From Performance To Mastery: Developmental Models of the Creative Process

Abstract

This study examines the creative process of advertising students training to become art directors and copywriters at two public universities. Using a quasi-experimental method coupled with in-depth interviews, the author investigates the nature of the cognitive process students use to generate ideas. Analysis of the students' narratives reveals four key dimensions of their creative process: orientation for the work, approach to the problem, mindscribing, and heuristics. Two theoretical models of students' creative process are proposed based on these dimensions and their interaction. W. Glenn Griffin (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an assistant professor of advertising, Temerlin Advertising Institute, Southern Methodist University.