Enhancing group creativity: the search for synergy

Abstract

Much of the idea exchange and evaluation that are part of the creative process occur in groups. It is often presumed that groups facilitate these processes, but much research indicates that groups often hinder effective exchange of ideas and that they may not facilitate their evaluation. We summarize the factors that limit the potential of groups in these domains and use the cognitive–social–motivational model (Paulus & Brown, 2003, 2007) to highlight the conditions under which group creativity is enhanced. In particular, we focus on the conditions under which groups can actually outperform similar size sets of individuals and thus provide evidence for synergy in creative groups.