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{"id":220,"date":"2010-12-23T22:13:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-23T22:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2010\/12\/magical-thinking-enhances-creativity.html"},"modified":"2010-12-23T22:13:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-23T22:13:00","slug":"magical-thinking-enhances-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2010\/12\/magical-thinking-enhances-creativity.html","title":{"rendered":"Magical thinking enhances creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

But I still feel awkward looking them in the eyes and telling them that Santa is real. I guess it\u2019s the incorrigible rationalist in me. Arty types probably have it easier.<\/p>\n

Well, here\u2019s a study that I was hoping would salve my conscience over all the porkies I\u2019ve told my kids over the years. Unfortunately it doesn\u2019t quite do that. Let me explain\u2026<\/p>\n

Eugene Subbotsky, a psychologist at the University of Lancaster in the UK, wanted to know whether encouraging kids to think about magic would actually help them to be more creative. We know that kids are often delighted by magical thoughts, but we don\u2019t know if they are just a byproduct (an, ahem, epiphenomenon) or if they are actually contribute to their mental development in some way.<\/p>\n

Basically, he set groups of kids down to watch clips from Harry Potter film (the first one). These clips either contained magical elements, or they did not. Before and after, they tested the kids creative powers using some standard setups (problem solving, drawing creatively, etc).<\/p>\n

Subbotsky found that kids who watched magical scenes did actually think more creatively. The effect was quite marked. Although both groups improved, the improvement in the \u2018no magic\u2019 group was around 50%, whereas it doubled in the \u2018magical scenes\u2019 group.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the results are complicated by the fact that the groups weren\u2019t matched at the start of the experiment. The kids were put into groups at random \u2013 which is the gold standard method, and is supposed to ensure that the groups are similar. For this experiment, it didn\u2019t work out. The kids in the \u2018magical scenes\u2019 group were actually less creative than the kids in the other group.<\/p>\n

Although you can control for that statistically (and he did), you\u2019re left wondering if whether what you\u2019re seeing here is simply regression to the mean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Subbotsky also showed that, although creativity increased, magical beliefs didn\u2019t. Well, actually, they did \u2013 by the end of the experiment the kids in the \u2018magical scenes\u2019 group were averaging around 50% higher on the magical beliefs scoring. It\u2019s just that the difference was not statistically significant.<\/p>\n

Subbotsky concludes that watching magical scenes can increase children\u2019s creativity without increasing their magical beliefs. I\u2019m not so convinced, based on the evidence shown.<\/p>\n

But go ahead, bring the magic of Christmas to your kids, even if you are a stoney-hearted rationalist. It may, after all, boost their creativity!<\/p>\n

Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!<\/p>\n

$\"ResearchBlogging.org\"$ <\/a><\/span>Subbotsky E, Hysted C, & Jones N (2010). Watching films with magical content facilitates creativity in children. Perceptual and motor skills, 111<\/span> (1), 261-77 PMID: 21058605<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

$\"Creative$ <\/a><\/span> This article by Tom Rees<\/b> was first published on Epiphenom<\/a>. It is licensed under Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"