The Effect of Experimentally Induced Activation on Creativity.

Summary The hypothesis that a U-shaped function exists between creativity and activation was tested by means of several one-way analyses of variance. Thirty male undergraduates at the University of Mainz were randomly assigned to three conditions of low (relaxed, friendly atmosphere), middle (test-like situation, time limit, 40 db “white noise”), and high (like middle but with 78 db white noise) levels of activation. Instruments measuring creative abilities were the AC Test by Harris and Simberg and a German version of the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Dependent variables were “ideational fluency,” “spontaneous flexibility,” “originality,” and RAT scores. Results confirmed the hypothesis for ideational fluency only and were interpreted on the basis of two distinct processes which may determine creative thinking of the fluency type in activational states and can be associated with different kinds of attention deployment.