The effects of social comparison and self-construal on creative idea generation: An EEG study

Social comparisons usually occur in teams when members are tasked with generating creative ideas. However, it is unclear how these comparisons influence creative idea generation, which may be due to a lack of research on the interpretations of social comparison feedback. Self-construal is a psychological characteristic wherein individuals attempt to explain their cooperation and personal behaviours. Therefore, this study explored the influence of social comparison and self-construal on creative idea generation and the underlying neural mechanisms by recording electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. Individuals with independent and interdependent self-construal were randomly assigned to upward or downward comparison conditions and completed an alternative uses task. Results indicated that interdependent self-construal individuals had better originality and flexibility performance in the upward comparison condition compared to those in the downward comparison condition. The EEG results further revealed that, among interdependent self-construal individuals, the upward comparison condition elicited greater alpha synchronization in the bilateral frontal, right parietal, and right temporal regions compared to the downward comparison condition. Moreover, in the upward comparison condition, left frontal alpha synchronization mediated the effect of interdependent self-construal on creative idea generation. These findings support the notion of the joint effect of self-construal and social comparison on creative idea generation and suggest that interdependent self-construal individuals are better able to control irrelevant interfering information and form novel associations during an upward comparison situation compared to a downward comparison situation.