Creating for Others: An Experimental Study of the Effects of Intrinsic Motivation and Prosocial Motivation on Creativity

Abstract

Scholars of creativity research usually believe that intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity. However,more and more results have challenged and questioned this conclusion. According to the latest motivated information processing model,prosocial motivation can help people think about not only novel but also useful aspects of ideas to improve the whole creativity. This study used 2×2 between-subjects design. Through the manipulation of intrinsic motivation and prosocial motivation,participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions and completed a creative task. ANOVA indicated that there was a significant interaction effect of intrinsic motivation and prosocial motivation on creativity,and only when people had high levels of intrinsic motivation coupled with high levels of prosocial motivation,they would be most creative. This study proved the importance of prosocial motivation in creative process,and opened a new perspective of creativity research.