Understanding the relationship between mood and creativity: A meta-analysis

Relationship functioning and impact of health coverage models for parents of childhood cancer patients: A systematic review

The current systematic literature review aimed to summarize and evaluate existing literature regarding parental relationship functioning during and after childhood cancer, with an exploratory evaluation regarding the impact of national health coverage model (proxy for finances). This review used MEDLINE, PsychInfo, Embase, and CENTRAL search database. Articles were reviewed (N = 3060) against inclusion criteria, with 512 abstracts screened and 87 full-text retrieved and reviewed. Inclusion criteria: (1) childhood cancer, (2) measures parental relationship functioning, (3) English, and (4) new, empirical data. A modified version of the Downs and Black checklist was used to assess risk of bias. Narrative synthesis was used to present and discuss results. Final included articles (N = 36) revealed mostly positive or neutral findings across parental relationship functioning subdomains within 6 months (T1) and after 6 months (T2) of childhood cancer diagnosis. Sexual intimacy was negatively impacted across timepoints. Parental stress was higher than norms at T1. Marital conflict and adjustment were also worse at T1 but returned to previous levels at T2. Some variability in parental relationship functioning was observed among the different health coverage models, but these differences were not significant. Results support systematic screening and systems-based parent support programs for families of children with cancer. Mixed-methods studies examining parental relationships longitudinally and utilizing operational definitions for out-of-pocket spending are needed.

A research on copyright issues impacting artists emotional states in the framework of artificial intelligence

Art and artistic creation serve as a means for artists to communicate with their environment, society, and the external world. However, the protection of artistic creations, as forms of communication, is not only a right for artists but also serves as a crucial safeguard that nurtures them during the creative process. Beyond the traditional issues of copyright, the significant advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in today's digital world have introduced a new debate regarding the ownership of copyright in artistic creations generated by AI. The question arises whether copyright belongs to the AI itself or to the individuals who guide the creative process behind it. In this study, based on the concepts of art, artistic creation, and emotional states, copyright issues will be examined. Data obtained from semi-structured in-depth interviews with artists and academic experts (eight artists, two communication experts, two law experts, and eight psychology experts) in the field will be analysed through content analysis to explore their perspectives regarding the discussion on emotional states, AI, and copyrights. The research highlights the variability of emotional states and their significant effects on individuals. Addressing the increasing trend of copyright issues, particularly within the framework of digitalization and inadequate legal regulations, it was found that artists' emotional states are negatively impacted by these problems. This negative influence can adversely affect artists' creativity and desire to produce. On the other hand, it was also identified that in artworks produced especially through AI, if artists' rights are not protected, there is a possibility of negative emotional states arising. In conclusion, suggestions are as follows: Emphasising the importance of awareness-raising educational activities nationally and internationally, national copyright law (in Northern Cyprus) needs to be revised to protect traditional copyright and be expanded to include digital copyright, especially for works produced through AI. On an international level, emphasising the need to revise international agreements to include regulations for works produced through AI or to create a new agreement based on the importance of this issue.

Prospects for Augmenting Team Interactions with Real-Time Coordination-Based Measures in Human-Autonomy Teams

Complex work in teams requires coordination across team members and their technology as well as the ability to change and adapt over time to achieve effective performance. To support such complex interactions, recent efforts have worked toward the design of adaptive human-autonomy teaming systems that can provide feedback in or near real time to achieve the desired individual or team results. However, while significant advancements have been made to better model and understand the dynamics of team interaction and its relationship with task performance, appropriate measures of team coordination and computational methods to detect changes in coordination have not yet been widely investigated. Having the capacity to measure coordination in real time is quite promising as it provides the opportunity to provide adaptive feedback that may influence and regulate teams' coordination patterns and, ultimately, drive effective team performance. A critical requirement to reach this potential is having the theoretical and empirical foundation from which to do so. Therefore, the first goal of the paper is to review approaches to coordination dynamics, identify current research gaps, and draw insights from other areas, such as social interaction, relationship science, and psychotherapy. The second goal is to collate extant work on feedback and advance ideas for adaptive feedback systems that have potential to influence coordination in a way that can enhance the effectiveness of team interactions. In addressing these two goals, this work lays the foundation as well as plans for the future of human-autonomy teams that augment team interactions using coordination-based measures.

The inverted-U model of employee happiness: examining overdose happiness in context of personal characteristics, job-relationship dependency, benign stress, and various theories

In recent years, the management literature has begun to deal with individual and organizational results after happiness rather than the pursuit of happiness in business life and finally reaching happiness. After the fact that everything in an overdose is harmful, it has become the subject of even more research with paradoxical results that happiness that evokes positive emotions is not as innocent as it seems. In this study, which aims to reveal the harmful effects of overdose of employee happiness, the reasons for the manager's fear - or anxiety - about the happiness of his employees are interpreted. The Inverted-U Model of Employee Happiness (IUMEH) has been developed and individual work outputs have been evaluated in three areas that (1) support happiness, (2) reflect balanced happiness, and (3) turn negative with an overdose of happiness intoxication. It has been suggested that IUMEH, which is thought to contribute to the literature as it is the first descriptive model to emerge, should be supported by applied studies, and it has been reminded that the curvilinear aspect of the model may include differences in terms of culture, type and characteristics of job, private, public or non-profit enterprises, generations of managers and the level of managers (front-line, middle level and senior level etc.).

Evaluating the impact of a short bout of stair-climbing on creative thinking in a between-subjects pretest posttest comparison study

Recent studies have indicated potential links between short bouts of physical activity like stair-climbing and enhanced creative thinking. However, previous research featured limitations, such as using an uncommon 3 flights round-trip design and lacking baseline creative thinking evaluations. To rectify these limitations and build a more comprehensive understanding, the present study adopts a between-subjects pretest posttest comparison design to scrutinize the effects of ascending stair-climbing on both divergent and convergent thinking. 52 subjects underwent a pretest, followed by random assignment to one of four interventions: ascending stair-climbing for 2, 5, or 8 flights, or taking an elevator for 8 flights, before progressing to a posttest. The results revealed a notable improvement in convergent thinking, measured by the increased number of solved matchstick arithmetic problems (d = 1.165), for participants who climbed 2 flights of stairs compared to those who took the elevator. However, climbing 5 or 8 flights showed no such impact on convergent thinking, and stair-climbing, regardless of the number of flights, did not influence divergent thinking. These findings underscore the utility of brief stair-climbing as an accessible means to enhance convergent thinking in everyday settings, providing a nuanced insight into the relationship between physical activity and creative thinking processes.

A meta-analytical review of the impact of mindfulness on creativity: Framing current lines of research and defining moderator variables

Findings relating to the impact of mindfulness interventions on creative performance remain inconsistent, perhaps because of discrepancies between study designs, including variability in the length of mindfulness interventions, the absence of control groups or the tendencies to explore creativity as one unitary construct. To derive a clearer understanding of the impact that mindfulness interventions may exert on creative performance, two meta-analytical reviews were conducted, drawing respectively on studies using a control group design (n = 20) and studies using a pretest-posttest design (n = 17). A positive effect was identified between mindfulness and creativity, both for control group designs (d = 0.42, 95% CIs [0.29, 0.54]) and pretest-posttest designs (d = 0.59, 95% CIs [0.38, 0.81]). Subgroup analysis revealed that intervention length, creativity task (i.e., divergent vs. convergent thinking tasks) and control group type, were significant moderators for control group studies, whereas only intervention length was a significant moderator for pretest-posttest studies. Overall, the findings support the use of mindfulness as a tool to enhance creative performance, with more advantageous outcomes for convergent as opposed to divergent thinking tasks. We discuss the implications of study design and intervention length as key factors of relevance to future research aimed at advancing theoretical accounts of the relationship between mindfulness and creativity.

Why We Gather: A New Look, Empirically Documented, at Émile Durkheim's Theory of Collective Assemblies and Collective Effervescence

For Durkheim, individuals' survival and well-being rest on cultural resources and social belonging that must be revived periodically in collective assemblies. Durkheim's concern was to clarify how these assemblies achieve this revitalization. An intensive examination of primitive religions led him to identify successive levels of engagement experienced by participants and to develop explanatory principles relevant to all types of collective gatherings. Durkheim's conception is widely referred to nowadays. However, the question of its empirical status remains open. We extracted from his text his main statements and translated them into research questions. We then examined each question in relation to current theories and findings. In particular, we relied on the plethora of recent cognitive and social-psychology studies that document conditions of reduced self-other differentiation. Abundant data support that each successive moment of collective assemblies contributes to blurring this differentiation. Ample support also exists that because shared emotions are increasingly amplified in collective context, they can fuel high-intensity experiences. Moreover, recent studies of self-transcendent emotions can account for the self-transformative effects described by Durkheim at the climax of collective assemblies. In conclusion, this century-old model is remarkably supported by recent results, mostly collected in experimental settings.

Creative Process and Multivariate Factors through a Creative Course "Keep Calm and Be Creative"

Creativity has been studied for a long time and it has become a more significant topic of research in educational fields in recent decades. The present paper outlines a multivariate approach to creativity and substantiates this approach by investigating the creative process and multivariate factors through a creative course for master's students at the University of Teacher Education in Switzerland. Our goal is to examine more specifically the stages of the creative process and the emerging multivariate factors in different creative activities. The article reports findings from the analysis of students' creative report process diaries as well as semi-structured interviews. Drawing on experiential learning, this pilot study was conducted in collaboration with master's student teachers (n = 10). The results show that the different microlevels of the creative process are the subject of variations from one creative experience to another. Most factors of the multivariate approach emerge from this kind of creative training. The discussion will allow for a review of the research results and also a better understanding of the creative process in the pedagogy of creativity.

Disentangling the personality pathways to well-being

Recent genomic, psychological, and developmental research shows that human personality is organized as a complex hierarchy that ascends from individual traits in many specific situations to multi-trait profiles in two domains that regulate emotional reactivity (temperament) or goals and values (character), and finally to three integrated temperament-character networks that regulate learning to maintain well-being in changing conditions. We carried out person-centered analyses of the components of subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) to personality in both adolescents (N = 1739) and adults (N = 897). Personality was considered at each level of its organization (trait, temperament or character profiles, and joint temperament-character networks). We show for the first time that negative affect and life satisfaction are dependent on the personality network for intentional self-control, whereas positive affect is dependent on the personality network for self-awareness that underlies the human capacities for healthy longevity, creativity, and prosocial values.

Dopamine supports idea originality: the role of spontaneous eye blink rate on divergent thinking

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a crucial role in human creative behaviour. Specifically, striatal dopamine seems to be associated with specific dimensions of divergent thinking performance, especially with categorical diversity (flexibility) of ideas. In experimental contexts, spontaneous Eye Blink Rate (sEBR) has been used as a proxy for striatal dopamine, and an inverted U-shape relationship between sEBR and flexibility has been demonstrated, such that a medium sEBR level predicts highest flexibility levels. The present study aimed at carrying out further investigations about the relationship between sEBR and idea generation through divergent thinking, specifically focusing on the relationship between idea originality and dopamine level, since originality is a key element for creativity. We asked 80 participants, whose sEBR at rest was measured, to perform an Alternative Uses Task (AUT) to measure their divergent thinking performance. Results revealed that the relationship between sEBR and originality, as measured through subjective ratings of external raters, followed an inverted U-shape function with medium sEBR being associated with highest originality scores. Moreover, and most importantly, we demonstrated that sEBR predicted originality through the mediation of flexibility. Our results provide further insights on the possible role of dopamine on divergent thinking performance, demonstrating that an adequate dopamine level may facilitate the generation of original ideas through the exploration of diverse conceptual categories (higher flexibility).

Positive and negative affect facilitate creativity motivation: Findings on the effects of habitual mood and experimentally induced emotion

This research involved two investigations that examined the effects of two types of affect (i.e., mood and emotion) on creativity motivation. Study 1 examined the degree to which noninduced habitual mood impacted creativity motivation in the context of a group of junior secondary school students in Hong Kong (n = 588), while Study 2 examined the effect of the experimental manipulation of emotion induction on creativity motivation in the context of a group of undergraduate students in Hong Kong (n = 653). The Chinese version of the Creativity Motivation Scale, the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Short Form, and the Affect Grid were employed to assess creativity motivation, mood, and emotional states, respectively. Interesting findings were obtained. First, both studies consistently demonstrated a facilitating role of positive and negative affect in creativity motivation. Second, both studies consistently showed that the impact of positive affect on creativity motivation was stronger than that of negative affect. While previous affect-creativity research has focused predominantly on the role of affect in the cognitive components of creativity and yielded mixed results, this research adds to the literature by showing that students' motivation to engage in creativity-related behaviors can be influenced by a broad spectrum of affective experiences (i.e., positive and negative affect, stable and enduring moods, and momentary and mutable emotions). The theoretical and educational implications of the findings are highlighted.

Emotion in Organizations: Theory and Research

The workplace elicits a wide range of emotions and, likewise, emotions change our experience of the workplace. This article reviews the scientific field of emotion in organizations, drawing from classic theories and cutting-edge advances to integrate a disparate body of research. The review is organized around the definition of emotion as an unfolding sequence of processes: We interpret the world around us for its subjective meaning, which results in emotional experience. Emotional experience, in turn, has consequences for behaviors, attitudes, and cognition. Emotional experience also elicits expressive cues that can be recognized by others. Each process in the emotion sequence can be regulated. Processes can also iterate until emotion is shared throughout workgroups and even entire organizations. A distinct body of organizationally relevant research exists for each process, and emotional intelligence refers to effectiveness across all. Differences across culture and gender, future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.

Employee well-being and innovativeness: A multi-level conceptual framework based on citation network analysis and data mining techniques

This study proposes a multilevel conceptual framework for a deeper understanding of the relationship between employee well-being and innovativeness. We overview 49 years of well-being research [1972-2021] and 54 years of research on innovativeness [1967-2021] to uncover 24 dominant themes in well-being and ten primary topics in innovativeness research. Citation network analysis and text semantic similarity were used to develop a conceptual framework featuring 21 components and three levels: individual, organizational, and market. These components consist of constructs, domains, and factors that can influence or be influenced by employee well-being and innovativeness either directly or indirectly. This is the first study to use citation network analysis and data mining techniques to investigate the relationship between employee well-being and innovativeness. This novel framework can aid organizations in identifying more holistic and efficient strategies for fostering innovativeness and enhancing the well-being of their workforce. It can also assist in developing new theories and serve as a roadmap for future research. We discuss the research limitations and theoretical and practical implications and propose three research themes that future studies may address.

The Creative Process and Emotions of Pupils in a Training Context with a Design Project

For many years, researchers have been investigating how the creative process occurs and what factors influence it. The scope of these studies is essential in the school context to enable pupils to develop their creativity and thus address the needs of the 21st century society. Although very rich, these studies are generally not situated in a real teaching and learning context. The output of the present research will make it possible to model, to better understand, and to identify the creative process in pupils as they design and produce utility objects in an educational and training context with ecological validity (real context of training). In the context of teaching Creative and Manual Activities in education, in the French part of Switzerland, we are focusing on observations of the creative process in line with psychology, didactics, and pedagogy. During their class, 22 pupils were invited to create a water fountain and, in parallel, to complete a Creative process Report Diary about the stages they do and the multivariate factors (cognitive, conative, emotional, and environmental factors) they mobilize at each lesson. Results presented the main frequent stages and factors at each lesson and we proposed a model describing the transitions between the stages and how the multivariate factors are involved in each stage. They illustrate what pupils actually do in a creative learning context.

The role of personality traits and leisure activities in predicting wellbeing in young people

BACKGROUND

The relationship between wellbeing and personality has been studied extensively, but few studies have examined these in the period of adolescence and emerging adulthood. Moreover, the influence of contextual factors such as engagement in leisure activities are rarely considered.

METHODS

The present study employs a combination of frequentist and Bayesian analyses to evaluate the concurrent impact of personality traits and leisure activities on five conceptions of wellbeing (life satisfaction; positive affect; negative affect; mental health; flourishing) in three cohorts of young people (aged 14-15; 16-17; 18-20 years).

RESULTS

Personality traits were the only significant predictors of life satisfaction and negative affect, but leisure activities in the form of socialising or physical activity, in addition to personality traits, predicted positive affect, mental health and flourishing. Neuroticism was the largest predictor of wellbeing overall, whereas conscientiousness was the most consistent. Lower levels of wellbeing were also associated with higher levels of creative potential.

CONCLUSIONS

The study not only confirms the importance of personality traits as predictors of wellbeing in adolescents and young adults, but also indicates the necessity to consider the impact of leisure activities in different conceptions of wellbeing. The negative relationship between creative potential and wellbeing is in line with the literature which shows a link between mental illness, particularly at subclinical levels, and creativity.

The predictive ability of emotional creativity in motivation for adaptive innovation among university professors under COVID-19 epidemic: An international study

Emotional creativity (EC) refers to cognitive abilities and personality traits related to the originality of emotional experience and expression. Previous studies have found that the COVID-19 epidemic and the restrictions imposed increased the levels of negative emotions, which obstructed adaptation. This research suggests that EC predicts the motivation for innovative adaptive behavior under the restrictions of COVID-19. In the case study of university professors, we show that EC predicts the motivation to creatively capitalize on the imposed online teaching in looking for innovative research and personal development. Methodologically, we rely on the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) administered to a sample of 463 university professors (41.5% men, aged 22-100. M ± SD = 45.53 ± 11.46, median 44) from the Czech Republic (N = 137), Slovak Republic (N = 61), and Russia (N = 265). The indicators for motivation for innovative performance included motivations to use distant methods of scientific research, to look for partners for conducting scientific research in other cities or abroad, to conduct interdisciplinary research, starting distance learning to enhance qualifications, and the perception that due to online teaching, there is more time for personal development. We employ a set of ordinal regression analyses controlling for age, gender, position (lecturer, researcher, and manager), type of science (formal, natural, social, and applied), and country. The results suggest that Emotional Creativity and its three components predict the motivation of university professors to creatively capitalize on the imposed online teaching in looking for innovative research and personal development under the conditions of COVID-19. Furthermore, our results confirmed the gender and age differences in EC. The differences in EC according to position (lecturer, researcher, and manager) and type of science were not statistically significant. These results compel us to be aware of the importance of the emotional side of creativity to optimize stress-related behavior under the conditions of limited abilities to continue as usual. More space devoted to the manifestation of all the aspects of emotional creativity would improve adaptation to challenging circumstances and even allow one to capitalize on new opportunities. Moreover, we suggest that if personal intrinsic Emotional Creativity is high, the crises, such as the COVID-19 epidemic, may improve adaptation and trigger creative outcomes.

Relationships between proactive personality and creativity: Mindsets and golden mean thinking as parallel mediators among Chinese third language students

Third language (L3) learners have great potential in developing creativity; however, the factors affecting L3 learners’ creativity have received little attention. This study investigated the relationships between proactive personality, three different thinking patterns (i.e., growth mindset, fixed mindset, and golden mean thinking), and creativity among L3 learners. The participants were 220 Chinese students who attended an obligatory L3 course in college. The results showed that proactive personality, growth mindset, golden mean thinking, and creativity had significant intercorrelations. Moreover, the role of growth mindset and golden mean thinking as mediators of the proactive personality and creativity relation was supported, and the mediating effect of growth mindset was larger than that of golden mean thinking. However, the fixed mindset did not show a significant indirect effect on the path from proactive personality to creativity. This is the first research to treat growth mindset, fixed mindset, and golden mean thinking as mediating variables on the path from proactive personality to creativity, particularly demonstrating that golden mean thinking, which is specific to Asian students and located midway between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, can cultivate creativity. Some suggestions for fostering creativity in L3 students were also included in this study.

Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Adolescent Students’ Basic Psychological Needs at School Scale (ASBPNSS) and Evidence of Differential Associations With Indicators of Subjective Wellbeing

The study aimed to test the psychometric properties of a Portuguese adaptation of the Adolescent Students’ Basic Psychological Needs at School Scale (ASBPNSS). For this, we used data from a sample of eighth graders ( N = 1648; Mage = 14.1 years; 46.9% girls) from Portugal. Cronbach alpha and omega coefficients showed the ASBPNSS subscales—autonomy, relatedness, and competence—were reliable. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed the hypothesized three-factor model fit the data well. Multi-group CFAs showed the ASBPNSS had scalar invariance across gender and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, need satisfaction in school was positively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction and negatively correlated with negative affect. These findings support the theoretical assumptions of Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT), and particularly the assumption that basic needs are universally applicable. We conclude the ASBPNSS is a reliable and valid measure of basic need satisfaction at school in Portuguese adolescents.

Leading via virtual communication: a longitudinal field experiment on work team creativity in an extreme context

COVID-19 has prompted diverse responses from governments and created an extreme context for organizations to operate. In this context, company leaders face fluctuated macrolevel policies, endure physical separation from their members, and must rely on virtual communication to conduct teamwork. Yet little is known about what and how leader communication can be effective in inducing team creativity to survive the extreme context. Building on the affective events theory and the literature on media richness, we develop a theoretical model explicating how leaders’ rich (as opposed to lean) virtual communication can mitigate the negative impact of stringent government responses to COVID-19 on work team creativity via a sequential mediation process: first by inhibiting team anxiety and then by facilitating team information elaboration. Data from a three-stage eight-day longitudinal field experiment, in combination with an experience sampling method with 251 employees, on a chain preschool in eight Chinese cities, provide strong support for the hypothesized model.

Negative emotions and creativity among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating role of posttraumatic growth

Background

The aim of the study was to use a moderated mediation model to understand and examine the relationship between negative emotions and creativity among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, using psychological resilience as a mediator and posttraumatic growth as a moderator.

Methods

A sample of 881 college students in mainland China completed a self-report questionnaire that included four scales: the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, Runco Ideational Behavior Scale and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory.

Results

Findings indicated that:(1) negative emotions were a strong predictor of creativity; (2) psychological resilience partially mediated the association between negative emotions and creativity; and (3) posttraumatic growth moderated the positive effect of psychological resilience, such that the indirect effect between negative emotions and creativity via psychological resilience was stronger for someone with a low level of resilience.

Conclusion

The findings further clarify the mechanisms that affect the relationship between negative emotions and creativity among college students.

The inhibitory effect of moral emotions on malevolent creativity: Exploring the mediation role of emotional valence and prosocial behavior

The current study aims to investigate the influence of positive and negative moral emotions (gratitude and guilt) on malevolent creativity by exploring the potential mediation role of valence and prosocial behavior. Using autobiographical recall, three groups of participants developed gratitude, guilt, or neutral emotion, respectively, and then their prosocial behavior and malevolent creativity performance were compared. Results showed that compared with the neutral condition, individuals in the gratitude state experienced more positive emotions with less malevolent creative ideas, but the positive valence pathway had a positive effect on malevolent creativity, indicating the promoting effect of positive emotion on creativity. By contrast, individuals in the guilt state experienced more negative emotions, which result in less malevolent creativity. Gratitude and guilt promoted prosocial behaviors, which did not mediate the effect of gratitude or guilt on malevolent creativity. In short, the results indicate that the positive and negative moral emotions (gratitude and guilt) inhibit malevolent creativity, which is mediated by valence, instead of prosocial behavior.

The influence of organizational learning and external cooperation configuration on enterprise technological innovation: A study based on fsQCA approach

This study explores the influence of organizational learning and external cooperation configuration on enterprise technological innovation and constructs a comprehensive theoretical framework of "organizational learning-external cooperation-technological innovation" based on the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method. The results show the following. (1) A single episode of organizational learning or external cooperation cannot affect the enterprise’s technological innovation, which requires the mutual linkage of the two to improve enterprise technological innovation performance. (2) The technological innovation model in which organizational learning and external cooperation interact is an effective way for enterprises to improve technological innovation performance. There are four technological innovation models that produce high technological innovation performance, namely consciousness-system synergy, consciousness-led, quasi-full, and all-around drive. (3) There are four models of non-high-tech innovation performance, which are not opposed to the technological innovation model of high-tech innovation performance. This research expands the technological innovation perspective of organizational learning and external cooperation matching, provides enterprises with effective technological innovation activities, and provides a theoretical reference and practical guidance for improving technological innovation performance.

A Multilevel Review of Curvilinear Effects on the Creative Work of Teams

Their positive potential often diminishes or even turns negative when antecedents of creativity are taken too far. Despite empirical evidence supporting such curvilinear effects on important outcomes of creative work at the individual and team levels, their theorizing remains rather incomplete, with more attention being paid to explaining the curves’ upward rather than downward slopes. By developing a multilevel antecedent-benefit-cost (ABC) framework that synthesizes 120 quantitative-empirical studies on curvilinear effects, this review guides creativity and innovation literature toward conceptual clarity and methodological precision across levels. This is important because the cost-related mechanisms of certain antecedents are still not well understood.

Through Thick and Thin: Changes in Creativity During the First Lockdown of the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 took us by surprise. We all had to face the lockdown and pandemic that put us in a new context, changing our way of life, work conditions, and habits. Coping with such an unprecedented situation may have stimulated creativity. However, the situation also restricted our liberties and triggered health or psychological difficulties. We carried out an online survey (n = 380) to examine whether and how the COVID-19 related first lockdown period was associated with creativity changes in French speaking population. Despite a global negative subjective experience of the situation, participants reported that they were more creative during the lockdown than before. Positive changes were linked with more time availability, more motivation, or the need to solve a problem while negative changes were related to negative affective feelings or a lack of resources or opportunities. This study documents the effects of the first lockdown period on creativity and the factors that influenced it.

Laugh before You Study: Does Watching Funny Videos before Study Facilitate Learning?

Emotions exist widely in the entire process of learning and affect students' motivation as well as academic performance. In multimedia learning, academics usually focus on the impact of teachers' emotions or the emotional design of multimedia learning materials on students' emotions and learning results. Few studies have investigated how to enhance learning by regulating students' pre-learning emotions. This study focused on whether playing funny videos before learning could promote students' positive emotions to enhance their motivation, satisfaction, and learning outcomes. We randomly divided 81 elementary school students into two groups: experimental group and control group. While the experimental group watched funny video clips, the control group watched neutral video clips before starting the video learning. The experimental group had more positive pre-learning emotions than the control group. After the course, the emotion of the experimental group declined while that of the control group enhanced. However, positive pre-learning emotions still promoted students' understanding and transfer of learning materials. Moreover, no significant differences were observed between the two groups in learning motivation, satisfaction, and retention tests. Furthermore, this paper analyzed the causes of the experimental results and discussed the insights for teaching.

The Influence of Employee Emotion Fluctuation on Service Performance: An Experience Sampling Data Analysis

Research on the relationship between emotions and job performance is ubiquitous, yet few scholars have examined the combined effects of different emotions. Drawing on the broaden-and-build theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose that employees’ daily emotion fluctuations (positive emotions vs. negative emotions) will affect their service performance in opposite directions. Furthermore, we propose these effects will be moderated by psychological [i.e., regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE)] and physiological (i.e., sleep quality) characteristics of the employees. Based on the experience sampling method (ESM), data (N = 810) obtained from 187 frontline employees of 35 bank branches over 18 consecutive days supports our hypotheses.

Effects of Game Mode in Multiplayer Video Games on Intergenerational Social Interaction: Randomized Field Study

BACKGROUND

Maintaining social relationships is a basic human need and particularly essential in old age, including when living in a retirement home. Multiplayer video games can promote positive social interactions among players from different generations while playing. Yet, such facilitation of positive social interactions depends on specific game design. To systematically investigate the effects of game design on social interaction between seniors and their coplayers, the game Myosotis FoodPlanet was developed in this study, and the impacts of 3 different game modes on social interaction were compared in a controlled field trial.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to compare the effects of 3 different game modes (competitive, cooperative, and creative) on social interactions (verbal and nonverbal communication) between seniors and their younger coplayers.

METHODS

This study was conducted in a Swiss retirement home as a controlled field trial. Participants were residents of the retirement home (N=10; mean age 84.8 years, SD 5.9 years) and played in pairs with their caregivers. Each pair played 3 game modes in random order. This resulted in 30 game sequences of 20 minutes each. A within-subject design was applied with game mode as the within-factor and social interaction as the outcome variable. To assess the quality of social interaction, 30 video-recorded game sequences were analyzed based on an event sampling method.

RESULTS

Analysis of variance for repeated measurements revealed significant effects: there was significantly more verbal communication in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.04) with a strong effect size (Cohen f=0.611). An examination of verbal communication revealed more game-related communication in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.01) and the competitive mode (P=.09) with marginally significant effects and strong effect sizes (Cohen f=0.841). In addition, significantly more biography-related communication occurred in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.03), with a strong effect size (r=0.707). Regarding nonverbal communication (eg, laughing together), analysis of variance for repeated measurements showed significant differences among the game modes (P=.02) with a strong effect size (Cohen f=0.758). Results showed that there was significantly more laughing together in the competitive mode (competitive>cooperative>creative).

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that game mode can be an important factor for shaping the social interactions of players playing together. Compared with other modes, creative game modes can increase verbal communication. In contrast, competitive modes may stimulate more laughing together. This has important implications for game design and the use of computer games to promote social interaction between seniors and their coplayers in practice.

Mental Health and Religiosity Amongst Marialionceros in Venezuela

Although the religion of Maria Lionza is practiced throughout Venezuela, it is not in the mainstream of Venezuelan culture. As a result, traditionally this religious manifestation has been perceived negatively by the dominant religious establishment, as well as by intellectual and political elites. One particular concern in this dominant narrative is that the religion of Maria Lionza represents Venezuela's uncivilized past and therefore, it is an obstacle to the nation's path to modernization. This notion has found resonance in the realm of psychology, as it has been posited that the religion of Maria Lionza may have detrimental effects on mental health. The present study tests that hypothesis, by studying a sample of 68 Marialionceros and comparing them with a control group of 62 Catholics and 53 Protestants. Results show that, as compared to Catholics and Protestants, Marialionceros are at greater risk for schizotypy, but not for general mental health. Results also show that amongst Marialionceros, increased religiosity predicts decreased risk of depression.

Positive Emotions and Entrepreneurial Intention: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Cognition

Under the background of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation,” entrepreneurship and innovation for college students not only alleviates the current social employment pressure but also sets off the upsurge of their entrepreneurship. It is a significant field to research the entrepreneurial intention of undergraduates as potential entrepreneurs, which covers the study of entrepreneurial intention from the perspective of personal traits and entrepreneurial cognition. This article studies entrepreneurial intention from two aspects: irrational positive emotions and rational entrepreneurial cognition, which aims to reveal the mechanism of positive emotions and entrepreneurial cognition on entrepreneurial intention. After investigating 288 college students participating in entrepreneurial competitions, establishing structural equations, and using SmartPLS software for data analysis, the research result showed that positive emotions significantly positively impact the three scripts of entrepreneurial cognition: arrangement scripts, willing scripts, and ability scripts. The arrangement, willing, and ability scripts positively influence entrepreneurial intention, while positive emotions do not affect entrepreneurial intention. Arrangement scripts and ability scripts have a full mediating effect between positive emotions and entrepreneurial intention. Based on these findings, we provide suggestions for the government and society, schools, and individual students on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Transcranial direct current stimulation of bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex eliminates creativity impairment induced by acute stress

The creativity impairment under acute stress may be closely related to the down-regulation of the prefrontal cortex function caused by stress-related neurotransmitters and hormones. In the current study, we explored whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) eliminated stress-induced creativity impairment and the potential mechanism from the perspective of stress response recovery. Seventy participants were randomly allocated to a group undergoing the activation of right DLPFC and the deactivation of left DLPFC (R+L-; N = 35), and a group of sham stimulation (sham; N = 35). Participants received tDCS after the stress induction, and then completed the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) and the Remote Association Task (RAT) during the stimulation. The stress response was indicated using heart rate, cortisol, and emotion changes. Results showed that R+L- stimulation facilitated the recovery of anxious state compared to sham stimulation. We also found that the decreased value of AUT scores after stress in the R+L- group was significantly lower than that in the sham group. Moreover, further analysis revealed state anxiety mediated the effect of tDCS on the flexibility component of the AUT. We concluded that bilateral tDCS over the DLPFC is efficient in alleviating stress-induced creativity impairment, which may correlate with greater recovery of state anxiety. Our findings provide causal evidence for the neurophysiological mechanisms by which stress affects creativity, as well as clinical suggestions for stress-related psychiatric disorders prevention and intervention.

Relationship between higher education teachers' affect and their psychological adjustment to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: an application of latent profile analysis

Background

The COVID-19 outbreak has forced teachers to transition to online teaching, requiring them to adapt their courses and pedagogical methods to an online format rapidly without relevant training. This has presented a formidable challenge to higher education teachers. The present study uses a person-centered approach to identify heterogeneity among higher education teachers’ affective experiences and the relationship between this heterogeneity and their psychological adjustment to online teaching.

Methods

In total, 2,104 teachers in higher education institutions in Southern China were surveyed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Psychological Adjustment to Online Teaching Scale (a measure developed for this study) between March 25 and March 31, 2020. The collected data were analyzed using latent profile analysis.

Results

Based on their affective experiences during online teaching immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak, higher education teachers were divided into three latent classes: the common, ambivalent, and positive types. Among them, the positive type accounted for the largest proportion (44.85%), while the ambivalent type accounted for the smallest proportion (23.93%). The rest was the common type, which accounted for 31.15%. Significant differences in psychological adjustment to online teaching were found between the three latent classes. Regarding positive psychological adjustment, teachers belonging to the ambivalent type had significantly lower scores than those belonging to the other two types. Further, the common type had a significantly lower score than the positive type. Regarding negative psychological adjustment, the ambivalent type had a significantly higher score than the other two types, and the common type had a significantly higher score than the positive type.

Conclusion

Based on a novel person-centered perspective, this study revealed the differences and complexity in higher education teachers’ affective experiences of online teaching immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak. The three different types of affective experiences (common, ambivalent, and positive) had a significant influence on psychological adjustment, with teachers belonging to the ambivalent type showing the worst psychological adjustment. This study provides a new perspective for the discussion of the relationship between teachers’ affective experiences and their psychological adjustment to online teaching.

COVID-19 Lockdown and Creativity: Exploring the Role of Emotions and Motivation on Creative Activities From the Chinese and German Perspectives

For much of 2020, countries around the world fought against the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries went into lockdown to control the fast spread of the virus. The unusual restrictions and confinement of the lockdown brought about new challenges for people's everyday lives. With flexibility, adaptability, and problem-solving at the core of its nature, creativity has the potential to help people cope with harsh and uncertain circumstances. Were people more, the same, or less creative in their everyday life during the period of lockdown, and in which ways? What are the emotions and motivations underlying their creative or non-creative behaviors? The current study aims to explore these questions from a cross-cultural perspective. A total of 754 comparable employee samples from three Chinese and three German cities were asked about their moods during the lockdown period, their self-rated level of creativity in daily lives before and during the lockdown, and their motivations behind their creative activities. Significant increases in creativity were observed in all everyday activities in both countries with only two exceptions in the German sample. Despite minor differences, a common pattern was found across cultures: whereas the activating positive mood could directly lead to the increase in creativity in some everyday activities, such a direct Mood-Creativity link was limited in the activating negative mood circumstances. In such circumstances, motivation intervened to enable the link to creativity. It was also found that this indirect effect of motivation between mood and creativity was more pronounced with the German participants.