The Science of Creative Block: Why Waiting for the Muse Is the Block

TEST_YOURSELF · How well do you know this science?

1. 01 In Amabile's 1979 experiment, what happened to people's artwork when they expected experts to evaluate it?

   It was judged more creative — pressure improved the workIt was judged significantly less creative than work made without evaluation expectationsThere was no measurable differenceOnly technical quality dropped; creativity was unaffected

   Participants in the expected-evaluation groups produced artworks judged significantly lower in creativity than the non-evaluation groups. Merely anticipating judgment — before any judgment happened — was enough to reduce creativity. source ↗

2. 02 In Boice's 1983 study of blocked writers, which group generated the most creative ideas over 10 weeks?

   Those who wrote only when they felt inspiredThose who abstained from writing to let ideas build upThose under contingency management that forced them to write on a scheduleAll three groups produced roughly the same number of ideas

   The writers essentially forced to write habitually showed the highest creativity; spontaneous writers reported only modest levels; and those who abstained generated minimal numbers of creative ideas. Boice concluded that external contingencies that produce writing facilitate — not impede — creativity. source ↗

3. 03 What did Tierney and Farmer (2002) find that creative self-efficacy predicts?

   Creative performance — but only among employees with high IQCreative performance, beyond what job self-efficacy predictsJob satisfaction, but not actual creative outputNothing — it was statistically indistinguishable from general confidence

   Using employee data from two firms, Tierney and Farmer showed creative self-efficacy is a distinct construct that predicted creative performance beyond the predictive effects of job self-efficacy — the belief that you can be creative carries its own weight. source ↗

4. 04 According to the 2009 meta-analysis by Sio and Ormerod, which kind of task benefits most from an incubation break?

   Rote memorization tasksDivergent-thinking (creative) tasksSimple arithmetic tasksNo tasks — incubation showed no reliable effect

   The meta-analysis found a positive incubation effect overall, with divergent-thinking tasks benefiting more than linguistic and visual insight tasks — and breaks filled with undemanding activity produced larger gains than either rest or demanding tasks. source ↗

5. 05 What does Amabile's intrinsic motivation principle say about when people are most creative?

   When motivated by rewards and deadlinesWhen motivated by interest and enjoyment in the work itselfWhen competing directly against other creatorsWhen they know their work will be publicly ranked

   Amabile's social psychology of creativity holds that intrinsic motivation — doing the work for its own interest and enjoyment — is conducive to creativity, while extrinsic pressures such as expected evaluation tend to undermine it. Her evaluation experiments demonstrated the extrinsic side directly. source ↗