Do students motivated to learn have better creative abilities?

Abstract

Despite the key role that motivation plays in the creative process— with respect to engaging with content, exploring, and learning—, surprisingly few studies have investigated the relationship between academic motivation and indicators of creativity. The objective of the current study was to clarify this relationship. More specifically, we examined the role of openness to experience and academic motivation in relation to subjective and objective indicators of creative abilities. We hypothesized that openness to experience would predict greater intrinsic academic motivation, which in turn would predict better divergent thinking abilities and self-ratings in academic activities. Regression and mediation analyses with a sample of 279 college students supported the hypothesis that openness to experience was positively associated with intrinsic academic motivation. In turn, intrinsic academic motivation was related to higher creative self-ratings in academically related activities, but not to better divergent thinking abilities. Additionally, controlled academic motivation was associated with poorer divergent thinking abilities. We discuss the place of creative abilities in education and the distinction between a motivation to explore and a motivation to learn within the academic context. Educational relevance statementThis paper examined the role of openness to experience and academic motivation toward the creative abilities of a population of university students. The results suggested that students with greater motivation to learn in school had no better creative abilities, as measured with divergent thinking tasks, but perceived themselves as more creative in academically related activities. This study has implications for the relationship between motivation and creative abilities in education.