Unskilled But Aware of It? Cluster Analysis of Creative Metacognition from Preschool Age to Early Adulthood

Abstract The unskilled and unaware effect occurs when low‐performing individuals overestimate their performance, while high performers underestimate it. The aim of the present study was to examine an occurrence of the unskilled and unaware effect in a self‐assessment of creative performance, linking this phenomenon to creative metacognition (CMC) research. 262 participants from four educational stages (preschool, elementary school, high school, and undergraduate) performed an alternative uses task and evaluated their performance using self‐ and comparative judgments. A non‐hierarchical cluster analysis of creative performance, judgments, and metacognitive accuracy was able to identify three separate clusters: an overestimating group of unskilled and unaware participants (27.1%), an underestimating group of skilled and unaware participants (44.3%), and, surprisingly, a group of unskilled but aware participants (28.6%). All three groups were present throughout the entire sample, from preschoolers to university students, but the distribution had developed with age. The most unskilled and unaware participants were in the group of preschoolers, while there were the most skilled but unaware among the university students. The findings are discussed in the context of creative metacognition and creative self‐efficacy research.