Literature review (draft)
Creativity is a part of our daily life. It helps new ideas be generated, solve problems, and
think differently in general (Hennessey & Amabile, 2010; Nijstad et al., 2010). Even with other
research, there’s still a lot we don’t really understand about what actually makes someone more
creative than another person. One thing that seems to have an impact is empathy. Empathy is
being able to understand and feel what someone else is going through, and some studies show
that this might help people think more flexibly and see things from different points of view
(Bentwich & Gil, 2021; Kou et al., 2021). That kind of thinking seems useful for creativity.
Some researchers even suggest that empathy can improve creativity by considering other
perspectives (Decety & Jackson, 2004; Zhou et al., 2023). But even though this sounds
promising, there’s still a lot we don’t know about how it all works, and it hasn’t been fully
figured out yet.
Stress is a factor that might play a role in creativity. Almost everyone deals with stress
and it seems like it can either help or hurt creative thinking depending on the situation. A bunch
of studies say that stress makes it harder to be creative, especially when someone feels
overwhelmed or like there’s too much pressure (Byron et al., 2010; Lu et al., 2019). But other
studies have found that sometimes stress can give a boost in creativity when people are
Commented [SK1]: Reference page? I’d like to be able
to review some of these sources, and neither of these
appears in the Reference page you submitted. The
Hennessey source is a textbook chapter, if I’m not
mistaken, and would not count as one of your primary
sources
Commented [SK2]: I’m not sure we can make this claim
- there is quite a bit of research on creativity, and
understanding is likely achievable with time to review it.
Perhaps provide an example of evidence showing how
creativity is important?
Commented [SK3]: Avoid using “-ly” words, like really,
constantly, barely, etc. to be consistent with high-level
APA style
Commented [SK4]: An impact on what?
Commented [SK5]: Is “is going through” the best way to
put this? It implies to me a negative connotation, but
empathy can be construed more broadly - perhaps “is
experiencing” would be more objective, consistent with
high-level APA style
Commented [SK6]: Not a primary research article
Commented [SK7]: Rather than say “we don’t know…”,
use this opportunity to tell the reader what you aim to
discover about the relationship between empathy and
creativity
Commented [SK8]: It seems to me that “creativity” is
the key variable in your RQ, according to your first
paragraph. As such, this next paragraph should tell me
what creativity is. Stress hasn’t been mentioned in your
first, opening paragraph
Commented [SK9]: This is considered slang
motivated or know how to deal with the stress well (Duan et al., 2022; Kou et al., 2021; Yang et
al., 2020). Some research even suggests that empathy might protect creativity when someone’s
stressed, which makes the relationship between all these things more complicated (Kou et al.,
2021; Zhou et al., 2023).
Empathy has a lot to do with the way people think and how they solve problems, it’s
usually split into two types, cognitive empathy, which is more about mentally putting yourself in
someone else’s shoes. The other kind is affective empathy, which is more emotional and about
Commented [SK10]: This is a key argument - make it
the center of a paragraph and explain these studies you
cite (Byron and Lu)
Commented [SK11]: This is another key argument - I
would also give it its own paragraph and explain the three
sources you cite
Commented [SK12]: Again, another very key argument.
This would likely come a bit later when you introduce all
three variables together
Commented [SK13]: Good, this is a key argument in
which you conceptually define empathy - might the
textbook chapter on empathy be a good source to
consult here? I’m confused by the first sentence though what does this mean? Is this going to help me
understand what empathy is?
feeling what others feel (Kou et al., 2021; Bentwich & Gil, 2021). Cognitive empthy is more
likely what is goint to be looked at when focusing on creativity, its helping people to be more
flexible in how they think which is essential when trying to come up with new ideas (Yang et al.,
Commented [SK14]: This statement would be a nice
transition from discussing creativity to discussing
empathy (or vice versa)
2022).
Commented [SK15]: Can you provide evidence showing
how this is essential?
When prespective changes, they tend to do better on tasks that involve creativity probably
Commented [SK16]: Who is they?
because they’re not stuck to only thinking in one way and can change it to come up with other
ideas(Kou et al., 2021; Bentwich & Gil, 2021). Cognitive flexibility, which is the mental ability
to switch from ideas or try new ways of thinking, has been linked to creativity in a bunch of
Commented [SK17]: Again, slang - use more academic
language
research (Benedek et al., 2014; Zabelina & Robinson, 2010).
Some studies even tested this directly, when people were asked to practice perspective-taking
their divergent thinking was being tested, the ability to come up with a bunch of different ideas
improved after (Yang et al., 2022). Another study found that people who scored higher on
cognitive empathy also did better on problem-solving tasks (Kou et al., 2021). So, there’s
definitely a pattern showing that empathy helps with creativity.
Creativity usually means being able to come up with ideas that are both new and useful on your
own (Hennessey & Amabile, 2010). There are two main ways to think about creative thinking
Commented [SK18]: Ok, so here is your theme - you’re
trying to demonstrate that this pattern exists. This should
be the topic sentence of a paragraph in which you
provide examples of these patterns, then followed by
paragraphs in which you discuss specific pieces of
evidence (from research)
Commented [SK19]: Are you defining creativity here? If
it’s your key variable, this should come earlier
divergent thinking, where you generate lots of ideas, and convergent thinking, where you pick
the best one basically quantity vs quality (Runco & Jaeger, 2012). Both of these rely on cognitive
flexibility, which makes it easier to switch strategies and not get stuck (Zabelina & Robinson,
2010).
People who are more empathetic often do better on creative tasks that involve shifting
perspectives or understanding emotions (Kou et al., 2021; Bentwich & Gil, 2021). Creativity can
be measured in a lot of ways, but one approach that works well is using visual art tasks,
Commented [SK20]: Can you describe the evidence
that supports this claim?
especially abstract ones. Abstract art tends to activate the parts of the brain involved in openended thinking and emotional processing, which are both important for creativity (SampedroPiquero et al., 2019).
This kind of task is nice because it doesn’t rely on a specific type of art. What matters is
how the person interacts with it and If someone’s engaging with the art in a thoughtful or flexible
way, that says a lot about their creative thinking (Sampedro-Piquero et al., 2019). SampedroPiquero et al. (2019) showed that tasks like interpreting abstract art tap into both emotional and
cognitive parts of the brain, which connect well with both empathy and creativity. That’s why
this method makes sense for studying the relationship between them.
Stress can seriously affect the way people think, especially when it comes to creativity. Most of
Commented [SK21]: Interesting - it appears that you’re
using the overlap in conceptualization of empathy and
creativity to support use of this method - perhaps make
this more explicit
the time, when people are under stress, they get more rigid in their thinking making creativity
hard (Byron et al., 2010; Lu et al., 2019). It kind of takes up mental space, so there's less room
Commented [SK22]: Can you explain the evidence that
supports this claim?
for flexible or original ideas.
But stress doesn’t always make things bad. Some studies show that if someone sees stress
Commented [SK23]: Be more specific
as a challenge instead of a threat, they might actually become more creative (Duan et al., 2022).
So it really depends on how the person personally looks at their stress. Yang et al. (2020) also
found that creative thinking could go up under a good amount of stress, especially when people
could cope with it using stragities. Kou et al. (2021) added that empathy might help people stay
creative under stress because it helps them stay emotionally regulated and be good at
perspective-taking, even when things are intense.
Duan et al. (2022) also found that cognitive flexibility is important in the relationship
between stress and creativity. If you stay flexible, you’re more likely to stay creative, even under
pressure. That’s where empathy might come in again, because it helps with staying mentally
open and emotionally aware. Kou et al. (2021) suggest that empathetic people might not shut
Commented [SK24]: Explain both of theses studies
Commented [SK25]: How did they demonstrate this?
down creatively the same way when they’re stressed, Taking all this together, it seems like
empathy helps people be creative by making them more cognitively flexible (Bentwich & Gil,
2021; Kou et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2022). But stress usually works against that by narrowing
focus and taking up mental resources (Byron et al., 2010; Lu et al., 2019). Some people, though,
seem to be able to stay creative under stress, and empathy might be one of the things that helps
make that happen (Kou et al., 2021; Duan et al., 2022).
There’s some research suggesting that people with high empathy are better at managing
stress and don’t lose their creative edge as much (Kou et al., 2021). Yang et al. (2022) also found
Commented [SK26]: This past three paragraphs, and
the next one, all seem to be saying that stress has varying
effects on creativity, and that these are in some way
affected by empathy - introduce this idea before going
into the evidence
that perspective-taking helped protect against the negative effects of stress by keeping people
mentally flexible. Bentwich and Gil (2021) showed that when empathy improves, so does
creativity, and also stress coping gets better. So empathy could be a kind of protective factor
when someone’s under pressure.
The research so far mostly says that empathy, especially the cognitive kind, plays
Commented [SK27]: Just say “cognitive empathy” remember, we want simple and to-the-point
a big role in supporting creativity. It helps people be more mentally flexible, which means they
can look at things from different points of view and come up with more original solutions
(Bentwich & Gil, 2021; Kou et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2022). Since creativity relies so much on
this kind of flexibility, the connection between empathy and creativity makes sense and matters
both in theory and in real life (Runco & Jaeger, 2012; Zabelina & Robinson, 2010). Stress, on
Commented [SK28]: Why? How does it matter?
the other hand, usually makes flexible thinking harder and can mess with creative performance
Commented [SK29]: slang
(Byron et al., 2010; Lu et al., 2019). But some studies are starting to show that empathy might
help protect creativity when people are stressed out (Kou et al., 2021; Duan et al., 2022). There’s
also some evidence that stress can sometimes boost creativity, depending on how people respond
to it (Yang et al., 2020; Duan et al., 2022).
There are quite a few references throughout this review that do not appear in your MP
Commented [SK30]: This is a bit repetitive - I feel like
you’ve said this already.
This is where you get into the “closing”. Introduce the
design of your study - how will you answer your research
question? What will your hypotheses be?
References submission, and several in your References submission that do not appear
here. An updated Reference page would be helpful. Of those references I looked into,
several were secondary sources – reviews, textbook entries, etc. Make sure to pull out
some primary sources from them, and then make sure to explain those sources. For
example, you claimed on page 3 that when people are under stress, they get more rigid in
their thinking – how do we know this? How was this demonstrated?
I’m not completely certain which of creativity or empathy is the key variable you are
interested in. I understand that it’s the relationship you’re exploring, but which would be
the key DV you want to really teach the reader about?