Conventional Thinkers Can Become More Creative by Changing Thinking

Researchers conducted a series of studies and discovered that traditional thinkers—those with low levels of openness to novel concepts and experiences—generated more original ideas than peers when they engaged in "emotional reappraisal."

This is looking at a topic from a different emotional perspective, like attempting to see a scenario that makes you angry as neutral or hopeful.

According to the study, which was written in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, creativity is a skill that can be learned.

"One of the study's implications is that creativity is not something that's only accessible to people we think of as 'creatives'," said lead author Lily Zhu, an assistant professor at Washington State University's Carson College of Business.

"Whenever we break away from our existing perspective and try to think about something that's different from our initial reaction, there's a creative element to it. If we can practice or train that flexible-thinking muscle, it may help us be more creative over time."

Zhu, along with co-authors Chris Bauman and Maia Young from the University of California, Irvine, performed two tests of a similar nature and a survey on three distinct groups of individuals for the study.

People who ranked highly on openness to new ideas and who tended to be more creative also tended to regularly practice emotional reappraisal, according to the results of the first poll, which included 279 college students.

In one study, 335 volunteers were chosen via a crowdsourcing site, and after being ranked according to their openness degrees, they saw a scene from a movie that was meant to make them angry.

They were given various directions while watching: to repress their feelings, divert their attention with other things to think about, or attempt the emotional assessment, which involves seeing the scenario from a different perspective.

Additionally, some people received little guidance on how to control their emotions.

Following the movie, the participants were invited to think of a way to use a space in their building that a cafeteria that was closing was leaving behind.

A group of specialists who were unaware of the participants then assessed those suggestions.

Concepts like "napping pods" or starting a daycare center were deemed very imaginative, but starting a food franchise or a comparable cafeteria was deemed less original.

Instead of watching a movie, a separate group of 177 participants wrote about an occurrence that made them angry for the purpose of the subsequent experiment.

After that, they had to write about it once more, this time from a different emotional angle, or they had to write something completely unrelated as a diversion.

Conventional thinkers who attempted emotional reappraisal in both trials produced more original thoughts than those who employed suppression, diversion, or no emotional regulation technique at all.

Notably, emotional reappraisal did not appear to have much of an impact on the creativity of participants who were already thought of as creative thinkers.

The authors contend that increasing emotional reappraisal doesn't have as much of an effect since creative people typically engage in it on a regular basis. It's like putting extra gas in a car that already has fuel.

The researchers argue that the findings have implications for increasing business productivity because it may be possible to leverage the knowledge and experience of more workers—even those in traditional fields like accounting, insurance adjustment, or data analytics—by fostering their creativity.

Zhu proposed that managers create programs to help staff members increase their capacity for innovative thought.

Source:

Instead of repressing their negative emotions in the face of a crisis or struggle, people might also engage in emotional reassessment. Washington State University. "Changing feelings can boost creativity for conventional thinkers." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 November 2022. .

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