GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE EFFECTS OF EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION ON CREATIVITY

Four studies were conducted to assess gender differences in the effect s of extrinsic motivation on creativity. The first study replicated an earlier one (Baer, 1997) in which expectation of evaluation lowered t he creativity of middle school girls, but not boys. The second study i nvestigated the effects of doing work for reward; again, middle school girls' creativity suffered, but not boys'. The third study, also with middle school subjects, investigated the impact of expecting ungraded feedback; this reduced both the overall negative impact of expecting evaluation and the gender difference in this regard. The fourth study investigated the impact of evaluation expectation on second-grade subj ects and found that boys', but not girls', creativity was increased wh en they expected evaluation.