INDIVIDUAL BRAINSTORMING PERFORMANCE AS A FUNCTION OF VELOCITY AND COMPARISON FEEDBACK

This experimental research aimed to investigate the effect of velocity (control vs. velocity) and comparison (control vs. comparison) on the idea generation performance of individual brainstormers. The participants in the velocity condition were led to write down their ideas as quick as possible, whereas those in the control received no such instruction. Those in the comparison condition were informed that their performance would be compared with someone similar to them, whereas those in the control one received no such feedback. After that, all they brainstormed on the ways to improve the student life in the university for 12 minutes session. Findings showed that those in the velocity condition and comparison one generated more ideas than their counterparts. These effects were mediated by only flexibility. These findings suggest that even though both provision of comparison and velocity were beneficial to idea generation, underlying mechanisms for the effects of these variables on the idea generation performance were the same