1. Collectivistic Independence Promotes Group Creativity by Reducing Idea Fixation
- Author
-
Jeewon Hyun, Hoon-Seok Choi, Myriam N. Bechtoldt, and Jeong-Gil Seo
- Subjects
Social Psychology ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,Collectivism ,050109 social psychology ,Fixation (psychology) ,Social value orientations ,Creativity ,Individualism collectivism ,0502 economics and business ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Laboratory experiment ,Psychology ,Social psychology ,050203 business & management ,Applied Psychology ,media_common - Abstract
The present study examined the joint impact of collectivistic value orientation and independent self-representation of group members upon group creativity. In a laboratory experiment involving three-person student teams ( N = 72), we induced a collectivistic (vs. an individualistic) value orientation and independent (vs. interdependent) self-representation via priming methods. Using a group-brainstorming paradigm, we found as expected that groups generated more original ideas when members combined a collectivistic value orientation with independent self-representation than with interdependent self-representation. By contrast, differences in self-representation did not have a significant effect when an individualistic value orientation was made salient. Furthermore, we found that this effect was mediated by the degree of idea fixation within the group, thereby illuminating the underlying cognitive mechanism of the observed synergy effect. Implications of the findings for research on group creativity and future directions are discussed.
- Published
- 2019