Opposite Effect of Social Evaluation on Creative Idea Generation in Early and Middle Adolescents

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to examine how social evaluation influences creative idea generation, and whether this effect develops with age. To do so, early adolescents, middle adolescents, and late adolescents performed a creative task either alone or under the supervision of an adult examiner. Three major findings emerged: 1) the social evaluation by an adult expert is detrimental to creativity in children but 2) beneficial in adolescence, while 3) it has no effect on late adolescents. The present study is the first to provide evidence that social evaluation by an adult has an opposite effect on creative idea generation in children and adolescents, and offers new directions to investigate social influences on creativity from a developmental perspective.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in “figshare” at https://figshare.com/s/4a493c1cb582872d6b38.

Notes

1. Note that all the significative interaction between the CONDITION and AGE GROUP were still significative after controlling for participant’s MOTIVATION (fluency: F(2, 139) = 5.11, p = .007, ηp² = .07; Originality: (F(2, 139) = 4.66, p = .01, ηp² = .06; Expansivity: F(2, 139) = 5.46, p = .005, ηp² = .07), and after controlling for participant’s MOTIVATION and EXACT AGE (fluency: F(2, 139) = 5.19, p = .007, ηp² = .07; Originality: (F(2, 139) = 5.09, p = .005, ηp² = .07; Expansivity: (F(2, 139) = 1.36, p = .26, ηp² = .02).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche [ANR- ANR-18-CE26-0013-01 AppLeaC].