Effects of Explicit Instructions, Metacognition, and Motivation on Creative Performance

Effects of explicit instructions, metacognition, and intrinsic motivation on creative homework performance were examined in 303 Chinese 10th-grade students. Models that represent hypothesized relations among these constructs and trait covariates were tested using structural equation modelling. Explicit instructions geared to originality were positively related to originality of homework, but not to fluency/flexibility of homework. Participants with high intrinsic motivation for creative work scored higher on originality as well as fluency/flexibility of homework, whereas intrinsic motivation for challenging work had an inverse effect on creative homework. Theoretical claims on the relation between explicit instructions and metacognitive activities and between the latter and creative performance were not supported by this study. The degree of explicitness of instructions and the nature of the tasks were discussed in relation to the findings on the effect of explicit instructions. Further, the difference of...