The effect of expertise on the creation and evaluation of visual compositions in terms of creativity and beauty

Abstract

AbstractThe identification of artistically creative individuals is an important matter in the fields of art, design, and psychology. One promising approach involves assessing a person's products rather than his or her personality or cognitive processes. However, the necessity of expert involvement in such evaluations is still debated. To investigate this issue, two experiments were conducted, each consisting of a production phase and an evaluation phase. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to compose a most beautiful picture, which was subsequently assessed in terms of beauty. Experiment 2 was analogous, but participants were asked to compose a most creative picture, which was then assessed in terms of creativity and beauty. The results revealed that expertise did not play a crucial role in the creation or evaluation of beauty. Both experts and non-experts largely agreed on what constitutes beauty. However, when it came to the production and assessment of creative pictures, experts had an advantage. They were the only group that was able to predict a person's creativity based on the evaluation of his or her product.