You are invited to our March Interdisciplinary Brown Bag on Creativity
TAKING TIME TO INCUBATE BY DOING MULTIPLE TASKS:
THE MODERATING ROLE OF ‘WHAT YOU DO’ AND ‘WHEN YOU DO IT’ ON CREATIVE PERFORMANCE
Thursday, March 13th 2014, 12 - 1
School of Business Board Room, Room 321
Abstract
I will discuss a series of studies that explore the conditions under which working on a different, intervening, task can facilitate incubation on a main task, and in turn creativity. Using unconscious thought theory, we hypothesize that the type of intervening task (in-domain versus out-of-domain) and the timing of the switch between tasks can make a difference in determining their effectiveness for incubation. Results indicate that participants who worked on an in-domain intervening task exhibited significantly higher creativity on the main task than those who worked on the out-of-domain task or did not choose to switch to an intervening task. In addition, participants who switched to an intervening task later in their work process on the main task benefited significantly more from the switch than those who chose to switch earlier. The role of creativity goals and discretion to switch tasks will also be discussed, as well as the mediating mechanisms of focus of attention.
Please, forward this invitation to your colleagues who may be interested in creativity!
The next creativity brown bag in the series is going to be on 4/25, 12-1pm, and all are welcome to attend.
For more information, contact: Nora Madjar at nora.madjar@business.uconn.edu