A Wandering Mind Is Not Always a Creative Mind: How Thought Dynamics Explain the Relationship between Mind Wandering and Creativity
In: Journal of Creative Behavior, Jg. 58 (2024-03-01), Heft 1, S. 151-170
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Zugriff:
A wandering mind is not always a creative mind. Anecdotes about ideas spontaneously entering awareness during walks, showers, and other off-task activities are plenty. The science behind it, however, is still inconclusive. Creativity might result from how thought context--whether thoughts are on-task or off-task--relates to thought dynamics--how thoughts unfold. To explore this, study 1 (n = 85) surveyed creative professionals about a single idea they had earlier in the day. The spontaneity of thoughts positively correlated with self-reported creativity, whereas off-task thoughts or doing something else did not. Study 2 (n = 180) replicated these findings in a student sample during an idea generation task and added that free movement of thoughts also correlates with self-reported originality during idea generation. As indicated by expert ratings, no relationship of thought dynamics and thought context was found with population-level creativity. Herewith, this study suggests that thought dynamics, rather than thought context, explain the often suggested relationship between mind wandering and creativity.
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A Wandering Mind Is Not Always a Creative Mind: How Thought Dynamics Explain the Relationship between Mind Wandering and Creativity
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Rooij, Alwin ; Atef, Ali ; Faber, Myrthe |
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Zeitschrift: | Journal of Creative Behavior, Jg. 58 (2024-03-01), Heft 1, S. 151-170 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2024 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 0022-0175 (print) ; 2162-6057 (electronic) |
DOI: | 10.1002/jocb.640 |
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