Creativity and Cognitive Skills among Millennials: Thinking Too Much and Creating Too Little

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Organizations seek creative millennials but perceive them as lacking diligence.
• Diligent millennials are often identified by high scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), indicating effortful thinking.
• A key question is whether selecting for diligence (via CRT) conflicts with recruiting creativity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between millennials' creativity and their performance on fluid intelligence (Raven's Progressive Matrices) and cognitive reflection (CRT) tests.
• To determine if criteria used to recruit diligent millennials impede the recruitment of creative individuals.

Main Methods:

• Assessed millennials' creativity using measures of convergent and divergent thinking.
• Measured fluid intelligence using Raven's Progressive Matrices.
• Measured cognitive reflection using the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT).

Main Results:

• Fluid intelligence positively correlated with convergent creative thinking.
• Fluid intelligence positively affected originality and elaboration in divergent creative thinking.
• An inverted U-shaped relationship was found between cognitive reflection and fluency/flexibility in divergent creative thinking, indicating excessive reflection may hinder creativity.

Conclusions:

• Fluid intelligence is beneficial for both convergent and divergent creative thinking in millennials.
• While cognitive reflection shows some positive association with creativity, excessive reflection can negatively impact key aspects of divergent thinking.
• Organizations may face a trade-off between recruiting for diligence (high CRT) and creativity, as these traits may not always coexist, making diligent and creative millennials rare.