The present research was designed to examine both the initial and the persisting effects of time limits on group creativity. Thirty-three triads worked on an unusual-uses task during each of three time periods that increased, decreased, or stayed constant over the three trials. Various measures of creativity and of rate of use generation were used. Each use was rated on a 7-point scale for creativity and feasibility. In addition, uses were categorized into hierarchical categories. The results showed that short initial time limits led to faster rates ofperformance, but lowercreativity, than did long initial time limits. Both rate and creativity effects tended to persist over trials, even though time limits changed, leading to the surprising effect of increased creativity with increased time pressure over trials in the decreasing time limit series. The results are discussed within the context of the social entrainment model.
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