Can salient reward increase creative performance without reducing intrinsic creative interest?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Understanding factors influencing creativity in children is crucial for educational development.
• Monetary rewards are often explored as motivators, but their impact on creativity is debated.
• Previous research suggests potential negative effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of monetary reward on generalized creative performance in preadolescent children.
• To examine how reward conditions influence intrinsic creative interest.
• To determine if reward for novel performance impacts creativity and interest differently than reward for uncreative performance.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted with 416 preadolescent school children.
• Experiment 1: Assessed creative performance on a drawing task after a "unusual uses" task with varying reward conditions (large, small, no reward).
• Experiment 2: Measured intrinsic creative interest by observing children's choice between original and copied drawings after reward conditions for novel or uncreative performance.

Main Results:

• A large monetary reward for novel performance in one task significantly enhanced creative performance in a subsequent, different task.
• Reward for novel performance increased intrinsic creative interest, indicated by a preference for original creative work.
• Intrinsic creative interest was only reduced when rewards were given for uncreative performance.

Conclusions:

• The explicit requirement of novel performance for a salient monetary reward can enhance generalized creativity in children.
• This enhancement in creativity does not necessarily lead to a loss of intrinsic creative interest.
• Careful structuring of reward conditions is essential to leverage monetary incentives for boosting creativity.