Nudging individuals’ creativity using social labeling

Marine Agogué,Béatrice Parguel,Valerio Capraro

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228961

Abstract

Simple instructions have been shown to robustly influence individual creativity, which is key to solve local problems. Building on social labeling theory, we examine the possibility of nudging individual's creativity using "creative" and "not creative" labels. Study 1 showed that subjects labeled as "creative" or "not creative" performed better in a creative task than unlabeled subjects and established the moderating effect of self-perceived creativity. Among subjects scoring low on self-perceived creativity, those labeled as "creative" performed better than those labeled as "not creative". Conversely, among subjects scoring high on self-perceived creativity, those labeled as "not creative" tend to perform better than those labeled as "creative". Study 2 and Study 3 further explored the psychological mechanisms at play in both cases: specifically, Study 2 showed that applying a "creative" label has the ability to increase creative self-efficacy through self-perceived creativity, whereas Study 3 demonstrated that applying a "not creative" label has the ability to increase individual creativity performance through a higher involvement in the creative task.

Highlights

Potential antecedents of collaborators’ creativity, i.e. their ability to produce ideas that are both original and useful [1] [2], include collaborator’s education level, learning orientation and job self-efficacy, supervisor’s support and expectations, job complexity and creativity requirements, a favorable organizational climate or shared knowledge of who knows what [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
As a relevant ancillary finding, the analysis showed that self-perceived creativity does not influence individual creativity performance (F(1,195) = .026, ns)
We explore the relevance of social labeling techniques to foster individual creative behaviour

Summary

Introduction

Potential antecedents of collaborators’ creativity, i.e. their ability to produce ideas that are both original and useful [1] [2], include collaborator’s education level, learning orientation and job self-efficacy, supervisor’s support and expectations, job complexity and creativity requirements, a favorable organizational climate or shared knowledge of who knows what [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]. A “negative” label, in contrast, should provide less room for modification among people scoring low on the targeted quality than higher scorers, and have more effect on the latter than the former group Following this rationale, “creative” and “not creative” labels are likely to influence individual creativity performance differently depending on their ability to modify the way subjects initially perceive themselves in terms of personal creativity. A “not creative” label is likely to erode self-perception, motivate self-esteem restoration and enhance individual creativity performance, among subjects initially perceiving themselves as highly creative. We will test our conceptual model in Study 1, before further exploring the psychological mechanisms at play when labeling an individual as “creative” in Study 2, i.e. the activation of creative self-efficacy, or when labeling an individual as “not creative” in Study 3, i.e. an enhanced involvement in the creative task. We will test in two follow-up studies why both “creative” and “not creative” labels may enhance individual creativity performance

Materials and methods

Results

Discussion

Limitations and further research