Loyola University Chicago

Department of Psychology

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Young-Jae Yoon

Training Track: Applied Social
Advisor: James Larson, Ph.D. 
Office: Coffey Hall 104

Interests

I am particularly interested in the problem-solving and decision-making performance of small groups, and agent-based modeling. 

Masters Thesis Title

The Effects of Individualistic-Collectivistic Value Orientation and Individualistic-Collectivistic Self Representation on Group Creativity 

Masters Thesis Abstract

Cognitive fixation is detrimental to creativity of groups as well as individuals (Smith, 2003). In the present study, we explored under what conditions groups would be able to overcome this obstacle and achieve high levels of ideational creativity. Based on the notion that collective creativity requires key components of both individualism and collectivism (Choi, Cho, & Seo, 2015), we hypothesized that the combination of collectivistic value orientation and independent self-representation would lead to high levels of group creativity in terms of both quantity and quality of ideas generated. We conducted a laboratory experiment involving 56 triads of Korean undergraduates and found, as expected, that ideas were more creative when group members combined collectivistic values with independent self-representation.