TY - JOUR
T1 - Finding Creativity by Changing Perspectives
T2 - How the Evaluation Process Contributes to Creative Idea Recognition
AU - Yang, Shiyu
AU - Loewenstein, Jeffrey
AU - Mueller, Jennifer
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Why do people often fail to find new ideas creative? The literature indicates people fail to find creativity due to ideas having characteristics that are incongruent with people’s existing perspectives. The current paper identifies a second reason stemming from the need for evaluators to understand what ideas are before determining if those ideas meet evaluation criteria. We propose that to find creativity in early phase ambiguous ideas, people’s existing perspectives may not be helpful. People may need to engage in a process of perspective change by searching for and finding alternative fruitful interpretations. Three studies provide evidence that people tended to evaluate ideas as more creative if they spontaneously experienced (Study 1) or were induced to experience (Study 2) a change in perspective when evaluating them. Further, if people were induced not to experience a perspective change, ideas were perceived as less creative (Study 3). These findings add to theory by revealing new aspects of the process of evaluating early phase ideas. They also support practice by identifying why spending more time searching for and potentially finding fruitful interpretations of early phase ideas might help evaluators find creativity, and thereby support rather than squelch innovation.
AB - Why do people often fail to find new ideas creative? The literature indicates people fail to find creativity due to ideas having characteristics that are incongruent with people’s existing perspectives. The current paper identifies a second reason stemming from the need for evaluators to understand what ideas are before determining if those ideas meet evaluation criteria. We propose that to find creativity in early phase ambiguous ideas, people’s existing perspectives may not be helpful. People may need to engage in a process of perspective change by searching for and finding alternative fruitful interpretations. Three studies provide evidence that people tended to evaluate ideas as more creative if they spontaneously experienced (Study 1) or were induced to experience (Study 2) a change in perspective when evaluating them. Further, if people were induced not to experience a perspective change, ideas were perceived as less creative (Study 3). These findings add to theory by revealing new aspects of the process of evaluating early phase ideas. They also support practice by identifying why spending more time searching for and potentially finding fruitful interpretations of early phase ideas might help evaluators find creativity, and thereby support rather than squelch innovation.
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U2 - 10.1080/10400419.2023.2191900
DO - 10.1080/10400419.2023.2191900
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85152046050
SN - 1040-0419
VL - 35
SP - 481
EP - 498
JO - Creativity Research Journal
JF - Creativity Research Journal
IS - 3
ER -