Judgments of the Creativity of Artwork From Students and Professional Artists

Abstract

One of the most popular methods for assessing creativity relies on judgments. Often professionals or other experts are asked to judge creative works, but self-ratings and peer ratings have also been used with some success. The primary objective of this study was to compare judgments given by all three groups. Three-dimensional artworks were produced by 47 students and then rated by both their peers and by three professional artists. The students also rated their own work and used Feist's (1991) Feelings Questionnaire to describe how they felt about each art project. Comparisons of means indicated that the students saw statistically significant differences among their three artworks in terms of both rated creativity and two Feelings Questionnaire composites (satisfaction and energy). They did not give their works different ratings on the other two Feelings Questionnaire composites (dissatisfaction and inhibition). Differences were also apparent in peer ratings of the artwork. The ratings given by the professional artists, however, did not reflect differences. These results suggest that, unless the prediction of professional achievement is the objective, professional artists may not be the best assessors of nonprofessional artwork.