Decomposing the influences of aesthetic experience processes on creativity learning through various consciousness interventions

Abstract

Aesthetic experience (AE) and creativity overlap in cognitive processes; the conscious practice of AE focused on everyday designed products can be an effective way to enhance creativity. To better understand the effects of such conscious practice, we designed one control intervention with free product observation and four interventions corresponding to four product-based AE processes, by which we explored what types of conscious practice would best facilitate the learning of creativity. Additionally, the moderation effect of everyday aesthetic experience in designed products was examined. One hundred and eighty college students were randomly assigned to five intervention groups: Control group (C), Perceptual analysis (E1), Life-experience association (E2), Functional analysis (E3), or Aesthetic-emotion evocation (E4). The intervention stimuli were 50 photos of everyday designed products, and the creativity was measured by the Product-based Figural Creativity Test. The results revealed that engaging the participants in conscious AE practices, especially those that contribute to the association between imaginary narratives and the participants’ life experiences (E4) or that enhance analytical thinking on valuableness of the product (E3), can best improve college students’ creativity. Besides, the personal trait of everyday AE interacted with the interventions and influenced the participants’ creativity improvement, suggesting that providing scaffolding in accordance with personality traits can magnify the effects of learning creativity. To conclude, this study theorizes and examines the link between varied AE-based practices and the performance of creativity as well as the moderation role of everyday AE in such learning. The findings provide valuable insight for designing effective AE-based interventions for enhancing AE and creativity.