Work

How Dual-Identity Processes Foster Creativity

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: We propose a theoretical model explaining when and why possessing 2 inconsistent social identities can foster superior creativity. The framework describes how during cultural adaptation individuals (a) alternate their identities across contexts, (b) integrate elements of their distinct (i.e., remote and uncorrelated) identities, and, having formed cognitive and emotional links with the new group, (c) broaden their self-definition. We explain how these processes of cultural adaptation map onto 3 fundamental creative processes: (a) an ability to quickly and effortlessly switch between cognitive strategies and semantic categories, (b) an apparent ease in integrating distant and conflicting ideas, and finally, (c) the widening of one's creative idea base. Our model explains how the challenges involved in managing complex self-definitions enhance creativity, and increase potential for novel problem solutions. Understanding this dynamic brings a new perspective to debates on the value of diversity.

Source: Review of General Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/gpr0000008

Authors: Małgorzata A. Gocłowska, Richard J. Crisp

Institutions: University of Amsterdam, University of Sheffield

Language: English

Topic: Creativity in Education and Neuroscience

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: British Academy

Award: G696930160