Unconscious thinkers outperform conscious thinkers and immediate responders in selecting their most creative idea (Experiment 1)¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? In Experiment 1, participants in the unconscious thought condition selected their most creative idea in accordance with trained raters more often than conscious thinkers and immediate responders. → Ritter 2012
Evidence¶
Ritter 2012¶
Ritter, S.M.; van Baaren, R.B.; Dijksterhuis, A.J. (2012). Creativity: The role of unconscious processes in idea generation and idea selection. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7, 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2011.12.002
q3 · i? · causal · r2
Experiment 1, a randomized three-condition experiment with 112 Radboud University students, tested idea selection against judgments of three trained raters. The Chi-Square main effect of condition was /US2(2) = 11.15, p < .01, and "unconscious thinkers outperformed conscious thinkers" and immediate responders in selecting their most creative idea.
"unconscious thinkers outperformed conscious thinkers, /US2(1) = 5.67, p < .05, and those who immediately listed their ideas, /US2(1) = 10.46, p < .01, in selecting their most creative idea."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Unconscious and conscious thought produce similar idea generation in number and average creativity (Experiment 1) — related
- Unconscious thinkers better select both their most and least creative idea (Experiment 2 replication) — related
- Immediate responders generate fewer ideas than conscious and unconscious thinkers (Experiment 1) — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
unconscious-thought-improves-most-creative-idea-selection-exp1 |
title |
Unconscious thinkers outperform conscious thinkers and immediate responders in selecting their most creative idea (Experiment 1) |
description |
Unconscious thinkers outperform conscious thinkers and immediate responders in selecting their most creative idea (Experiment 1) |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2012 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — ritter-2012 |
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