When Need Makes Us More Creative

Some say that constraints hinder creativity, others say that they foster imagination. Emanuela Prandelli and Paola Cillo (Department of Management and Technology) proposed an experimental study to evaluate if the individual creativity is influenced by contraints.

They developed a questionnaire to investigate the effects of two types of constraints on the outcome of a creative task in the fashion field. A hundred and fifty female students were splitted into a control group and two experimental groups. They all had to use the online platform Polyvore to create an outfit for a circumstance that required a formal dress. The first group had no constraints at all, the second one had a financial constraint, the third one had to use a limited number of items.

So, are individuals more creative when bounded by constraints or when they work in an unconstrained condition? Prandelli and Cillo are still processing the data. Two fashion experts will rate the outfits using parameters such as creativity, innovation, task approprietness. "We recorded everything that happened on the computer screen while students were creating the outfits", Prandelli says. "No one has ever done it before. Having tracked mouse activity we are now able to know if there are anchor items: did the subjects start with the bag or the shoes? With the most expensive item? With a brand? Did the subjects that worked in an unconstrained condition act differently?".

Tracking mouse activity enabled the researchers to test self efficacy. How many items were moved to get to the final result? Did the most creative subjects use fewer items because of their self confidence? Or did they use a trial and error method? We'll get the answer in autumn when the results of the study will be revealed.