 2020) – to pick just a few areas where it matters.…”