The Influence of Creative Expertise on the Sensitivity and Selectivity of Analogical Reasoning

• In Event: Motivation in Online and Virtual Settings

Abstract

This study compared the analogical reasoning of three groups that differed in their creative expertise: professional actors, undergraduate acting majors, and non-actors. Using an Analogy Finding Task, in which participants identified valid and non-valid verbal analogies, three aspects of participants’ analogical reasoning were measured: the number of analogies participants selected as valid (Quantity), the rate of true-positive analogical identification (Sensitivity), and the rate of true-negative identification of non-valid analogies (Selectivity). The task was administered under both a baseline and a “think creatively” prompt. Actors (professional or student) were significantly more Sensitive to valid analogies than non-actors, and they were significantly more influenced by the “think creatively” prompt, which increased the Quantity, and decreased the Selectivity, of actors’ analogical reasoning.

Authors

• Denis Dumas, University of Denver

• Yixiao Dong, University of Denver

• Michael Doherty