Matthijs Baas
Biographical Sketch
Matthijs Baas (1980) works as an Assistant Professor at the department of Work and Organizational Psychology of the University of Amsterdam. In 2005, he started his dissertation research about the effects of specific moods on creativity, supervised by Carsten de Dreu and Bernard Nijstad. He received his PhD in 2010 (cum laude). He teaches about creativity in organizations and research methods in organizational psychology.
Research
My research mainly concerns the processes underlying the effects of distinct moods on creativity. To better understand the mood-creativity relationship, I classify moods in terms of valence (positive vs. negative), activation (activating vs. de-activating), andmotivational orientation (approach vs. avoidance) and argue that creativity can be achieved through flexible, global, and divergent thinking and through systematic and persistent probing of a few categories and ideas.
My work, done in close collaboration with Carsten de Dreu and Bernard Nijstad, shows that creativity is enhanced most by moods that are activating (happiness, joy, fear, and anger) rather than deactivating (sadness, relaxed state, relief). Furthermore, my work suggests that activating mood states stimulate creativity primarily through flexibility when the motivational orientation is towards approach (happiness, joy) and primarily through persistence when the motivational orientation is towards avoidance (fear).
Other research interest concerns (non)decision-making, effects of regulatory focus on creativity when the going gets tough, color effects on decisions in poker, and preferred modalities in emotions.
Selected publications
Baas, M. , De Dreu, C.K.W., & Nijstad, B.A. (in press). Emotions that associate with uncertainty lead to structured ideation. Emotion.
Baas, M. , De Dreu, C.K.W., & Nijstad, B.A. (2011). When prevention promotes creativity: The role of mood, regulatory focus and regulatory closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 794-809.
Baas, M. , De Dreu, C.K.W., & Nijstad, B.A. (2011). Creative production by angry people peaks early on, decreases over time, and is relatively unstructured. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1107-1115.
Baas, M.,De Dreu, C.K.W., & Nijstad, B.A. (2008). A meta-analysisof 25 years of mood-creativity research: Hedonic tone, activation, or regulatory focus? Psychological Bulletin, 134 , 779-806 .
De Dreu, C.K.W., Baas, M. , & Nijstad, B.A. (2008). Hedonic tone and activation in the mood-creativity link: Towards a dual pathway to creativity model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 739-756.
De Dreu, C.K.W., Greer, L.L., Handgraaf, M.J.J., Shalvi, S., Van Kleef, G.A., Baas, M., Ten Velden, F.S., Van Dijk, E., & Feith, S.W.W. (2010). The neuropeptide oxytocin regulates parochial altruism in intergroup conflict among humans. Science, 134, 1408-1410.
De Dreu, C.K.W., Nijstad, B.A., & Baas,M. (2011). Behavioral activation links to creativity because of increased cognitive flexibility. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 72-80.
De Dreu, C. K. W., Nijstad, B. A., Baas, M., Roskes, M., & Wolsink, I. (in press). Working memory benefits creative insight, musical improvisation and original ideation through maintained task-focused attention. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Nijstad, B.A., De Dreu., C.K.W., Rietzschel, E.F., & Baas, M. (2010). The dual‐pathway to creativity model: Creative ideation as a function of flexibility and persistence. European Review of Social Psychology, 21, 34-77.
Van Hooff, M. L. M., & Baas, M. (in press). Recovering by means of meditation: The role of recovery experiences and intrinsic motivation. Applied Psychology: An International Review.
Some presentations
Baas (2011, September). The psychology of creativity. Invited lecture at Delft University, the Netherlands.
Baas (2011, April). Activating moods and motives stimulate creativity in different ways. Invited colloquium at University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
Baas (2011, January). Moods and motives in creativity: Two pathways and the role of activation. Invited colloquium at Gent University, Belgium.
Baas, M. (2010, April). Specific moods in the mood-creativity link. Presentation at the bi-annual Kurt Lewin Institute (KLI) conference, Zeist, the Netherlands.
Baas, M. , De Dreu, C. K. W., & Nijstad, B. A. (2009, February). Simmering blues and depleting displeasure: How sadness and anger influence creativity. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Tampa, Florida.
Baas, M. (2009, February). In the mood for creativity: The role of goal orientation and goal attainment. Invited colloquium at the Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Baas, M. , De Dreu, C. K. W., & Nijstad, B. A. (2008, June). Discrete moods in the mood-creativity relationship. Presentation at the General Meeting of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, Opatija, Croatia .
Reviewing (Adhoc)
Cognition, Cognition and Emotion, Emotion, European Journal of Social Psychology, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Motivation and Emotion, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Making Processes, Social Cognition