It depends on how you define creativity probably, but a few scientific examples: 1. "Functional fixedness" was explored in a classic Candle Problem[1] found th

It depends on how you define creativity probably, but a few scientific examples: 1. "Functional fixedness" was explored in a classic Candle Problem[1] found that high drive (ie rewards on a deadline) led to fewer subjects solving the problem. 2. Quality versus quantity. Sadly I can't find the TED talk (likely a decade ago?) that I saw about this but the basic idea: give subjects some kind of design problem (paper airplanes, egg drop, bridge building) and a metric measure them by. Then split them into two groups; one you measure on how many they build and the other on how well their final product is. I think there may have been some intermediate evaluation step as well, wish I could find the original research. Paradoxically, the quantity group wins on quality scores. Lesson being not to focus on perfecting your first solution. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_problem