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Publications
  • 1995
  • Article
  • Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Student's Learning

By: R. Conti, T. M. Amabile and S. Pollack
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:10
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Abstract

This study assessed the effectiveness of engaging students in a creative activity on a topic as a means of encouraging an active cognitive set toward learning that topic area. This technique was examined in three motivational contexts. Before reading a short instructional passage, subjects completed either, a creative or a noncreative pretask and heard one of three sets of directions: task focused (emphasizing intrinsic involvement), test focused (emphasizing external evaluation), or task/test focused (previous two combined). After reading the passage, subjects answered questions assessing immediate retention, wrote a creative essay, and responded to a questionnaire assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Long-term retention was assessed 5 days later with a phone quiz. Creative task engagement was found to be an effective means of enhancing creativity (in the absence of evaluation expectation), intrinsic motivation, and long-term retention.

Keywords

Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Behavior; Performance; Motivation and Incentives; Training

Citation

Conti, R., T. M. Amabile, and S. Pollack. "The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Student's Learning." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21 (1995): 1107–1116.
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About The Author

Teresa M. Amabile

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • The Turn Toward Creative Work By: Spencer Harrison, Elizabeth D. Rouse, Colin M. Fisher and Teresa M. Amabile
  • What Do I Make of the Rest of My Life? Global and Quotidian Life Construal across the Retirement Transition By: Jeff Steiner and Teresa M. Amabile
  • The Undervalued Power of Self-relevant Research: The Case of Researching Retirement While Retiring By: Teresa M. Amabile and Douglas T. (Tim) Hall
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