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Permission to Seek Freely? The Effect of Happy and Sad Moods on Generating Old and New Ideas
Abstract
Three experiments investigated why and when sad moods might inhibit generative thought relative to happier moods. Specifically, sad moods might inhibit generative thought compared to happier moods, because they result in individuals' (a) being less likely to use accessible, old ideas; (b) being less likely to use novel ideas; or (c) having less material available in memory. These three possibilities were investigated by having participants in happy or sad moods completed a task that familiarized them with a set of solutions to an upcoming generative task. In contrast to the hypothesis that participants in sad moods were less likely to use accessible ideas than those in happy moods, mood did not influence the use of old solutions on the generative task. Instead, mood affected how many new responses participants generated, with those in sad moods generating fewer new responses than did those in happy moods. This effect of mood was eliminated when participants were told that all responses were acceptable. Because these instructions affect how individuals use information from memory but could not affect what was in memory, these results suggest that mood alters the use of novel information rather than altering the use of accessible responses or the type of material in memory.
... Task difficulty was coded on a 3-point scale. In idea generation, low difficulty was coded when participants were asked to freely associate given a cue (e.g., the letter 'H;' Isen, Labroo, & Durlach, 2004), medium difficulty when they had to create a list according to a topic (e.g., things that fly; Gasper, 2004), and high difficulty when a text had to be created (e.g., an argument; Bohner & Schwarz, 1993). In categorization tasks, low difficulty was coded when both categories and exemplars were given and had to be sorted (e.g., Isen & Daubman, 1984), medium difficulty was coded when either categories or exemplars had to be created (e.g., creation of groups of similar TV shows; Murray, Sujan, Hirt, & Sujan, 1990), and high difficulty when both had to be created. ...
... Results As the effect of emotions on quantitative cognitive breadth can be quite different from qualitative breadth (Gasper, 2004; Hirt, Levine, McDonald, Melton, & Martin, 1997), the total sample of comparisons is split into those concerning the number of ideas generated and those concerning the unusualness of ideas and category elements. ...
... This suggests that the influence of positive compared to negative emotions on cognitive breadth is not robust, and may vary across situations. Moderators that appear in the literature, but that could not be examined meta-analytically due to a lack of sufficient studies, are the perceived desirability of creative responses (Gasper, 2004) and a focus on similarities or differences when generating ideas (Göritz & Moser, 2003; Murray, Sujan, Hirt, & Sujan, 1990). ...
Cognitive flexibility is important for creativity, for learning when reward contingencies change, and for redirecting our attention. Previous research has shown that creative behavior improves with positive mood, but researchers disagree about whether other behaviors under the umbrella term ???cognitive flexibility??? are similarly facilitated. Also, the outcomes of positive mood might depend on the particular positive emotion. In my dissertation research, I contribute to the current debate on this issue by assessing which emotional states influence which types of cognitive flexibility. Three types of flexibility are differentiated: Associative flexibility is the ability to generate unusual associations, regulative flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing reward contingencies, and attentional flexibility is the ability to shift attention. The dissertation presents a meta-analysis and three empirical studies. The influence of emotions on associative flexibility was examined with a meta-analysis, and was assessed in an experiment with an idea generation and a remote associate task. Regulative flexibility was assessed with a reversal learning task, and attentional flexibility with a California Card Sorting Test (Delis, Squire, Bihrle, & Massman, 1992). Overall, the results showed that happiness increased associative flexibility and impaired regulative flexibility. While there was some indication that attentional flexibility is impaired under happiness, the evidence was somewhat weak, and more research is required before conclusions can be drawn with certainty. The influence of affect on flexibility differed across emotions. Unlike happiness, relief did not influence flexibility. Depending on the situation (e.g., performance goals), negative emotions could increase associative flexibility similar to positive affect, but they had no effects on regulative flexibility. The meta-analysis identified several moderators in the emotion-cognition link. The experimental research used a mediation analysis to show that happiness impaired reversal learning independent of goal maintenance and global processing. The integration of research identifying types of flexibility and differentiating among emotions of the same valence is a fruitful avenue for future research. A taxonomy of tasks to assess different types of flexibility is proposed that may help guide this process.
... According to the affectas-information perspective (Schwarz & Clore, 1983, people's affective states provide them with information about their environment, which may shape how they process information. For instance, compared to neutral moods, positive moods (e.g., happiness) promote three critical aspects of creative thought (Hirt, 1999): fluency (number of ideas generated), flexibility (breadth of ideas), and originality (uncommonness of ideas; for meta-analyses, see Baas et al., 2008;Davis, 2009; for other results, see Gasper, 2004;Isen, Johnson, Mertz, & Robinson, 1985;Kaufmann & Vosburg, 2002). One explanation for these effects is that positive moods act as a signal that the environment is safe to explore (Fredrickson, 1998;Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005), and that people can trust what comes to mind and focus on trying out new ideas (e.g., the broaden and build theory; Fredrickson, 1998). ...
... Negative feelings generally act as a signal that the environment is unsafe, and that one should be alert for possible threats (Schwarz & Clore, 2003). This alert and cautious state of mind has been shown to promote a focus on details and general wariness (Gasper, 2003(Gasper, , 2004, which is less conducive to flexible thought . ...
Three studies examined the hypothesis that feeling tired along with feeling happy might be linked to the acceptance of atypical ideas. Consistent with this hypothesis, across 3 studies and using 2 different measures of accepting atypical ideas, feelings of happiness and tiredness interacted. When people were high in tiredness, as happiness increased, so too did acceptance of atypical ideas (choosing more unusual exemplars and suggesting more unusual solutions to the gestalt completion test). When people were low in tiredness, happiness had no effect on acceptance of atypical ideas. The studies also examined whether differences in sensation-seeking (Studies 1 & 2) and acquiescence (Study 3) mediated the effect, but neither consistently did so. This work suggests that the combination of feeling tired and happy may enhance acceptance of atypical or unusual ideas, which could potentially help creative thought.
... According to this theory, when faced with an ambiguous task such as creativity, people will assess the environment for clues on how to proceed (Schwarz & Clore, 1983). Based on observations that suggested that those in sad moods generated just as many new ideas as those in happy moods when restraint was removed, Gasper (2004) concluded that positive affect acted not as a prime, but as permission, to generate new ideas and to proceed without caution. Therefore, our study hypothesized, H3a: The number of original ideas produced will be significantly higher in a positive mood than a negative mood. ...
... If this were true, then positive valence would have had a significant effect at all three levels of arousal, but our study found that it was effective only at high levels. Our data also failed to support Gasper's (2004) proposition that it is how a person interprets valence that affects the generation of original ideas, not the valence itself. We found that manipulated valence did make a difference at high and low levels of arousal, but in different directions. ...
What role does emotion play in helping youth reach their creative potential? Does it alter how they process ideas, and how many ideas they can generate? By varying the levels of arousal associated with low, medium, and high levels of exertion in the video game Dance Dance Revolution, and inducing a positive or negative mood, this study offers evidence that emotion significantly affects creativity through the interaction of arousal and valence. Faced with the cognitive demand of creativity, lower arousal levels resulted in higher creativity scores when coupled with a negative mood. At high arousal levels, a positive mood resulted in greater creative potential than a negative mood. These results are discussed here in light of theories of emotion as a prime, as information, and as a moderator of attention.
... Russ (1999) suggested a model of affect and creativity that indicated that personality, positive affect, and cognitive processes were interrelated. Argyle (2001), Gasper (2004), and Myers (2002) supported models based on studies indicating that happy individuals feel relaxed and can generate many new ideas. Gasper further indicated that people in sad moods were more likely to use restraint when generating ideas, unless given specific instructions to compensate for the restraint. ...
... The data in this study is in alignment with previous research that suggested a relationship between happiness and creative ideation. Argyle (2001), Gasper (2004), and Myers (2002) are just three of the many researchers who have suggested that happiness effects creative thinking. Their findings had suggested that happy individuals are more relaxed and more open to new experiences; therefore, they can make more diverse associations, generate more ideas as the thoughts flow freely without the restraint or compulsion to restrain ideas. ...
This study explored the relationship between happiness, creative ideation, and locus of control. Participants included 171 university students. Three hypotheses were explored: First, happiness was predicted to be correlated to internal locus of control; second, creative ideation was predicted to be correlated to internal locus of control, and third, happiness was predicted to be correlated with creative ideation. Assessment tools included the Oxford Happiness Inventory, Runco Ideation Behavior Scales, and Rotter's Locus of Control. Results indicated a relationship between creative ideation and external locus of control. Data also indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between happiness and creative ideation. A significant difference on the happiness measure was found for those individuals with internal locus of control versus those with external locus of control.
... Positive affect is thought to increase the number and breadth of cognitive elements considered relevant to a given task (i.e., scope of attention and cognition), as well as to increase cognitive flexibility, thus improving the likelihood of novel conceptual combination-which underlies creative cognition (Amabile et al., 2005;Fredrickson, 2001;Isen, 1999). Indeed, evidence has largely supported this view, including several studies demonstrating that induced positive affect enhances creative thinking ability (Gasper, 2004;Isen et al., 1987). Relatedly, a meta-analysis on early studies of mood and creativity found that positive affect was consistently linked to higher creativity, while no consistent effects were found for negative or neutral affect (Baas et al., 2008). ...
Creativity has long been conceptually linked to experiences of emotion and mind wandering, yet these empirical relationships remain unclear, and few studies have explored the thoughts and emotions of creative people in daily life. To investigate how creativity relates to everyday cognitive and affective experiences, the present study (N = 159) used experience sampling to examine how creative cognition (divergent thinking ability) and creative behavior (self-reported creative activity and achievement) measured in the lab may predict thought content, affective state, and the frequency of mind wandering (i.e., task-unrelated thought) in daily life. Additionally, we assessed in-the-moment thoughts and emotions predictive of thinking about a creative project in everyday life (i.e., “creative project thought”). We found that each form of creativity was generally associated with positively-valenced experiences, such as having pleasant thoughts, enjoying one’s everyday activities, and feeling motivated and inspired. We also found that positive, activating emotions (happy and energetic) were positively associated with divergent thinking ability and in-the-moment creative project thought. Furthermore, positive, deactivating emotions (relaxed and connected) negatively predicted momentary creative project thought—indicating that positive affect can be tied to less creative thinking, depending on the activation level of emotions. No relationship was found between daily-life mind wandering frequency and divergent thinking ability or creative behavior/achievement, suggesting that the overall amount of task-unrelated thought in everyday life is not related to individual creativity. Taken together, the present findings provide novel evidence on the everyday experiential correlates of creative thinking and behavior.
... Previous research has identified several factors that influence the success of brainstorming. These comprise, among others, the characteristics of the ideator (Garfield et al., 2001;Nijstad et al., 2010), their current state of mind (De Dreu et al., 2008;Dennis et al., 2013;Gasper, 2004), but also the inputs an ideator is exposed to before starting the brainstorming session. Inputs can be systemized into task goals (e.g., Paulus et al., 2011), task instructions (e.g., Gillier et al., 2018), priming inputs (e.g., Wang et al., 2018), and the conceptual structure of the (innovation) problem. ...
Problem formulations are critical in crowdsourcing-enabled innovation since they form the baseline for participant ideation. How to design problem formulations that enable mutually original and feasible solutions poses challenges in theory and practice. This study addresses the need by empirically investigating the effects of three conceptual approaches of problem formulation, metaphorical, abstract, and technical, on the outcomes of a crowdsourcing ideation challenge. Therein, 74 participants ideated 418 potential solutions for a real-world innovation challenge based on the three problem formulations. The ideas generated were rated by six experts with respect to feasibility and originality. The statistical analysis showed that abstract and metaphorical formulations yielded more original ideas compared to the technical formulation. In turn, the latter enabled more feasible ideas than the metaphorical formulation, while the abstract formulation showed similar performance. The findings thus showed that abstract problem formulation poses a promising approach for achieving mutually original and feasible ideas.
... A common conclusion of these studies is that individuals with a positive mental status are more likely to produce innovative outcomes. For instance, MacLeod (1973) found that happy individuals are more likely to discover innovative solutions to complex problems, and Gasper (2004) reported that individuals with a negative mental status often display a tendency to resist the adoption of new ideas. Such research leads to interesting questions on the mechanism by which happiness influences creativity. ...
Studies on innovation and welfare are seemingly unrelated and, currently, scholars of innovation and welfare form distinctive groups. However, recent developments in the fields of business and psychology suggest that a social safety net and the positive mental assets that can be developed by implementing carefully designed welfare programs may stimulate innovative activities within a country. Further, they are closely connected due to their contribution to economic growth, which forms the central tenet of the discourses on both innovation and welfare. In this context, this study uses the patent applications filed under the Patent Co-operation Treaty and social spending data of 35 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for the period 2000–2015 to investigate the effect of welfare on innovation. Contrary to the widespread belief that welfare spending can undermine innovative potential, we argue that welfare can harness a country’s innovative potential and contribute to the country’s long-term growth.
... 20, No.1) found that seventy-four (74) city employees in Orange County, California increases their creativity level after being exposed to a creativity training that strengthened four skills sets such as skills on capturing new ideas, seeking out challenging tasks, broadening one's knowledge and surrounding oneself with interesting things and people. Gasper (2004) found that a specific emotional state affect one's creativity. After involving undergraduates as respondents, it was found that sadness inhibits new ideas. ...
... Siguiendo a Csikszentmihalyi (1996), esta va más allá de la esfera individual del sujeto, ya que se origina mediante la interacción entre sus procesos psicológicos y el contexto sociocultural en el que se desenvuelve. Nos encontramos así ante un fenómeno multidimensional, en el que se integran diferentes componentes cognitivos, emocionales y sociales (Amabile, 1983;Amabile, 1996;De Dreu, Baas y Nijstad, 2008;Feldhusen, 1995;Gasper, 2004;Russ, 1993;Russ, 1999;Sternberg y Lubart, 1995). ...
Resumen
La formación en habilidades creativas debe ser uno de los objetivos fundamentales en la enseñanza universitaria, ya que favorece la adaptación y el afrontamiento eficaz de los alumnos ante las exigencias sociales y de los ámbitos académico y laboral. Este estudio analiza los efectos de una intervención basada en mindfulness y autocompasión sobre la creatividad verbal y figurativa en un grupo de estudiantes de nuevo ingreso en la universidad. La muestra del estudio estuvo formada por 23 alumnos pertenecientes al Grado de Magisterio. El grupo experimental (n = 14) formó parte de una intervención basada en mindfulness y autocompasión de 4 semanas de duración. En el grupo control (n = 9) no se llevó a cabo ninguna intervención. Los resultados muestran mejoras significativas en los niveles de atención plena y autocompasión y en la creatividad verbal y figurativa de los alumnos del grupo experimental, especialmente en la fluidez y originalidad verbal y en la fluidez y elaboración figurativa. Finalmente, se discuten las implicaciones que el entrenamiento en mindfulness y autocompasión tiene para el desarrollo creativo y el afrontamiento de los retos y aprendizajes que la formación universitaria plantea.
... As shown in this chapter, another novel step forward could be the study of creativity-related processes in the aff ective domain, which may entail important practical implications particularly in a therapeutic context. Previous studies have suggested a relationship between happiness (optimism, life satisfaction, personal control, well-being) and creative thinking (e.g., Gasper, 2004 ;Pannells & Claxton, 2008 ). However, regardless of whether one considers reappraisal inventiveness as aff ective creativity or strictly regard it as an ability approach linked with successful emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal has long been at the core of modern psychotherapeutic approaches. ...
Since Archimedes’ legendary “Aha” experience, outstanding creative accomplishments have long been conceived as being the result of an external “higher power,” caused by divine help, often occurring after spontaneous, sudden inspiration. This view ranked creativity as a difficult or even an intangible trait to study, and it has taken quite a long period of time until empirical studies have begun to elucidate the manifold societal, interpersonal, and not least individual characteristics implicated in this fascinating human ability. With Guilford’s (1950) seminal address to the American Psychological Association (APA), the idea of creativity as a stable trait that is linked to several personality characteristics of an individual became more and more accepted in this field. Meanwhile, research from both the psychometric and the neuroscientific traditions revealed a consistent pattern of personality traits and neurocognitive mechanisms that may underlie different facets of creativity. For instance, relevant research in this field has shown that creativity is among others closely associated with intelligence (Benedek, Jauk, Sommer, Arendasy, & Neubauer, 2014; Jauk, Benedek, Dunst, & Neubauer, 2013), domain-specific knowledge/expertise (e.g., Weisberg, 1999), motivation (Collins & Amabile, 1999), or personality traits such as openness, broad interests or self-confidence (Barron & Harrington, 1981; Feist, 1998). In addition, the growing field of neuroscience studies dealing with different facets of creativity such as creative ideation or divergent thinking ability has revealed that this ability might be best characterized as being organized in widespread neural networks, including both regions associated with executive processes and cognitive control (e.g., Fink & Benedek, 2014; Gonen-Yaacovi et al., 2013) and regions closely linked with (at least a subset of) the default network of the brain (e.g., Beaty, Benedek, Kaufman, & Silvia, 2015; Beaty, Benedek, Silvia, & Schacter, 2016; Jung, Mead, Carrasco, & Flores, 2013). Such findings support the idea that both spontaneous, automatic processes (e.g., loose associations, “mind-wandering”) and more controlled modes of information processing such as cognitive control are essential components of the creative thinking process (e.g., Beaty et al., 2016). On a more general level, such findings also make an important contribution toward eliminating some of the myths and mysteries that have gathered around creativity, inasmuch as they clearly indicate that an important source of creativity must be located within the individual, rather than in intangible external sources.
... What does the scientific research have to say on the subject of imagination, creativity and happiness? There is a significant body of literature showing that -contrary to the stereotype of the brooding artist -being happy increases creativity (Argyle 2001, Davis 2009, Gasper 2004. Happiness boosts creativity primarily because positive moods increase mental arousal (Filipowitz 2006), and also because happy people are "more relaxed and more open to new experiences; therefore, they can make more diverse associations, generate more ideas as the thoughts flow freely without the restraint" (Pannells & Claxton 2008, p. 71). ...
This article uses the life and work of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) to discuss certain aspects of what it means to be a ‘felicitator’, i.e. a person who brings happiness to others. The focus is particularly on his promotion of creativity and social inclusion, and his critique of materialism.
... I bambini che, prima del compito, avevano ricordato eventi emotivamente positivi hanno svolto il compito in modo significativamente più veloce. Più studi (Isen e Daubman, 1989; Kahn e Isen, 1993;Gasper, 2004) hanno raccolto evidenze che uno stato positivo facilita un pensiero divergente; i soggetti prima positivamente stimolati e successivamente sottoposti a test (il più usato il Torrance's Creativity Test), rispondevano in modo più creativo e con associazioni più inusuali. Uno studio recente di Campion e Levita (2014), mette in luce come brevissimi (5 minuti) episodi di attività fisica possano indurre un aumento degli stati affettivi positivi che a loro volta influenzano il pensiero creativo. ...
... In the past 2 decades, more emphasis has been placed on the importance of considering not just cognitive, but also affective factors crucial to creative processes and to behavior (Houtz & Krug, 1995;Treffinger, Isaksen, & Firestein, 1983). Accordingly, componential models have included both cognitive and affective dimensions, maintaining that their interaction is of great importance (e.g., Amabile, 1996;Argyle, 2001;De Dreu, Baas, & Nijstad, 2008;Gasper, 2004;Sternberg & Lubart, 1995;Urban, 2003). ...
This study aimed to examine the relationship between maternal sensitivity and affect, as perceived by the child, and childhood creativity. Self-esteem and shyness were considered mediating factors. A total of 151 elementary school pupils were tested on verbal and pictorial creativity, self-esteem, and perceived maternal affect and sensitivity. Their teachers assessed each child’s shyness in their relations at school. A Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model of the causal relationships among the study’s variables was tested. Results supported this theoretical model of causality. Maternal sensitivity had a significant, direct, positive effect on self-esteem, and a direct negative effect on shyness. In addition, self-esteem had a direct positive effect on verbal creativity and shyness had a negative direct effect on verbal and pictorial creativity. The indirect effect of maternal sensitivity on verbal creativity was significant via both self-esteem and shyness. The findings were discussed in terms of their implications for child development.
... Neutral and positive words as primes yielded significant priming effects, whereas negative primes did not (Rossell & Nobre, 2004;Rossell, Shapleske, & David, 2000;Sass et al., 2012). One explanation for such results is that the emotional cue of a prime can govern both the activation and use of affective associations (Clore & Storbeck, 2006;Gasper, 2004). Specifically, a positive affect increases accessibility and the use of associations, whereas a negative affect inhibits it (Storbeck & Clore, 2005). ...
... This strand of research has placed much attention on the valence dimension of states. However, the issue of whether "positive" and "negative" states have enhancing or detrimental effects on creative performance remains unclear (Clapham, 2001;Davis, 2008;Gasper, 2004;Kaufmann, 2003;Vosburg, 1998). ...
... As mentioned previously, emotions are present during the creative process and they are necessary for creation (Baas, DeBreu, & Nijstad 2008;Isen, Daubmann, 176 ST-LOUIS AND VALLERAND & Nowicki, 1987;Russ, 1993Russ, , 1999Russ, Robin, & Christiano, 1999;Russ & Kaugars, 2001;Russ & Schafer, 2006;Shaw 1994). Empirical evidence from the creativity-emotion literature revealed that emotions affect creative performance (Amabile, 1996;Fernandez-Abascal & Diaz, 2013;Gasper, 2004;George & Zhou, 2002;Hirt, Devers, & McCrae, 2008;Hutton & Sundar, 2010;Isen et al., 1987;Kaufman, 2003;Kaufman & Vosburg, 2002;Lubart & Getz, 1997;Vosburg, 1998). In sum, a recent meta-analysis from Baas and colleagues underscored that positive emotions facilitate creativity compared to emotion-neutral controls, but they do not produce more creativity than negative emotions. ...
The creative process refers a sequence of thoughts and actions leading to a novel, adaptive production (Lubart, 200035. Lubart, T. I. (2000). Models of creative process: Past, present, and future. Creativity Research Journal, 13, 295-308.View all references). It demands love, time, and devotion, and, therefore, creators are passionate toward their creative work. The Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 200358. Vallerand, R. J., Blanchard, C., Mageau, G. A., Koestner, R., Ratelle, C. F., Léonard, M., … Marsolais, J. (2003). Les passions de l'âme: On obsessive and harmonious passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 756-767.View all references) defines passion as a strong inclination for a self-defining activity that people love and find important, and in which they invest a significant amount of time and energy. Two types of passion are proposed, where harmoniously passionate (HP) individuals engage in the passionate activity with free choice, and obsessively passionate (OP) individuals feel an uncontrollable urge to partake in the activity, leading to positive and negative consequences respectively. This research explored the role of emotions and passion during a successful creative process. Study 1 (N = 82) looked at positive emotions experienced by passionate artists at each phase of their creative process. Study 2 (N = 114) replicated Study 1 and also assessed negative emotions. Results revealed that positive emotions facilitate creativity and that moderate and high levels of activation of positive emotions serve different functions. Negative emotions were relatively absent of the successful creative process. Finally, HP artists presented an emotional experience that was more positive than OP artists.
... Neutral and positive words as primes yielded significant priming effects, whereas negative primes did not (Rossell & Nobre, 2004;Rossell, Shapleske, & David, 2000;Sass et al., 2012). One explanation for such results is that the emotional cue of a prime can govern both the activation and use of affective associations (Clore & Storbeck, 2006;Gasper, 2004). Specifically, a positive affect increases accessibility and the use of associations, whereas a negative affect inhibits it (Storbeck & Clore, 2005). ...
Recent behavioral data suggest that the concreteness of positive words modulates subsequent cognitive processing; however, the underlying physiological processes of this influence are not well understood. To explore this process, positive-abstract words or positive-concrete words were used as primes when participants performed a lexical decision task during the measurement of event-related potentials (ERPs). The behavioral data revealed a significant affective priming effect (i.e., incongruent>congruent) only for abstract word pairs. The N400 amplitude was larger for affectively incongruent pairs compared to affectively congruent pairs, independent of the prime concreteness. The amplitude of the late positive component (LPC) was modulated by prime concreteness. The processing of positive-abstract targets was facilitated by previous exposure to a congruent prime, as reflected by the reduced LPC, which has been thought to reflect attentional and memory processes. However, no differences in the LPC amplitude were found between congruent and incongruent-concrete pairs. These findings suggest that the influence of the concreteness of positive words mainly occurs during the decision-making processing and memory-related stages.
... ( Barsade & Gibson, 2007, p. 38) People classified as higher on trait PA report that they generally experience such feelings as enthusiasm, alertness, interest, excitement, inspiration, and determination (Watson et al., 1988). Previous theorizing and evidence from the creative performance literature indicate that such positive affective experiences broaden peoples' attentional focus (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005;Gasper, 2004;Gasper & Clore, 2002), allowing them to access more diverse pieces of information from memory, to think more divergently, and to generate more novel ideas (i.e., to be more creative; e.g., see broaden-and-build theory, Fredrickson, 2001;Isen, 1999). Our theoretical discussion of the influence of transformational leadership indicated that transformational behaviors likely operate in a similar way to influence creative performance. ...
This study uses an interactionist approach to examine the moderating effect of follower trait positive affectivity (trait PA) on the relation between transformational leadership and both follower creative performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). On the basis of responses from 212 employees and their direct supervisors from the research and development department of a company in Mainland China, results support the hypothesized moderation effect. Specifically, the positive influence of transformational leadership on creative performance was significantly reduced for followers who were higher on trait PA (ΔR2 = .02, p < .05). The same pattern, in which followers' trait PA appeared to substitute for the influence of transformational leadership, generalized to the outcome of follower OCB as well (ΔR2 = .04, p < .01). We discussed theoretical and practical implications of these findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... Differences in mood or affect are also related to solving problems with creative insights, and this may provide indirect evidence for the role of attention. Although the link between positive affect and creativity is not always straightforward (Kaufmann, 2003;Kaufmann & Vosburg, 1997), generally people who are in a positive mood produce more novel responses on divergent thinking tasks (Isen, 1999;Gasper, 2003Gasper, , 2004b and solve more remote-associates type problems (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987;Subramaniam et al., 2009) than people who are in a negative or neutral mood. ...
Behavioral and neuroimaging findings indicate that distinct cognitive and neural processes underlie solving problems with sudden insight. Moreover, people with less focused attention sometimes perform better on tests of insight and creative problem solving. However, it remains unclear whether different states of attention, within individuals, influence the likelihood of solving problems with insight or with analysis. In this experiment, participants (N = 40) performed a baseline block of verbal problems, then performed one of two visual tasks, each emphasizing a distinct aspect of visual attention, followed by a second block of verbal problems to assess change in performance. After participants engaged in a center-focused flanker task requiring relatively focused visual attention, they reported solving more verbal problems with analytic processing. In contrast, after participants engaged in a rapid object identification task requiring attention to broad space and weak associations, they reported solving more verbal problems with insight. These results suggest that general attention mechanisms influence both visual attention task performance and verbal problem solving.
... Mood state can also affect the frequency of risktaking behaviors (Johnson and Tversky, 1983; Arkes et al., 1988; Finucane et al., 2000 ). Being in a positive mood could help decision making by increasing creativity and problem solving (Isen, 1987; Murray et al., 1990; Gasper, 2004; Hirt et al., 2008 ), allowing for focus on available and general knowledge to arrive at a conclusion (Melton, 1995; Bless et al., 1996; Gasper and Clore, 2002; Ruder and Bless, 2003; Bramesfeld and Gasper, 2008). Positive mood could indicate a situation is benign, leading to approach-based behaviors (Gasper, 2003; Grawitch and Munz, 2005). ...
Introduction: The present study sought to examine two methods by which to improve decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT): inducing a negative mood and providing additional learning trials.
Method: In the first study, 194 undergraduate students [74 male; Mage = 19.44 (SD = 3.69)] were randomly assigned to view a series of pictures to induce a positive, negative, or neutral mood immediately prior to the IGT. In the second study, 276 undergraduate students [111 male; Mage = 19.18 (SD = 2.58)] completed a delay discounting task and back-to-back administrations of the IGT.
Results: Participants in an induced negative mood selected more from Deck C during the final trials than those in an induced positive mood. Providing additional learning trials resulted in better decision making: participants shifted their focus from the frequency of immediate gains/losses (i.e., a preference for Decks B and D) to long-term outcomes (i.e., a preference for Deck D). In addition, disadvantageous decision making on the additional learning trials was associated with larger delay discounting (i.e., a preference for more immediate but smaller rewards).
Conclusions: The present results indicate that decision making is affected by negative mood state, and that decision making can be improved by increasing the number of learning trials. In addition, the current results provide evidence of a relationship between performance on the IGT and on a separate measure of decision making, the delay discounting task. Moreover, the present results indicate that improved decision making on the IGT can be attributed to shifting focus toward long-term outcomes, as evidenced by increased selections from advantageous decks as well as correlations between the IGT and delay discounting task. Implications for the assessment of decision making using the IGT are discussed.
... One of the better candidates for a fixed influence of affect on cognition lies in the relationship between mood and global versus local focus. Happy moods, as compared to sad moods, are thought to broaden the scope of attention (Derryberry & Tucker, 1994;Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005) and cognition (Isen, 2000) and to induce a global focus or processing style (Gasper, 2004;Gasper & Clore, 2002). A variety of research findings support that conclusion. ...
In this article, we examine how affect influences judgment and thought, but also how thought transforms affect. The general thesis is that the nature and impact of affective reactions depends largely on their objects. We view affect as a representation of value, and its consequences as dependent on its object or what it is about. Within a review of relevant literature and a discussion of the nature of emotion, we focus on the role of the object of affect in governing both the nature of emotional reactions and the impact of affect and emotion on cognition and action. Although emotion is always about the here and now, the capacity for abstract thought means that the human here and now includes imagination as well as perception. Indeed, the hopes and fears that dominate human lives often involve things only imagined.
... Fredrickson, 2001;Isen, 1999). Indeed, happiness engenders a perceptual focus on global form as opposed to local details (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005;Gasper, 2004b;Gasper & Clore, 2002). ...
... Now the whole group becomes a rock band performing at a huge concert. Gasper (2004) in a study with undergraduates found that sadness inhibits new ideas, in part because they were wary of making a mistake. ...
This research paper investigates the perceptions of first year third level design students regarding their creative thinking and use of creative strategies, while studying a first year design based curriculum in an Institute of Technology in Dublin. The research was conducted in a three-phase, sequential project. The first phase, questioned twenty seven students by issuing anonymous questionnaires to gather data on their methods of incubating design ideas, if they experienced any levels of anxiety when doing so, and their satisfaction levels in their design and creative abilities. Literature was reviewed to discover the attributes of those we perceive as creative and if those attributes can be nurtured. Further literature was researched on whether or not creativity can be measured and what are the barriers to creativity. Finally the literature review addressed what might be the correct creative environment for students. The purpose of the investigation of the literature and the questionnaire data gathering was to create a format for the second phase of the project, a one day creativity workshop that addressed issues on creativity raised by the literature and the student cohort. A Creativity Games Day workshop was designed and conducted with a volunteer group of ten. It was hoped the workshop would enhance student’s belief in their creative abilities. The third phase of the project involved collecting further data by issuing a second questionnaire at the end of the workshop. A comparison of the data from both questionnaires is discussed to ascertain whether or not the participant’s perception of their creativity levels had changed. This small pilot study, while acknowledging the limitations placed on the results due to the narrow experience and small sample size of the research, does suggest that creativity can be nurtured in a student cohort.
... Neutral and positive words as primes yielded significant priming effects, whereas negative primes did not (Rossell & Nobre, 2004;Rossell, Shapleske, & David, 2000;Sass et al., 2012). One explanation for such results is that the emotional cue of a prime can govern both the activation and use of affective associations (Clore & Storbeck, 2006;Gasper, 2004). Specifically, a positive affect increases accessibility and the use of associations, whereas a negative affect inhibits it (Storbeck & Clore, 2005). ...
This study aimed to determine whether affective priming is influenced by the concreteness of emotional words. To address this question, we conducted three experiments using lexical decision-priming task. In Experiment 1, positive-abstract (PA) and positive-concrete (PC) words were used as primes to examine the effect of the concreteness of positive words on affective priming, and in Experiment 2, negative-abstract (NA) and negative-concrete (NC) words were used as primes to examine the effect of the concreteness of negative words on affective priming. Results showed that participants responded faster to affectively congruent-abstract trails than incongruent-abstract trails in PA prime conditions, but for PC or negative word (NC and NA) prime conditions, there were no differences between the response times of congruent trails and incongruent trails. To examine the reliability of the priming effects observed in Experiments 1 and 2, we set up a neutral condition as a baseline in Experiment 3, through which we confirmed the difference in the affective priming effect between positive and negative primes in a concrete-abstract dimension. PA words were found to have the tendency to possess more emotional load and facilitate affective association between the prime and the target. The study finding suggests that aside from arousal and valence, the concreteness of positive words also has an impact on affective priming effect.
... What does the scientific research have to say on the subject of imagination, creativity and happiness? There is a significant body of literature showing that – contrary to the stereotype of the brooding artist – being happy increases creativity (Argyle 2001, Davis 2009, Gasper 2004). Happiness boosts creativity primarily because positive moods increase mental arousal (Filipowitz 2006), and also because happy people are ‚more relaxed and more open to new experiences; therefore, they can make more diverse associations, generate more ideas as the thoughts flow freely without the restraint‛ (Pannells & Claxton 2008, p. 71). ...
This article uses the life and work of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) to discuss certain aspects of what it means to be a ‘felicitator’, i.e. a person who brings happiness to others. The focus is particularly on his promotion of creativity and social inclusion, and his critique of materialism.
The best academic publishing is an exercise in creativity and the more creative the work, the greater the long-term impact. It is, by definition, a high-risk/high return activity. Drawing on the literature on creativity, this paper describes the management of creative processes and develops implications for both the individual scholar and organizations that seek to facilitate high impact publication in marketing.
This study aims to examine the impact of affective states and affective shifts on ideation and evaluation of creativity. Affects were induced by a two‐stage imagination procedure of recalling autobiographical experiences. Three periods of divergent thinking were measured to represent the participants’ creative ideation at different times. Creative evaluation was measured by estimating the originality of each response provided by the participants. The results indicate that (a) during the initial period of ideation, groups with positive affect obtain better creative ideation than the groups with neutral or negative affect. (b) The ideation in positive affect groups gradually decreases over time, while the ideation in negative affect groups gradually increases over time. (c) During the evaluation of originality, groups with negative affect have a higher proportion of over‐estimates and a lower proportion of under‐estimates than groups with positive affect. The viewpoints of cognitive tuning theory, which posit that the affective state influences creativity, are supported.
In diesem Kapitel wird dargestellt, wie sich unser affektives Erleben und unser Denken (z. B. Informationsverarbeitung und Urteilsbildung) wechselseitig beeinflussen. Zunächst wird beschrieben, wie sich der Informationsverarbeitungsstil in Abhängigkeit von der jeweiligen Stimmung unterscheiden kann: Zum einen werden bei Wahrnehmung und Erinnerung stimmungskongruente Informationen besser verarbeitet. Darüber hinaus können von der Stimmung gefärbte Urteile auch entstehen, indem die Stimmung selbst als Information über den Urteilsgegenstand herangezogen wird. Des Weiteren wird in dem Kapitel dargelegt, welchen Einfluss Kognitionen auf die Entstehung und die Veränderung unseres affektiven Erlebens haben. So hängt das Entstehen spezifischer Emotionen stark von der Bewertung der emotionsauslösenden Situation ab. Darüber hinaus können weitgehend ohne die Beteiligung von Kognitionen Affekte durch Wahrnehmung und Imitation ausgelöst werden.
Stimulating and developing the creative potential of all members of an organisation is widely seen as contributing to performance and results.This prestigious textbook provides a complete overview of the creative problem-solving process and its relevance to modern managers in the private and public sectors. It introduces ideas, skills and models to help students understand how creative thinking can aid problem solving, and how different techniques may help people who have different thinking and learning styles.
This updated fifth edition includes fresh case studies, exercises and suggested reading, alongside extensive diagrams and thought-provoking questions. A new chapter considers the use of heuristics in decision-making situations faced by managers, and examines how aspects of creative problem solving can relate to such situations. It also introduces a complex in-tray exercise, which demonstrates how the conflicting demands on an individual manager can be considered in practice. Supporting PowerPoint slides for lecturers are available for each chapter.
Creative Problem Solving for Managers will continue to be an ideal resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying problem solving, strategic management, creativity and innovation management, as well as managers looking to develop their decision-making abilities.
Tony Proctor is Emeritus Professor at the University of Chester, UK.
In recent years, scholars have empirically demonstrated that creativity can be described as radical or incremental creativity. In efforts to better understand the nomological networks underlying radical and incremental creativity, this study explored the role that positive emotions directly and indirectly plays in predicting each type of creativity. Further, whether the nature of these mediated relationships varied differentially as a function of employees’ tendency to also engage in such purposeful activities as monitoring their creative behaviors and deepening their expertise was also explored. The resultant moderated-mediation model was tested in a field study of 129 professional employees in a large North American consumer products organization. Results indicated that positive emotions influence incremental and radical creativity differentially through fun, and that the degree to which individuals engage in monitoring impacts their levels of creativity. Implications and future directions for research and practitioners are discussed.
This study investigates whether emotions and humor can influence science problem-solving performance, cognitive appraisal, and emotion after the event. This study conducts a survey of 318 junior high school students (166 Male and 152 Female). The statistical methods used to analyze the data are t test and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results of this study are as follows: (1) When solving the scientific problem of Oil and Vinegar Separation, students with high positive emotions had superior science problem-solving performance, interest appraisal, and positive emotions after the event compared to students with low positive emotions; however, they experienced lower negative emotion after the event than low positive emotion students did; and (2) when solving the scientific problem of Can the Iron Bar Pierce the Paper, students with high positive emotions reported higher scores of cognitive appraisal (interest and difficulty) and positive emotion after the event, compared to students with low positive emotions. Additionally, humorous items produced more positive emotions compared to non-humorous items. However, no differences existed between the influence of humorous items and non-humorous items on science problem-solving performance, cognitive appraisal, and emotion after the event.
本研究旨在探討正向情緒及幽默對學生在科學問題解決時的成績表現、認知評估與事後情緒之影響。本研究針對國中生進行調查研究，共施測318位八年級學生，男生166 位、女生152 位。經進行t檢定及多變量變異數之統計分析後，研究結果顯示，在油醋分離之問題解決題目上，高正向情緒者在科學問題解決之成績表現、有趣程度之認知評估及事後之正向情緒，皆顯著高於低正向情緒者；在事後負向情緒上則顯著低於低正向情緒者。在鐵棒戳紙題目方面，高正向情緒者認知評估之挑戰、有趣、容易之分數，以及事後正向情緒皆顯著高於低正向情緒者。幽默版本激起之正向情緒是有比原始版本高。但幽默版本與原始版本在科學問題解決上之成績表現、認知評估與事後情緒上皆未達顯著差異。本研究可提供教師教學之參考，即如何營造正向情緒的學習氛圍及環境，來促進科學問題解決能力之學習。
This study investigates whether emotions and humor can influence science problem-solving performance, cognitive appraisal, and emotion after the event. This study conducts a survey of 318 junior high school students (166 Male and 152 Female). The statistical methods used to analyze the data are t test and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results of this study are as follows: (1) When solving the scientific problem of Oil and Vinegar Separation, students with high
positive emotions had superior science problem-solving performance, interest appraisal, and positive emotions after the event compared to students with low positive emotions; however, they experienced lower negative emotion after the event than low positive emotion students did; and (2) when solving the scientific problem of Can the Iron Bar Pierce the Paper, students with high positive emotions reported higher scores of cognitive appraisal (interest and difficulty) and positive emotion after the event, compared to students with low positive emotions. Additionally, humorous items produced more positive emotions compared to non-humorous items. However, no differences existed between the influence of humorous items and non-humorous items on science problem-solving performance, cognitive appraisal, and emotion after the event.
The term “neurosis” was introduced in 1769 by Scottish physician William Cullen to refer to presumed nervous disorders in the absence of discernible neurologic defects. It gained wide currency during the first half of the twentieth century largely through the influence of Freud. Today, “neurosis” is no longer used as a technical term primarily because it is too broad for diagnostic and treatment purposes. Nevertheless, it is still used widely as a generic term for a wide range of disorders of primarily psychological origin. Carl Jung (1965) observed that frequently “people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life” (p. 140). This observation provides a good preliminary definition of neurosis. However, an important qualification is needed: Even more fundamental than contentment with inadequate or wrong answers are misdirected strivings for solutions. With this qualification in mind, we can ask: What kind of life questions lead to neurosis? And in what ways are neurotic answers inadequate or wrong? This chapter addresses these questions. Briefly stated, the kinds of life questions that occasion neuroses are those which (a) lead to emotional responses and (b) call for creative solutions. Neurosis results when an emotionally creative response miscarries. Reflections On Three Early Work. Elsewhere (e.g., Averill, 1999; 2005; Averill & Nunley, 1992; Nunley & Averill, 1996) we have provided empirical support for emotional creativity, including laboratory research and clinical examples of emotional creativity gone awry. Here we take a different tack.
Humor production and humor appreciation are said to involve the same kinds of thinking required for creativity. A good sense of humor is often included in descriptions of the creative person. We review both theory and research on the link between humor and creativity, examining cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral similarities between the two concepts, how a humorous atmosphere can facilitate creativity, and methodological problems which obscure our understanding.
Mood has been known to influence decision-making. There are, for example, guidelines for making a participant feel 'comfortable' before a user test. However, the relation of a mood to the type of feedback obtained during user evaluations has not been studied. Further, there is no information regarding the effect of mood on user feedback for differing levels of visual fidelity of a prototype. The present study examined how the mood of participants affects a participant's acceptance towards a product concept presented in two different levels of visual fidelity. A mixed factorial design with two independent variables: mood types (sad, happy) and fidelity of prototypes (low-fidelity, hi-fidelity) was created. The product concept was presented using video prototypes and moods were induced by showing standardized videos to induce sad or happy mood states. Data was elicited from 20 participants using the Attrakdiff questionnaire, which measures usability, attractiveness, and hedonic qualities of products. The results show that mood influences participant ratings for the same product concept shown as a Hi-fidelity and Lo-fidelity prototype. As hypothesized, participants in happy mood states rated both Hi-fidelity and Lo-fidelity prototypes higher on Pragmatic Quality (PQ). PQ as an attribute relates to a product's usefulness expressed by product characteristics like 'clear', 'useful', and 'controllable'[29].
Positive emotions have attracted increased scientific attention in the past decade but looking at positive emotions as outcomes is just the beginning. In large, well-controlled studies, positive emotions have been found to contribute to many different life outcomes, as well as increased cognitive and social functions. The «broaden-and-build» theory of positive emotions encompasses this variety of empirical results, and this chapter uses this theory as a framework for organizing and interrelating past findings and current questions about positive emotions and their link with subjective wellbeing.
This book proposes a new integrative framework for understanding and promoting creatively adaptive thinking. The mind is not only cognition, narrowly construed, but is deeply intermeshed with action, perception, and emotion. This means that optimal mental agility is realized at the dynamic intersection of environment, brain, and mind. Building on empirical research from the behavioral and brain sciences, from developmental and social psychology, and from neuropsychology, psychopathology, and allied disciplines, this book argues that understanding our agile minds requires that we go beyond dichotomous classifications of cognition as intuitive versus deliberate. When we are optimally creatively adaptive, we are able to adroitly move across not only a wide range of levels of cognitive control, but also across multiple levels of detail. Neither abstraction nor specificity, neither controlled nor automatic processes alone are what is needed. Contextually sensitive variation is essential, including rapidly intermixed modes of cognitive control, if we are to realize our fullest capacities for insightful innovation, fluent improvisation, and flexible thinking.
Heuristic thinking can influence human behavior in decisions under risk and uncertainty. In an experimental setting, we study whether emotional activation primes individuals to use the representativeness heuristic and the affect heuristic. We observe the decision behavior of 272 subjects in a computer-based experiment that differentiates between incidental affect and integral affect. Positive incidental affect and integral affect increase the use of the representativeness heuristic, while negative incidental affect has no effect. Our findings have statistical and economic significance and carry implications for insurance companies and regulators.
La presencia de nombres propios de origen griego en las inscripciones latinas de la Península Ibérica es notable. Abarca además un amplio período cronológico que se extiende en el tiempo como demuestra la documentación medieval procedente de iglesias y centros religiosos. El artículo muestra que la adaptación fonética y morfológica de estos nombres en latín se produjo de forma limitada, lo que justifica que la variedad de las formas de estos nombres griegos no conociera una expansión fuera del círculo cerrado de individuos que los llevaron en su momento. Palabras clave: nombres propios griegos; adaptación fonética; adaptación morfológica; epigrafía latina. The presence of Greek Personal Names in the Latin inscriptions coming from the Iberian Peninsula is considerable. Furthermore, from the evidence found in religious centres it is clear that these inscriptions comprise a broad chronological period reaching to Medieval times. This paper shows that the Phonetic and Morphological adaptation of these names was very limited in Latin. Consequently , the fact that the various forms of these Greek names did not expand outside the closed community which bore them is justified.
This research explored the notion that the effect of the color red on creative thinking varies depending on someone's appetitive (vs. aversive) motivational orientation prior to the creative act. Specifically, inducing approach-related appetite (relative to avoidance-related aversion) in participants would enhance creative thinking, because the color red then triggers the approach-related meaning of potential success. A classroom experiment using a Remote Associates Test showed that appetition (relative to aversion), indeed, yielded more creativity for red than for blue. These results confirmed this article's prediction, and especially contribute to existing color research on the context specificity of the color red.
Purpose
Managers are increasingly faced with situations that call for creative ways to engage consumers and employees. With online and offline options available for creative problem solving, consumers are constantly engaging with brands to provide different solutions to everyday problems. There are numerous contextual factors that influence creative output, external primes (distal vs proximal) being one of them. This research attempts to find the boundary conditions such as cognitive load, expectations of performance feedback and optimism that interact with environmental primes to influence quality and quantity of creativity. Doing so would help managers create conditions that can enhance creative output.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted; the first tests the interactive effect of primes and cognitive load, and the second involves the enhancing effect of expectation of performance feedback. Given that cognitive load depresses creativity and expectation of performance feedback enhances creativity, the third study finds whether optimism enhances the effects of distal primes under high cognitive load condition.
Findings
Study 1 demonstrates that the boundary factor of cognitive load moderates the relative difference between proximal and distal primes: cognitive load depresses the enhancing effects of distal primes. Study 2 demonstrates that expectation of performance feedback can enhance the effectiveness of distal primes to a greater extent than proximal primes. Study 3 suggests that highly optimistic individuals can overcome the depressing effects of cognitive load when exposed to distal primes and expectation of performance feedback.
Practical implications
The research demonstrates the environmental conditions that influence creative output in problem solving.
Originality/value
This research attempts to highlight the importance of contextual factors in influencing creativity. In the process, this research highlights the interactive forces that deter or enhance creativity so that managers can provide optimal conditions that enhance creative output for their employees and consumers.
This qualitative study investigated thoughts, feelings and actions when working on a divergent-thinking task after receiving negative feedback on a problem-solving task. Eleven university students were interviewed after working on an unsolvable version of the Necklace Problem and three situations of the Dramatic Events Test. They also rated response contentment on the Dramatic Events Test. The interviews were analysed by interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results showed that the less-content respondents experienced stress due to situational demands, were anxious to meet perceived criteria, expressed fear of being evaluated by others, and expressed uncertainty about the responses. These respondents also often erased or withheld responses they felt did not meet perceived criteria. It was more common for the content respondents to adapt to situational demands or take them as a challenge, view the failure on the problem-solving task as a motivation to perform better on the subsequent test, not be afraid of criticism from others, and view ideas as changeable. The results are discussed with regard to attention, perfectionism, convergent thinking, intrinsic motivation, evaluation apprehension, and self-efficacy.
In dieser Arbeit wird die Entwicklung und empirische Überprüfung eines Kreativitätstrainings für
Volksschulkinder (Ideefi x) vorgestellt, das ausgehend von kreativitätsfördernden Prinzipien aus der Literatur (z. B. kognitive Stimulation, positiver Aff ekt) in spielerischer Form unterschiedliche Facetten der kreativen Denkleistung (verbal, fi gural-zeichnerisch, handlungsbezogen) stimulieren soll. Die
Stichprobe setzte sich aus 146 SchülerInnen der vierten Schulstufe zusammen. Die Kinder wurden zu drei Messzeitpunkten mit verbalen und fi gural-zeichnerischen Kreativitätstestaufgaben sowie mit dem Test zum schöpferischen Denken getestet. Die Trainingsgruppe (n = 74) erhielt das Training zwischen
dem ersten und dem zweiten Messzeitpunkt, während die Wartekontrollgruppe (n = 72) das Training zwischen dem zweiten und dem dritten Messzeitpunkt absolvierte. Das Training wurde an drei aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen (eine Schulstunde pro Tag) durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie
zeigen, dass das Training Ideefi x eine signifi kante Steigerung unterschiedlicher Facetten psychometrisch erfasster Kreativität bewirken konnte.
This study examined (a) students' (n= 342, both genders, grades 5 and 6) attributions and emotions for their subjectively perceived school performance in language and mathematics as successful or unsuccessful, (b) the role of students' hope (pathways thinking, agency thinking) in the: perceived performance in the above school subjects as successful or unsuccessful, subsequent attributions and emotions, impact of attributions on emotions, and,in turn,interactive effect on performance expectations. The estimated as successful and unsuccessful school performance was predominately attributed to stable and unstable (external in language) factors, respectively. The students experienced intense positive and moderate negative emotions for the perceived successful and unsuccessful school performance, respectively. Hope (mainly, agency thinking) positively influenced the attributions (particularly, stability) and emotions (mainly, pathway thinking), and the impact of attributions on emotions, mainly in unsuccessful performance in mathematics. Hope, attributions and emotions had unique and complimentarily effect on performance expectations.
Rupert Holmes wrote in the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1979), “Would you not quite feel quite the fool of deception/To find the same face on both sides of the coin?.” To elaborate on this a bit, consider Hannibal Lecter’s escape from prison in Silence of the Lambs. He attacks and kills two guards. Rather than trying to run, he puts on a guard’s uniform, dumps the guard down an elevator shaft, and places the guard’s removed face onto his own. The responding officers assume that Lecter is actually the guard and put him in an ambulance behavior – from which he escapes. Lecter is not only evil; he is also amazingly creative. Are his deviant behavior and creativity linked together as common traits, the way that a talented novelist also may write interesting e-mails? Or are they distinct entities in the same manner that a talented novelist also may make excellent birdcalls, cook tasty hash browns, or run a marathon? The relationship between creativity and deviant – with the common ground of personality – is the subject of this chapter. Personality is an immensely complicated facet of human psychology that is affected by heredity, social ties, environmental factors, biology, and the list goes on. Personality, in turn, affects human behavior in a variety of ways. Keeping Lecter’s creative maneuvering in mind, the important questions to consider are (a) Does personality cause deviant behavior? and (b) Can personality predict future likelihood of involvement in criminal behavior?
Research indicates that an affective state’s valence (positive/negative), orientation (approach/avoidance), and activation level (activated/deactivated) can influence people’s ability to make creative associations. Unfortunately, how these features influence associative thought has not been fully tested because researchers typically do not examine deactivated states. In three studies, respondents in either elated (positive, approach, activated), relaxed (positive, avoidance, deactivated), bored (negative, approach, deactivated), or distressed (negative, avoidance, activated) states completed measures of associative thought. Consistent with the orientation hypothesis, respondents in approach-oriented states (elated/bored) performed better on two measures of associative thought than those in avoidance-oriented states (distressed/relaxed). These effects stemmed from the approach states promoting a desire for new experiences, as sensation seeking mediated these results (Study 3). The data indicate that not only can deactivated states alter thought, but their effect depends on whether they are associated with approaching or avoiding new experiences.
In this study, the effects of eliciting positive and negative emotions on various cognitive functions of four‐ to five‐year‐old preschool children were examined. Emotions were elicited through presentations of ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ video clips, before the children performed the cognitive tasks. Behavioural (facial expressions) and physiological (heart rate variations) indices of emotions were used to measure the elicited emotions. The impact of emotions on analytical as well as global thinking was examined. Positive emotions were found to generate an overall improvement in children’s cognitive functioning. This finding is inconsistent with findings reported in research conducted among adults, suggesting differential effects of emotions on cognitive performance of children and adults. It was also found that children’s improved cognitive performance after eliciting positive emotions occurred predominantly on tasks related to subject areas they were familiar with. The findings are discussed within a developmental framework.
Environmental primes promote creativity of consumers. Through two experiments, we confirm the power of ‘distal’ (rather than ‘proximal’) primes on enhancing creativity, in terms of both quantity and quality. More importantly, we show how primes interact with other contextual and individual factors such as mood, gender, and expectations of performance feedback. Distal (vs. proximal) primes promoted greater quantity (not in quality) of creativity in negative (vs. positive) mood. Females were more creative in positive (vs. negative) moods; whereas males showed a reverse pattern. Distal primes increased creativity for those who expected performance feedback. Theoretical and managerial implications are offered.
Divergent theoretical perspectives predict that the valence of affective cues impacts the breadth and flexibility of cognition, but extant data have not clarified whether such effects transpire extemporaneously or only later via processes of evaluation or selection from among thoughts already generated. The present investigation found more prominent electro-cortical event-related-potential (P3) responses among participants focused on identifying a positively valenced social target (an individual with a happy facial expression) than a negatively valenced social target (an individual with a disgusted facial expression). Indeed, even obvious non-targets (scrambled faces) evoked more-prominent P3 responses among participants in the happy-target than the disgusted-target condition, thereby implicating an effect of the valence of affective cues on the extent of cognitive processing as it unfolds.
reviews research on the impact of affective states on evaluative judgments, presenting evidence that is difficult to reconcile with the assumption that emotional influences on social judgment are mediated by selective recall from memory / rather, the presented research suggests that individuals frequently use their affective state at the time of judgment as a piece of information that may bear on the judgmental task, according to a "how do I feel about it" heuristic
extends the informative-functions assumption to research on affective influences on decision making and problem solving, suggesting that affective states may influence the choice of processing strategies / specifically it is argued that negative affective states, which inform the organism that its current situation is problematic, foster the use of effortful, detail oriented, analytical processing strategies, whereas positive affective states foster the use of less effortful heuristic strategies (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated, in 2 experiments, whether judgments of happiness and satisfaction with one's life are influenced by mood at the time of judgment. In Exp I, moods were induced by asking 61 undergraduates for vivid descriptions of a recent happy or sad event in their lives. In Exp II, moods were induced by interviewing 84 participants on sunny or rainy days. In both experiments, Ss reported more happiness and satisfaction with their life as a whole when in a good mood than when in a bad mood. However, the negative impact of bad moods was eliminated when Ss were induced to attribute their present feelings to transient external sources irrelevant to the evaluation of their lives; but Ss who were in a good mood were not affected by misattribution manipulations. The data suggest that (a) people use their momentary affective states in making judgments of how happy and satisfied they are with their lives in general and (b) people in unpleasant affective states are more likely to search for and use information to explain their state than are people in pleasant affective states. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It was hypothesized that moods have few, if any, motivational or processing implications, but are input to other processes that determine their motivational implications. In Exp 1, Ss read a series of behaviors in forming an impression. When told to read the behaviors until they felt they had enough information, those in positive moods (PMs) stopped sooner than did those in negative moods (NMs). When told to stop when they no longer enjoyed reading the behaviors, NMs stopped sooner than PMs. In Exp 2, Ss generated a list of birds from memory. When told to stop when either they thought it was a good time to stop or they simply felt like stopping, PMs stopped sooner than NMs. When told to stop when they no longer enjoyed the task, NMs stopped sooner than PMs. The findings extend work by others (e.g., D. M. Mackie and L. T. Worth, 1991; N. Murray et al, 1990; N. Schwarz and H. Bless, 1991; R. C. Sinclair and M. M. Mark, 1992). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Currently dominant explanations of mood effects on persuasive message processing (i.e., cognitive capacity and feelings as information) predict that happy moods lead to less message scrutiny than neutral or sad moods. The hedonic contingency view (D. T. Wegener & R. E. Petty, 1994) predicts that happy moods can sometimes be associated with greater message processing activity because people in a happy mood are more attentive than neutral or sad people to the hedonic consequences of their actions. Consistent with this view, Experiment 1 finds that a happy mood can lead to greater message scrutiny than a neutral mood when the message is not mood threatening. Experiment 2 finds that a happy mood leads to greater message scrutiny than a sad mood when an uplifting message is encountered, but to less message scrutiny when a depressing message is encountered.
The authors tested whether happy moods increase, and sad moods decrease, reliance on general knowledge structures. Participants in happy, neutral, or sad moods listened to a "going-out-for-dinner" story. Happy participants made more intrusion errors in recognition than did sad participants, with neutral mood participants falling in between (Experiments 1 and 2). Happy participants outperformed sad ones when they performed a secondary task while listening to the story (Experiment 2), but only when the amount of script-inconsistent information was small (Experiment 3). This pattern of findings indicates higher reliance on general knowledge structures under happy rather than sad moods. It is incompatible with the assumption that happy moods decrease either cognitive capacity or processing motivation in general, which would predict impaired secondary-task performance.
Two experiments employed image-based tasks to test the hypothesis that happier moods promote a greater focus on the forest and sadder moods a greater focus on the trees. The hypothesis was based on the idea that in task situations, affective cues may be experienced as task-relevant information, which then influences global versus local attention. Using a serial-reproduction paradigm, Experiment 1 showed that individuals in sad moods were less likely than those in happier moods to use an accessible global concept to guide attempts to reproduce a drawing from memory. Experiment 2 investigated the same hypothesis by assessing the use of global and local attributes to classify geometricfigures. As predicted, individuals in sad moods were less likely than those in happier moods to classify figures on the basis of globalfeatures.
Previous research by Hirt, Melton, McDonald, and Harackiewicz (1996) found that mood effects on creativity were not mediated by the same mechanisms as were mood effects on quantitative measures of performance and evaluations of performance, suggesting that mood may simultaneously be working through different processes (dual process view). However, other research (Martin & Stoner, 1996; Sinclair, Mark, & Clore, 1994) supports a single process, mood-as-information model for similar effects of mood on processing. In the present research, we hypothesized that if a single, mood-as-information process accounts for mood effects on both creativity and quantitative performance, then all mood effects should be eliminated if participants are cued that their mood is irrelevant to the task (cf. Schwarz & Clore, 1983). We manipulated participants' moods prior to task performance and presented them with either an enjoyment-based or a performance-based stop rule; half of the participants were cued to the true source of their moods, half were not. Cueing participants eliminated mood effects on quantitative measures of performance (e.g., number generated). However, consistent with a dual-process view, the cueing manipulation did not affect creativity; happy participants generated the most creative responses regardless of stop rule or cue.
This article picks up on the suggestion made by Mumford that the relationship of affect to creativity is an important, new trend in the field. Fuel is added to this argument by pointing to evidence indicating that tasks of creative thinking may be particularly mood sensitive. The main stream argument that positive mood unconditionally and reliably facilitates creativity is characterized as a case of premature closure. Evidence is reviewed that calls this general thesis into serious question. It is concluded that creativity is a multifaceted construct, and that different moods are differentially related to different components of creative thinking.
Myers and Diener (1995) asked “Who is happy?” but examined the question of who is more and who is less happy In fact, most people report a positive level of subjective well-being (SWB), and say that they are satisfied with domains such as marriage, work, and leisure People in disadvantaged groups on average report positive well-being, and measurement methods in addition to self-report indicate that most people's affect is primarily pleasant Cross-national data suggest that there is a positive level of SWB throughout the world, with the possible exception of very poor societies In 86% of the 43 nations for which nationally representative samples are available the mean SWB response was above neutral Several hypotheses to explain the positive levels of SWB are discussed
Happy moods foster the ability to think about problems in new ways, but little is known about how sad moods affect this process. This paper investigates the hypothesis that individuals in sad moods adhere to the data and might not think about problems in new ways until they receive data indicating that it is appropriate to do so. To investigate this hypothesis, participants in happy, sad, and neutral moods completed a classic mental set task (Luchins, 1942). All mood groups were able to break the mental set and to think about the problems in a new way, but mood affected when they did so. Consistent with the idea that individuals in sad moods adhere to the data, they relied on the mental set until they received evidence that it may be problematic. In contrast, individuals in happier moods were more likely to abandon the mental set on their own, rather than wait for evidence of its inadequacy. In three follow-up experiments, when the information provided by participants’ sad feelings was rendered uninformative, the mood effect disappeared. These findings are consistent with the claim that affect influences processing only when it provides information about how to proceed.
Temporary mood states were induced to determine the impact of affect on moral reasoning. College students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: positive, negative, or neutral moods prior to completing the Defining Issues Test (DIT) of moral development. P-scores on the DIT were significantly higher in the positive affect condition than in either of the other conditions. These results are discussed in relation to previous studies on situational factors influencing moral judgments and social behaviors.
Two positions concerning positive mood and its relation to creative problem solving have been taken. The general position (GP) postulates that there is a consistent positive relation between positive mood and creative problem solving. The qualified position (QP) states that the relation is a contingent one. This study explores one possible limitation to the GP, by testing Weisberg's (1994) suggestion that positive mood facilitates productivity but not quality of ideas. Self-reported mood was measured by positive, negative, and arousal scales. Divergent thinking tasks scored for fluency, flexibility, originality, and usefulness were used as criterion variables. A perfect, theoretically predicted rank order between positive mood and degree of solution constraint measured by the divergent thinking indices emerged. Positive mood was significantly related to an idea quantity factor but not to an idea quality factor. Although this evidence is not conclusive, it supports the QP and indicates that the GP should be modified to include task type and degree of solution constraint.
Whether instructions to be creative will act as goals or constraints was examined by comparing creative, practical, and analytical performance ratings under special instructions to be creative, practical, analytical, or under no special instructions at all, for 110 students with 2 different thinking styles. Consistent with goal-setting theory, specific-related instructions resulted in higher performance for each of the 3 performance ratings over no special instructions. In line with a person-situation fit model, people who prefer to play with their own ideas (i.e., those with a legislative thinking style) showed higher creative performance, whereas people who prefer to analyze and evaluate ideas (i.e., those with a judicial thinking style) showed lower creative performance when not given any special instructions.
Three experiments test the hypothesis that positive mood facilitates cognitive flexibility in categorization. Study 1 used a sorting task and found that positive mood subjects in relation to subjects in other mood states, formed fewer (broader) categories when focusing on similarities among exemplars and more (narrower) categories when focusing on differences. Study 2 used a within-subject design and assessed more direct measures of flexibility. Study 2 found that compared with neutral mood subjects, positive mood subjects (a) perceived a greater number of both similarities and differences between items, (b) accessed more distinct types of similarities and differences, and (c) listed more novel and creative similarities and differences. Study 3 demonstrated that these effects occur for both positive (mood-congruent) and neutral stimuli and identified intrinsic interest in the task as a possible mediating factor. The implications of these findings for understanding the effects of mood on cognitive organization and processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research monograph on the antecedents and correlates of creativity in school-aged children discusses implications of measures of intelligence versus measures of creativity and attempts an interpretation of the psychological requirements for creative products in children. Harvard Book List (edited) 1971 #624 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Four studies with 256 undergraduates showed that positive affect, induced in any of 3 ways, influenced categorization of either of 2 types of stimuli—words or colors. As reflected by performance on 2 types of tasks (rating and sorting), Ss in whom positive affect had been induced tended to create and use categories more inclusively than did Ss in a control condition. On one task, they tended to group more stimuli together, and on the other task they tended to rate more low-prototypic exemplars of a category as members of the category. Results are interpreted in terms of an influence of affect on cognitive organization or on processes that might influence cognitive organization. It is suggested that borderline effects of negative affect on categorization, obtained in 2 of the studies, might result from normal people's attempts to cope with negative affect. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
under certain circumstances, disturbance and tension can facilitate creative effort / reviews the research on tension [in creativity] and related concepts, including asynchrony, marginality, resilience, and problem gaps / attempt to integrate the various views of tension / present the controversial argument that [intrinsic motivation follows from cognitive involvement in a task, rather than the other way around] / although both affect and cognition are involved in creative acts, [the author argues] that the latter in fact causes the former (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two studies examined the influence of various affective states on creative problem-solving. In Study 1, individual differences in mood were measured among 91 17–21 yr-olds using an adjective checklist immediately prior to task performance. Insight problems were then employed to measure creative problem-solving. Performance was compared with that obtained for analytic-problem solving tasks that were included as contrast variables. Results showed that that positive mood led to significantly poorer creative problem-solving performance. No link was found between negative mood and general arousal. Performance on the contrasting analytic problem-solving tasks was negatively related to anxiety, but not to positive or negative mood states. In Study 2, the procedure was followed among 92 19–41 yr-olds with the addition of experimentally induced mood states. The results obtained in Study 1 for mood ratings were replicated. In the induced mood conditions, negative mood significantly facilitated creative problem-solving relative to induced neutral mood, which in turn was better than the control condition. The poorest performance was obtained in the positive mood condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Depressed persons have been shown to score lower than normals on interpersonal problem-solving tests. This study examined the effects of induced elation and depression on the interpersonal problem-solving efficiency of normal college students. Subjects randomly assigned to elation, neutral, or depression mood induction procedures completed an interpersonal problemsolving task. Depressed subjects performed significantly worse than elated subjects on several measures of the problem-solving task. These results are interpreted as supporting the position that mood affects interpersonal problem-solving performance and are discussed in relation to theories of depression.
This study investigated the influence of positive affect, induced by report of success on an anagram task, on medical decision making among third-year medical students. The subjects were asked to decide which one of six hypothetical patients, each of whom had a solitary pulmonary nodule, was most likely to have lung cancer. They were asked to verbalize their clinical reasoning as they solved the problem. The positive-affect and control groups did not differ in the tendency to make a correct choice, but subjects in the positive-affect condition were significantly earlier in identifying their choices. These subjects were also significantly more likely to go beyond the assigned task, expressing interesting in the cases of the other patients and trying to think about their diagnosis, even though that task was not assigned. The positive-affect subjects also showed evidence of configural or integrative consideration of the material to a reliably greater extent than did control subjects, and there was significantly less evidence of confusion or disorganization in their protocols than in those of controls. These findings are compatible with earlier work suggesting a different organizational process and greater efficiency in decision making among people in whom positive affect had been induced, and with recent work suggesting that positive affect facilitates flexibility and integration in problem solving. They also indicate that these effects may apply to the problem-solving strategies of professionals in clinical problem-solving situations.
Four experiments indicated that positive affect, induced by means of seeing a few minutes of a comedy film or by means of receiving a small bag of candy, improved performance on two tasks that are generally regarded as requiring creative ingenuity: Duncker's (1945) candle task and M. T. Mednick, S. A. Mednick, and E. V. Mednick's (1964) Remote Associates Test. One condition in which negative affect was induced and two in which subjects engaged in physical exercise (intended to represent affectless arousal) failed to produce comparable improvements in creative performance. The influence of positive affect on creativity was discussed in terms of a broader theory of the impact of positive affect on cognitive organization.
The authors examined the role of intrinsic interest in mediating the relationship among mood, processing goals, and task performance. Participants in induced happy, neutral, or sad moods generated similarities and differences between TV shows using performance-based, enjoyment-based, or no stop rule (cf. L.L. Martin, D.W. Ward, J.W. Achee, & R.S. Wyer, 1993). Pretask interest and both quantitative (time spent, number generated) and qualitative (creativity) performance were assessed. Happy participants spent more time and generated more items than other participants when using an enjoyment-based stop rule but spent less time and generated fewer items when using a performance-based stop rule. Happy participants also expressed greater pretask interest and were more creative than other participants regardless of stop rule. Regression-based path analyses indicated that pretask interest partially mediated the effects of mood on quantitative performance but not on creativity.
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