Making Group Brainstorming More Effective: Recommendations From an Associative Memory Perspective

Abstract

Much literature on group brainstorming has found it to be less effective than individual brainstorming. However, a cognitive perspective suggests that group brainstorming could be an effective technique for generating creative ideas. Computer simulations of an associative memory model of idea generation in groups suggest that groups have the potential to generate ideas that individuals brainstorming alone are less likely to generate. Exchanging ideas by means of writing or computers, alternating solitary and group brainstorming, and using heterogeneous groups appear to be useful approaches for enhancing group brainstorming.

The Effectiveness of Collaborative Brainstorming Training Procedures at Pre-Writing Stage in Intermediate English Classes

“…Furthermore, data from a study of Paulus et al (1996) show that group brainstorming before individual brainstorming on the same topic can produce more ideas than the reverse process. The reason is that collaborative brainstormers are facilitated cognitively and this facilitation continues to the individual session when brainstormers generate ideas without production blocking (Brown & Paulus, 2002). Brown and Paulus (2002) also find that a person who brainstorms collaboratively to individually can generate more ideas than a similar person brainstorming in two individual sessions.…”

“…The reason is that collaborative brainstormers are facilitated cognitively and this facilitation continues to the individual session when brainstormers generate ideas without production blocking (Brown & Paulus, 2002). Brown and Paulus (2002) also find that a person who brainstorms collaboratively to individually can generate more ideas than a similar person brainstorming in two individual sessions. Therefore, according to these studies, the order group to solitary brainstorming could be more useful.…”

“…Brainstorming could be applied individually or collaboratively. However, some literature has revealed that the effectiveness of collaborative brainstorming on idea productivity should be taken into consideration (Diehl & Stroebe, 1987;Mullen et al, 1991;Paulus et al, 1995;Nijstad & Stroebe, 2006, Brown & Paulus, 2002Putman & Paulus, 2008).…”

Preparing the Self for Team Entry: How Relational Affirmation Improves Team Performance

“…Most people believe they can contribute more creative ideas Relational Affirmation in Teams 7 when they work in teams than when they work alone (Stroebe, Diehl, and Abakoumkin, 1992;Pauhus et al, 1993). Despite this prevalent belief that team interactions will stimulate creative thinking, research on brainstorming shows that pooling ideas from people working alone leads to more creative ideas than having the same people generate ideas in a team setting (Taylor, Berry, and Block, 1958;Lamm and Trommsdorff, 1973;Diehl and Stroebe, 1987;Mullen, Johnson, and Salas, 1991;Brown and Paulus, 2002). In this section, we first review research that points to team members' concerns about social acceptance as a key reason for team productivity loss, and we identify feelings of social worth as a psychological mechanism that can override such concerns.…”

Opportunities to Enhance Value-Related Research in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

“…Although face-to-face meetings may have advantages over virtual meetings in terms of limiting distractions, they are prone to verbal traffic jams and the desire to maintain agreement (i.e., groupthink). 8 Think Tank's use of typed comments prevented many verbal traffic jams, and the technology interface, including anonymous posts, enabled participants to disagree and provide concrete explanations in real time.…”