What Strategies Improve Creativity? An Examination of the Relationship Between Meta-Creativity and Creativity

Abstract

  The present study investigated the relationship between meta-creativity and creativity, focusing on meta-creative control of creativity. For Study 1, the content of the strategies selected had the potential to foster creativity, based on the dual-pathway-to-creativity model which has been shown to be related to creativity and deals with cognitive flexibility and cognitive persistence. Using the items selected in Study 1, Study 2 examined the relationship between meta-creativity and creativity. The results showed a significant positive relationship between meta-creativity and creativity. Study 3 examined whether an intervention targeted to meta-creativity would lead to an improvement in creativity. The participants were high school students. The results suggested that the students' creativity was enhanced when they intentionally implemented meta-creativity of cognitive flexibility or cognitive persistence. The findings of the present study complement and extend the findings of previous studies on meta-creativity, and suggest that in order to foster creativity in educational settings, intervention programs that emphasize the process of meta-creativity should be developed and implemented.