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How Multiple Social Identities Are Related to Creativity.
Niklas K Steffens1, Małgorzata A Gocłowska2, Tegan Cruwys3
1The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia N.Steffens@uq.edu.au.
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|December 10, 2015
Summary
Having multiple social identities enhances creativity, boosting idea fluency and originality. This effect is linked to increased cognitive flexibility, not persistence.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Creativity Research
Background:
- Social identities, or groups relevant to self-concept, are fundamental to individual identity.
- The relationship between the diversity of social identities and cognitive functions like creativity remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between possessing multiple social identities and creativity.
- To explore the mediating role of cognitive flexibility and persistence in this relationship.
- To validate findings across multiple studies and rule out alternative explanations.
Main Methods:
- Three studies were conducted, involving participants reporting their social identities.
- Creativity was assessed through idea fluency (generating product names) and originality.
- Cognitive flexibility, persistence, personality traits, self-affirmation, and novelty seeking were measured.
Main Results:
- A positive correlation was found between the number of social identities and idea fluency.
- Multiple social identities predicted greater fluency and originality, mediated by cognitive flexibility.
- Persistence did not mediate the relationship; alternative explanations were ruled out.
Conclusions:
- Possessing multiple social identities is robustly associated with enhanced creativity.
- Cognitive flexibility is a key mechanism linking multiple identities to creative output.
- Findings were consistent across studies and robust to personality controls.
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