More Research on Creativity and Time Pressure
The research of Harvard University’s Teresa Amabile on the effects of management, and especially time pressure, upon creativity has been cited a number of times here at CR, so it’s good to come across additional research which both confirms it and refines some of the findings.
Keith Sawyer’s Creativity & Innovation blog summarizes (but does not link to) a 2006 study entitled “The Curvilinear Relation Between Experienced Creative Time Pressure and Creativity: Moderating Effects of Openness to Experience and Support for Creativity” . (An 8-page .pdf)
Without giving too much away, The ability to handle time pressure depends upon how open creatives are to experience, and even then there’s a “sweet spot” for the optimal amount of time pressure. Sawyer does a great job summarizing the research. Check it out.
