amrc creativity workshop - dr dermot breslin

Learning to be Creative

Dr Dermot Breslin

,Work, Organisation & Employment Relations Research Centre,

Sheffield University Management School

[email protected]

www.learningtoevolve.com

Creativity and Unconscious ThoughtCreativity and Unconscious Thought

Unconscious thought during an ‘incubation’ period has a

positive influence on creativity

• Passive View: Forgetting ideas or putting them aside

reduces erroneous associations forming, and allows new

ones to take hold (Schooler & Melcher, 1995; Smith & ones to take hold (Schooler & Melcher, 1995; Smith &

Blankship, 1989)

• Active View: In active unconscious thought, the individual

continues to think about the problem in the absence of any

conscious attention (Dijksterhuis, 2004; Dijsterhuis &

Nordgren, 2006), with information being reorganized

through associations.

Dermot Breslin, Sheffield University Management School

Creativity Workshops

Unconscious Thought and Unconscious Thought and MindwanderingMindwandering

Unconscious thought can be triggered when one engages in

low cognitive demand tasks during incubation (Smallwood

et al., 2009)

Performing a low demand task during



Performing a low demand task during

incubation increases creativity by

40%, compared resting during

incubation (no change) and no break

cases (20% decrease) (Baird et al.,

2012)

Creativity in GroupsCreativity in Groups

• Brainstorming (Osborn, 1953)

• Quantity not quality – the more ideas the better chance of

finding a good one

• Groups are less productive idea generators (Diehl and



• Groups are less productive idea generators (Diehl and

Stroebe, 1987)

• Production blocking

• Free riding

• Evaluation Apprehension

Experimental Studies at Sheffield University Experimental Studies at Sheffield University

Management SchoolManagement School

• 225 students divided into 45 groups of 5 students

• Groups completed two Unusual Uses Tasks (UUT) – in each

task groups asked to generate as many unusual uses as possible

for a common object within a set amount of time (Baird et al.,

2012).



2012).

• Between tasks groups

experienced three different 5

minute incubation interventions

– high cognitive demand, low

cognitive and rest case

The Effect of MindThe Effect of Mind--wandering on Group wandering on Group

CreativityCreativity

High Effort

Low Effort

Case +46%Rest Case Case +34%



Rest Case

+23%

The Effect of Time of Day on Group CreativityThe Effect of Time of Day on Group Creativity



Creativity and Our Daily RoutinesCreativity and Our Daily Routines



Source: “Daily rituals” by Mason Currey

Learning to be CreativeLearning to be Creative

• Nature of Incubation Task

• Timing of Incubation

• Duration of Incubation Period

• Incubation Frequency



amrc creativity workshop - dr dermot breslin

Business