TY - JOUR
T1 - How does emotion influence different creative performances? The mediating role of cognitive flexibility
AU - Lin, Wei Lun
AU - Tsai, Ping Hsun
AU - Lin, Hung Yu
AU - Chen, Hsueh Chih
N1 - Funding Information:
Correspondence should be addressed to: Wei-Lun Lin, Department of Psychology, Fo Guang University, No. 160, Linwei Rd., Jiaosi Shiang, Yilan County 26247, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected] We thank Professor Rothermund and other anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments on the draft. We also thank Chao-Yuan Tseng for helping with the data analysis. This research was supported by grants to the first author from the National Science Council of Taiwan [grant number 99-2410-H-431-015] and to the fourth author from the “International Research-Intensive Center of Excellence Program” of National Taiwan Normal University [grant number NSC102-2911-I-003-301] and the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, under the Aiming for the Top University Plan at National Taiwan Normal University.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Cognitive flexibility is proposed to be one of the factors underlying how positive emotions can improve creativity. However, previous works have seldom set up or empirically measured an independent index to demonstrate its mediating effect, nor have they investigated its mediating role on different types of creative performances, which involve distinct processes. In this study, 120 participants were randomly assigned to positive, neutral or negative affect conditions. Their levels of cognitive flexibility were then measured by a switch task. Finally, their creative performances were calibrated by either an open-ended divergent thinking test or a closed-ended insight problem-solving task. The results showed that positive emotional states could reduce switch costs and enhance both types of creative performances. However, cognitive flexibility exhibited a full mediating effect only on the relationship between positive emotion and insight problem solving, but not between positive emotion and divergent thinking. Divergent thinking was instead more associated with arousal level. These results suggest that emotions might influence different creative performances through distinct mechanisms.
AB - Cognitive flexibility is proposed to be one of the factors underlying how positive emotions can improve creativity. However, previous works have seldom set up or empirically measured an independent index to demonstrate its mediating effect, nor have they investigated its mediating role on different types of creative performances, which involve distinct processes. In this study, 120 participants were randomly assigned to positive, neutral or negative affect conditions. Their levels of cognitive flexibility were then measured by a switch task. Finally, their creative performances were calibrated by either an open-ended divergent thinking test or a closed-ended insight problem-solving task. The results showed that positive emotional states could reduce switch costs and enhance both types of creative performances. However, cognitive flexibility exhibited a full mediating effect only on the relationship between positive emotion and insight problem solving, but not between positive emotion and divergent thinking. Divergent thinking was instead more associated with arousal level. These results suggest that emotions might influence different creative performances through distinct mechanisms.
KW - Cognitive flexibility
KW - Divergent thinking
KW - Emotional state
KW - Insight problem solving
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U2 - 10.1080/02699931.2013.854195
DO - 10.1080/02699931.2013.854195
M3 - Article
C2 - 24237485
AN - SCOPUS:84900866469
SN - 0269-9931
VL - 28
SP - 834
EP - 844
JO - Cognition and Emotion
JF - Cognition and Emotion
IS - 5
ER -