A problem solving approach to understanding thought processes in a creative task: A protocol analysis comparison of artists and non-artists.
Item
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Title
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A problem solving approach to understanding thought processes in a creative task: A protocol analysis comparison of artists and non-artists.
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Identifier
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AAI3283609
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identifier
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3283609
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Creator
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Fayena Tawil, Frieda.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Aaron Kozbelt
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Experimental | Psychology, Cognitive | Fine Arts
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Abstract
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In this dissertation the thought processes that occur while artists and non-artists solve the complex, ill-defined problem of creating an original artistic drawing were examined. Twenty-three college art students and 23 non-artists were videotaped as they created original drawings, in any artistic style, from an array of 30 objects. Participants also gave concurrent think aloud protocols. Protocols were transcribed and parsed into clauses. A coding system was developed to fit all verbalized statements into the several categories. Each parsed statement could potentially be assigned two codes, a function code and an emotional code. We examined and compared artists and non-artists in the proportion of types of statements they made throughout the session. We also examined differences in the thoughts of participants between the pre-drawing and the drawing phase of the task. To see how thoughts unfolded as the drawing progressed, we examined the proportion of each type of statement in each five-minute interval after drawing began. Overall, our results gave us a picture of what individuals think about while involved in a creative drawing task, as well as any differences in thought patterns between artists and non-artists. Most importantly, artists and non-artists behave in goal-directed ways where they set up goals and plans to complete a task, as well as evaluate and monitor their progress throughout the task. Some important differences were also found between artists and non-artists. Most importantly, while artists focused on the more global goals of the drawing, non-artists focused on the more local plans of the drawing. Also, artists made more positive evaluations and fewer negative evaluations while drawing, compared to non-artists. Artists also made more verbalizations about the potential use of the objects, suggesting that they keep an open mind before settling on any one idea for the drawing. Furthermore, while the two groups made the same proportion of metacognitive statements, the proportions of these statements, especially statements where individuals stand back and monitor their work in progress, unfolded differently for the two groups with artists making reliably more metacognitive statements and monitoring their progress much more often as the drawing unfolded over time.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
