Overthinking in Producing Arts and Crafts: &amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;A Metacognitive Analysis

Ali Redha Hussain

doi:10.4236/adr.2021.93023

Abstract

This study uses the meta-cognitive model (developed in clinical psychology primarily in relation to depressive conditions) to explain the causal dynamics of why artists, in always looking for “perfection”, can experience mental states which predicate modes of overthinking which can be detrimental to their careers and/or projects. The meta-cognitive model proposes a specific causal relationship between metacognition and the regulation of thought processes, in which overthinking pertains to excessive metacognitive intervention or total lack thereof. The aim of this study is to establish a practical and implementable meta-cognitive intervention for arts practitioners, arts students, and teachers of arts practice, which will help in avoiding (or teaching how to avoid) the pitfalls of overthinking; to determine a practical “cognitive tool”, or mental framework, in the process of making arts. This meta-cognitive tool is intended as an abstract and intellectual complement to the concrete and formal compositional skills of art production. A key focus of this study concerns the liminal points between healthy/productive and unhealthy (and potentially pathological) aspects of creative overthinking, considering how excessive rumination factors into creative traits such as perfectionism and attention to detail in the production of artworks; looking, further, at how overthinking can affect the mind negatively, such as inducing anger and anxiety for example.

Highlights

IntroductionThis paper examines the causes, consequences, and counteractive measures for overthinking in the creative process, identifying practical guidelines which allow artists and craftspeople to overcome problems associated with excessive
This study uses the meta-cognitive model to explain the causal dynamics of why artists, in always looking for “perfection”, can experience mental states which predicate modes of overthinking which can be detrimental to their careers and/or projects
This paper examines the causes, consequences, and counteractive measures for overthinking in the creative process, identifying practical guidelines which allow artists and craftspeople to overcome problems associated with excessive

Summary

Introduction

This paper examines the causes, consequences, and counteractive measures for overthinking in the creative process, identifying practical guidelines which allow artists and craftspeople to overcome problems associated with excessive. The productive elements of deep thinking can be essential in producing complex art works and are regularly associated with ideals of precision artists or craftspeople, the “perfectionist” with exacting attention to detail; are imbued with positive connotations These behavioural traits can pass the liminal boundary into cognitive territory with destructive implications, where perfectionism and exactitude summon excessive cognitive patterns. The authors continue to observe that metacognition factors highly in creative endeavours: “artists and writers have [emphasised] the importance of incubation, or the cessation, of cognitive monitoring” (Alexande et al, 2017) On this analysis, the insights of the meta-cognitive model—that one can identify and regulate one’s own thought processes—should provide an excellent foundation for navigating the liminal space between productive and destructive thinking/overthinking

Unhealthy versus Healthy Rumination

Metacognition as Intervention

Conclusion