Reinvestigating the Effects of Promised Reward on Creativity

In both experiments, only non-gain framed rewards reliably enhanced creativity, suggesting that that the mental construal of a reward (as either a potential gain or non- gain) is an important moderator of its effects on creative generation.

Abstract

In a pivotal study, Eisenberger and Rhoades (2001 Eisenberger , R. , & Rhoades , L. ( 2001 ). Incremental effects of reward on creativity . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 81 , 728 – 741 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) recently put forth evidence that promised reward enhances creativity when the reward is clearly contingent upon creative, as opposed to conventional performance. The present study reinvestigated this finding, additionally examining the role of reward framing (i.e., gain vs. non-gain) as well as that of expected competence information and self-determination. In both experiments, only non-gain framed rewards reliably enhanced creativity, suggesting that that the mental construal of a reward (as either a potential gain or non-gain) is an important moderator of its effects on creative generation. Results also indicated that the facilitative influence of promised reward on creativity is due to the offering of an incentive per se and not the concomitant prospect of receiving normative competence feedback. Finally, although it was influenced by reward framing, perceived self-determination did not mediate the effect of promised reward on creativity.