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The Effect of Competition on the Creativity and Motivation of Swedish Schoolchildren

Amin, Jennifer LU and Regander, Jonatan LU (2012) PSYK01 20112
Department of Psychology
Abstract
A study was conducted to investigate the effects of competition on creativity in a Swedish context. Ninety-nine 5th grade children were divided into two groups and examined on the hypothesis that competition in one group would create an extrinsic constraint and therefore diminish the intrinsic motivation resulting in less creative outcome. Furthermore we hypothesized that the participants in the competition group that reported themselves as more intrinsically motivated would be more creative compared to extrinsically motivated participants. The study did not provide support for the hypotheses; there was no significant difference between the competition group and the control group on creativity outcome. In addition the participants who... (More)
A study was conducted to investigate the effects of competition on creativity in a Swedish context. Ninety-nine 5th grade children were divided into two groups and examined on the hypothesis that competition in one group would create an extrinsic constraint and therefore diminish the intrinsic motivation resulting in less creative outcome. Furthermore we hypothesized that the participants in the competition group that reported themselves as more intrinsically motivated would be more creative compared to extrinsically motivated participants. The study did not provide support for the hypotheses; there was no significant difference between the competition group and the control group on creativity outcome. In addition the participants who reported themselves as intrinsically motivated did not produce more creative products than the participants in the control group. These results were not in line with those of studies conducted in an American context. A thorough discussion on why these differences between American and Swedish schoolchildren exist is conducted. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Amin, Jennifer LU and Regander, Jonatan LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYK01 20112
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Creativity, competition, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, culture
language
English
id
2293554
date added to LUP
2012-01-25 15:49:04
date last changed
2012-01-25 15:49:04
@misc{2293554,
  abstract     = {{A study was conducted to investigate the effects of competition on creativity in a Swedish context. Ninety-nine 5th grade children were divided into two groups and examined on the hypothesis that competition in one group would create an extrinsic constraint and therefore diminish the intrinsic motivation resulting in less creative outcome. Furthermore we hypothesized that the participants in the competition group that reported themselves as more intrinsically motivated would be more creative compared to extrinsically motivated participants. The study did not provide support for the hypotheses; there was no significant difference between the competition group and the control group on creativity outcome. In addition the participants who reported themselves as intrinsically motivated did not produce more creative products than the participants in the control group. These results were not in line with those of studies conducted in an American context. A thorough discussion on why these differences between American and Swedish schoolchildren exist is conducted.}},
  author       = {{Amin, Jennifer and Regander, Jonatan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Effect of Competition on the Creativity and Motivation of Swedish Schoolchildren}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}