Can Priming Multiple Identities Enhance Divergent Thinking for Middle School Students?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Previous research suggests that fostering multiple identities can boost children's creative performance, specifically divergent thinking.
• Divergent thinking is a crucial component of creativity, involving the generation of multiple solutions to a problem.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if priming middle school students to consider multiple identities enhances their divergent thinking.
• To examine the effectiveness and replicability of social priming on creativity.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments utilized a priming paradigm with junior high school students.
• Participants were assigned to either a multiple identities or a physical trait condition.
• Experiment 2 refined the priming method and incorporated a subjective scoring approach for originality.

Main Results:

• Neither experiment found significant differences in divergent thinking scores between the multiple identities and physical trait groups.
• The results contradicted previous findings that linked multiple identities to higher creativity scores.

Conclusions:

• Priming to enhance divergent thinking appears to be ineffective in this context.
• The study advises caution regarding the replicability and generalizability of social priming effects on creativity.