Paths of least resistance and imaginary animals: how children and adults use existing conceptual frameworks to form creative products

Abstract

One hundred and forty children (6- and 7-year-olds and 10- and 11-year-olds) and 60 adults participated in a study of creativity in drawings of imaginary animals. The study was designed to examine the applicability of Ward's (1994) path of least resistance model to developmentally differentiated populations. Participants were presented with different numbers of novel imaginary animals, then asked to draw imaginary animals of their own design. Every example animal contained three critical features—antennae, four legs and a tail. As children viewed more examples, they became more likely to incorporate antennae into their drawings. In addition, older children and adults produced more original animals when they viewed fewer examples. These results suggest that the ability to manipulate information from different conceptual levels develops through middle childhood and adolescence.