A new experimental study from UC Santa Barbara, led by Madeleine Gross and Jonathan Schooler, tested whether brief exposure to artistic films changes how people think. Nearly 500 participants were randomly assigned to watch either a critically acclaimed animated short from a film curation site or a rapid compilation of humorous home videos and animal clips. After the viewing, participants completed two tasks designed to capture different aspects of creativity.
The first task was a categorization exercise: participants judged how well various items fit given categories. Accepting unusual examples—what the authors call conceptual expansion—shows a loosening of boundaries between mental categories and supports creative association. The second task measured creative production directly: participants wrote a short story that had to include the words "stamp", "letter" and "send"; independent judges scored stories for originality, with literal, predictable stories scoring lower than metaphorical or surprising uses.
Across both tasks, viewers of the artistic shorts outperformed the control group. Interestingly, they also reported more negative feelings afterward and gave lower ratings to the films, yet still showed greater creativity. Gross and colleagues argue that art triggers a temporary shift they name "state openness". As Gross put it, “Art confronts us with the unexpected,” and it “pushes us beyond surface-level perception.” The study, using films selected from Short of the Week that were often experimental, ambiguous or visually surprising, is presented as the first experimental demonstration that passive exposure to everyday art can promote creativity, with implications for accessibility and debates about arts funding in education and public budgets.
- Art can shift thinking toward exploration.
- State openness explained the creativity link.
- Findings speak to arts accessibility and funding.
Difficult words
- experimental — done to test a hypothesis in controlled conditions
- exposure — short period of seeing or experiencing something
- conceptual expansion — accepting broader or unusual examples in categories
- creativity — ability to produce original or useful ideas
- state openness — temporary mental shift toward openness to new ideas
- ambiguous — not clear or having more than one meaning
- accessibility — how easily people can reach or use something
- outperform — to do better than someone or something elseoutperformed
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Should brief exposure to everyday art be included in school programs? Why or why not?
- How might a temporary state openness change the way people solve problems at work or school? Give an example.
- The study found viewers felt more negative yet became more creative. What does this suggest about the relationship between emotion and artistic value?
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