| Literature DB >> 26863143 |
Denis Dumas1, Kevin N Dunbar1.
Abstract
Because of its fundamental relevance to scientific innovation, artistic expression, and human ingenuity, creativity has long been the subject of systematic psychological investigation. Concomitantly, the far-reaching effects of stereotypes on various cognitive and social processes have been widely researched. Bridging these two literatures, we show in a series of two studies that stereotypes related to creativity can both enhance and diminish individuals' performance on a divergent thinking task. Specifically, Study 1 demonstrated that participants asked to take on a stereotypically uninhibited perspective performed significantly better on a divergent thinking task than those participants who took on a stereotypically inhibited perspective, and a control group. Relatedly, Study 2 showed that the same effect is found within-subjects, with divergent thinking significantly improving when participants invoke an uninhibited stereotype. Moreover, we demonstrate the efficacy of Latent Semantic Analysis as an objective measure of the originality of ideas, and discuss implications of our findings for the nature of creativity. Namely, that creativity may not be best described as a stable individual trait, but as a malleable product of context and perspective.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2016 PMID: 26863143 PMCID: PMC4749277 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142567
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Outcome variable means by major and stereotype condition for Study 1.
| Major | Condition | N | Total Uses | Semantic Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Sample | All Conditions | 96 | ||
| Rigid Librarian | 32 | |||
| Control | 32 | |||
| Eccentric Poet | 32 | |||
| Biology | All Conditions | 24 | ||
| Rigid Librarian | 8 | |||
| Control | 8 | |||
| Eccentric Poet | 8 | |||
| Physics | All Conditions | 24 | ||
| Rigid Librarian | 8 | |||
| Control | 8 | |||
| Eccentric Poet | 8 | |||
| Art | All Conditions | 24 | ||
| Rigid Librarian | 8 | |||
| Control | 8 | |||
| Eccentric Poet | 8 | |||
| Theater | All Conditions | 24 | ||
| Rigid Librarian | 8 | |||
| Control | 8 | |||
| Eccentric Poet | 8 |
Fig 1Standardized fluency and originality scores in each of three conditions for Study 1.
Fig 2Standardized fluency scores by item for Study 1.
Fig 3Standardized originality scores by item for Study 2.
Fig 4Standardized fluency and originality scores in each of two conditions for Study 2.