2011/11/29 by Jennifer S. Mueller, Jennifer Mueller, Shimul Melwani +1 · 4 citations
Decision Sciences · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Creativity in Education and Neuroscience #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/0956797611421018
openalex publication_date 2011/11/29 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
People often reject creative ideas, even when espousing creativity as a desired goal. To explain this paradox, we propose that people can hold a bias against creativity that is not necessarily overt and that is activated when people experience a motivation to reduce uncertainty. In two experiments, we manipulated uncertainty using different methods, including an uncertainty-reduction prime. The results of both experiments demonstrated the existence of a negative bias against creativity (relative to practicality) when participants experienced uncertainty. Furthermore, this bias against creativity interfered with participants' ability to recognize a creative idea. These results reveal a concealed barrier that creative actors may face as they attempt to gain acceptance for their novel ideas.