Enhance creative performance via exposure to examples: The role of cognitive thinking style

Abstract

Providing examples to individuals before a task has been proven an effective way to enhance creative performance, but exposure to examples also involves the risk of fixation, which may harm creativity. Building on the creative cognitive theory, this article examines the joint effects between example exposure and individuals’ cognitive thinking style, i.e., an analytical or holistic thinking style, on their creative performance. Results from two experiments with 126 and 164 participants, respectively, consistently show that whether exposure to examples will positively or negatively impact individuals’ creative performance is dependent on their cognitive thinking style. In particular, for individuals with a more analytical thinking style, the provision of examples leads to more creative performance. In contrast, for individuals with a more holistic thinking style, exposure to examples before a task impedes their creative performance.