Re: finding out if anyone reads your stuff

[mkale -at- GPS -dot- COM]

Karen Kay wrote:

>I just listened to a piece on NPR last night on the concept of rewarding
>creativity in children with cash incentives. There were several
>interesting results of the study they reported (such as the fact

I WOULDN'T GO SO FAR AS TO SAY THAT THIS IS A FACT, ALTHOUGH IT WAS THE
HYPOTHESIS THAT THIS RESEARCHER WAS TRYING TO SUBSTANTIATE

>that creativity is transitive--if you encourage artistic creativity,
>you'll end up with more creative writing),

THIS STUDY DIDN'T ACTUALLY DISCUSS WRITING AT ALL. THEY TRIED REWARDING CREATIVE
THINKING IN A SIMLE WORD GAME, THEN TRIED TO SEE IF THE CREATIVITY WOULD CARRY
OVER TO DRAWING ACTIVITY

>but the relevant one is
>that the reward needed to be small and out of sight. When the reward
>was either large or in view, creativity became subsumed in the larger
>greed that developed.

ACTUALLY, AS I UNDERSTOOD IT, THAT WAS A TANGENTAL "FINDING" BUT THE POINT WAS
TO SEE WHETHER REWARDING CREATIVITY IN ONE AREA COULD LEAD TO CREATIVE THINING
IN OTHER AREAS.

I heard this story on NPR, as well, I thought it was a perfect example of
academicians who propose a theory, then go out to prove it true. It was a
completely unobjective story and an unobjective study. Here's what they did:

Took 2 groups of kids (5th and 6th graders, I believe) and "rewarded" 1 group
with pennies (show me one 5th or 6th grader who thinks of pennies as a reward)
for completing a "simple, unimaginative" (the researcher's words) word game
(they had to use random letters to make one word) and the other group was
equally "rewarded" for completing a test that took more "imagination and
creative thinking"--completing 6 words. Then they took the same groups of kids
and asked them to take a circle and draw something out of it. The researcher
then claimed that the group that had been "conditioned" to be uncreative made
"unimaginative" drawings--he had a sound bite of a supposedly unimaginative boy
who drew faces out of all the circles. He claimed that the other group was more
imaginative--one drew a ring and one drew a penny were examples he gave. Another
example was a child who was given two adjacent circles and drew eyeglasses.
Apparently what was considered creative behavior was determined solely by the
researcher, and he considered making a ring out of a circle creative behavior
and making a face uncreative behavior.

I know this is a long tangent that doesn't relate to the topic on the list at
all, but I wouldn't recomment that anybody plan their business strategies or
feedback research based on this study, or much of anything else they hear on
NPR. I listen, but I listen skeptively.

Mindy