Do We Need Metacognition for Creativity? A Necessary Condition Analysis of Creative Metacognition

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that metacognitive knowledge and accurate metacognitive monitoring are associated with higher creativity. However, previous findings were based solely on traditional statistical analyses applying sufficiency causal logic. Necessary condition analysis (NCA) is a novel methodological approach that tests whether a given predictor represents a necessary condition that allows an outcome to exist. Employing NCA, the present study examines whether accurate metacognitive monitoring is a necessary condition for creative performance. The study involved 385 participants and tested whether accurate metacognitive monitoring in the Unusual Uses Task was a necessary condition for creative performance in the more complex Product Improvement Task. Two accuracy indices (the Absolute Accuracy Index and Bias Index) were calculated for self-evaluation and comparison judgments. In both cases, the NCA results showed that accurate metacognitive monitoring was a necessary condition for creative performance with a large ceiling effect, median d = .42. This finding suggests that metacognition is necessary for creativity to occur; i.e., individuals with inaccurate metacognitive monitoring cannot exhibit high creativity. Additional linear and non-linear modeling (regression splines) identified moderate associations between metacognitive monitoring and creativity, with median R2 = 8%.

How can we measure metacognition in creative problem-solving? Standardization of the MCPS scale

“…According toMumford et al (1991), it is metacognitive monitoring that guides the overall creative problem-solving process.The role of metacognitive monitoring in divergent thinking tasks was examined by several studies(Rominger et al, 2022;. The accuracy of metacognitive monitoring was positively associated with creative performance(Pesout & Nietfeld, 2021) andUrban & Urban (2023, February 9) showed that highly creative individuals who are at the same time metacognitively inaccurate do not exist. Moreover, previous research suggests that more metacognitive skills are exhibited during creative performance, especially during performance in the most complex creativity tasks (such as Product Improvement Task;Preiss et al, 2019; Sanz de Acedo Lizarraga & Sanz de Acedo Baquedano, 2013;…”