Effects of choice restriction on the intrinsic motivation to produce creative products

The purpose of this study was to assess whether choice restriction decreased intrinsic motivation for a task resulting in a less creative product. The study focused on two kindergarten classes in a half day school setting. The students were to make collages. The students were either given choice or no choice of materials when making their collage. The morning class was given choice of materials. They were allowed to freely choose what they wanted from the boxes of materials. The afternoon class was given no choice of materials. They were given materials chosen by the experimenter. Two weeks later the experiment was conducted again. The morning class had no choice in materials. The afternoon class had choice in materials. The collages were independently rated for creativity by six artists. The scores were analyzed using an Analysis of Variance (AOV) statistical procedure. The collages made by the children in the choice condition were judged significantly higher in creativity than the collages made by the children in the no choice condition. There was no significance in time of day. The results support the hypothesis and suggest that children develop an intrinsic motivation for a task when they are given choice in materials and they will produce a more creative product than children whose choice is constricted