The Relationships Of Creative Self-efficacy And Mindsets With Creative Performance

Creative self-efficacy and creative mindsets are two separate concepts proposed from a social cognitive perspective.Past research has revealed that these two kinds of beliefs can predict creative performance.However,the process in which these beliefs predict performance is unclear.The present research comprises 5 studies designed to explore how creative selfefficacy and mindsets determine subsequent performance.All participants were recruited from upper secondary schools in Thailand.Study 1 aimed to investigate the functions of creative self-efficacy and mindsets in a model consisting of performance as the outcome.In Study 1a,high self-efficacy or low selfefficacy was induced by providing bogus feedback.In Study 1b,creative growth mindset or fixed mindset was induced by having participants reading a short article.After the manipulation,creative self-efficacy and mindsets were measured and the Alternative Uses Task and the Insight Problems Task were administered.Study 1a found that self-efficacy had an effect on generation of creative ideas.Its effect was not mediated or moderated by creative mindsets.Study 1b found creative mindsets had an effect on problem solving.Such effect was not mediated or moderated by self-efficacy.Taken together,results indicate that creative selfefficacy and mindsets independently predict outcome performance,i.e.,self-efficacy does not predict performance indirectly via creative mindsets,creative mindsets do not predict performance indirectly via self-efficacy,and the two beliefs do not interact to predict performance.Study 2 aimed to explore factors that could link creative self-efficacy and mindsets to outcome performance.In Study 2a,participants were asked to complete the Alternative Uses Task(a divergent thinking task)and a series of questionnaires concerning creative beliefs and related self-regulatory responses.Results showed that self-efficacy positively predicted idea generation via flexibility while the path from self-efficacy and flexibility was partially mediated by positive affect.Additionally,self-efficacy positively predicted positive affect,task-enjoyment and effort;the fixed mindset positively predicted negative affect;and the growth mindset positively predicted positive affect.In Study 2b,participants were asked to complete the Insight Problem Task(a convergent thinking task)instead.The study found that the fixed mindset negatively predicted problem solving.Additionally,the growth mindset positively predicted greater positive affect,task-enjoyment and effort,and the fixed mindset positively predicted negative affect and negatively predicted task-enjoyment and effort.Taken together,results suggest that positive affect and flexibility mediate the relationship between beliefs and performance.The mediation effects are found in the relationship of self-efficacy and performance in a divergent thinking task.Study 3 conducted experiments with the aim of investigating the effects of creative beliefs on performance and related mediatiors.Participants were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: creative mindset(growth or fixed)× self-efficacy(high or low).Self-efficacy was manipulated by providing bogus feedback,and the mindsets were manipulated by having participants read an article.After the manipulation,participants were to complete a creativity task and a series of questionnaires concerning self-regulatory responses.In Study 3a,the Alternative Uses Task was used.The results showed that high-self-efficacy-induced participants produced more creative ideas by experiencing more positive affect and using more cognitive flexibility.In addition,high-perceived-efficacy-induced participants experienced more positive affect,enjoyed the task more and were more approach-oriented than their counterparts.Growthmindset-induced participants also enjoyed the task more and put more effort into the task compared to their counterparts.In Study 3b,the Insight Problems Task was used instead.The results show that growth-mindset-induced participants solve more problems than their counterparts.Additionally,high-perceived-efficacy-induced participants experienced less negative affect and were more approach-oriented than their counterparts.Growth-mindsetinduced participants experienced more positive affect,enjoyed the task more,asserted more effort and were more approach-oriented.Taken together,the results replicated the findings of Study 2 and demonstrated the causal relationships between creative beliefs,performance and related factors.Study 4 aimed to investigate the effects of task difficulty on the relationships of creative self-efficacy and mindsets with performance.Participants were asked to complete either a relatively high-difficulty task or a relatively low-difficulty task and a series of questionnaires concerning creative beliefs and self-regulatory responses.The Alternative Uses Task was used in Study 4a and the Insight Problems Task was used in Study 4b.The findings showed that when perceived difficulty was low,the direct effects of self-efficacy on creative idea generation and problem solving,and the indirect effects of self-efficacy on idea generation via flexibility and via positive affect and flexibility were stronger.In contrast,when perceived difficulty was high,the direct effects of fixed mindset on idea generation and problem solving,and the indirect effects of fixed mindset via flexibility and via negative affect and flexibility were stronger.Taken together,the results suggest that task difficulty has moderation effects on the relationships between creative beliefs and performance.Study 5 aimed to explore the effects of creative self-efficacy and growth mindset intervention on changes of creative beliefs,performance and related self-regulatory responses.Participants were assigned 1 of 3 groups: creative-beliefs-intervention group(receiving creative self-efficacy and growth mindset training);creativity-exercises group(receiving the same creativity exercises as in the former group);control group.The intervention lasted for 8 weeks.Pretests were administered a week before the intervention and posttests were administered 17 days after the intervention.The posttest results demonstrated that those in beliefs-intervention group held higher creative self-efficacy and growth mindset than those in the control group;they also held lower creative fixed mindset than those in the control group and creativity-exercises group.With respect to creative performance,those in beliefsintervention group outperformed those in the control group on creative idea generation,problem solving and poem composition.With respect to cognitive processing,those in beliefsintervention group appeared to be more cognitively flexible than those in the control group.With respect to adaptive self-regulatory responses,those in beliefs-intervention group experienced more positive affect but less negative affect,enjoyed the tasks more,asserted more effort and were more approach-oriented.When compared to those in creativity-exercises group,they also experienced more positive affect but less negative affect and put more effort into the tasks.The study suggests that the creative self-efficacy and growth mindset intervention is feasible.Its effectiveness lasts at least 17 days.The present research revolved around creative beliefs,i.e.,self-efficacy and mindsets,and creative performance.The main findings include: self-efficacy and mindsets independently predict performance;positive affect and flexibility mediate the relationships between beliefs and performance;the effect of self-efficacy on performance is stronger when task difficulty is low;the effect of mindsets,specifically the fixed mindset,is stronger when task difficulty is high;self-efficacy-and-growth-mindset intervention is feasible and effective.Theoretically,Study 1 – Study 4 have demonstrated how and when creative beliefs predict creative performance.Practically,Study 5 has provided practitioners with guidelines on how to administer creative beliefs training.