The Creative Process: Effort and Effortless Cognition

Education at its best allows students to experience the fruitfulness and joy of the creative process. One complexity of applying research findings to education is that creative work unfolds in phases and the various phases engage distinctively different cognitive processes. Since Wallas first described four phases, psychologists have elaborated on them and pointed to additional phases and subphases. Some involve effortful conscious processes; others entail implicit cognition and/or effortless attention. The field has benefitted from research in related areas as well as from direct studies of conditions that enhance various phases of creative performance. This article reviews current knowledge on the phases and incorporates findings from related areas. The challenge for educators is to structure student work in ways which support the different phases—both deliberate phases such as preparation and evaluation and those which appear to emerge spontaneously such as insight and flow. The findings underscore of the value of specific classroom activities, activities which scaffold and/or invite the different phases of creative work. The cognitive processes engaged by the creative process also benefit from other activities which enhance executive function, elevate mood, and allow opportunities for flow.