Event Title
Group and Individual Performance on a Creativity Task: The Constraining Effects of Examples
Presentation Type
Oral and/or Visual Presentation
Presenter Major(s)
Psychology
Mentor Information
Christine Smith, smithc@gvsu.edu
Department
Psychology
Location
Kirkhof Center 2201
Start Date
13-4-2011 11:00 AM
End Date
13-4-2011 11:30 AM
Keywords
Social Science
Abstract
Research has demonstrated that individuals provided with examples in a creative idea generation task tend to fixate on the most salient aspects of the examples and incorporate those features into their own creative work. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the extent to which this occurs within the context of groups. The process by which groups generate creative products under two conditions was investigated: with examples provided and without. Groups were compared to participants working alone. Participants were asked to draw new creatures and toys either after having seen examples or not. Participants who saw examples before beginning to draw created toy drawings with more features of examples than those who did not. Individuals also created toy drawings with more fixated features than groups. The first three creature drawings that groups created were compared to the second group of three. Those who saw examples created first three creatures with more fixated features.
Group and Individual Performance on a Creativity Task: The Constraining Effects of Examples
Kirkhof Center 2201
Research has demonstrated that individuals provided with examples in a creative idea generation task tend to fixate on the most salient aspects of the examples and incorporate those features into their own creative work. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the extent to which this occurs within the context of groups. The process by which groups generate creative products under two conditions was investigated: with examples provided and without. Groups were compared to participants working alone. Participants were asked to draw new creatures and toys either after having seen examples or not. Participants who saw examples before beginning to draw created toy drawings with more features of examples than those who did not. Individuals also created toy drawings with more fixated features than groups. The first three creature drawings that groups created were compared to the second group of three. Those who saw examples created first three creatures with more fixated features.