Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
5-2012
Abstract
Creativity is a highly sought after skill. To inspire people’s creativity, prescriptive advice in the form of metaphors abound: We are encouraged to think outside the box, to consider the problem on one hand, then on the other hand, and to put two and two together to achieve creative breakthroughs. These metaphors suggest a connection between concrete bodily experiences and creative cognition. Inspired by recent advances on body-mind linkages under the emerging vernacular of embodied cognition, we explored for the first time whether enacting metaphors for creativity enhances creative problem-solving. In five studies, findings revealed that both physically and psychologically embodying creative metaphors promote fluency, flexibility, and/or originality in problem-solving. Going beyond prior research that focused primarily on the kind of embodiment that primes preexisting knowledge, we provide the first evidence that embodiment can also activate cognitive processes conducive for generating previously unknown ideas and connections.
Keywords
creativity, cognitive processes, mental models
Discipline
Cognitive Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Psychological Science
Volume
23
Issue
5
First Page
502
Last Page
509
ISSN
0956-7976
Identifier
10.1177/0956797611429801
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
LEUNG, Angela K.-Y., KIM, Suntae, POLMAN, Evan, ONG, Lay See, QIU, Lin, GONCOLA, Jack A., & SANCHEZ-BURKS, Jeffrey.(2012). Embodied metaphors and creative "acts". Psychological Science, 23(5), 502-509.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1077
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611429801