Goal Conflict and Originality of Thinking

Abstract

It is proposed that the originality of individuals' thinking is significantly determined by whether they are primarily committed to personal achievement and object/abstract skill (i.e., instrumental) or primarily committed to interpersonal and group relationships (i.e., socially focused); whether an opportunity for performance is instrumental or social; and whether standard ways of thinking were disrupted by goal conflict. On tasks related to their primary orientation, individuals are posited to be conservative in their thinking--that is, to adhere to patterns and stratagems that experience has taught them are most likely to work. This will normally mitigate against originality. It is further proposed, however, that perceptions of goal conflicts trigger mechanisms for generating more original ideas. An experiment was conducted to test this model. The results largely supported the hypotheses that conflict experiences would tend to enhance originality in the domain (instrumental or social) toward which individuals are most inclined, but tend to restrict in other domains.