Creativity in groups

This chapter considers creativity in groups. As a topic of scientific study, it recently has gained momentum, perhaps because of the increase in teamwork combined with the premium placed on creativity in modern organizations (Anderson, de Dreu, & Nijstad, 2004; Mannix, Neale, & Goncalo, 2009; Paulus & Nijstad, 2003; Thompson & Choi, 2006). Much of the scientific work on creativity therefore occurs not only in social psychology but also in related areas, such as organizational psychology, management, and information systems research. This chapter reviews this work along with more social–psychological work. The chapter consists of five parts. It begins with some definitional issues and basic distinctions. It then considers the issue of group versus individual creativity and the questions of whether and when interaction within a group makes people more creative. The third section discusses why some groups are more creative than others. Previous work subsequently is integrated within one theoretical framework, the motivated information processing in groups model (de Dreu, Nijstad, & van Knippenberg, 2008). Finally, the chapter highlights promising areas for future study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved