Resumen de Is Negative Affect that Bad? The Effect of Affective States on Conventional and Unconventional Creative Thinking in University Students

Pedro Rosa, Roberto Ribeiro da Silva, Sara Ibérico Nogueira

• español

  Introducción. Él papel de los estados afectivos en el proceso creativo ha sido objeto de atención por parte de los investigadores y ha dado lugar a resultados contradictorios. La mayor parte de la investigación en creatividad ha hecho hincapié en el papel de los estados afectivos, principalmente los positivos, sobre los niveles de creatividad. A saber, los resultantes de las tareas de pensamiento divergente que revelan la forma no convencional de pensar en el proceso creativo. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar el efecto de los estados afectivos inducidos en dos dimensiones distintas del pensamiento creativo en adultos. Método. Setenta y cinco voluntarios, en su mayoría mujeres, con una edad media de 26.95 años, fueron asignados aleatoriamente a tres condiciones de elicitación de estados afectivos(agradable vs desagradable vs neutral), justo antes de realizar una tarea de creatividad figurativa. Resultados. Los resultados indicaron que el estado afectivo negativo condujo a niveles más altos de pensamiento convencional. Conclusiones. Nuestros resultados no apoyan ni la hipótesis de que el afecto negativo tiene un efecto perjudicial sobre la creatividad ni la de que el afecto positivo aumenta la creatividad. El afecto negativo parece promover el pensamiento convencional, quizá debido a sus correlatos cognitivos, que pueden manifestarse en la atención focalizada y el pensamiento analítico. Se discuten las implicaciones prácticas y teóricas para futuras investigaciones sobre el papel de los estados afectivos en la creatividad.

• English

  Introduction. The role of affective states on the creative process has been receiving the attention of researchers and has led to contradictory results. Most research in creativity has emphasized the role of affective states, mainly positive ones, on creativity levels, namely those resulting from divergent thinking tasks that reveal the unconventional way of thinking in the creative process. However, there are no studies to date that focus on the impact of affective states on conventional and unconventional thinking, during the same creative process, which consider a single creative assessment task. The aim of this experimental study was to analyze the effect of induced affective states on both conventional and unconventional thinking of creativity in adults by using the TCT-DP (Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production). Method. Seventy-five university students, mostly female, with a mean age of 26.95 years, were randomly assigned into three affect elicitation conditions (pleasant vs. unpleasant vs. neutral). Results. Results indicated that the negative affective state led to higher levels of conventional thinking when compared to positive and neutral affective states. However, no significant differences were found on unconventional thinking across the three conditions. Conclusions. Our results do not support the assumption that the negative affect has a hindering effect on creativity nor the positive affect increases creativity. Negative affect seems to promote conventional thinking, perhaps due to its cognitive correlates, which can be manifested in focusing attention and analytic thinking. Practical and theoretical implications for future research on the role of affective states on creativity are discussed