Paul B. Paulus
Distinguished Professor of Psychology

Room 516, Life Sciences Bldg.
Phone: (817) 272-1206
Email: paulus@uta.edu
Faculty Profile: http://www.uta.edu/ra/real/editprofile.php?pid=34&onlyview=1

Description of Research

Group Creativity Research Lab

Fields of Interest: Group Creativity, Group Decision Making, Teamwork, Environmental Psychology, and Organizational Behavior.

Although creativity is typically seen as an individual process, much creative activity takes place in groups and teams. The focus of our research is to understand the processes involved in group creativity and team innovation. We have discovered many factors that can enhance creativity in groups. However, only a few studies have been able to demonstrate that creative groups can outperform the creative efforts of a similar number of individuals. We are collaborating with scholars at four other universities to develop a comprehensive model of the group creative process and its application to a wide variety of creative activities. This research is supported by several grants from the National Science Foundation and the Associate Direction of National Intelligence for Analysis.

2009-2010 Group Creativity Research Team

Popular Press Coverage

A Perfect Brainstorm What cutting-edge science tells us about mastering the art of the brainstorm. Plus: Why do the best ideas always seem to happen in the shower? By Alison Stein Wellner. Oct 1, 2003.

Cubicle Culture: How brainstorming works best By Jared Sandberg, The Wall Street Journal. Tuesday, June 13, 2006.

Putting the Brain Back Into Brainstorming Brainstorming as we commonly practice it is only partly effective, asserts researcher and professor Paul Paulus--and solid science has given him the numbers to back up that claim. Learn how with a few tweaks you can get more thunder and lightning and less drizzle from your idea-generation sessions. By: Paul B. Paulus ASSOCIATIONS NOW, November 2006.

5 מיתוסים שגויים על יצירתיות ארגונית - ואיך לגרום להם לעבוד ( Five myths of organizational creativity - and how to make them work) Professor Paul Paul, a researcher of creativity and innovation in organizations from the University of Texas, know that most managers talk about "thinking outside the box" do not really understand its meaning. To set the record straight, he smashed five common myths. April, 2010.

Representative Publications

Journal Articles:

Paulus, P. B., Dugosh, K. L., Dzindolet, M. T., Coskun, H., & Putman, V. L. (2002). Social and cognitive influences in group brainstorming. Predicting production gains and losses. European Review of Social Psychology, 12, 299-325.

Brown, V. R., & Paulus, P. B. (2002). Making group brainstorming more effective: Recommendations from an associative memory perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 208-212. Reprinted in Current Directions in Cognitive Science (2005)

Paulus, P. B., and van der Zee, K. I. (2004). Should there be a romance between teams and groups? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 475-480.

Dugosh, K. L., & Paulus, P. B. (2005). Cognitive and social comparison processes in brainstorming. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 313-320.

Paulus, P. B., Nakui, T., Putman, V. L., & Brown, V. R. (2006). Effects of task instructions and brief breaks on brainstorming. Group Dynamics: Theory, research, and practice, 10, 206-219.

Paulus, P. B., & Brown, V. R. (2007). Toward more creative and innovative group idea generation: A cognitive-social motivational perspective of brainstorming. Social and Personality Compass, 1, 10:1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00006.x

Baruah, J., & Paulus, P. B. (2008). Effects of training on idea generation in groups. Small Group Research. 39, 523-541.

Paulus, P. B., & Dzindolet, M. (2008). Social influence, creativity and innovation. Social Influence, 3, 228-247.

Putman, V. L., & Paulus, P. B. (2009). Brainstorming, brainstorming rules and decision making. Journal of Creative Behavior, 43, 23-39.

Paulus, P. B., Levine, D., Brown, V., Minai, A., A., and Doboli, S (in press).Modeling Ideational Creativity in Groups: Connecting Cognitive, Neural and Computational Approaches. Small Group Research.

Chapters:

Paulus, P. B., & Brown, V. (2003). Ideational creativity in groups: Lessons from research on brainstorming. In Paulus, P. B., & Nijstad, B. (Eds.) Group creativity: Innovation through collaboration. (pp. 110-136) New York: Oxford University Press.

Paulus, P. B., & Nakui, T. (2005). Facilitation of group brainstorming. In S. Schuman (Ed.), The IAF handbook of group facilitation (pp. 103-114). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Paulus, P. B., Nakui, T., & Putman, V. L. (2005) Group brainstorming and teamwork: Some rules for the road to innovation. L. Thompson and H. Choi (Eds.) Creativity and innovation in organizational teams (pp. 69-86). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Paulus, P. B. (2007) Fostering creativity in groups and teams. In J. Zhou and C. E. Shalley (Eds.). The Handbook of Organizational Creativity (pp. 159-182). Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis Group.

Baruah, J., & Paulus, P. B. (2009). Enhancing creativity in groups: The search for synergy. In M. Neale, B. Mannix & J. Goncalo (Eds.) Research on Managing Groups and Teams. (pp. 29-56) Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science Press.

Books:

Paulus, P.B. (Ed.). (1980). Psychology of group influence. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Paulus, P.B. (Ed.). (1983). Basic group processes. New York: Springer‑Verlag.

Paulus, P. B. (1988). Prison crowding: A psychological perspective. New York: Springer Verlag.

Paulus, P. B. (1989). Psychology of group influence, Second Edition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Baron, R. A. & Paulus, P. B. (1991). Understanding Human Relations. (Second Edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Paulus, P.B. Seta, C.E., & Baron, R.A. (1996). Effective human relations: A guide to people at work. (Third Edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Seta, C.E., Paulus, P. B. & Baron, R.A. (2000). Effective human relations: A guide to people at work. (Fourth Edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Paulus, P. B., & Nijstad, B .A. (Eds.) (2003). Group creativity: Innovation through collaboration. New York: Oxford University Press. (Chinese Edition published in 2008)

Scientific Societies:

1. American Psychological Association, Fellow, http://www.apa.org/

2. American Psychological Society, Fellow http://www.psychologicalscience.org/

3. Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Fellow, http://www.sesp.org/

4. European Association of Social Psychology, http://www.easp.eu/

5. European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, http://www.eawop.org/web/