No. 1 (2023)
Articles

Being bored, happy or focused – which is best for creative thinking? How different emotional states influence creativity

Anke Zeißig
Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg
Bio
Sebastian Pannasch
Technische Universität Dresden
Bio

Published 2023-03-09

Keywords

  • Boredom,
  • Creativity,
  • Emotion Induction,
  • Concentration,
  • Joy,
  • Video
  • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Zeißig, A., & Pannasch, S. (2023). Being bored, happy or focused – which is best for creative thinking? How different emotional states influence creativity. Journal of Boredom Studies, (1). Retrieved from https://www.boredomsociety.com/jbs/index.php/journal/article/view/16

Abstract

We aim to extend the body of research on boredom as a potentially creativity-enhancing state. Therefore, 124 students were assigned to one of five 6-minute interventions (boredom-discomfort, boredom-equanimity, boredom-continuation, joy, and concentration) and the effects on figural as well as verbal fluency and diversity as measures of creativity were examined. It was verified whether the emotional state changed during the intervention. In addition, the emotional dimensions, valence, arousal, and alertness were controlled before and after the test. Boredom-discomfort, joy, and concentration altered the emotion experienced during the intervention in the intended way. The boredom-equanimity and boredom-continuation groups served as control conditions for various boredom states, and less boredom resulted for subjects in these groups. Figural and verbal measures of creativity were differently influenced by the interventions. For verbal fluency, we obtained a significant interaction between time and group, in particular, the performance differed between the intervention with either concentration, or joy. Verbal creativity decreased after intervention in all groups, most for joy and boredom-discomfort groups and least for concentration. In contrast, figural performance increased in four groups, most for boredom-discomfort but not for concentration. Subsequent analyses revealed significant interaction effects between time and group with respect to both verbal and figural measures of creativity. The interventions had not only short-term effects on subjects' emotions but also, in some cases, a significant longer-term impact on emotion dimensions at the end of the study. After discussing methodological aspects, conclusions are drawn for further research approaches.

References

  1. Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context: update to the social psychology of creativity. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0813330341
  2. Andreasen, N. C. (2005). The creating brain, New York: Dana Press. ISBN 9781932594072
  3. Andreasen N. C. (2011). A journey into chaos: creativity and the unconscious. Mens sana monographs, 9(1), 42–53. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1229.77424
  4. Arzamarski, C. (2019). The art of boredom: practicing mindfulness, conversation, and creativity. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 35, 8. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30395
  5. Baas, M., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Nijstad, B. (2008). A meta-analysis of 25 years of mood-creativity research: hedonic tone, activation or regulatory focus? Psychological Bulletin, 134(6), 779–806. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012815
  6. Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W., Franklin, M. S., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Inspired by distraction: mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychological science, 23(10), 1117–1122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612446024
  7. Bilalić, M., & McLeod, P. (2014). Why good thoughts block better ones. Scientific American, 310, 74–79. DOI: 10.1038/scientificamerican0314-74
  8. Bledow, R., Rosing, K., & Frese, M. (2013). A dynamic perspective on affect and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 432–450. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0894
  9. Bowden E. M., & Jung-Beeman, M. (2003). Aha! Insight experience correlates with solution activation in the right hemisphere, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 10(3), 730–737. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196539
  10. Brewer, D., Doughtie, E. B., & Lubin, B. (1980). Induction of mood and mood shift. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36(1), 215–226. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(198001)36:1<215::aid-jclp2270360127>3.0.co;2-6
  11. Byron, K., & Khazanchi, S. (2011). A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship of state and trait anxiety to performance on figural and verbal creative tasks. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(2), 269–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167210392788
  12. Chermahini, S. A., & Hommel, B. (2012). Creative mood swings: divergent and convergent thinking affect mood in opposite ways. Psychological Research, 76, 634–640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-011-0358-z
  13. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203771587
  14. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2010). Das Flow-Erlebnis: Jenseits von Angst und Langeweile: im Tun aufgehen. (11.Aufl.) Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. ISBN 9783608953381
  15. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 978-94). Dordrecht: Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8
  16. De Bono, E. (1992). Laterales Denken. Düsseldorf: ECON. ISBN 3612211684
  17. Dijksterhuis, A., & Meurs, T. (2006). Where creativity resides: the generative power of unconscious thought. Consciousness and cognition, 15(1), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2005.04.007
  18. Doehlemann, M. (1991). Langeweile? Deutung eines verbreiteten Phänomens. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. ISBN 351811641X
  19. Düker, H., Lienert, G.A., Lukesch, H., & Mayrhofer, S. (2001). KLT-R. Konzentrations-Leistungs-Test (revidierte Fassung). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
  20. Eastwood, J., & Gorelik, D. (2019). Boredom is a feeling of thinking and a double-edged sword. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26395-9_4
  21. Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.
  22. Fink, A., & Benedek, M. (2014). EEG alpha power and creative ideation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 44, 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.12.002
  23. Fink, A., Schwab, D., & Papousek, I. (2011). Sensitivity of EEG upper alpha activity to cognitive and affective creativity interventions. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 82, 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.003
  24. Flaherty, A. W. (2005). Frontotemporal and dopaminergic control of idea generation and creative drive. The Journal of comparative neurology, 493(1), 147–153. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.20768
  25. Forgeard, M. J. C. (2011). Happy people thrive on adversity: Pre-existing mood moderates the effect of emotion inductions on creative thinking. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(8), 904–909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.015
  26. Gasper, K., & Middlewood, B. L. (2014). Approaching novel thoughts: understanding why elation and boredom promote associative thought more than distress and relaxation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 52, 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.12.007
  27. Gilman, T. L., Shaheen, R., Nylocks, K. M., Halachoff, D., Chapman, J., Flynn, J. J., Matt, L. M., & Coifman, K. G. (2017). A film set for the elicitation of emotion in research: A comprehensive catalog derived from four decades of investigation. Behavior research methods, 49(6), 2061–2082. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-016-0842-x
  28. Gilhooly, K. J., Georgiou, G., & Devery, U. (2013). Incubation and creativity: Do something different. Thinking & Reasoning, 19(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2012.749812
  29. Glass, G. V., Peckham, P. D., & Sanders, J. R. (1972). Consequences of failure to meet assumptions underlying the fixed effects analyses of variance and Covariance. Review of Educational Research, 42(3), 237–288. https://doi:10.3102/00346543042003237
  30. Glaveanu, V. P., Hanchett Hanson, M., Baer, J., Barbot, B., Clapp, E. P., Corazza, G. E., Hennessey, B., Kaufman, J. C., Lebuda, I., Lubart, T., Montuori, A., Ness, I. J., Plucker, J., Reiter‐Palmon, R., Sierra, Z., Simonton, D. K., Neves‐Pereira, M. S., & Sternberg, R. J. (2020). Advancing creativity theory and research: A socio-cultural manifesto. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 54(3), 741–745. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.395
  31. Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Hall, N. C., Nett, U. E., Pekrun, R., & Lipnevich, A. A. (2014). Types of boredom: An experience sampling approach. Motivation and Emotion, 38(3), 401–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-013-9385-y
  32. Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1995). Emotion elicitation using films. Cognition and Emotion, 9, 87–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939508408966
  33. Haager, J. S., Kuhbandner, C., & Pekrun, R. (2018). To be bored or not to be bored – how task‐related boredom influences creative performance. Journal of Creative Behavior, 52(4), 297–304. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.154
  34. Hunter, J. (2015). The Inspiration of boredom: an investigation of the relationship between boredom and creativity. Unpublished master thesis. Toronto: York University. http://hdl.handle.net/10315/30697
  35. Horn, A., Ostwald, D., Reisert, M., & Blankenburg, F. (2014). The structural-functional connectome and the default mode network of the human brain. NeuroImage, 102 Pt 1, 142–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.069
  36. IBM Corp. Released 2020. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
  37. Israel, L., Paukner, P., Schiestel, L., Diepold, K., & Schönbrodt, F. (2021). The OpenLAV video database for affect induction: Analyzing the uniformity of video stimuli effects. https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.5043
  38. Jäger, A. O., Süß, H.-M., & Beauducel, A. (1997). Berliner Intelligenzstruktur-Test. BIS-test, Form 4. Göttingen: Hogrefe. https://www.testzentrale.de/shop/berliner-intelligenzstruktur-test.html
  39. Janke, W., & Weyers, P. (2008). In W. Janke, M. Schmidt-Daffy & G. Debus (Hrsg.), Experimentelle Emotionspsychologie. 225–279. Berlin: Lengerich Pabst. ISBN 978-3-89967-450-7
  40. Jäncke, L. (2012). Funktionale links-rechts-Asymmetrien. In: Karnath, H. O., Thier, P. (eds) Kognitive Neurowissenschaften. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25527-4_63
  41. Jaussi, K. S., Knights, A. R., & Gupta, A. (2017). Feeling good, being intentional, and their relationship to two types of creativity at work. Creativity Research Journal, 29(4), 377–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2017.1376498
  42. Jaynes, J. (1990). The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0395563526
  43. Kim, K. H. (2011). The Creativity Crisis: The decrease in creative thinking scores on the torrance tests of creative thinking, Creativity Research Journal, 23(4), 285–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2011.627805
  44. Kast, V. (2003). Vom Interesse und dem Sinn der Langeweile. München: dtv. ISBN 978-3-423-35162-4
  45. Klimesch, W., Sauseng, P., & Hanslmayr, S. (2007). EEG alpha oscillations: the inhibition-timing hypothesis. Brain research reviews, 53(1), 63–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresrev.2006.06.003
  46. Kris, Ernst (1952). Psychoanalytic explorations in art. New York: International Universities Press. ISBN 082368220X
  47. Mann, S., & Cadman, R. (2014). Does being bored make us more creative? Creativity Research Journal, 26(2), 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2014.901073
  48. Markey, A., Chin, A., Vanepps, E. M., & Loewenstein, G. (2014). Identifying a reliable boredom induction. Perceptual and motor skills, 119(1), 237–253. https://doi.org/10.2466/27.PMS.119c18z6
  49. Marope, M., Griffin, P., & Gallagher, C. (2018) Future competences and future of curriculum. A global reference for curricula transformation. IBE UNESCO. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/resources/future_competences_and_the_future_of_curriculum.pdf
  50. Martindale, C. (1989). Personality, Situation, and Creativity. In: Glover, J.A., Ronning, R.R., Reynolds, C.R. (eds) Handbook of Creativity. Perspectives on Individual Differences. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5356-1_13
  51. Martindale, C., & Hasenfus, N. (1978). EEG differences as a function of creativity, stage of the creative process, and effort to be original. Biological Psychology, 6(3), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-0511(78)90018-2
  52. Mednick, S. (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review, 69(3), 220–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0048850
  53. Mendelsohn, G. A. (1976). Associative and attentional processes in creative performance. Journal of Personality, 44(2), 341–369. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1976.tb00127.x
  54. Portney, L.G., & Watkins, M.P. (1993) Foundations of clinical research: applications to practice. Connecticut: Appleton & Lange. ISBN 0803646577
  55. Quindlen, A. (2002). Doing nothing is something, Newsweek 139(19), 76. PMID: 12037917
  56. Richter, P., & Hacker, W. (2008). Belastung und Beanspruchung: Stress, Ermüdung und Burnout im Arbeitsleben (2. Auflage). Kröning: Asanger Verlag. ISBN 9783893343249
  57. Ritter, S. M., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). Creativity – The unconscious foundations of the incubation period. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8(25), 215. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00215
  58. Rottenberg, J., Ray, R. D., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Emotion elicitation using films. In J. A. Coan & J. J. B. Allen (Hrsg.), The handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment, 9–28. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195169157
  59. Runco, M. A. (2017). Comments on where the creativity research has been and where is it going. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 51(4), 308–313. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.189
  60. Runco, M. A., & Jaeger, G. J. (2012). The standard definition of creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 92–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2012.650092
  61. Runco, M. A., & Sakamoto, S. O. (1999). Experimental studies of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Hrsg.). Handbook of Creativity, 62–92. Cambridge: University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511807916
  62. Salkind, N. J. (2010). Encyclopedia of research design (Vol. 1). SAGE Publications, Inc., 1637-1638.https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412961288.n502
  63. Samson, A. C., Kreibig, S. D., Soderstrom, B., Wade, A. A., & Gross J. J. (2016). Eliciting positive, negative and mixed emotional states: A film library for affective scientists. Cognition and Emotion, 30(5), 827–856. 10.1080/02699931.2015.1031089
  64. Schaefer, A., Nils, F., Sanchez, X., & Philippot, P. (2010). Assessing the effectiveness of a large database of emotion-eliciting films: A new tool for emotion researchers, Cognition & Emotion 24(7), 1153–1172. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930903274322
  65. Schleicher, R. (2009). Emotionen und Peripherphysiologie. Emotionale Filmclips, kontinuierliche Selbstbewertung und peripherphysiologie inklusive okulomotorische Veränderungen. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers. ISBN 978-3-89967-562-7
  66. Schuler, H., & Görlich, Y. (2007): Kreativität: Ursachen, Messung, Förderung und Umsetzung in Innovation. Hogrefe: Göttingen. ISBN 9783801720285
  67. Scott, G., Leritz, L. E., & Mumford, M. D. (2004). The effectiveness of creativity training: a quantitative review. Creativity Research Journal, 16(4), 361–388. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1604_1
  68. Shofty, B., Gonen, T., Bergmann, E., Mayseless, N., Korn, A., Shamay-Tsoory, S., Grossman, R., Jalon, I., Kahn, I., & Ram, Z. (2022). The default network is causally linked to creative thinking. Molecular psychiatry, 27(3), 1848–1854. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01403-8
  69. Shrout, P. E., & Fleiss, J. L. (1979). Intraclass correlations: uses in assessing rater reliability. Psychological Bulletin, 86(2), 420–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.86.2.420
  70. Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2009). Mind-wandering. In: T. Bayne, A. Cleermans & P. Wilken (Hrsg.), The Oxford Companion to Consciousness. S. 443–445. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198712183
  71. Smart, R. G. (1966). Subject selection bias in psychological research. Canadian Psychologist/Psychologie canadienne, 7a(2), 115–121. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0083096
  72. Stein, M. I. (1953). Creativity and culture. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 36, 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1953.9712897
  73. Stevens, C. E., Jr., & Zabelina, D. L. (2019). Creativity comes in waves: An EEG-focused exploration of the creative brain. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, 154–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.02.003
  74. Steyer, R., Schwenkmezger, P., Notz, P., & Eid, M. (1997). Der Mehrdimensionale. Befindlichkeitsfragebogen (MDBF). Handanweisung. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
  75. Tomasino, D. (2007). The psychophysiological basis of creativity and intuition: accessing 'the zone' of entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 4(5), 528–542. 10.1504/IJESB.2007.014388
  76. Williams, R., Runco, M. A., & Berlow, E. (2016). Mapping the themes, impact, and cohesion of creativity research over the last 25 years. Creativity Research Journal, 28(4), 385–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2016.1230358
  77. Yang, H., Chattopadhyay, A., Zhang, K., & Dahl, D. W. (2012). Unconscious creativity: When can unconscious thought outperform conscious thought? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(4), 573–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2012.04.002
  78. Zeißig, A. (2018). The Creative Act as a Mode of Research: Ten Emotions – Ten Films. Weinböhla: edition neuhaus. http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4852
  79. Zeißig, A., Kansok-Dusche, J., Fischer S. M., Moeller, J., & Bilz, L. (in prep.). The connection of boredom and creativity in educational context – scoping review.
  80. Zempelin, S., Sejunaite, K., Lanza, C., & Riepe, M. (2021). Emotion induction in young and old persons on watching movie segments: Facial expressions reflect subjective ratings. PLOS ONE 16. 10.1371/journal.pone.0253378
  81. Zhong, C. B., Dijksterhuis, A., & Galinsky, A. D. (2008). The merits of unconscious thought in creativity. Psychological science, 19(9), 912–918. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02176.x