Strong Norms and Creativity

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Strong Norms and Creativity

• April 6, 2006

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Ongoing Debate

• Does conformity pressure stifle creativity or can
  it be used to increase creativity in groups?
• Q1 Are there norms that enhance group
  creativity?
• Q2 Can creating pressure to conform to these
  norms increase creativity in groups?

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Norms for Creativity?

• Collectivism Groups bind and mutually
  obligate individuals.
• Individualism People are independent and
  self- determining (Oyserman, et.al.,
  2002)
• Collectivistic values are beneficial
• Collectivism promotes cooperation and reduces
  social loafing (Wagner, 1995)
• Collectivism promotes identification with the
  organization (Chatman, Polzer, Barsade Neale,
  1998)

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Hypothesis 1 Individualistic groups will have
higher performance than collectivistic groups on
creativity tasks.

• People in collectivistic cultures are more
  conforming. (Bond Smith, 1996)
• Given that creative ideas are initially deviant
  increasing conformity pressure will limit
  creativity (Moscovici, 1985 Nemeth Staw,
  1989).
• Willingness to stand out from the group and to
  confront differences will promote creativity in
  individualistic groups.
• (Stasser, 1987 Nemeth, et al, 2001)

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Summary of Results (Goncalo Staw, 2006)

• Instructions to be creative stimulate greater
  creativity in individualistic groups than
  collectivistic groups.
• More ideas, more diverse ideas, more creative
  ideas.
• Individualistic groups are more creative even at
  the selection stage which is a convergent task.
• Selected ideas more creative and multi-faceted.
• Notion that collectivistic groups can be more
  creative than individualistic groups when
  instructed to be was not supported.

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Study 2 Role of Conformity Pressure (Goncalo
Duguid, 2006)

• Research Question
• If individualistic norms increase creativity
  relative to collectivistic norms, then will
  pressure to conform to norms that are
  individualistic also stimulate creativity?

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Conformity in Individualistic Cultures

• Conformity
• In US standing out and being different is
  positive and expected but in China it is rude
  and childish.
• Accountability makes individualists more
  competitive and collectivists more cooperative.
• People in individualistic groups value
  individualistic behavior even though such
  behaviors do not benefit them.

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Hypothesis

• Since individualistic norms are beneficial for
  creativity, groups are more likely to realize the
  benefits of individualism when such norms are
  strong as opposed to weak.

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Method

• Subjects 180 Cornell Undergraduates
• N 60 groups of 3.
• Design 2 Strength (Strong vs. Weak) x 2 Content
  (Individualistic vs. Collectivistic)
• Phase 1 Norm content and strength
  manipulated.
• Phase 2 Group creativity measured with a
  brainstorming task.

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Experimental Manipulation

• Individualism-Collectivism Manipulation
• Team building task Success attributed to each
  individual or to the group as a whole.
• Strong-Weak Norms Manipulation
• Biased Questionnaire
• (1) Give 3 reasons why a group should
  (encourage/allow) it members to (agree/disagree)
  with one another
• (2) Give 3 reasons why a group should
  (accept/reject) people who do not fit with the
  group

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Measures of Creativity

• (1) Sheer number of ideas generated.
• (2) Diversity of ideas generated
• (3) Independent rating of each idea on a scale
  of 1 (Not at all creative) to 5 (Highly
  Creative).
• (4) Number of creative ideas (above 3)
• (5) Creativity of idea selected by the group

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Results Idea Generation
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Results Idea Diversity
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Results Independent Ratings of
Creativity
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Results Number of creative ideas
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Results Creativity of selected idea
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Study Conclusions

• Norms can be used to influence creativity,
  especially if they encourage individualism.
• Conformity pressure does not necessarily stifle
  creativity.
• Caveat Only if people feel pressure to conform
  to norms that are individualistic.
• Collectivistic groups, not individualistic groups
  benefit from reducing conformity pressure.

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Next week..

• Introduce two types of persuasion
• Innovation papers due April 13th.