Effect of Instructions on a Creative Task: Discipline and Form in Hand Sculptures

Abstract

How do different limitations which are imposed on a person affect the quality of his creative product? Different freshman sections in architecture were randomly given different limitations for their first three-dimensional assignment which was to produce a handcarving from a 6-in. wooden cube. The limitations were in the number of edges to be left intact: 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12. As predicted, the products differed in relation to the limitations; however, more specific predictions about which carvings would excel were only partially confirmed because, it is speculated, the staff had focused more on the students' frustrations than on some inherent properties of the task. The data do fit an interpretation which relates the architectural concepts of object, void, and their relationships to the “new look” in motivation wherein focus is on the relationship between stimulus complexity and the person's needs and abilities.