Creativity

I thought I liked creative ideas but according to a study to be published in the journal Psychological Science, I may not.  Jack Goncalo, an assistant professor at the ILR School and co-author of the study asks, "How is it that people say they want creativity but in reality often reject it?"  He found that creative ideas can trigger uncomfortable feelings of uncertainty, people dismiss creative ideas in favor of practical ideas, and most of the time people are completely unaware of their bias toward creativity.

The researchers found during their study that "while people explicitly claimed to desire creative ideas, they actually associated creative ideas with negative words, such as "vomit," "poison" and agony."  Novel and high quality ideas for new products were rejected because of this bias, according to Goncalo.  "Revealing the existence and nature of a bias against creativity can help explain why people might reject creative ideas and stifle scientific advancements, even in the face of strong intentions to the contrary. ... The field of creativity may need to shift its current focus from identifying how to generate more creative ideas to identify how to help innovative institutions recognize and accept creativity."

Thanks to Chip Hannah at the Balcom Agency for the link to this article.