JUDGMENTS OF THE CREATIVITY OF ARTWORK FROM STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONALARTISTS

One of the most popular methods for assessing creativity relies on jud gments. Often professionals or other experts are asked to judge creati ve works, but self-ratings and peer ratings have also been used with s ome success. The primary objective of this study was to compare judgme nts given by all three groups. Three-dimensional art-works were produc ed by 47 students and then rated by both their peers and by three prof essional artists. The students also rated their own work and used Feis t's (1991) Feelings Questionnaire to describe how they felt about each art project. Comparisons of means indicated that the students saw sta tistically significant differences among their three art-works in term s of both rated creativity and two Feelings Questionnaire composites ( satisfaction and energy). They did not give their works different rati ngs on the other two Feelings Questionnaire composites (dissatisfactio n and inhibition). Differences were also apparent in peer ratings of t he artwork. The ratings given by the professional artists, however, di d not reflect differences. These results suggest that, unless the pred iction of professional achievement is the objective, professional arti sts may not be the best assessors of nonprofessional artwork.