Why We Reject Creative Ideas

Everyone considers creativity to be a valuable asset, but as research news site ScienceDaily points out, that doesn’t stop most of us from rejecting creative ideas. Why?

Photo by opensourceway.

The findings of two experiments conducted at the University of Pennsylvania explain:

• Creative ideas are by definition novel, and novelty can trigger feelings of uncertainty that make most people uncomfortable.
• People dismiss creative ideas in favour of ideas that are purely practical — tried and true.
• Objective evidence shoring up the validity of a creative proposal does not motivate people to accept it.
• Anti-creativity bias is so subtle that people are unaware of it, which can interfere with their ability to recognise a creative idea.

Obviously that doesn’t mean that every idea that makes you uncomfortable is simply a creative solution that you’re not comfortable with — bad ideas are still bad ideas — but you may want to think twice about why you’re not keen on a new idea.

Why We Crave Creativity but Reject Creative Ideas [ScienceDaily via Smarterware]