Generating More Ideas Makes Me Feel Better, Yet I Still Like My First Idea: Metacognitive Decisions when Generating and Selecting Ideas

In one experiment, we randomly assigned participants to either generate one or three ideas to open a new business. Participants were instructed that the ideas needed to be original and effective. Afterward, participants completed a battery of questionnaires assessing metacognitive feelings, comparative evaluations of the idea generated, and some demographics. Participants in the one-idea condition generated more original ideas only when compared to the first idea generated by participants in the three-idea condition. When we made a comparison between the most original and effective idea generated in the three-idea condition, participants in the three-idea condition generated more original and effective ideas than participants in the one-idea condition. Participants in the three-idea condition were not aware that they had generated more original and effective ideas than what they thought by selecting their most creative idea. The serial order effect was supported for evaluations of originality. Conversely, the evaluations of effectiveness showed the opposite pattern. All results were interpreted in light of creative metacogniton.