AUTHOR=Haase Jennifer , Hanel Paul H. P. TITLE=Priming creativity: Doing math reduces creativity and happiness whereas playing short online games enhance them JOURNAL=Frontiers in Education VOLUME=7 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.976459 DOI=10.3389/feduc.2022.976459 ISSN=2504-284X ABSTRACT=

Creative thinking is an indispensable cognitive skill that is becoming increasingly important. In the present research, we tested the impact of games on creativity and emotions in a between-subject online experiment with four conditions (N = 658). (1) participants played a simple puzzle game that allowed many solutions (priming divergent thinking); (2) participants played a short game that required one fitting solution (priming convergent thinking); (3) participants performed mental arithmetic; (4) passive control condition. Results show that divergent and convergent creativity were higher after playing games and lower after mental arithmetic. Positive emotions did not function as a mediator, even though they were also heightened after playing the games and lower after mental arithmetic. However, contrary to previous research, we found no direct effect of emotions, creative self-efficacy, and growth- vs. fixed on creative performance. We discuss practical implications for digital learning and application settings.