When A Smile Does No Good: Creativity Reduction Among Avoidance- Versus Approach-Oriented Individuals In Dyadic Interactions

This study examined the influence of others’ smiles on individuals’ creativity. According to popular belief, individuals get motivated to be more creative when others smile at them. In contrast, we hypothesised that smiles would make avoidance-oriented (versus approach-oriented) individuals less creative, as they may lose the motivation to pursue further novelty once they gain social approval, as implied by a smile. Forty-two participants were paired with a same-sex stranger and randomly assigned to the role of either an “illustrator” or a “commentator.” The illustrators performed the Alien Drawing Task and the commentators gave feedbacks regarding the drawing, which were repeated six times and videorecorded. As expected, the results showed significant interaction effects between others’ smiles and avoidance orientation on creativity: participants high in avoidance orientation showed less creativity when others smiled at them. In addition, nodding had the same effect as a smile did, confirming that social approval decreases the creativity of avoidance-oriented individuals.