How cognition and metacognition interact in explaining creative confidence

In two preregistered experiments (N = 301 and N = 397), we examined whether activating people’s creativity strengthens their creative confidence. Participants completed the Alternate Uses Task (AUT) under either the “be creative” or “be fluent” conditions and responded to the measure of creative confidence. Those encouraged to “be creative” generated much more creative ideas (Study 1: d = 1.48, Study 2: d = 1.68), and the creativity of generated ideas mediated the effect of condition on creative confidence. At the same time, the effects were complex and moderated by participants’ ability to accurately assess their ideas. People whose creativity was experimentally activated and who were metacognitively accurate were also more convinced about their creativity than those in the “be fluent” condition or those unable to appropriately recognize the originality of their ideas. Overall, both experiments highlight the relevance of cognitive and metacognitive factors for creative confidence.