Social Influences on Creativity: Evaluation, Coaction, and Surveillance.

Two experiments examined the effects of evaluation expectation and the presence of others on creativity in undergraduate students. In both, some Ss expected that their work would be evaluated by experts, while others expected no evaluation. Evaluation expectation was crossed, in each experiment, with the presence of others. In the first experiment, this variable was operationalized as coaction; some subjects worked individually in small groups, while others worked alone. In the second experiment, it was operationalized as surveillance; some subjects believed they were being watched while working. Effects of evaluation expectation were consistently strong. On both the verbal task used in Study 1 and the artistic task used in Study 2, creativity was lower in those groups expecting evaluation. Evidence on the social facilitation or social inhibition of creativity was less clear. Coaction had no effect, and surveillance had only a weak negative effect. Moreover, there was no clear evidence that the effect of surveillance was due to evaluation apprehension. The results are discussed in terms of motivational and cognitive influences on creativity. Three pages of references are included. (Author)