Research On The Mediating Role Of Cognitive Style Between Aesthetic Ability And Innovation Abilit

This study aims to explore the mediating role of university students’ cognitive style between aesthetic ability and innovation ability.Innovation ability is the first driving force leading social development.Since the 1990 s,China has attached importance to innovation education and is committed to fostering the spirit of innovation among students.Early research on creative ability tended to treat innovative ability as an individual trait,aiming to reveal the differences in innovative ability between individuals.More recent research on creative ability,on the other hand,has tended to view creative ability as an individual performance with variability,and thus has looked more at what factors affect individual creative ability more profoundly.Cognitive style refers to an individualized,consistent approach that individuals take when organizing and processing information or problem solving.Research has shown that an individual’s cognitive style can have a direct impact on an individual’s creative performance.At the same time,because creative activity is influenced by a variety of factors,it is complex and the process takes place within the body and cannot be assessed directly.Therefore,when developing creative skills,the choice of criteria and methods of training is subject to certain constraints.In practice,aesthetics is an important aspect that is often overlooked,and as an activity of perceiving,appreciating,evaluating and creating beauty,it is linked to creativity.The Aesthetic Ability Scale,the Rational Experience Inventory(REI)and the Creative Disposition Scale(Short Form)(CTS-S)were used as measurement tools.The Aesthetic Ability Scale includes four subscales: music,painting,literature and film;the Rational Experience Scale includes two subscales: rational ability and intuitive ability;and the Creative Disposition Scale includes four subscales: adventurousness,curiosity,imagination and challenge.A total of 500 university students were selected for the study,and 440 valid questionnaires were finally obtained.SPSS 22.0 and Mplus 8.3 statistical software were also used for data statistics and analysis,and the following research findings were formed.(1)The three variables of aesthetic ability,cognitive style and innovativeness were significantly and positively correlated with each other,with aesthetic ability positively predicting cognitive style and innovativeness.Intuitive thinking in cognitive style positively predicted innovative ability,while rational thinking did not significantly predict innovative ability.(2)The model fits well.It shows that the model can correctly describe the relationship between aesthetic ability,cognitive style and innovation ability.(3)The mediating effect test showed that there was a mediating effect of intuitive cognitive style between aesthetic ability and innovation ability of university students,i.e.aesthetic ability influenced innovation ability through intuitive cognitive style;the mediating effect of rational cognitive style was not significant.This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms by which aesthetic ability affects innovation ability and the role played by these mechanisms,enriching the research on aesthetic ability,cognitive style and innovation ability.