Creators stick with their own weak ideas even when cash rewards say otherwise.

Creativity has two parts: coming up with ideas, called generation, and picking the best ones, called selection. We know people can struggle to judge their own work fairly, but we do not fully understand how inventing an idea changes how we pick it. Researchers tested this by having pairs of people review the same ideas. Participants earned rewards only when they submitted high-quality options. The researchers discovered that people picked more lower-quality ideas when judging their own work compared to judging someone else's work. Warning people about this bias did not stop it. But when participants looked back at their ideas several months later, they became more selective. Making something yourself makes it much harder to let go.

Why it matters

Anyone who has ever brainstormed knows the pull of an idea just because it came from your own head. This bias means teams can waste time and money on weak ideas, and simply telling people about it doesn't fix it. Knowing the bias exists lets you build in safeguards, like delaying decisions until the emotional attachment fades.

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