Group creativity under conditions of success or failure and variations in group stability

Abstract

This study deals with the creativity of groups with a history of success or failure followed by 4 variations of group stability: the addition, replacement, or removal of a member, and a control condition in which the original group composition was maintained. Following an induction of group success or failure, 1 of the 3 variations of group composition change or the control condition was effected. The 64 experimental groups were initially composed of either 2, 3, or 4 persons, depending upon the experimental conditions; but following the stability conditions, all groups were comprised of 3 persons. The creativity task involved composing as many captions for a Saturday Evening Post cartoon as possible within a given time limit. The results indicate (p < .05) that groups which experienced membership changes (open groups) were more creative than the stable groups (closed groups). From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5HD43Z. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)