“reasoning Ability And Creative Thinking Among Generation Z College Students In The Ai Era: The Mediating Role Of Self-efficacy”

Abstract

Generative Artificial Intelligence Has Rapidly Entered Higher Education, Creating New Opportunities For Idea Generation And Problem-solving While Also Raising Concerns About Cognitive Offloading And Dependence On Automated Support. The Present Study Examined The Relationships Among Reasoning Ability, Creative Thinking, And Self-efficacy In Generation Z College Students And Tested Whether Self-efficacy Mediated The Association Between Reasoning Ability And Creative Thinking. A Quantitative Cross-sectional Model Was Specified For 180 Undergraduate Students Aged 19–24 Years From Colleges In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra. Reasoning Ability Was Assessed With The Shailaja Bhagwat Reasoning Ability Test (RAT-BS), Creative Thinking With Baqer Mehdi’s Verbal Test Of Creative Thinking (VTCT-M), And Self-efficacy With The Self-Efficacy Scale (SES-SANS) Of Arun Kumar Singh And Shruti Narain. Reasoning Ability Correlated Positively With Self-efficacy (r = .51) And Creative Thinking (r = .51), While Self-efficacy Showed A Stronger Positive Relationship With Creative Thinking (r = .63), All P < .01. Mediation Analysis Indicated That Reasoning Ability Significantly Predicted Self-efficacy (b = 0.971, P < .01), Which In Turn Predicted Creative Thinking (b = 0.935, P < .01). The Bootstrapped Indirect Effect Was Significant (b = 0.908, 95% CI [0.594, 1.260]), With The Direct Pathway Remaining Significant, Indicating Partial Mediation. The Model Highlights Self-efficacy As A Psychological Resource That Links Analytical Competence To Creative Performance In An AI-saturated Academic Environment.

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