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The impact of competition on intrinsic motivation and creativity: Considering gender, gender segregation and gender role orientation
Abstract
The present research investigated whether competition influences children's artistic creativity and intrinsic motivation toward an art activity. Study 1 tested the hypothesis that boys' creativity would be enhanced by competition, while girls' creativity would be undermined. Fifty children (aged 6–10) made paper collages in one of two conditions; half competed for prizes and half did not. Results supported our hypotheses, and further showed that when children self-segregated by gender, the impact of competition was much more pronounced. Study 2 was designed to clarify the unexpected gender-segregation finding from Study 1. The Children's Sex Role Inventory [Boldizar, J.P. (1991). Assessing sex typing and androgyny in children: the Children's Sex Role Inventory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 505–515] was administered to 143 children (aged 6–11). One week later, these children made paper collages in one of four conditions; in addition to manipulating competition, assigned seating ensured that half of children were segregated by gender and half were not. Following the collage activity, an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation questionnaire was administered. Masculine children reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation when competing and when segregated by gender; they also reported higher levels of extrinsic motivation, especially when segregated by gender. These findings demonstrate that gender role is an important factor in determining children's responses to competition.
... Second, the findings on the impact of real-life social feedback on creative thinking are inconsistent (Amabile, 1982a;Balietti et al., 2016;Bittner & Heidemeier, 2013;Clark & Goldsmith, 2006;Conti et al., 2001;De Vet & De Dreu, 2007; Eisenberg & Thompson, 2011;Erat & Gneezy, 2016;Landers et al., 2019;Michinov & Primois, 2005;Raina, 1968;Redifer et al., 2021;Shalley & Oldham, 1997;Strong & Gray, 1972;Van de Ven et al., 2011;Van Knippenberg et al., 1981;Van Leeuwen & Baas, 2017). ...
... Previous creativity research generated empirical evidence regarding the effect of social comparison on creativity. In detail, existing studies examined how the presence (Michinov & Primois, 2005;Redifer et al., 2021;Shalley & Oldham, 1997;Strong & Gray, 1972;Van Knippenberg et al., 1981), the expectations ( (Amabile, 1982a;Balietti et al., 2016;Conti et al., 2001;Eisenberg & Thompson, 2011;Landers et al., 2019;Raina, 1968;Van Leeuwen & Baas, 2017) or zero-sum competition (Bittner & Heidemeier, 2013;Erat & Gneezy, 2016) affect divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and creative design or side products of creativity at individual and group levels. ...
... Some of them were told that the top three performers would receive a prize (experimental group), and some were told that the prize winner would be raffled off (control group). The results showed that the experimental group created more creative paper collages than the control group (Conti et al., 2001). However, the positive effects of competition on creative product design disappear for girls. ...
Creative thinking is the psychological mechanism underlying the descriptive process that produces real-life creative outcomes. However, the connection between individual creative thinking and real-life creativity remains unclear. For example, the widely employed psychometric tools for creative thinking showed limited predictive power towards real-life creativity. In addition, empirical evidence for the social psychology of creativity is inconsistent. Also, the links between creative thinking and social cognitive process are rarely validated in the field. Besides, some domains that require creativity lack guiding theories and empirical evidence. Therefore, this research project aimed to advance the understanding of creative thinking and its role in real-life situations. To address the knowledge gap and fulfil the central purpose, we conducted four pilot and seven main studies using quantitative research methods. Accordingly, we created an integrative-thinking-based psychometric tool - Function Synthesis Task and validated its discriminate validity and predictive ability towards engineering students' creative product design. To understand the link between social comparison and creativity, we produced a new experimental paradigm that addressed existing methodological issues. We employed the paradigm and found that competition and star rating feedback altered speed or performance in creative thinking tasks. Besides, we produced a new product design task based on a hot topic at the time and found that ranking feedback benefited engineering students' creative performance in the task. Moreover, we designed a new un-stereotype intervention and found its effectiveness in improving marketers' divergent thinking. We also found that advertising stereotypes increased audiences' perceived creativity. Our research shows that integrative thinking and social cognition might play essential roles in developing the theory of creative thinking and offers novel research tools for future studies. We also form practical advice to guide educators, organisational leaders, and policymakers to promote creativity, diversity, and inclusion in real-life situations.
... In adults, competition has similar effects as cooperation on cognitive control performance and related prefrontal cortex activity (Decety et al., 2004;Liu et al., 2015). Interestingly, unlike cooperation, competition seems to differentially affect boys and girls, with competition enhancing boys' performance in creativity and dexterity tasks but yielding either no gain or even worse performance in girls, relative to individual contexts (Conti, Ann, & Picariello, 2001;Samak, 2013). However, it is unknown whether competition differentially affects cognitive control in boys and girls. ...
... Specifically, acting toward the same goal as a partner or competing with an opponent may increase awareness of the relevant task goal and willingness to adopt different perspectives and problem-solving methods that help children to regulate their thoughts and actions (see Qu, 2011). Sharing a common goal with a partner may be intrinsically motivating (Decety et al., 2004), whereas competition has been repeatedly found to yield greater motivation, enjoyment, and task engagement (Cagiltay, Ozcelik, & Ozcelik, 2015;Conti et al., 2001;Nebel, Schneider, & Rey, 2016;Plass et al., 2013;Song, Kim, Tenzek, & Min, 2013). Both cooperation and competition may increase children's motivation to reach task goals and, thus, lead to greater cognitive control engagement. ...
... Intriguingly, although both competition and cooperation yielded similar performance benefits in terms of response accuracy and response times (the latter in school-age children only), they influenced pupil dilation differently as a function of age; preschoolers showed greatest pupil dilation during competition, whereas school-age children showed greatest pupil dilation during cooperation. Preschoolers may have found the competitive context especially salient and motivating, which is consistent with prior findings suggesting that competition increases motivation in young children (e.g., Conti et al., 2001). Preschoolers may have found competition to be especially enjoyable and motivating, potentially because their immature metacognitive abilities, which often lead them to overestimate their performance (e.g., Flavell, Speer, Green, & August, 1981), led them to overestimate their chance to outscore their opponent and to approach the competitive condition more optimistically than school-age children. ...
Cognitive control is often engaged in social contexts where actions are socially relevant. Yet, little is known about the immediate influence of the social context on childhood cognitive control. To examine whether competition or cooperation can enhance cognitive control, preschool and school-age children completed the AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) in competitive, cooperative, and neutral contexts. Children made fewer errors, responded faster, and engaged more cognitive effort, as shown by greater pupil dilation, in the competitive and cooperative social contexts relative to the neutral context. Competition and cooperation yielded greater cognitive control engagement but did not change how control was engaged (reactively or proactively). Manipulating the social context can be a powerful tool to support cognitive control in childhood.
... Competition can be seen as a social activity, which can be expected to tap into the relatedness need of the SDT. However, existing studies in other domains have shown that competition can also foster extrinsic motivation, depending on the characteristics of the individual [25]. Moreover, some studies have argued that the requisite for motivational benefits is that competition ought to be fair and that those competing should be at a relatively even performance level, and that its main motivational mechanism might be social pressure [25,26]. ...
... However, existing studies in other domains have shown that competition can also foster extrinsic motivation, depending on the characteristics of the individual [25]. Moreover, some studies have argued that the requisite for motivational benefits is that competition ought to be fair and that those competing should be at a relatively even performance level, and that its main motivational mechanism might be social pressure [25,26]. ...
Gamification is one of the leading behavioral change strategies whose central premise is to afford experiences that resemble those present in games to provide intrinsic motivation. At the same time, gamification has an underlying utilitarian purpose and therefore its use is additionally driven by expected benefits. However, while gamification designs can afford a wide range of experiences, the corpus needs studies that examine which of these experiences induce intrinsic motivation, and which are associated with extrinsic motivation related to the utilitarian outcomes. Therefore, this study deploys a vignette-based online study (n=937) to examine the relationships between gameful experience dimensions (i.e., accomplishment, challenge, social experience, immersion, competition, guided, playfulness), and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in a case study related to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the results, accomplishment, social experience, competition, and playfulness are positively associated with intrinsic motivation. Moreover, accomplishment, social experience, guided, and playfulness are positively associated with extrinsic motivation.
... On the other hand, girls' decision to act creatively seems to be rather related to their self-esteem and self-concept than to external verbal or material rewards (BAER; KAUFMAN, 2008). In this regard it has been assumed that males and females tend to perceive different factors as serious barriers to their creativity (ABRAHAM, 2016;BAER, 1998;BAER;KAUFMAN, 2008;CONTI;COLLINS;PICARIELLO, 2001;MORAIS et al., 2014). ...
... The only significant difference between the two genders was related to "lack of motivation", which was perceived as a stronger obstructer to boys' creativity compared with girls'. This finding is in line with previous research which has found some variation in perceptions of males and females related to motivational stimulation for creativity (BAER, 1998;BAER;KAUFMAN, 2008;CONTI;COLLINS;PICARIELLO, 2001;MORAIS et al., 2014). For instance, expecting ungraded feedback and evaluation has been reported to have a positive impact on motivation for creativity of male adolescents but seemed to decrease the motivation of their female peers implying a peculiar "social psychology of gender creativity" (BAER, 1997(BAER, , 1998. ...
RESUMO Nos últimos anos, o cultivo da criatividade dos alunos é uma meta amplamente reconhecida da educação moderna. No entanto, várias barreiras impedem a expressão da capacidade criativa dentro do contexto escolar. A influência de muitas barreiras identificadas pela pesquisa pode variar em diferentes contextos culturais, bem como em relação à capacidade criativa individual. A esse respeito, o presente estudo investigou a influência percebida de certas barreiras à criatividade nos alunos do ensino médio grego em termos de gênero e capacidade criativa. Para os propósitos do estudo, 152 jovens adolescentes completaram a versão traduzida do instrumento Barreiras à Criatividade Pessoal (ALENCAR, 1996; MORAIS et al., 2014), enquanto seu potencial criativo foi avaliado pelas escalas gráfico-artísticas do instrumento Avaliação do Potencial Criativo (Evaluation of Creative Potential Battery - EPoC). Os resultados demonstraram que barreiras como falta de tempo e oportunidades, inibição, timidez e falta de motivação foram percebidas pelos participantes como obstáculos comuns que afetam consideravelmente sua criatividade, enquanto a repressão social relatou estar afetando sua criatividade em menor grau. Em geral, as percepções de obstáculos à criatividade não pareciam afetar significativamente o potencial criativo ou o gênero dos alunos. Nesse sentido, a alta influência percebida de inibidores específicos na criatividade refletiu um clima nas escolas gregas que, em geral, parece ter pouca simpatia pela criatividade. Assim, as intervenções para aumentar a criatividade dos alunos devem se concentrar na remoção de tais barreiras e na melhoria do clima escolar.
... Given the above information, it can be speculated that the gender gap in science motivation and creativity observed in this study may have also been accentuated by the motivating function of the competition element in the STEAM intervention. Although students' interest in science careers has been found to be positively associated with their participation in STEM competitions (Miller et al., 2018), research has shown that, according to their gender role orientation, female and male students may respond differently to external incentives, and specifically competitions, with masculine pupils becoming more intrinsically motivated and creative when competing than feminine ones (Conti et al., 2001). Notably, this difference is pronounced when students perform tasks in gender-segregated groups (ibid.). ...
... As a last remark, it may be worth emphasising the need for careful attention to how the gender composition of groups may trigger different motivational processes of their members when STEAM projects entail a competition element. In the present study, for example, if teachers were aware that the motivational effect of competition on creativity is contingent upon the gender composition of student teams, they would have considered the formation of gender-integrated teams which, as Conti et al's (2001) research has shown, are less likely to undermine girls' intrinsic motivation and creativity compared to gender-homogenous groups. ...
With the increasing shift from STEM to STEAM education, arts-based approaches to science teaching and learning are considered promising for aligning school science curricula with the development of twenty-first century skills, including creativity. Yet the impact of STEAM practices on student creativity and specifically on how the latter is associated with science learning outcomes have thus far received scarce empirical support. This paper contributes to this line of research by reporting on a two-wave quantitative study that examines the effect of a long-term STEAM intervention on two cognitive processes associated with creativity (act, flow) and their interrelationships with intrinsic and extrinsic components of science motivation. Using pre- and post-survey data from 175 high-school students in Italy, results show an overall positive effect of the intervention both on the act subscale of creativity and science career motivation, whereas a negative effect is found on self-efficacy. Gender differences in the above effects are also observed. Further, results provide support for the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between creativity and science career motivation. Implications for the design of STEAM learning environments are discussed.
... Research has suggested that the relationship between competitiveness level and creativity differs between a closed group (whose members do not change) and an open group (in which new members join and original members leave) (Baer et al., 2010). Conti et al. (2001) also found that competition had different effects on males and females, improving creativity for boys but reducing creativity for girls, because boys view competition as challenging and exciting, but girls feel controlled under conditions of competition (Conti et al., 2001). More closely related to our study, recent work by Amabile and Pratt (2016) suggested that synergistic extrinsic motivation can be conducive to creativity, while controlling extrinsic motivation would undermine creativity. ...
... Research has suggested that the relationship between competitiveness level and creativity differs between a closed group (whose members do not change) and an open group (in which new members join and original members leave) (Baer et al., 2010). Conti et al. (2001) also found that competition had different effects on males and females, improving creativity for boys but reducing creativity for girls, because boys view competition as challenging and exciting, but girls feel controlled under conditions of competition (Conti et al., 2001). More closely related to our study, recent work by Amabile and Pratt (2016) suggested that synergistic extrinsic motivation can be conducive to creativity, while controlling extrinsic motivation would undermine creativity. ...
Due to the close relationship among intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, regulatory focus, and creativity revealed by previous literature, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation may play a mediating role between regulatory focus and creativity. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between regulatory focus and creativity by combining intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. In this study, senior high school students (n = 418) completed the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire, the Working Preference Inventory, the Williams Creativity Assessment Packet, and the Kirton Adaption–Innovation Inventory. The correlation analysis showed that both promotion and prevention focus positively correlated with intrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation and promotion focus positively correlated with creativity personality and innovative-adaptive cognitive style; and extrinsic motivation and prevention focus negatively correlated with innovative–adaptive cognitive style. Furthermore, a path model showed that promotion focus positively predicted creativity through the mediation of intrinsic motivation. In general, our study suggests that intrinsic motivation plays a mediating role between promotion focus and creativity. Our results complement those of previous studies and serve as inspiration for the cultivation of creativity in classroom or enterprise settings.
... Furthermore, PFC recruitment during childhood may vary as a function of the immediate social context, as cooperation and competition can enhance children's behavioural performance on tasks tapping cognitive control (Butler and Walton, 2013;Fischer et al., 2018;Qu, 2011). Competition may increase enjoyment, motivation, and task engagement (Cagiltay et al., 2015;Conti et al., 2001;Plass et al., 2013), which in turn may result in better cognitive control engagement. In cooperative contexts, socially shared goals may be especially salient and thus more easily maintained in working memory (Decety et al., 2004;Qu, 2011). ...
... Surprisingly, neither competition nor cooperation influenced younger children's behavioural performance. Although it further suggests that younger children engage cognitive control in a manner that is more rigid and less sensitive to contextual factors than older children, this finding is discrepant with prior studies showing that cooperation and competition can influence children's performance in early childhood (e.g., Conti et al., 2001;Fischer et al., 2018;Qu, 2011). As prior studies involved a real (adult or child) partner/opponent, one possibility is that the virtual partner/opponent not physically present in the same room as the participant did not elicit a strong enough social context to influence younger children's performance in the present study. ...
Emerging cognitive control during childhood is largely supported by the development of distributed neural networks in which the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is central. The present study used fNIRS to examine how PFC is recruited to support cognitive control in 5–6 and 8-9-year-old children, by (a) progressively increasing cognitive control demands within the same task, and (b) manipulating the social context in which the task was performed (neutral, cooperative, or competitive), a factor that has been shown to influence cognitive control. Activation increased more in left than right PFC with cognitive control demands, a pattern which was more pronounced in older than younger children. In addition, activation was higher in left PFC in competitive than cooperative contexts, and higher in right PFC in cooperative and neutral than competitive contexts. These findings suggest that increasingly efficient cognitive control during childhood is supported by more differentiated recruitment of PFC as a function of cognitive control demands with age.
... Although such studies were found to mention the relationship between motivation and creativity (Conti, Collins and Picariello, 2001;Hennessey and Amabile, 1998;Selart, Nordstr?m, Kuvaas and Takemura, 2008;Zhang and Bartol, 2010), [11] [28] [45 ] [54] the relationship between the academic motivation and various variables (Duchesne & Larose, 2007;Durmaz ve Akkus, 2016;Fortier, Vallerand & Guay, 1995;Yerdelen, Ayd?n, Yalmanc? & Goksu, 2014) [17] [18] [24 ] [53], the relationships between the scientific creativity and various variables (Aktam?s & Ergin, 2007;Huang, Peng, Chen, Tseng & Hsu, 2017;Pekmez, Aktam?s & Can, 2010) [2] [27] [38] as a result of a literature review made by the researcher within the scope of this study, no study that explains the relationship between the academic motivation and the scientific creativity was found in the literature. In this context, it was expected to make a significant contribution to the field in terms that examines the development of the scientific creativity and academic motivation levels of preservice science teachers. ...
... Although such studies were found to mention the relationship between motivation and creativity (Conti, Collins and Picariello, 2001;Hennessey and Amabile, 1998;Selart, Nordstr?m, Kuvaas and Takemura, 2008;Zhang and Bartol, 2010), [11] [28] [45 ] [54] the relationship between the academic motivation and various variables (Duchesne & Larose, 2007;Durmaz ve Akkus, 2016;Fortier, Vallerand & Guay, 1995;Yerdelen, Ayd?n, Yalmanc? & Goksu, 2014) [17] [18] [24 ] [53], the relationships between the scientific creativity and various variables (Aktam?s & Ergin, 2007;Huang, Peng, Chen, Tseng & Hsu, 2017;Pekmez, Aktam?s & Can, 2010) [2] [27] [38] as a result of a literature review made by the researcher within the scope of this study, no study that explains the relationship between the academic motivation and the scientific creativity was found in the literature. In this context, it was expected to make a significant contribution to the field in terms that examines the development of the scientific creativity and academic motivation levels of preservice science teachers. ...
The purpose of this research is to examine preservice science teachers’ development of academic motivation and scientific creativity. It also investigated the predictive role of academic motivation on preservice science teachers’ scientific creativity. The study group of the research consisted of (N=140) preservice science teachers who are studying at the Faculty of Education located in Northwest Black Sea Region of Turkey during the fall semester of the 2016-2017 academic year. Data were collected through "Academic Motivation Scale" developed by Vallerand, Pelletier, Blais, Brière, Senécal and Vallières (1992) and adapted into Turkish by Unal Karaguven (2012) [49] and "Scientific Creativity Scale " developed by Hu and Adey (2002) and adapted to Turkish by Denis Celiker (2012) [16]. At the end of the research, it was found that internal motivation for success and age was an important predictor of preservice teachers’ scientific creativity levels.
... In addition, Shang (22) reported higher motivation values among physical education females than males. However, Conti et al. (12) and Burger et al. (9) found that the male students have higher intrinsic motivation in competition of gambles than their female counterparts. These results are attributed to the fact that the goals are common among both males and females in the aim of gaining more experiences, skills, knowledge and behavioral aspects, which enhance their academic achievement and reflect on their future capabilities in entering the field of work, fortified with the required skills and knowledge. ...
Al Oran H, Elkailani G, AlQarra S, Farash T, Al-Rahamneh H. Psychosocial Compatibility and Its Relationship with Motivation Among Sport Science Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. JEPonline 2023;26(2):87-101. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on university students' motivation and psychosocial compatibility in Jordan, and to assess the relationship between motivation and psychosocial compatibility among the students. The data were collected from 218 students at the School of Sport Sciences at the University of Jordan using two questionnaires that were designed to assess: (a) the psychosocial compatibility questionnaire that consist of 26 items; and (b) the motivation questionnaire that consist of 16 items. The data were collected online using Google forms. The psychosocial compatibility level was high (3.67/5.0) and the motivation level was moderate (3.31/5.0). There was no significant difference between the male and female students in motivation (P = 0.655). However, the psychosocial compatibility values were better for the males than the females (P = 0.048). There were no significant differences between the four academic years in psychosocial compatibility (P = 0.444). But, the motivation values of the students at the fourth and the third academic years were better than those of the first and the second years (P = 0.001). There was a significant relationship between motivation and psychosocial compatibility among the sport sciences at the University of Jordan (r = 0.42, P = 0.000). We recommend that more concern should be given for sport science students during such difficult times, especially when 88 considering the moderate levels of motivation and psychosocial compatibility. We also recommend more concern should be given for motivation among the first-and second-year students and for psychosocial aspects for the female students.
... In addition, Shang (22) reported higher motivation values among physical education females than males. However, Conti et al. (12) and Burger et al. (9) found that the male students have higher intrinsic motivation in competition of gambles than their female counterparts. These results are attributed to the fact that the goals are common among both males and females in the aim of gaining more experiences, skills, knowledge and behavioral aspects, which enhance their academic achievement and reflect on their future capabilities in entering the field of work, fortified with the required skills and knowledge. ...
Al Oran H, Elkailani G, AlQarra S, Farash T, Al-Rahamneh H.
Psychosocial Compatibility and Its Relationship with Motivation
Among Sport Science Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
JEPonline 2023;26(2):87-101. The purpose of this study was to
assess the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on university students’
motivation and psychosocial compatibility in Jordan, and to
assess the relationship between motivation and psychosocial
compatibility among the students. The data were collected from
218 students at the School of Sport Sciences at the University of
Jordan using two questionnaires that were designed to assess:
(a) the psychosocial compatibility questionnaire that consist of
26 items; and (b) the motivation questionnaire that consist of 16
items. The data were collected online using Google forms. The
psychosocial compatibility level was high (3.67/5.0) and the
motivation level was moderate (3.31/5.0). There was no
significant difference between the male and female students in
motivation (P = 0.655). However, the psychosocial compatibility
values were better for the males than the females (P = 0.048).
There were no significant differences between the four
academic years in psychosocial compatibility (P = 0.444). But,
the motivation values of the students at the fourth and the third
academic years were better than those of the first and the
second years (P = 0.001). There was a significant relationship
between motivation and psychosocial compatibility among the
sport sciences at the University of Jordan (r = 0.42, P = 0.000).
We recommend that more concern should be given for sport
science students during such difficult times, especially when considering the moderate levels of motivation and psychosocial compatibility. We also
recommend more concern should be given for motivation among the first- and second-year
students and for psychosocial aspects for the female students.
Key Words: COVID19, Motivation, Psychosocial Compatibility, Sport Sciences Students
... A second theoretical perspective points to differences in men's and women's abilities and characteristics that are independent of creative ability, but nonetheless critical for creative success. For example, girls have been found to be more likely to react negatively to evaluation and competition, wherein making external judgement salient diminishes the creative performance of girls, but not boys (Baer, 1997(Baer, , 1998Conti et al., 2001). Given that higher levels of creative achievement are dependent on public recognition (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014;Glǎveanu, 2013), difficulty facing external evaluation presents a challenge to achieving creative success. ...
The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotions provides a state-of-the-art review of research on the role of emotions in creativity. This volume presents the insights and perspectives of sixty creativity scholars from thirteen countries who span multiple disciplines, including developmental, social, and personality psychology; industrial and organizational psychology; neuroscience; education; art therapy, and sociology. It discusses affective processes – emotion states, traits, and emotion abilities – in relation to the creative process, person, and product, as well as two major contexts for expression of creativity: school, and work. It is a go-to source for scholars who need to enhance their understanding of a specific topic relating to creativity and emotion, and it provides students and researchers with a comprehensive introduction to creativity and emotion broadly.
... Thus, males tend to show higher motivation in competitive situations. The explanations could also be proven by the experiment conducted by Collins and other researchers indicated that young boys showed higher intrinsic motivation than girls in competitive situations, and such influence of competition is more significant when combined with gender segregation [11]. ...
Learning motivation is the central part that stimulates students to learn. Scholars in the education and psychology field have studied motivation for a long time to develop an appropriate teaching and learning strategy for students. In contrast, many studies conducted do not have enough generalization. The paper aimed to review factors involved in a competition from the social comparison perspective and examined individual and cultural differences in competition motivation among students. The results showed that Situational and individual factors led to comparison concerns and triggered competitive behaviors. Gender and cultural differences significantly distinguished students' learning motivation in a competitive environment, while no age variation was founded. This study drew a comprehensive interpretation of the relationship between competition and the learning motivation of students. Further study about the relationship between long-lasting competitive phenomenon and motivation needs to be encouraged.
... Z procesami emocjonalnymi i poznawczymi uruchamianymi podczas tworzenia i recepcji dzieł wiążą się również procesy motywacyjne, które wywierają pośredni wpływ na samopoczucie i funkcjonowanie zdrowotne (Amabile, 1983;Conti, Collins, Picariello, 2007;Nakamura, 50 Csikszentmihalyi, 2003;Stańko-Kaczmarek, 2012). Na przykład motywacja wewnętrzna, która często jest motorem do podejmowania aktywności twórczej, pobudza występowanie emocji pozytywnych i procesów bardziej pozytywnej oceny własnych działań oraz samooceny (Stańko--Kaczmarek, 2012). ...
Książka zawiera przegląd badań na temat znaczenia twórczości dla kształtowania, utrzymywania oraz powracania do zdrowia oraz dobrostanu. Ukazuje również model wyjaśniający mechanizm „prozdrowotnego” oddziaływania twórczości, na podstawie dotychczasowych ustaleń teoretycznych oraz najnowszych wyników badań empirycznych. Dla uzyskania pełnego obrazu tego zjawiska uwzględnione zostały zarówno procesy pozytywnie oddziałujące na zdrowie, jak i czynniki ryzyka towarzyszące twórczości, które mogą być dla niego pewnym zagrożeniem. Ukazane zostały także najważniejsze kierunki rozwoju i wyzwania w zakresie badań naukowych i praktyki w obszarze związków między twórczością a funkcjonowaniem zdrowotnym.
... Creativity tends to be perceived by teachers and students in a distorted way, permeated by myths and beliefs that do not allow a deeper understanding of its nature, development, dynamics and the strategies to promote it. Equally, as previously argued, competition is preferred to cooperation in the classroom due to the pervasive belief that it encourages motivation (Kohn, 1986) and even creativity (primarily in the case of boys; see Conti, Collins & Picariello, 2001), and partially also because it is easier to "set up" and assess. In addition to this lack of knowledge or expertise, there is also considerable confusion regarding the different nuances of creativity within teaching. ...
This chapter focuses on the relationship between creativity and prosocial values, in particular those associated with cooperation and collaborative activities. Despite the fact that, in developmental studies and the literature on education, creativity and values are often treated separately, our premise here is that both psychological theory and educational practice would greatly benefit from reuniting them within an integrative framework. In this chapter, we consider creativity and prosocial values as they develop within the Self-Other dynamic specific for communal living and sociability (see Simmel, 1949; Jovchelovitch, 2015). We start by outlining the theoretical foundation for our argument and reflect on schools as socio-cultural contexts that socialize children to become creative and moral agents. We then unpack the relation between creativity, cooperation and prosocial values with particular reference to studies done in Brazilian schools. Following this, we propose a tentative set of guidelines for nurturing creativity and cooperation in the classroom. We conclude with a few reflections on the role of dialogue and reflexivity for enhancing moral creative behavior. However, before developing these ideas, a more basic question needs to be addressed first.
... Conti et al hypothesise that competition enhances the creativity of boys, but diminishes creativity in girls (2001: 1275). Their findings did not fully support this hypothesis, but they found that when groups of children self-segregated on the basis of gender and were placed under competition conditions, boys were significantly more creative than girls (Conti et al 2001(Conti et al : 1286. ...
This article reviews research into the conditions and contexts that enhance artistic creativity. It discusses the effect that educational opportunities, interpersonal relations, and culture exert on our capacities to be artistically creative. The paper concludes by formulating some of the discussed research studies in practicable terms.
... Additionally, gender differences were shown to affect individuals' perception for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. For example, Conti et al. (2001) found that males reported higher levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation toward an art activity than females. ...
While many studies have reported the effectiveness of gamification in motivating students and making learning more fun, some others have reported contradictory findings regarding the potential of implementing game elements in an online gamified course. It is recognized that designing a successful gamification is a challenging process. Previous studies have shown that students’ individual differences may impact their gamification experiences. This study complements the available body of research by examining the effect of gender and personality differences on students’ perception of gamification in education. An experiment was conducted in a public university with 189 undergraduate students who took three online gamified courses, based on the self-determination theory, during two academic years. The results showed that gender and personality can affect students’ perception of specific game elements. For instance, females are more likely to find feedback useful than males. Additionally, students low in extraversion are more likely to find a progress bar useful than students high in extraversion. The results also showed that gender moderates the effect of personality on students’ perception of the implemented game elements. For instance, males low in extraversion are more likely to perceive badges’ usefulness in gamified courses than males high in extraversion, whereas females low in conscientiousness are more likely to enjoy feedback than females high in conscientiousness. The findings of this study can help designers and educators personalize their gamified courses’ design based on personality and gender.
... 57 See, for example,Amabile et al., 2018;. 58 See, for example, Amabile et al., 2018Conti, Collins, & Picariello, 2001;. 59 Amabile, Hadley, & Kramer, 2002 ...
... The current findings also show that White boys' stereotype threat was not linked to mathematics anxiety. In line with this, there exists evidence showing that an evaluative, competitive environment does not impair intrinsic motivation in those who have a tendency toward male-stereotype behaviors (Conti et al., 2001). Without the burden of disapproving negative stereotypes associated with their gender and racial/ethnic identities, White male students might not feel anxious about mathematics despite the concern that their mathematical ability may be evaluated based on their social identities. ...
As stereotype threat was initially examined in experimental settings, the effects of such threats have often been tested by temporarily manipulating social identity threats. This study expands the literature by examining 9th-grade adolescents’ naturalistic stereotype threat, using data from the National Study of Learning Mindsets in the United States (n ~= 6,040, age: 13–17, Mage = 14.31, 6.9% Black boys, 6.5% Black girls, 13.1% Latinos, 12.3% Latinas, 31.5% White boys, 29.7% White girls). The results indicate that Black and Latinx students experience higher levels of stereotype threat in high school mathematics classrooms than do their White peers. When students perceive that their teachers have created fixed mindset climates, they experience greater stereotype threat. Stereotype threat, in turn, negatively Black and Latino boys and White girls’ later achievement via anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of creating mathematics classrooms that cultivate a growth mindset and minimize social identity threat.
... Creativity is reported to changes over the lifespan demonstrating that creative states are not stable, instead they can have fluctuations (Palmiero, Di Giacomo, & Passafiume, 2014). Despite creativity being dependent on individual traits, such as personality (Puryear, Kettler, & Rinn, 2017) and motivation (Conti, Collins, & Picariello, 2001), it should also be looked at from a state perspective, which is not present in the study. Additionally, CREA, was our main creativity measure since it evaluates verbal creativity mapped to the verbal nature of the task. ...
Creativity is an ability with psychological and developmental benefits. Creative levels are dynamic and oscillate throughout life, with a first major decline occurring at the age of 7 years old. However, creativity is an ability that can be nurtured if trained, with evidence suggesting an increase in this ability with the use of validated creativity training. Yet, creativity training for young children (aged between 6-9 years old) appears scarce. Additionally, existing training interventions resemble test-like formats and lack playful dynamics that could engage children in creative practices over time. This PhD project aimed at contributing to creativity stimulation in children by proposing to use social robots as intervention tools, thus adding playful and interactive dynamics to the training. Towards this goal, we conducted three studies in schools, summer camps, and museums for children, that contributed to the design, fabrication, and experimental testing of a robot whose purpose was to re-balance creative levels. Study 1 (n = 140) aimed at testing the effect of existing activities with robots in creativity and provided initial evidence of the positive potential of robots for creativity training. Study 2 (n = 134) aimed at including children as co-designers of the robot, ensuring the robot’s design meets children’s needs and requirements. Study 3 (n = 130) investigated the effectiveness of this robot as a tool for creativity training, showing the potential of robots as creativity intervention tools. In sum, this PhD showed that robots can have a positive effect on boosting the creativity of children. This places social robots as promising tools for psychological interventions.
... Girls recorded superiority over boys in problem finding while boys surpassed them on spontaneous fluency and cognitive flexibility but there was no significant gender difference on overall divergent thinking (Joseph Achieng"Rabari; Francis Chisikwa Indoshi & Tony Okwach Omusonga, 2011). Conti, Collins & Picariello (2001) observed that girls were less creative in competitive situations and boys were more creative in competitive situations. Lau &Li (1996) revealed that boys were more creative than girls. ...
The IoT (Internet of Things) with a vast network area has created diverse number of
opportunities for achieving desirable change by the people connected within a society and has
made sustainable technological development in the present scenario. IoT technologies include the
use of RFID’s, WSN, EPC, actuators and protocols such as IP protocol, bluetooth and zigbee. The
main characteristic feature of IoT is support for heterogeneous and interoperability functions. In
this paper, we lay emphasis on IoT technology highlighting its objectives and applications. The
paper also presents IoT layered architecture with its main focus on privacy and security issues.
Further, paper also presents challenges and open issues that need to be discussed including
recommendations for future research in this area.
... The current findings also show that White boys' stereotype threat was not linked to mathematics anxiety. In line with this, there exists evidence showing that an evaluative, competitive environment does not impair intrinsic motivation in those who have a tendency toward male-stereotype behaviors (Conti et al., 2001). Without the burden of disapproving negative stereotypes associated with their gender and racial/ethnic identities, White male students might not feel anxious about mathematics despite the concern that their mathematical ability may be evaluated based on their social identities. ...
As stereotype threat was initially examined in the tradition of experimental research, the effects of stereotype threat have often been tested by temporarily manipulating social identity threat mainly among college students. To extend the literature to adolescents’ naturalistic experience of stereotype threat, we examined 9th grade adolescents’ stereotype threat using National Study of Learning Mindsets data (n~= 6,040; 48.5% girls). Black and Latino boys experienced higher levels of stereotype threat in high school mathematics classrooms, as compared to black/Latino girls and white peers. When students perceived their teachers to create fixed mindset climate, students experienced greater stereotype threat. Stereotype threat, in turn, negatively predicted later achievement via heightened anxiety among black/Latino boys and white girls. The findings highlight the importance of forming mathematics classrooms that cultivate growth mindset and minimize the threat to students’ social identity.
... Schatt (2011) found that female students perform batter in Instrumental musical practice in the subject of music that significantly correlated with their intrinsic motivational beliefs than males. According to Conti, Collins, and Picariello, (2001) and Burger, Dahlgren, and MacDonald (2006), male students are inclined towards higher intrinsic motivation in competition and gamble than their female counterparts. ...
This descriptive survey research investigated the motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) from a gender point of view and established a link of motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic) with students academic achievement. From two public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 162 students were selected through the use of the technique of stratified random sampling. For measuring the students motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), a scale developed by Lepper et al. (2005) was used. In order to analyze the collected data, the correlation coefficient and t-test were used. Results showed that Male students are more extrinsically motivated. A significant gender difference in the aspect of Easy work and academic outcomes exists. Furthermore, students educational attainment is significantly affected by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
... However, findings from empirical studies suggest that the relationship between a competitive climate and creativity is mixed (e .g ., Conti, Collins, & Picariello, 2001;Eisenberg & Thompson, 2011 ;Shalley & Oldham, 1997;Zhu, Gardner, & Chen, 2018) . Such mixed results suggest the possibility of a moderator (Baron & Kenny, 1986) . ...
We investigated mentoring as a moderator between competitive climate and employee creative work involvement. Participants were 270 academic staff of a Nigerian federal university (male = 155 [57.41%] and female = 115 [42.59%]). The participants were employed as Graduate Assistant = 15 (5.56%), Assistant Lecturer = 78 (28.89%), Lecturer II = 61 (22.59%), and Lecturer I = 116 (42.96%). The participants responded to surveys on competitive climate, mentoring, creative work involvement, and their demographic information. We tested three hypotheses on the relationship between competitive climate and creative work involvement, mentoring and creative work involvement, and the moderating role of mentoring between competitive climate and creative work involvement using hierarchical multiple regression. The results showed that competitive climate positively and significantly predicted creative work involvement. Mentoring had a significant positive predictive relationship with creative work involvement, and moderated the relationship between competitive climate and creative work involvement such that competitive climate becomes more effective in increasing creative work involvement as employees experience decreasing levels of mentoring. The findings imply that designing an academic work environment to be competitive and encouraging mentoring relationships between mentors and protégés are likely to spur creativity in the work setting.
... As previous research suggests that knowledge and motivation changes with age (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004), and given the centrality of knowledge and motivation for creativity (Amabile, 1996), age was included and measured as a continuous variable in years. Gender was also considered an appropriate control variable as research has shown that males and females differ in their perception of, and approach to creativity (Conti, Collins, & Picariello, 2001;Kwasniewska & Necka, 2004). Gender was measured as a dichotomous variable and coded as male = 1 and female = 0. Educational level was included as it is believed to reflect task domain knowledge or expertise and potentially influence creative performance (Amabile, 1988;Farmer, Tierney, & Kung-McIntyre, 2003;Shalley & Gilson, 2004). ...
The capacity and willingness of employees to deploy their creativity in the pursuit of organisational goals is a cornerstone of many organisations’ competitive advantage. Drawing on the actor-context interactionist perspective on creativity, we propose that insecure attachment styles act as distal antecedents that reduce employee creativity through the mediating role of social exchange relationships (i.e., leader-member exchange [LMX] and team-member exchange [TMX]). To test the proposed model, data were gathered from 192 employees and their respective supervisors in 12 engineering organisations. Hierarchical multiple regression and Monte Carlo mediation using the lme4 and mediation packages in R was performed to test the proposed hypotheses. Results revealed that while high quality LMX and TMX relationships are positively associated with creativity, insecure attachment styles have significant negative effects on employees’ perception of the quality of their LMX and TMX relationships, which, in turn, lead to lower creative output. Taken together, our results reveal the important influence of insecure attachment styles on creativity and in particular highlight the central role of leader-follower and team member relations as underlying mechanisms in this regard. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice.
... Olson (1999) stated that everyone has the ability of creativity, and in order to reveal this, it is necessary to benefit from the education and motivation. Conti, Collins and Picariello (2001) carried out a study with high school students, and he found out that male students may be more creative and genuine than female students. Baer, Oldham and Cummings (2003) stated that there is a positive correlation between extrinsic motivation and creativity for superficial individuals. ...
The purpose of this study is to investigate the students’ level of motivation and creativity studying at School of Physical Education and Sports. The research group comprised 93 female and 107 male (age = 21.4607 ± 1.8792), 200 in total, studying at the Physical Education and Sports School of Karamanoglu Mehmet Bey University. ‘A Scale of Achievement Focused Motivation’ and ‘Adaptation-Innovation Inventory’ were applied to the students who participated in the research. In the analysis and assessment of the data, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Kruskal–Wallis H test, Mann–Whitney U test and Correlation test were used and significance was taken as P < 0.05. As a result of the study, there is no significant difference between the levels of creativity and sub-dimensions of motivation (internal and external action, setting higher goals and self-conscious) according to gender, parent’s educational background and doing sports actively which are the variables of participating students. Keywords: Creativity, motivation, student.
... Competition is believed to influence creativity, either directly or by affecting intrinsic motivation (Conti et al., 2001). Baer et al. (2013) find a positive effect of competition on creativity. ...
... El género femenino, cuando interviene en actividades cooperativas, alcanza mayor bienestar socioemocional (Conti, Collins y Picariello, 2001, 2001Johnson y Engelhard, 1992;Knight y Chao, 1989).Mientras que en los juegos con competición los hombres experimentan valores más intensos de ansiedad y compasión que las mujeres. El significado cultural (Kemper, 1981;Hochschild, 1979) y la adherencia a estereotipos culturales podría explicar que los chicos respondan con entusiasmo ante situaciones competitivas; la huella que deja la práctica competitiva, parece estar en la raíz de este comportamiento (Conti, et al., 2001;Knighy Chao, 1989). ...
The aim of the research is the awareness of thirteen emotions classified as positive, negative and ambiguous. It was done with students of different educational background, through competitive and non competitive activities, belonging to four domains of the motor action (psychomotor, cooperation, opposition and cooperation/opposition). In addition, the model of emotional competence elaborated by Bisquerra was reviewed. High school, college and minor degree students were the research participants. Data was collected using the GES (games and emotion scale) questionnaire and analyzed through classification trees. The results only showed two types of emotions: positive and negative. The positive emotions regarding joy and humor reached the highest values in competitive games, whereas happiness and love had the highest values in cooperative games, especially with women. Negative emotions had higher values in competitive games with college students. © 2018, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid y CV Ciencias del Deporte. All rights reserved.
The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity is a comprehensive scholarly handbook on creativity from the most respected psychologists, researchers and educators. This handbook serves both as a thorough introduction to the field of creativity and as an invaluable reference and current source of important information. It covers such diverse topics as the brain, education, business, and world cultures. The first section, 'Basic Concepts', is designed to introduce readers to both the history of and key concepts in the field of creativity. The next section, 'Diverse Perspectives of Creativity', contains chapters on the many ways of approaching creativity. Several of these approaches, such as the functional, evolutionary, and neuroscientific approaches, have been invented or greatly reconceptualized in the last decade. The third section, 'Contemporary Debates', highlights ongoing topics that still inspire discussion. Finally, the editors summarize and discuss important concepts from the book and look to what lies ahead.
The present study focuses on assessing first-year architecture students’ creative skills by examining the changes in their cognitive skills due to curricular intervention and revealing the possible effects of personality and motivation factors. An experimental research design with related groups pre-and post-test approach was adopted, and a multiple-assessment test battery was developed based on the literature. The pre-and post-test approach was used to evaluate whether (1) the curricular intervention in the first-semester basic design course affected the cognitive skills of the students, (2) there was a significant change in personality and motivation factors of the students, and (3) the effects of the curricular intervention could be isolated from the changes in personality and motivation factors. The responses to the pre-and post-test were statistically analyzed, and findings indicated that the curricular intervention in the first-semester basic design course enhanced the fluency and flexibility dimensions in students’ divergent thinking skills to a greater extent and originality to a lesser extent in visual and verbal stimuli tasks. Such increase was found to be independent of the changes in personality and motivation factors. Rather, it was related to the curricular tasks provided to the students throughout the semester.
Over the past decade, the utilization of gamification in education has become increasingly prevalent as a means of enhancing students' learning experiences. Despite its growing popularity, educators still harbor concerns about the acceptance of gamification techniques among students. However, game-based activities have been shown to improve both student learning and attitudes in undergraduate engineering courses, regardless of the evaluation method employed. As a potential technique for increasing student participation and improving learning outcomes, utilization of gamification has been recognized as a valuable strategy.
The current study focuses on measuring gender-based student perceptions regarding the adoption of gamification and its impact on learning programming skills. The results indicate that there is a notable gender gap in the perception and acceptance of gamification, emphasizing the need to take gender into account when implementing gamification in courses. Furthermore,the study highlights that gamification can effectively enhance the programming skills of engineering students.
The present study was conducted to provide information about creativity with regard to gender and residence as well as interaction between gender and resident of 9th grade students of Purulia district, West Bengal in India. Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) standardized by Dibakar Kundu in Bengali version was adopted for measuring creativity. 244 samples were selected by stratified random sampling technique. ANOVA, t test were performed using SPSS 17 software. This study revealed that boys are more creative than girls and there is no significant difference exists between rural and urban students. Further, there is no significant interaction between gender and residence with regard to creativity.
“Employee Motivation” is the most significant factor affecting quality and efficiency in organizations. In every job, there are aspects that employees enjoy; still, some other elements remain tedious and laborious, and many employers have gamified their performance management system to motivate the employees. Practitioners and academicians often strive to determine the concise form of motivation, intrinsic motivation; still, there is a scant insight into how external interventions influence employee perception and, subsequently, intrinsic motivation. Game-reinforced generations have become the majority in the workplace, which makes studying gamification and intrinsic motivation an especially relevant subject. However, gamification has not always been successful. Therefore it is essential to determine the factors influencing employee perceptions of gamification. The three primary objectives of this study are to examine whether employees’ perceptions of the gamified performance management system (PMS) result in enhanced performance, examine the motivation derived (intrinsic versus extrinsic), and analyse the factors that contribute to employee outcomes in this context. This research includes two studies; the initial study is a qualitative study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted. Study I discovered “Perceived supervisor support” (PSS) as a significant moderating variable. Study II employed a survey approach to empirically examine these relationships among employees who have been working under a gamified PMS. This mixed-method study confirms the mediating role intrinsic motivation plays in the relationship between gamification and employee performance and the moderating role of PSS. Interestingly, these findings follow recent research on intrinsic motivation, concluding that even external interventions can boost intrinsic motivation when the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met. Additionally, PSS as a moderator illustrates that just because gamified systems increase intrinsic motivation does not imply a supervisor’s role is limited when the system is gamified.
Collective intelligence (CI) captures a team’s ability to work together across a wide range of tasks and can vary significantly between teams. Extant work demonstrates that the level of collective attention a team develops has an important influence on its level of CI. An important question, then, is what enhances collective attention? Prior work demonstrates an association with team composition; here, we additionally examine the influence of team hierarchy and its interaction with team gender composition. To do so, we conduct an experiment with 584 individuals working in 146 teams in which we randomly assign each team to work in a stable, unstable, or unspecified hierarchical team structure and vary team gender composition. We examine how team structure leads to different behavioral manifestations of collective attention as evidenced in team speaking patterns. We find that a stable hierarchical structure increases more cooperative, synchronous speaking patterns but that unstable hierarchical structure and a lack of specified hierarchical structure both increase competitive, interruptive speaking patterns. Moreover, the effect of cooperative versus competitive speaking patterns on collective intelligence is moderated by the teams’ gender composition; majority female teams exhibit higher CI when their speaking patterns are more cooperative and synchronous, whereas all male teams exhibit higher CI when their speaking involves more competitive interruptions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for enhancing collective intelligence in organizational teams.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [Grant VOSS-1322254], Division of Information and Intelligent Systems [Grant 1322241], Army Research Office [Grant W911NF-20-1-0006], Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [Grant W911NF-20-1-0006], and Army Research Laboratory [Grant W911NF-19-2-0135].
Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1602 .
Building on theories of sensemaking, this study demonstrates the importance of disentangling the creative process. Specifically, we show that the specific elements of the creative process (problem construction, information search and encoding, and idea generation) are differentially related to both antecedents and specific types of creative outcomes. Using survey data from employees and their supervisors from a wide variety of organizations, we found that leader creative expectations were more strongly related to idea generation than to problem construction and to information search and encoding. Job autonomy, in contrast, was significantly related to problem construction, but not to information search and encoding or idea generation. Furthermore, we found that although idea generation is positively related to both radical and incremental creativity, problem construction is only positively related to radical creativity. We discuss implications for the study of creative processes and creativity more generally.
The present study was planned to determine the relationship between parents’ attachment styles to their own parents and their children's creativity levels. 71 mothers, 71 fathers, and 71 4-6-year-old children were included in the study. As data collection tools, the Korea-Integrative Creativity Test and Parental Bonding Instrument Scale were administered to the children and to the parents, respectively. According to the results, there was no significant relationship between the creativity skills of the children and the attachment styles of their parents according to gender, except for one sub-dimension; whereas there was a significant relationship between parents’ gender-related attachment styles in overprotection sub-dimension and children's age-related creativity skills. Parents’ attachment styles to their parents were significantly correlated with their children's creativity skills. Children who have secure attachments to their parents have a sense of self-sufficiency that leads to a better development of creativity.
Creativity is an important characteristic for civil engineering professionals and students when facing innovation challenges associated with construction engineering projects. Previous studies have not examined the temporary group context when conducting research on creativity. Drawing on the social cognitive theory and the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) approach, this study explored two questions related to how psychological cognitive factors (i.e., intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy) motivate creativity, and whether the motivation process is influenced by others. Using a class experiment and a pre and posttest questionnaire survey completed by civil engineering students that performed an idea generation task, this study applies an APIM approach to distinguish the positive actor effects of students’ innovation motivation and task motivation on their own creativity, instead of the negative or nonsignificant influences from a partner. Creative self-efficacy—as a mediator—plays an indirect positive actor role between students’ intrinsic motivation and their own creativity, but an indirect negative partner role in affecting partners’ creativity. The findings contribute to an in-depth understanding of the componential model of creativity, including the creative source of intrinsic motivation and the motivational path from interest to belief. The study also provides a broader interdependence perspective to motivate an individual’s creativity in engineering and educational practice.
Although companies implementing pay-for-performance system are increasing, the empirical study of effectiveness is scarce. Focusing on creativity which is closely related to organizational productivity, the current study explored the effects of pay-for-performance on creativity. Based on threat-rigidity theory(Staw et al., 1981), this study hypothesized that pay-for-performance would lead to heightened anxiety and attentional narrowing. Also, this study tried to examine the mediating effects of anxiety and attentional breadth on the relationship between pay-for-performance and creativity. Results are as following. First, the creative performance of the pay-for-performance group was lower than that of control group. Second, the level of anxiety in the pay-for-performance group was higher than the control group but there wasn't significantly difference between two groups in attentional breadth. Third, although anxiety was correlated negatively with creative performance, the correlation between attentional breadth and creative performance was not significant. Forth, anxiety fully mediated the relationship between the pay-for-performance and creative performance; yet attentional breadth had no mediation effects. Lastly, the implication and limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research were discussed.
The findings from the eight sports cases are extrapolated from the domain of sports to the managerial context, specifically to the overlapping domains of creativity and innovation. Each of the 21 cross-case insights from Chap. 2 is linked to corresponding scholarly discussions by comparing the present empirical findings to existing research. Additionally, normative recommendations for strategic actions, derived from the case-based insights, describe how firms can help individual employees in the process of rule-breaking behavior. The key insights are visualized in the Framework of Rule-Breaking Market Behavior that contains a precis of the findings.
Importance:
To further the understanding of client centeredness in the context of creativity.
Objective:
This study's objective was to explore the client's uniqueness as the key motivator of creativity in the occupational therapy process using a novel assessment tool, the Creativity in Occupational Therapy Questionnaire (COTQ). Our hypothesis was as follows: "Clients and their characteristics are more important to the creativity of an occupational therapist than the occupational therapist's personality."
Design:
This study is part of a mixed-methods study. The COTQ, consisting of five clusters of items, was pretested for clarity and reliability in a pilot study (α = .90). It was then used in an online survey of Slovenian occupational therapists. To analyze data, factor and regression analyses were used.
Setting:
The survey was completed online.
Participants:
The survey was sent to all electronic addresses obtained from the Association of Occupational Therapists of Slovenia and the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ljubljana. It was completed by 250 occupational therapists, which represented more than 40% of all Slovenian occupational therapists.
Results:
Occupational therapists included in the study reported that clients triggered and encouraged their creativity. Both the client's uniqueness, B = .574, t(197) = 12.24, p < .01, and the occupational therapist's personality, B = .388, t(197) = 6.51, p < .01, had a statistically significant influence on creativity in the occupational therapy process.
Conclusions and relevance:
This study supports the importance of creativity in client-centered practice and provides a quantitative measure of this concept, which could be used in future longitudinal studies.
What this article adds:
This article suggests that the individual client is the most important factor in the creative process of an occupational therapist. It introduces a novel assessment tool and provides suggestions on how to facilitate a client-centered approach using creativity.
This study examined the relationship between parental styles and emotional creativity and investigated the mediating role of the fulfillment of basic psychological needs in this relationship. The population included 3372 undergraduate students, among whom, 375 (177 females and 198 males) were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. The respondents filled in three questionnaires as follows: 1) the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI), 2) the Parents as Social Context Questionnaire (PSCQ), and 3) the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS). A path analysis showed that the components of parenting style could predict students’ emotional creativity. In detail, the warmth and structure styles of parenting positively and the coercion and chaos styles of parenting negatively predict emotional creativity of students. The dimensions of autonomy and competence (of satisfying the basic psychological needs) had a mediating role between parenting style and emotional creativity. These results showed the importance of factors (parenting style and basic psychological needs) influencing emotional creativity of students. A greater focus on satisfying the dimensions of basic psychological needs (i.e. autonomy and competence) and proper parenting style (i.e. warmth and structure styles) could lead to a higher level of creativity among students.
The present study tested the effects of extrinsic motivation on scientific and artistic creativity among Chinese middle school students. In Study 1, a between-groups design was applied to examine the effects of expected rewards on scientific and artistic creativity among 123 students, and in Study 2 the same design was applied to examine the effects of expected evaluation from different raters on scientific and artistic creativity among 120 students. We also considered the effects of grade and gender in both studies. The results of Study 1 indicated that expected material reward had significant negative effects on scientific creativity for 7th graders, while expected social reward had significant positive effects on scientific creativity for 8th graders, and both expected material and social rewards had significant positive effects on artistic creativity. The results of Study 2 indicated that expected evaluation from teachers and classmates had significant negative effects on scientific creativity and significant positive effects on artistic creativity. These results suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the effects of extrinsic motivation and creativity, Factors such as culture, type of extrinsic motivation, grade, and domains of creativity must be fully considered when cultivating adolescents’ creativity.
Gender differences were examined in the context of situational effects. Participants monitored interpersonal behavior for 20 days, using an event-sampling strategy. The monitored behaviors reflected dominance and submissiveness (components of agency) and agreeableness and quarrelsomeness (components of communion). The situations reflected differences in the status of work roles: interactions with boss, co-worker, and supervisee. Status influenced agency. Individuals were most agentic when with a supervisee and least agentic when with a boss. Gender did not influence agency but did influence communal behaviors. Women were more communal regardless of social role status; women were especially communal with other women, compared with men with men. Findings about agency supported a social role theory interpretation of gender differences. Results for communion were consistent with accounts of the influence of sex segregation on interpersonal relationships.
Conducted a field experiment with 3-5 yr old nursery school children to test the "overjustification" hypothesis suggested by self-perception theory (i.e., intrinsic interest in an activity may be decreased by inducing him to engage in that activity as an explicit means to some extrinsic goal). 51 Ss who showed intrinsic interest in a target activity during baseline observations were exposed to 1 of 3 conditions: in the expected-award condition, Ss agreed to engage in the target activity in order to obtain an extrinsic reward; in the unexpected-award condition, Ss had no knowledge of the reward until after they had finished with the activity; and in the no-award condition, Ss neither expected nor received the reward. Results support the prediction that Ss in the expected-award condition would show less subsequent intrinsic interest in the target activity than Ss in the other 2 conditions. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined the effects of competition on intrinsic motivation. Subjects (N = 23) were randomly assigned to conditions of competition or intrinsic-mastery orientation. In the competition condition, subjects were instructed to perform an interesting activity with the explicit goal of “beating” other participants. In the intrinsic-mastery orientation condition, subjects were told to do as well as they could while looking for novel ways to perform the activity. Results showed that subjects in the competition condition displayed less subsequent intrinsic motivation than did mastery-oriented subjects. The present findings corroborate predictions based on cognitive evaluation theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) that competition can have deleterious consequences on intrinsic motivation.
Subjects were assigned to competition or no-competition groups. Competition subjects received information about their rival (establishing an expectancy for success or failure) or did not. Competition enhanced intrinsic interest for achievement-oriented individuals but undermined it for low achiever. The effects of competition also depended on the availability and valence of opponent information. An expectancy increased interest for high achievers but lowered it for low achier. Path models clarified the motivational processes mediating these effects. Both the personality characteristics of competing individuals and information about their opponents seem critical in determining intrinsic interest in this interpersonal competitive context.
Males and females solved interesting puzzles in the presence of a same-sex confederate who posed as a second subject doing the same activity. Half the subjects were instructed to compete against each other (i.e., to try to solve the puzzles faster than the other person) while half were simply instructed to work as quickly as they could so as to finish in the allotted time. The results showed a significant main effect in which competition decreased intrinsic motivation. 7his was particularly true for females.
Effects on intrinsic motivation of three elements of the competitive situation (viz., competitive set, competitive outcome, and inter-personal context) were explored. Participants solved puzzles with a same-sex confederate under one of five experimental inductions, and intrinsic motivation was assessed by subsequent free-choice behavior and self-reports of interest/enjoyment. As predicted by cognitive evaluation theory, competitive outcome(viz., winning vs. losing) and interpersonal context (viz., pressured vs. nonpressured) affected intrinsic motivation. Path analyses showed that (a) winning (relative to losing) increased intrinsic motivation by enhancing perceived competence and (b) a pressured (relative to nonpressured) interpersonal context decreased intrinsic motivation by diminishing perceived self-determination. Further, competence valuation-the importance one places on doing well-related positively to perceived competence, perceived self-determination, and intrinsic motivation.
Examined the conditions under which the imposition of an extrinsic constraint upon performance of an activity can lead to decrements in creativity. 95 female undergraduates worked on an art activity either with or without the expectation of external evaluation. In addition, Ss were asked to focus on either the creative or the technical aspects of the activity or they were given no specific focus. Finally, some Ss expecting evaluation were given explicit instructions on how to make their artworks. As predicted, Ss in the evaluation groups produced artworks significantly lower on judged creativity than did Ss in the nonevaluation control groups. The only evaluation group for which this pattern was reversed had received explicit instructions on how to make artworks that would be judged creative. A possible reconciliation of these 2 disparate results is proposed, and practical implications are discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In the years between preschool and puberty, the free play of children occurs largely in sex-segregated groups. Some differences in the socialization setting provided by all-boy and all-girl playgroups are described, and possible reasons for children's tendency to congregate in same-sex groups are explored. This article suggests that sex-differentiated play styles and modes of exerting peer influence are important factors. Three classes of possible explanatory processes are considered: biological factors, socialization pressures from adults, and gender cognitions. The article claims that "masculinity" and "femininity," as dimensions of individual differences, may not be linked to preference for same-sex playmates, and that these two aspects of sex-typing require different explanations. Segregation is depicted as a group phenomenon, essentially unrelated to the individual attributes of the children who make up all-girl or all-boy groups. Concepts of gender identity and core categorical membership are seen as the primary cognitive underpinnings for segregation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Observed 128 Ss in mixed- and same-sex dyads to examine effect of interaction on sex differences in influence. Ss discussed 2 topics on which they disagreed. During the 2nd discussion, 1 S in each pair was told to influence the other. Ss showed more agreement and positive social behavior when paired with a woman and more disagreement and task behavior when paired with a man. Although women were more easily influenced, this effect was mediated by the partners' behavior. Ss were influenced more by a partner who agreed with them and less by one who disagreed. Path analyses and ANCOVAS revealed that Ss' sex predicted the partners' behavior toward them, which in turn predicted the sex difference in influence. When instructed to be influential, Ss increased disagreements, but only with male partners. Results indicate that the masculine interaction style used when interacting with men is less effective than the feminine style used when interacting with women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
States that both the popular creativity tests, such as the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, and the subjective assessment techniques used in some previous creativity studies are ill-suited to social psychological studies of creativity. A consensual definition of creativity is presented, and as a refinement of previous subjective methods, a reliable subjective assessment technique based on that definition is described. The results of 8 studies testing the methodology in elementary school and undergraduate populations in both artistic and verbal domains are presented, and the advantages and limitations of this technique are discussed. The present methodology can be useful for the development of a social psychology of creativity because of the nature of the tasks employed and the creativity assessments obtained. Creativity assessment is discussed in terms of the divergent aims and methods of personality psychology and social psychology. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A 2 (male vs female) × 2 (peer approval vs disapproval of competition) × 4 (sex-role identity: masculine, feminine, androgynous, undifferentiated) design was used with 78 female and 67 male students who were randomly assigned to approval/disapproval conditions. Sex-role identity was measured using the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Results reveal effects of sex-role identity and interactions of sex and peer evaluation of competition on performance and related variables. Masculine and androgynous groups had higher expectancies for performance than feminine groups, better objective performance, and greater perceived success than feminine or undifferentiated Ss of either sex. Men and women in the masculine and androgynous groups did not differ from each other in performance, affect, or cognitions. The interactions of sex and peer evaluation of competition revealed that women responded more positively on all measures to approval than disapproval, whereas men's responses were largely unaffected. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
40 21–25 mo olds participated in ongoing play groups (with almost equal numbers of boys and girls in each group of 12–25 children) while observers studied them and noted the reactions of both peers and teachers to behaviors that could be identified and coded as male, female, or neutral. Teachers, both female and male, responded primarily to the category of behavior. Regardless of the sex of the child, they gave positive reactions to behaviors that were female-preferred or neutral but seldom to those that were male-preferred. Responses among the peer group were more complicated. Girls responded more positively to other girls than to boys, regardless of the category (male, female, or neutral) of the behavior. Boys responded to the category of the behavior and to the sex of their peer and gave more positive responses to other boys when the boys were engaged in male-preferred activities. Both girls and teachers were effective in changing the behavior of other girls, but neither could influence boys to change; boys were effective in influencing other boys but not in influencing girls. It is suggested that although reinforcements do appear to affect the likelihood of a behavior continuing, other factors must be at work, for behaviors are maintained even under conditions of no responses, and, most important, the reinforcements themselves are most effective when they have been processed in terms of gender. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A measure of sex typing and androgyny in children was developed based on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). The Children's Sex Role Inventory (CSRI) was correlated with the BSRI in an adult sample to establish the equivalence of the two inventories for use in developmental research spanning middle childhood and adulthood. Ss were 145 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th graders, 130 of whom were retested 1 yr later. Reliability was established through high internal consistency of femininity and masculinity scales and stable test–retest reliabilities averaging .60. Validity of the scales was evident in significant gender differences on both scales and in confirmation of hypothesized relations between gender-role categories and measures of (1) sex-typed toy and activity preferences; (2) self-perceptions of global self-worth, scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical attractiveness, and behavioral conduct; and (3) cognitive performance. A short form of the CSRI was also developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The stability of individual differences has important implications for understanding the origins of gender-typed behaviors. For example, if some children have a stronger preference for same-sex playmates (gender segregation) than do others, then exploring characteristics that may differentiate these children from their peers (e.g., preference for gender-typed toys or teacher proximity) should prove fruitful. Otherwise, research might be focused more appropriately on group-level processes or situational factors rather than individual differences. In the current study, 57 2 1/2- to 3-year-olds from middle-class Canadian homes were observed repeatedly during free play at their preschools. Four aspects of gender typing (gender segregation, use of masculine and feminine gender-typed toys, teacher proximity) were measured so that the stability of individual differences and relations among the measures could be assessed. Stable individual differences were found for all four measures among boys, and for two of the measures (feminine toy play, teacher proximity) among girls. In addition, boys who played most frequently with masculine toys rarely were observed in proximity to the teacher. However, there was no relation between gender segregation and the other indices of gender typing.
Competitive orientations of 237 male and female undergraduates enrolled in competitive and noncompetitive physical activity classes were investigated using the Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire [WOFO: R. L. Helmreich and J. T. Spence, The Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire: An Objective Instrument to Assess Components of Achievement Motivation and Attitudes Toward Family and Career, Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1978, 8(2) (Document #1677)] and a Competitiveness Inventory. Factor analysis confirmed the four WOFO dimensions proposed by Helmreich and Spence (mastery, work, competitiveness, personal unconcern). Factor analysis of the Competitiveness Inventory revealed three factors termed competitiveness, goal orientation, and win orientation. Sex Activity Class (competitive or noncompetitive) (2 2) multivariate analyses revealed sex differences on the WOFO scores, both sex and activity differences on the Competitiveness Inventory scores, and no interactions. Sex differences on the WOFO scores confirmed Spence and Helmreich's findings; females scored higher on work and males scored higher on competitiveness. On the Competitiveness Inventory, males scored slightly higher than females on competitiveness, but most of the multivariate sex difference was due to males scoring higher on win orientation and females scoring higher on goal orientation. In contrast, the multivariate activity difference was due primarily to competitiveness; students in competitive activities scored considerably higher on competitiveness than students in noncompetitive activities. The findings suggest that sport-achievement orientation has a unique factor structure and provide evidence supporting the validity of the sport-specific, multidimensional Competitiveness Inventory.
Three studies were conducted to examine the effects of reward on children's and adult's creativity. The primary hypothesis was that explicitly contracting to do an activity in order to receive a reward will have negative effects on creativity, but receiving no reward or only a noncontracted-for reward will have no such negative effects. All three studies provided support for this hypothesis. Moreover, this support appears to be strong and generalizable across different subject populations, reward types, reward presentations, and creativity tasks. Possible mechanisms for the phenomenon are discussed.
Examined the conditions under which the imposition of an extrinsic constraint upon performance of an activity can lead to decrements in creativity. 95 female undergraduates worked on an art activity either with or without the expectation of external evaluation. In addition, Ss were asked to focus on either the creative or the technical aspects of the activity or they were given no specific focus. Finally, some Ss expecting evaluation were given explicit instructions on how to make their artworks. As predicted, Ss in the evaluation groups produced artworks significantly lower on judged creativity than did Ss in the nonevaluation control groups. The only evaluation group for which this pattern was reversed had received explicit instructions on how to make artworks that would be judged creative. A possible reconciliation of these 2 disparate results is proposed, and practical implications are discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Cameron and Pierce's meta-analysis (1994), which purports to demonstrate that extrinsic rewards may not undermine intrinsic motivation, is unpersuasive by virtue of its methodology, its tendency to ignore important distinctions, and its failure to include certain evidence.
Cameron and Pierce’s (1994) conclusion that rewards do not pose a threat to intrinsic motivation is a misrepresentation of the literature based on a flawed meta-analysis. Their call to abandon cognitive evaluation theory is more an attempt to defend their behaviorist theoretical turf than a meaningful consideration of the relevant data and issues.
Cameron and Pierce’s meta-analysis (1994), which purports to demonstrate that extrinsic rewards may not undermine intrinsic motivation, is unpersuasive by virtue of its methodology, its tendency to ignore important distinctions, and its failure to include certain evidence.
In an experiment in which male and female respondents evaluated the social category of women or men on several types of measures, analysis of respondents' attitudes toward the sexes and of the evaluative content of their beliefs established that they evaluated women more favorably than men. In addition, analysis of respondents' emotional reactions toward women and men did not yield evidence of negativity toward women at the emotional level. Nor did it appear that respondents' very positive evaluations of women masked ambivalence toward them. This research, therefore, provides strong evidence that women are evaluated quite favorably—in fact, more favorably than men.
This study set out to identify specific task behaviors that predict observable product creativity in three domains and to identify which of those behaviors mediate the well-established link between intrinsic motivation and creativity. One-hundred fifty-one undergraduate students completed a motivational measure and were later videotaped while engaging in tasks in three different domains: problem solving (a structure-building activity), art (collage making), and a writing (an American Haiku poem). Behavioral coding and think-aloud protocol analysis yielded reliable measures that, when empirically combined form task process indicators, strongly predicted judge-rated product creativity in each domain. One of the indicators, involvement in the task, served as a mediator of intrinsic motivation's positive influence one creativity. Other indicators reflect domain-relevant skills and creativity-relevant processes, lending support to the componential model of creativity. Theoretical and methodological implications for future creativity research are discussed.
This study examines the possibility that the relative salience of the controlling and informational aspects of competition determines its impact on creative performance, as suggested by cognitive evaluation theory. The salience of these aspects was manipulated by varying competitor presence and visibility. Three components Of creative performance were measured: fluency, flexibility, and overall creativity. Results provided mixed support for the importance of distinguishing between the informational and controlling aspects of competition. Consistent with predictions, scores on the creativity measures were higher in two conditions when the informational aspect of competition should be high (i.e., when individuals were in competition with others present but nor visible and when individuals were in competition with absent others and were visible to noncompetitive others) than in a condition when the controlling aspect was expected to be high (i.e., when individuals were in competition with present others and visible to them) and in no competition conditions. However, other findings failed to provide support for the importance of the informational/controlling distinction (e.g., individuals who competed with absent others and were not visible to noncompetitive others produced work low in creativity). The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
The present experiment was designed to examine whether children's gender would moderate the effects of ability-focused versus effort-focused praise on their performance, perceived competence, and intrinsic motivation. A secondary goal was to examine whether type of involvement might also serve to moderate the effects of effort-focused praise. Fifth and sixth grade boys and girls were introduced to hidden-figures puzzles in eithera task-involving (ie., gamelike) or an ego-involving (i.e., test like) manner and then received either ability-focused or effort-focused praise for their performance. The results showed that boys reported feeling relatively more competent, performed relatively better, and displayed relatively more free choice intrinsic motivation after receiving ability praise than effort praise, whereas girls reported feeling relatively more competent, performed relatively better, and evidenced relatively greater intrinsic motivation after receiving effort than ability praise. The differential impact of ability-focused versus effort-focused praise was especially pronounced for boys. These findings are discussed in terms of boys' and girls' previous history with verbal rewards and gender differences in performance attributions. No effects were found for type of involvement.
Previously unacquainted pairs of 33-month-old children were brought together in same-sex or mixed-sex pairs in a laboratory playroom, and the amount and kind of social behavior directed by each child toward the playmate was recorded. Children directed more social behavior-both positive and negative-to same-sex playmates than to opposite-sex ones. Girls paired with boys were more likely to stand passively watching their partners, or to withdraw toward their mothers, than boys in any pairing or girls playing with girls. Sequential analysis disclosed that boys were unlikely to respond to the vocal prohibitions of girls, while partners did respond to such prohibitions in other pairings. Statistical issues in measuring dyadic interaction are discussed, as are the implications of the findings for children's self-segregation by sex in play groups.
The foundation for a model of motivational synergy is presented. Building upon but going beyond previous conceptualizations, the model outlines the ways in which intrinsic motivation (which arises from the intrinsic value of the work for the individual) might interact with extrinsic motivation (which arises from the desire to obtain outcomes that are apart from the work itself). In a modification of the prevailing psychological view that extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation, this conceptualization proposes that certain types of extrinsic motivation can combine synergistically with intrinsic motivation, particularly when initial levels of intrinsic motivation are high. Such synergistic motivational combinations should lead to high levels of employee satisfaction and performance. Two mechanisms are proposed for these combinations: extrinsics in service of intrinsics, and the motivation-work cycle match. Personality and work-environment influences on motivation are discussed, and implications are outlined for management practice and management development.
Girls whose ages ranged from 7 to 11 years made paper collages during I of 2 residential parties. Those in the experimental group were competing for prizes, whereas those in the control group expected that the prizes would be raffled off Artist-judges later rated each collage on several artistic dimensions, including creativity, technical goodness, and aesthetic appeal. A high level of interjudge reliability was found, and there was a clear separation between creativity judgments and judgments of technical goodness and aesthetic appeal. The control group was significantly higher than the experimental group on judged creativity of the collages and on several other dimensions of judgment that correlated with creativity. The control group was lower, however, on some dimensions related to technical aspects of the performance. In addition, there was significantly more variability in the control group on a number of objective features of the collages. The results are consistent with the proposition that intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity, while extrinsic motivation is detrimental.
Children's art was studied as a function of (1) gender of child, (2) picture condition (drawings of same-sex versus mixed-sex dyads), and (3) child-rearing setting (U.S. town [N = 89] versus Israeli town [N = 132] versus Israeli kibbutz [N = 88]). Pictures were scored for theme or focus of activity (mastery versus social interaction) and for the nature of the interaction (cooperation, competition, aggression, power/ dominance). Boys drew more themes of aggression, competition, and dominance than did girls. U.S. boys portrayed more aggression than did Israeli town boys, and kibbutz children portrayed less competition and dominance than did Israeli town children. Of greatest interest, however, are cultural differences in the way mixed-sex dyads were portrayed relative to same-sex dyads. Whereas Israeli boys drew different themes in pictures of two boys than in pictures of a boy and a girl, they nonetheless depicted egalitarian relationships equally often in both pictures. In contrast, U.S. boys drew the same themes in pictures of two boys as in pictures of a boy and a girl, but they portrayed different power relations: Two boys playing together were depicted as equal in power, but boys were drawn as more powerful than girls in pictures of mixed-sex dyads. Similar, although less strong, results were found in the drawings of girls. The results are interpreted in terms of cultural practices and ideology with respect to sex typing.
The present experiment was conducted to address variations in prior experience with reward and some inconsistencies in previous investigations comparing verbal and symbolic rewards. 5-7-year-old children attending 4 private schools (half of which use symbolic rewards as marks of achievement) saw a videotape that either created the expectation of a performance-contingent reward or did not mention rewards. Except for children in a no-reward control condition, all children were rewarded after 5 min, half with praise (verbal reward) and half with a Good Player Award (symbolic reward). A triple-order interaction was obtained such that children attending schools that did not use symbolic rewards to mark achievement were less likely to draw during the free-play period when given an expected symbolic reward, but were more likely to draw when given a verbal reward. Children attending schools that did not use symbolic rewards to mark achievement, however, did not react differentially to symbolic and verbal rewards but instead were more likely to draw when the reward was expected than when it was unexpected. The nature of prior experience with rewards and reward contingency may affect the relative salience of informational and controlling properties and thereby enhance or undermine intrinsic motivation.
Studied the differences in self-confidence between the sexes after head-to-head competition in a neutral task. 40 males and 40 females aged 17–25 yrs participated to determine if sex of S, sex of opponent, or perceived ability of opponent affected Ss' self-confidence after competing at a TV Ping Pong game. A 2 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial design, with 10 Ss assigned to each cell, was used. All Ss competed in 5 games against a confederate, and in all cases Ss lost all but the 2nd game. Analysis of covariance of the data showed that regardless of sex of the opponent, females expressed postperformance confidence levels equal to males after performing against an opponent thought to be poor in ability, but they were significantly less confident after performing against opponents perceived to be good in ability. These findings support researchers who note that the performance expectations of females tend to be unstable and change with single encounters, whereas males are less likely to allow one failure to affect performance assessments. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
14 2–6 yr olds enrolled in a day-care center made collages using a subset of a large array of materials. Half the Ss were allowed to choose those materials they would use. For the rest of the Ss, the choice was made by the experimenter. Ss in the no-choice condition were yoked to those in the choice condition by the specific materials they were given. Results show that the collages made by Ss given a choice of materials were judged by a group of artists as significantly higher in creativity than those made by Ss given no choice. Findings support the hypothesis that unconstrained choice in task approach can be conducive to creativity, while constrained choice can be detrimental. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Flow is a state of peak enjoyment, energetic focus, and creative concentration experienced by people engaged in adult play, which has become the basis of a highly creative approach to living. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Development descriptive research has often been summarized as indicating that girls more often value cooperative resource distributions and less often value competitive resource distributions than boys. However, there is considerable inconsistency in these findings that may be the result of measurement difficulties. The first study examined the gender differences using a measure designed to assess cooperative, competitive, and individualistic social values among 3- to 12-year-old children more adequately. The results indicated that (1), the girls less often prefered relative resource distributions (i.e., more often preferred individualistic resource distributions) compared to the boys, but (2) when children preferred relative resource distributions, girls most frequently preferred cooperative resource distributions (i.e., equality), while boys most frequently preferred competitive resource distributions (superiority). The second study examined whether gender differences in these social values exist prior to the age of 6 and simply were not fully demonstrated among the young children in the first study because of the cognitive demands of the task. The results revealed gender differences similar to those observed among the older children in the first study, when young children completed a modified form of the task that reduced the cognitive demands of the task. The compatibility with other findings and the implications for gender difference research on other behaviors are discussed.
An equal number of male and female subjects (N=48), ranging in age from 17 to 26, were randomly assigned to compete in three competitive video games against a male or female opponent. All subjects were given bogus feedback that they had lost two out of three video games by a standard margin. Initial performance expectancies, as well as postcompetition expectancies, of all subjects were recorded. Initial performance expectancy scores recorded prior to competition were analyzed in a 2 (subject gender)2 (opponent gender) analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) design with initial skill level on a preliminary game as the covariate. No significant gender differences in initial expectancy scores were found. A 2 (subject gender)2 (opponent gender) ANCOVA design was utilized to analyze the postcompetition expectancy scores with initial performance expectancy as the covariate. The analysis revealed no significant differences. These findings did not support Corbin's (1981) data suggesting that females express significantly less self-confidence than males for future performance after competing against and losing to a superior opponent on a video task. Initial performance expectancies in the present study were significantly correlated (p.05) to skill level, indicating that performance expectancies may be more related to skill level than to gender. Thus, a realistic perception about one's initial skill level on a particular task may be the most salient determinant of performance expectancies.
This study tested one hypothesis concerning the attribution of gender role stereotypes about competitive behavior and three hypotheses concerning differences in attribution of sex between male and female subjects. The study used a Prisoner's Dilemma Game setting to expose subjects to one of three conditions (competitive, cooperative, or tit-for-tat) to measure attribution of sex to an unknown confederate. A chi-square analysis revealed significant differences in the attribution of sex to the anonymous confederate between the competitive and the combined cooperative and tit-for-tat groups. In the competitive condition, subjects were more prone to think that the anonymous confederate was male than were subjects in the cooperative and tit-for-tat condition. This finding is consistent with the gender role stereotype that generally associates competitive behavior with masculinity and not with femininity. Post hoc chi-squares also revealed no difference between male and female subjects in the attribution of sex in any of the three conditions. Implications of these findings are discussed.
This study tested the applicability of Tajfel and Turner's (1986) Social Identity Theory (SIT) to cooperative behavior in a mixed-gender setting. SIT suggests that as a socially subordinate group in a male-dominated society, women, when their gender is in the numerical minority, will engage in social competition in an attempt to enhance social identity. However, gender-based socialization may encourage men toward competition and women toward cooperation, regardless of group gender composition. In this study, male and female subjects were assigned to a six-person mixed-gender group in which their gender was either in the numerical minority or majority, and performed an interactive task under either cooperative or competitive feedback. An interaction of sex and feedback showed males in the cooperative feedback condition responded more competitively than did males in the competitive feedback condition, while females were equally cooperative in both feedback conditions. Feedback also interacted with the numerical ingroup/outgroup gender balance. While competitive feedback elicited little variation in subjects' responses across the ingroup/outgroup balance variable, the cooperative condition elicited greater competition from subjects in the numerical minority and greater cooperation from those in the numerical majority. Results were interpreted as partial support for SIT, while stressing the need for further investigation into gender as a unique influence on intergroup behavior.
Competitive trait anxiety scores, measured by the Sport Competition Anxiety Test, were obtained from subjects of both sexes. Subjects also were classified into one of five sex-role endorsement categories according to scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. It was predicted that greater endorsement of a feminine sex role, regardless of sex of the subject, would be associated with high levels of competitive trait anxiety. Analysis of variance showed no significant difference for sex of subject, but significant differences for both sex-role endorsement and sex endorsement interaction. Both differences were attributed to male subjects' responses. Generally, masculine males were less anxious than other subjects, while feminine males were more anxious. There were no significant differences among female groups.
The Adjective Check List (ACL) was employed in the empirical definition of male and female stereotypes by 50 male and 50 female college student subjects. Judgments by male and female subjects correlated highly. There were 33 male adjectives and 30 female adjectives on which at least 75% of both sexes agreed. With a 60% agreement criterion, there were 98 male and 83 female adjectives. Both male and female stereotypes were treated as hypothetical persons and were shown to be highly deviant on standard ACL norms, with the male stereotype being more deviant and perhaps more disturbed than the female stereotype. It was concluded that the ACL is a promising method for the definition and study of sex stereotypes.
The individual differences of need for achievement, anxiety (plus resultant achievement motivation), locus of control, and gender were explored to determine their intervening role in intrinsic motivational processes following objective competence information. In two experiments, participants were either allowed to win or were made to lose a puzzle-solving contest against a same-gender confederate with the success/failure experience via the competitive outcome serving as the objective source of competence information. In Experiment 1, outcome, locus of control, and the resultant achievement motivation × outcome interaction predicted level of intrinsic motivation, thereby substantiating the claim that individual differences are important in the prediction of intrinsic motivation. Experiment 2 tested the impact of each individual difference on intrinsic motivation-relevant moderating processes (performance expectancy, actual and perceived performance, and affect) to highlight the processes by which individual differences function to impact level of intrinsic motivation. It was shown that need for achievement affected level of intrinsic motivation through the high achievers' favorably biased performance expectancy and heightened positive affect, and, after losing, through both a favorable actual and perceived performance relative to low achievers, High anxiety impacted level of intrinsic motivation by depreciating performance expectancy and actual performance relative to low levels of anxiety. For locus of control, internals showed a higher level of intrinsic motivation than externals via a more favorable performance expectancy and, after winning, via greater positive affect and a more successful perceived performance appraisal.
In this literature review, two aspects of female behavior in mixed-sex competition were examined, competitive performance itself and physiological changes during competition. In nearly every study reviewed, at least some of the female subjects depressed performance levels, resulting in loss to male competitors. This was more likely to occur in naturalistic studies than in tightly controlled laboratory studies. Females who competed vigorously against males were characterized as being masculine or androgynous, having more internal locus of control, and preferring nontraditional roles. The data on female physiological responses in competitive situations suggest that conflicting social demands raise anxiety levels for at least some female competitors.
The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the effect of different types of competition and success/failure on intrinsic motivation of males and females performing on a motor task. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the following competition conditions: (a) face-to-face competition, (b) competition against a standard of excellence, or (c) a noncompetitive condition (control). In addition, subjects received either success or failure feedback while performing on the pursuit rotor. Results indicated that subjects receiving success exhibited more intrinsic motivation than subjects receiving failure. Subjects also displayed more intrinsic motivation during competition than when not in competition. In addition, the Sex × Competition interaction indicated that males exhibited more intrinsic motivation when competing than when not competing, whereas females displayed no differences between these conditions. Results are discussed in light of previous research by Deci (1975) and Deaux (1977) and future direction is offered.
In this study, we investigated the relationships among gender, academic achievement, and student preferences for cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning in a sample of 136 African-American adolescents enrolled in sixth and seventh grades in a school in Georgia. We used the Learning Preference Scale for Students (LPSS; Barnes, Owens, & Straton, 1978) to measure cooperative, competitive, and individualistic preferences. Three two-way ANOVAs (Gender x Academic Achievement) were conducted, in which the three learning preferences were the dependent variables. Gender had a significant effect on the preference for cooperative learning, with girls reporting a higher preference for this method than boys did. For the other two learning preferences, no significant gender differences were found. Academic achievement did not correlate significantly with any of the three learning preferences. A two-way interaction between gender and academic achievement was observed for competitive learning preferences. Girls' preferences for competition increased as academic achievement increased; boys' preferences for competition decreased as academic achievement increased.
Publisher Summary This chapter argues that gender segregation is a powerful phenomenon of childhood. The extent of its occurrence does depend on situations arranged by adults for children's interactions and therefore cross-cultural and within-culture situational variations make a great deal of difference in the amount of interactive contact male and female children have with one another. The implication of analysis is that, over and above situational variation, there are forces for children to segregate themselves spontaneously in situations, such as school playgrounds where there are large numbers of children and where a child's behavior is open to the observation of other children. The chapter suggests that gender segregation results from a combination of several forces, including the dominance relations between the sexes, age-specific avoidance of romantic or sexually toned relationships, and gender labeling. The last is of paramount importance and may account, in part, for both the dominance relationships and sexual avoidance.