Conditions relating to evaluation apprehension, alcohol and affect were investigated in relation to creative performance. Study I compared group work with individual work, and control conditions were compared with de Bono creativity-enhancing techniques. Study II studied the effect of alcohol and emotional-enhancing film material on primary-secondary process relations and creative performance. Study III explored experiences of working on a creative task after receiving negative feedback. Study IV investigated the relationship between fear of evaluation and creative performance. Study I showed higher scores on different measures of creative performance for group work, while individual work showed higher total fluency scores. Further, de Bono technique conditions showed lower fluency and lower flexibility. Study II showed signs of decreased creative performance after the intake of alcohol, and signs of increased primary process thinking but no effect of on creative performance after emotional enhancement. Study III showed that stress, fear of producing ‘incorrect’ responses and low self-efficacy were inhibiting factors on creative performance. Study IV showed that fear of evaluation was related to a lower self-efficacy, higher degree of worry, and higher degree of self-censorship. Further, Study IV showed that fear of negative evaluation had a positive relation to number of ideas produced, but no relation to quality of ideas. Additionally, support for creativity showed positive relations to both number of ideas produced and quality of ideas.

Creativity is desired in many situations. Areas where creativity is needed include innovation, product development and artistic performance. Further, creative activities are connected with joy and pleasure for the individual. However, many of us are struggling when it comes to creative performance, and it is considered hard to be creative.

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate inhibition of creative performance. The results of the four papers comprised in the thesis suggest that group work have an effect on the creative process, explicit instructions may narrow down possible solutions for a problem, alcohol may inhibit creative performance and evaluation apprehension is related to self-censorship of ideas. Further, support for creativity showed positive relations with both quantity and quality of ideas.

The main conclusion of the thesis is that individuals may withhold ideas in fear of others’ reactions. Therefore, creative performance is not only a question of ability, but also a question of willingness to communicate.   

This qualitative study investigated thoughts, feelings and actions when working on a divergent-thinking task after receiving negative feedback on a problem-solving task. Eleven university students were interviewed after working on an unsolvable version of the Necklace Problem and three situations of the Dramatic Events Test. They also rated response contentment on the Dramatic Events Test. The interviews were analyzed by interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results showed that the less-content respondents experienced stress due to situational demands, were anxious to meet perceived criteria, expressed fear of being evaluated by others, and expressed uncertainty about the responses. These respondents also often erased or withheld responses they felt did not meet perceived criteria. It was more common for the content respondents to adapt to situational demands or take them as a challenge, view the failure on the problem-solving task as a motivation to perform better on the subsequent test, not be afraid of criticism from others, and view ideas as changeable. The results are discussed with regard to attention, perfectionism, convergent thinking, intrinsic motivation, evaluation apprehension, and self-efficacy.

The Regressive Imagery Dictionary (RID) measures the degree of primary and secondary process content in texts and verbal speech/writing. RID was translated into Swedish and 2 studies were performed to validate it. In Study 1, alcohol was used in a placebo design to induce a shift toward the dominance of primary over secondary process thinking. Surprisingly, the alcohol group showed indications of using more secondary process in written stories than both the control group and the placebo group, although there were no significant differences between the groups in primary and secondary process as measured with the Swedish RID. In Study 2, the participants watched either a neutral film or an action film, whereupon they wrote down an ending of their own choosing. The action film condition produced more primary process than the neutral film condition, as measured by the Swedish RID. These findings underline both alcohol dose relationships in behavioral studies and emotional state in primary-secondary process thinking relationships in creative expression. Above all, in validating the Swedish RID scope for new insights into processes involved creative performance is obtained.

Three experimental studies with high school students and university students as subjects were carried out in order to investigate the effects of different conditions on the performance of creative tasks. Study 1 investigated the effects of working individually (Single-work group) or in a Group (Group-work group) upon fluency, flexibility, and originality. It was found that although Group-work produced better results on the different measures of creativity, the total fluency score was higher for the Single-work group. Study 2 investigated whether or not two techniques for enhancing creativity, random word input and provocation, produced effects upon creative performance. It was shown that fluency after the manipulation was lower for the random word and provocation conditions, but not for the control condition. In Study 3, which differences in the creative process between subjects working during a period of three days under varying conditions, namely working as an individual versus working in a group (Assemblage condition) and working under control condition versus working with random word input (Technique condition). Group-work showed higher fluency and originality, although the Single-work group showed a greater mean value on fluency. Group-work produced also higher scores on thought change and incubation at all levels of the creative process, whereas the Single-work group produced higher scores on assertion for the original product and illumination on the final product. These results suggest that the Single-work group reached further in the creative process than the Group-work group. The participants in the random word condition showed a lower rate of flexibility than the participants in the control condition did, but also a higher level of thought change during the middle phase of the experiment.