Want To Boost Creativity?
Games that encourage creativity and freedom can boost creativity under certain conditions according to new research conducted by Iowa State University. The experimental study compared the results of playing Minecraft with or without instruction, with watching a television show or playing a race car video game. People who were free to play Minecraft without instruction were the most innovative.
"It's not just that Minecraft can encourage creativity. There's something in the choice to play it that matters," said Douglas Gentile Professor of Psychology.
If you're not familiar with the game, Gentile says Minecraft is an online Lego world. The game has sold more than 100 million copies. It lets players create any kind of world they like. Participants in the study randomly assigned to play Minecraft were divided into two groups. The instructions were given to the person who was playing Minecraft.
After 40 minutes of playing or watching TV, the 352 participants completed various creative tasks. To measure email were asked to draw a creature from a world much different from Earth. The creatures that were more human-like scored lower for their creativity, while those that were less human-like got high scores. Surprisingly, those instructed to be creative when playing Minecraft were the least creative.
Gentile states that there is no clear reason to explain this phenomenon. In the study published by Creativity Research Journal, he Jorge Blanco-Herrera, the lead author and former master's degree student in psychology; and Jeffrey Rokkum, former Ph.D. student in psychology, discussed possible reasons for why the instructed Minecraft group scored lower. Blanco-Herrera suggests that the instructions might have changed the motivation of players to playing.
Blanco-Herrera explained that being instructed to be creative may have restricted their choices, which could have led to a less creative experience. It's possible that they drained all their creative juices during the game and didn't have any when it was time to finish the test.
Games help to develop creativity similar to aggression
Video games can have both harmful and beneficial impacts. His prior research has proven that video games can cause positive and negative effects. While the majority of his research has focused on aggression , or prosocial behavior, he says that the same is true for creativity.
Many video games encourage creativity. Role-playing games allow players to create characters and stories, or reward them for their creative strategies in competitive games. Researchers have found that even shooter games for first-person players can stimulate creativity because players consider their strategy and seek out advantages in combat.
"The research is starting to reveal a more fascinating and nuanced picture. Our findings are similar to other studies on gaming in that you become better at what you do however the way you practice can be just as much," Gentile said.