A Review of Articles Using Observation Methods to Study Creativity in Education (1980–2018)

This paper reports on an integrative literature review of published articles that used either quantitative or qualitative observation methods to research creativity in learning contexts. Observation is an empirical research method used in quantitative and qualitative naturalistic studies focused on understanding behavior and interactions as they unfold in real-time, which makes it particularly salient for examining the processes associated with the generation and adoption of creative ideas. However, observation remains underutilized in the field of creativity studies, partly because data collection can be time and resource intensive, but also because there are a lack of protocols and recommended research practices for observing creative thinking and problem solving in an educational environment that covers all phases of design, collection, analysis, and reporting. Thirty-seven articles from 1980–2018 were reviewed along seven dimensions: definition of creativity, unit of observation, observer role, observation sampling method, research design, data collection, and data analysis. The paper concludes with five recommendations for using observation to advance the state of research on creativity and education.     

“Mistakes Can be Beautiful”: Creative Engagement in Arts Integration for Early Adolescent Learners

In this study we explored students’ perspectives and experiences engaging in an arts integration learning model during middle school through a pluralistic lens of creative engagement in learning. The sample included N = 86 students in Grades 6–7 attending schools in fringe rural and urban locales from small and mid-sized cities in the Pacific Northwest. We used a grounded theory approach to explore how creative engagement takes shape for the early adolescent learner. Our conceptual framework integrated intrapsychological (inward) processes with interpsychological (outward) exchange in the social environment of an arts integrated classroom. Schools involved in the study were part of a larger mixed-methods research investigation and received intensive support for school-wide arts integration development. We found that students valued opportunities in arts integration for (a) choice, (b) the expression of their unique interpretations, (c) taking risks and making mistakes, (d) recognizing and applying their Studio Habits of Mind, and (e) enhancement of motivation and engagement in learning. The need for competency, belonging, and autonomy were important conditions of the learning environment and the need for meaning-making was paramount in the process of creative engagement.     

The interaction between response effects during the acquisition of response priming

In three experiments we investigated the role of associative learning in the acquisition of response priming by effect stimuli, by examining their interaction during response-effect learning. Having replicated the ability of visual effect stimuli to prime their associated responses, we paired a response with a compound consisting of visual and auditory effects before assessing the ability of the auditory effect stimulus to prime the response. This priming was reduced if the visual stimulus had been pre-trained as an effect of the response. By contrast, priming by the visual effect stimulus was potentiated when the auditory effect had been pre-trained. We interpret these interactions in terms of contemporary associative learning theory derived from studies of conditioning.     

Differential effects of safety in extinction of anxious responding to a CO2 challenge in patients with panic disorder

Safety-relevant parameters are hypothesized to be important to the maintenance of pathological anxiety. The authors examined the effects of safety information and safety cues on anxious responding to a repeated 35% CO2 challenge in 31 patients with panic disorder. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) safety information, (b) safety information plus a safety cue, or (c) no safety information. In the safety information group, patients received accurate information regarding the benign effects of the CO2 challenge. In the combined group, patients also received a safety cue that is salient for many patients with panic disorder (i.e., access to an anxiolytic pill during the challenge). The experimental manipulations did not differentially affect anxious responding following an initial challenge. However, after access to the anxiolytic was removed and the challenge procedure was repeated, those in the safety information alone condition showed lower subjective anxiety compared to those in the combined safety information/safety cue group. Findings suggest that safety information facilitates extinction of anxiety but only in the absence of safety cues.     

Use of the social relations model by group therapists: application and commentary

This article presents research findings concerning the relationship of patient positive regard to the outcome of time-limited, short-term group therapy for psychiatric outpatients with complicated grief. The Social Relations Model (SOREMO) of David Kenny was used to investigate this relationship. While the patient's ratings of positive regard of others in the group, known as the Perceiver Effect, accounted for the most variation of the patients' ratings, the other patients' rating of the patient's positive regard, known as the Target Effect, was directly related to favorable change. In addition, a simpler method was used to calculate variables that were analogous to the Perceiver Effect and Target Effect variables of the SOREMO. These variables yielded similar outcome findings. Because of limitations and difficulties associated with learning and using the SOREMO, the simpler method represents a more feasible choice for group therapists who are primarily clinicians or group therapists who wish to collect a small amount of data on an ongoing basis. Even experienced group therapy researchers are likely to find the SOREMO program challenging to use.     

Effects of writing about emotions versus goals on psychological and physical health among third-year medical students

A randomized, controlled trial compared writing about emotional topics (EMO) to writing about goals as the "best possible self" (BPS; after King, 2001) and evaluated emotional approach coping, i.e., efforts to cope through processing and expressing emotion, as a moderator of writing effects on psychological and physical health in 64 third-year medical students. In participants with higher baseline hostility, the EMO condition was associated with less hostility at 3 months compared to the BPS and control conditions. Emotional processing (EP) and emotional expression (EE) moderated the effect of experimental condition on depressive symptoms at 3 months; high EP/EE participants reported fewer depressive symptoms in the EMO condition, whereas low EP/EE individuals reported fewer depressive symptoms in the BPS condition compared to the EMO and control conditions. A moderating effect of EP on physical health was also identified, such that low EP individuals who wrote about goals (BPS) had fewer health care visits at 3 months compared to low EP participants in the EMO and control conditions.     

Interrater reliability in clinical psychology oral examinations: a preliminary study

High interrater reliability was noted among academics evaluating students on a Master's level clinical psychology oral examination. There was greater concordance among more experienced academics, examiners from the same university department, and those in the same professional specialty.