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Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking

Research suggests that learning to perform magic tricks can promote both physical and psychological wellbeing. The current study extended this work by examining the impact of learning magic tricks on divergent thinking. A group of 10- to 11-year-old children completed Guilford’s Alternate Uses Test...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wiseman, Richard, Wiles, Amy, Watt, Caroline
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8053378/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33954060
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11289
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author Wiseman, Richard
Wiles, Amy
Watt, Caroline
author_facet Wiseman, Richard
Wiles, Amy
Watt, Caroline
author_sort Wiseman, Richard
collection PubMed
description Research suggests that learning to perform magic tricks can promote both physical and psychological wellbeing. The current study extended this work by examining the impact of learning magic tricks on divergent thinking. A group of 10- to 11-year-old children completed Guilford’s Alternate Uses Test both before and after participating in either a magic-based, or art-based, activity. As predicted, compared to the art-based activity, the magic-based activity resulted in a significantly greater increase in both AUT Fluency and AUT Originality scores. Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and Dweck’s Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale for Children was also completed after each activity, and participants’ self-esteem scores were higher after the art-based activity than the magic-based activity. In an exploratory aspect of the study, the AUT was re-administered to both groups three weeks later, and yielded no significant differences. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.
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spelling pubmed-80533782021-05-04 Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking Wiseman, Richard Wiles, Amy Watt, Caroline PeerJ Pediatrics Research suggests that learning to perform magic tricks can promote both physical and psychological wellbeing. The current study extended this work by examining the impact of learning magic tricks on divergent thinking. A group of 10- to 11-year-old children completed Guilford’s Alternate Uses Test both before and after participating in either a magic-based, or art-based, activity. As predicted, compared to the art-based activity, the magic-based activity resulted in a significantly greater increase in both AUT Fluency and AUT Originality scores. Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and Dweck’s Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale for Children was also completed after each activity, and participants’ self-esteem scores were higher after the art-based activity than the magic-based activity. In an exploratory aspect of the study, the AUT was re-administered to both groups three weeks later, and yielded no significant differences. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed, along with recommendations for future research. PeerJ Inc. 2021-04-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8053378/ /pubmed/33954060 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11289 Text en © 2021 Wiseman et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Pediatrics
Wiseman, Richard
Wiles, Amy
Watt, Caroline
Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
title Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
title_full Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
title_fullStr Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
title_full_unstemmed Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
title_short Conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
title_sort conjuring up creativity: the effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
topic Pediatrics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8053378/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33954060
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11289
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