Think of as many uses as possible for a tin can in three minutes, draw freely on a blank sheet of paper using coloured pencils, and design a unique fantasy animal: these were the tasks the test subjects – 92 pre-school children and 70 adults – had to complete for the University of Graz study. A panel of judges assessed the results without knowing who had produced them. “In all the tasks, the adults’ work was objectively rated as more original, effective and creative than that of the children,” reports Mathias Benedek from the Department of Psychology at the University of Graz. However, the children enjoyed the work more, were more motivated and felt less anxious than their adult counterparts. “The adults presumably picked up on this enthusiasm and self-confidence. In fact, three-quarters of the older participants believed they were inferior to the younger ones,” adds Benedek, who conducted the study together with Janika Saretzki and other colleagues. In a follow-up study, the two researchers now aim to find out why adults underestimate their own creativity to such an extent.
The results of the study have been published in the journal PLoS One:
Saretzki J, Fratzl I, Barbot B, Benedek M (2026) Are children really more creative than adults? A mixed-methods examination of creative performance and experience. PLoS One 21(10): e0346553.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0346553
