Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Logan L. Watts
Abstract
This study examined whether training individuals in abstract, concrete, or ambidextrous construal-level thinking strategies enhances creative performance and whether the effectiveness of such training is moderated by leadership style within an aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) framework. Drawing on Construal Level Theory (CLT), participants (N = 235 undergraduate students) were randomly assigned to one of four training conditions and completed a low-fidelity planning task designed to assess creativity across three dimensions: originality, quality, and elegance. Results indicated that ambidexterity training—designed to promote flexible shifting between abstract and concrete thinking—significantly improved performance across all creativity dimensions, outperforming concrete and control (but not abstract) conditions. No support was found for predicted interactions involving pragmatic or charismatic leadership styles and construal level thinking training. However, a preliminary ATI effect emerged: individuals lower in charismatic leadership benefitted more from ambidexterity training than their higher-charisma counterparts. These findings suggest that construal-level thinking is trainable and highlight the importance of cognitive-task alignment and individual aptitude in the design of creativity-enhancing interventions.
Keywords
Construal level thinking, Creativity, Leadership style, Construal ambidexterity, Leadership training
Disciplines
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Nandi, Sampoorna, "Flexing the Frame: Training Abstract, Concrete, and Ambidextrous Thinking to Improve Creativity Across Leadership Styles" (2025). Psychology Dissertations. 163.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/psychology_dissertations/163