The effects of the mood and the presentation type variables on creativity in the brainstorming

Despite the fact that there has more recently been a growing interest on the effect of mood on creativity, the effect of mood with presentation type (picture vs. text) has not been investigated in the same research design. Besides presented stimuli could influence mood, they could affect one's perception as well. Concerning the influence of stimuli from the perspectives of cognitive aspects, there have been some models (Dual coding theory, Cognitive Stimulation Perspective, Idea Search in the Associative Memory, Stimuli Coding in the Associative Memory) in the literature. Apart from previous studies, baby pictures or stimuli were presented for the first time in these experiments. The general aim of these studies or experiments was to investigate the effects of mood and presentation type on the idea generation performance and to assess the findings from the perspective of stimuli coding in associative memory. In the Experiment 1, positive or negative expressions of baby faces were presented either in the form of picture or text. After that presentation, they were allowed to brainstorm on the ways to improve public parks for 12 minutes. Findings of Experiment 1 showed that the participants exposed to positive expressions or stimuli did generate more unique and deeper ideas than did those with negative stimuli. On the other hand, presenting stimuli either in the form of picture or in the form of text did not make any significant difference at all. The participants exposed to positive expressions or stimuli generated deeper ideas, which, in turn, led to the generation of more creative ideas than did those with negative stimuli. It was an interesting finding that positive expressions related to a baby could lead to the generation of deeper ideas than flexible ideas in the literature for the first time. Whether or not this finding is valid across different situations was also tested in Experiment 2. Holding positive expressions constant across all conditions, the effect of presentation type (Picture vs. Text based presentation) was investigated along lines with the effect of mobile or immobile stimuli on creativity. Findings demonstrated that picture based stimuli led to the generation of more unique ideas than text based stimuli. This presentation also led to the generation of more flexible ideas, which played a mediator role for the relationship between presentation type and creativity. However, mobile or immobile stimuli did not make significant difference on creativity. This may be due to a lack of attention given to the mobile stimuli. In general conclusion, the findings of Experiment 1 and 2 indicated that negative stimuli versus positive and picture based stimuli versus text based one lead to high level of creative performance. These findings mean that coding aspects of stimuli can influence associations and creative performance. Besides these findings, positive stimuli can trigger persistence as was the case in Experiment 1, and pictorial stimuli can increase flexibility as was the case in Experiment 2. Key words: Mood, Presentation Type, Brainstorming.