Do field-dependent individuals tend to have lower creativity than field-independent ones? The role of informational cues in electronic brainstorming

ABSTRACT

Much research on brainstorming has found that the power of a team can stimulate individual creativity, and that this influence is more prominent in computer-mediated online interactions. However, creativity appears to depend on the outcome of combining certain environmental factors with certain kinds of Individual characteristics. Two experiments using electronic brainstorming were conducted in this study to examine the creative performance of individuals with different cognitive styles in several creative fields and with various environmental cues. Overall, it was found that cognitive styles significantly affected the creativity of individuals. Creative performances of individuals with field-independent cognitive styles were more stable than those of individuals with field-dependent cognitive styles. However, the appearance of environmental cues reversed this particular effect. When cues were present, there were no significant differences between the creativity of field-dependent and field-independent individuals. The findings provide empirical evidence for improving the creativity of field-dependent individuals and have significant implications for education and talent cultivation.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive style
• creative fields
• environmental cues
• creativity
• electronic brainstorming

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China [grant number BBA180080].

Notes on contributors

Chun Li

Chun Li is a PhD student of the School of Psychology at Central China Normal University (CCNU). Her research interests include creativity and online interpersonal interaction.

Xiaolin Mu

Xiaolin Mu is a lecturer in the Guangzhou Information Engineering Vocational School. Her research interests include creativity and educational psychology.

Yuanyuan Tan

Yuanyuan Tan is a master student in the School of Psychology at CCNU. Her research interests include group creativity and interpersonal interaction.

Chuanhua Gu

Chuanhua Gu is a professor in the School of Psychology at CCNU. His research interests include creativity and cyberpsychology.

Bi Ying Hu

Bi Ying Hu is a professor in the Faculty of Education at University of Macau. Her research interests include early childhood education and child development.

Cuiying Fan

Cuiying Fan is a professor in the School of Psychology at CCNU. Her research interests include educational psychology and cyberpsychology.