'Paradoxical' Mood Effects on Creative Problem-solving

Two studies examined the influence of various affective states on creative problem-solving. In Study 1, individual differences in mood were measured 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 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 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 problemsolving performance relative to induced neutral mood, wh...

[1]  R. C. Sinclair,et al.  The effects of mood state on judgemental accuracy: Processing strategy as a mechanism , 1995 .

[2]  R. J. Melton,et al.  The Role of Positive Affect in Syllogism Performance , 1995 .

[3]  Robert W. Weisberg,et al.  Genius and Madness?: A Quasi-Experimental Test of the Hypothesis That Manic-Depression Increases Creativity , 1994 .

[4]  M. Runco,et al.  Suicide ideation and creative problem solving. , 1994, Suicide & life-threatening behavior.

[5]  S. Russ.  Affect and Creativity: the Role of Affect and Play in the Creative Process , 1993 .

[6]  J. George,et al.  Feeling good-doing good: a conceptual analysis of the mood at work-organizational spontaneity relationship. , 1992, Psychological bulletin.

[7]  E. Higgins,et al.  Handbook of motivation and cognition : foundations of social behavior , 1991 .

[8]  M. Boden.  The creative mind : myths & mechanisms , 1991 .

[9]  F. Strack,et al.  Mood and Persuasion , 1990 .

[10]  N. Jausovec.  Affect in analogical transfer , 1989 .

[11]  Helga Noice,et al.  Influence of Positive Affect upon Creative Thinking and Problem Solving in Children , 1988 .

[12]  A. Isen,et al.  Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  D. Watson,et al.  Toward a consensual structure of mood. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[14]  A. Isen,et al.  The influence of positive affect on the unusualness of word associations. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  J. Crocker,et al.  Depression, social comparison, and the false-consensus effect. , 1983, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  Charles D. Spielberger,et al.  Cross-Cultural Anxiety , 1982 .

[17]  Lyn Y. Abramson,et al.  Induced mood and the illusion of control. , 1981 .

[18]  G. Moskowitz.  Cognitive social psychology : the Princeton Symposium on the Legacy and Future of Social Cognition , 1981 .

[19]  Roger L. Dominowski,et al.  Learning to solve insight problems , 1981 .

[20]  J. Russell.  Affective space is bipolar. , 1979 .

[21]  K. Raaheim,et al.  Effect of Inducing Activity upon Performance in an Unfamiliar Task , 1973 .

[22]  Florence Vidal.  Problem solving and creativity in individuals and groups , 1973 .

[23]  Raymond B. Cattell,et al.  Handbook of multivariate experimental psychology , 1968 .

[24]  S. Mednick.  The associative basis of the creative process. , 1962, Psychological review.

[25]  J. Forgas.  Mood and judgment: the affect infusion model (AIM). , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[26]  Todd Lubart,et al.  Defying the Crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity , 1995 .

[27]  R. Richards.  Creativity and bipolar mood swings: Why the association? , 1994 .

[28]  Ø. Martinsen.  The effect of individual differences in cognitive style and motives in solving insight problems , 1994 .

[29]  Mark A. Runco,et al.  Creativity and Affect , 1994 .

[30]  G. Clore,et al.  Affective causes and consequences of social information processing. , 1994 .

[31]  T. K. Srull,et al.  Handbook of Social Cognition , 1993 .

[32]  N. Schwarz,et al.  Happy and Mindless, But Sad and Smart? The Impact of Affective States on Analytic Reasoning , 1991 .

[33]  N. Schwarz.  Feelings as information: Informational and motivational functions of affective states. , 1990 .

[34]  N. Frijda.  The laws of emotion. , 1988, The American psychologist.

[35]  Robert W. Weisberg,et al.  Problem solving and creativity , 1988 .

[36]  R. Weisberg.  Creativity - Genius and Other Myths , 1986 .

[37]  D. Watson,et al.  Negative affectivity: the disposition to experience aversive emotional states. , 1984, Psychological bulletin.

[38]  P. Costa,et al.  Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective well-being: happy and unhappy people. , 1980, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[39]  H. Simon,et al.  Models of Thought , 1979 .

[40]  Robert Glaser,et al.  Problem Solving and Intelligence. , 1975 .

[41]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The new science of management decision , 1960 .