Bias and Bias Remediation in Creative Problem-Solving: Managing Biases through Forecasting

Although scholars have identified many variables that contribute to creative problem-solving, less attention has been given to variables that might lead to failure in creative problem-solving. One set of variables that might lead to poor performance in creative problem-solving efforts may be found in various decision biases. In this study, the impact of simple and complex decision biases on the production of original, high-quality, and elegant solutions to a creative problem-solving task was examined in a sample of 227 undergraduates attending a large southwestern university. In addition, the value of forecasting instruction as a technique for reducing these decision biases was examined. It was found that both simple and complex decisions biases resulted in problem solutions of lower originality, quality, and elegance. Training in viable forecasting strategies resulted in the production of higher quality problem solutions. The implications of these findings for improving creative problem-solving performance are discussed.     

Errors and Understanding: The Effects of Error-Management Training on Creative Problem-Solving

People make errors in their creative problem-solving efforts. The intent of this article was to assess whether error-management training would improve performance on creative problem-solving tasks. Undergraduates were asked to solve an educational leadership problem known to call for creative thought where problem solutions were scored for quality, originality, and elegance. Prior to beginning work on their problem solutions, participants were provided with training in 0 to 4 error-management strategies. It was found that error-management training was beneficial for talented people (as indicated by scores on the pretraining exercise) resulting in solutions of greater originality. The implications of these findings for improving performance on creative problem-solving tasks are discussed.     

COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS: Chance and Intentionality in Creative Performance

Because people must organize information and combine or reorganize categories to produce creative solutions, there is reason to suspect that concepts play an important role in creative thought. Unfortunately, little is known about the kind of concepts that contribute to the success of people' s creative problem-solving efforts. Accordingly, 135 college students were presented with a series of novel, ill-defined problems in which they were asked to select a set of concepts they thought would help them solve these problems. These indices of concept preferences were then correlated with the quality and originality of the solutions obtained on a set of two creative problem-solving tasks. The use of concepts organized around long-term goals was positively related to indices of solution quality and originality. The implications of these findings for understanding the kind of concepts that contribute to creative thought are discussed.     

Intuition as an Influence on Creative Problem-Solving: The Effects of Intuition,Positive Affect,and Training

Intuition may be a critical component of creative thought. To test this hypothesis, a measure of individual differences in intuition was developed. After completing this measure, 320 undergraduates were asked to work on a domain-relevant creative problem-solving task under conditions where positive and neutral affect were induced and they were exposed to 1 of 3 different types of training. It was found that intuitive people produced more creative problem solutions, but that positive affect and training offset the advantage intuitive people showed in creative problem-solving. The implications of these findings for understanding the nature of intuition, and its role in creative problem-solving, are discussed.     

Creative Thinking Processes: The Past and the Future

For more than one hundred years, students of creativity, including seminal efforts published in the Journal of Creative Behavior , have sought to identify the key processes people must execute to produce creative problem solutions. In recent years, we have seen a consensual model of key creative thinking processes being accepted by the field. In the present effort, we review the evidence bearing on the eight core processes proposed in this consensual model. Subsequently, directions for future research on creative thinking processes are discussed.     

Errors in Creative Problem-Solving: Identify,Deliberate, and Remediate

It is often assumed creative performance is error free. Even a cursory inspection of eminent, creative, individuals indicates errors permeate creative efforts. In the present effort, the impact of error management on creative problem-solving is examined. Undergraduates, 136 in all, were asked to work through 10 potential problem solutions where half the solutions evidenced errors and half did not. Participants were asked to identify potential errors, deliberate on these errors, and remediate, or fix, errors prior to providing solutions to a problem calling for creative thought. It was found the number of errors correctly identified, and the quality of error remediation was positively related to the quality, originality, and elegance of problem solutions. More extensive deliberation, however, was found to be especially important for the production of original problem solutions. The implications of these observations for understanding the importance of error management in creative problem-solving are discussed.     

Causal Analysis to Enhance Creative Problem-Solving: Performance and Effects on Mental Models

In recent years, it has become apparent that knowledge is a critical component of creative thought. One form of knowledge that might be particularly important to creative thought relies on the mental models people employ to understand novel, ill-defined problems. In this study, undergraduates were given training in the use of causal relationships in applying mental models in creative problem-solving. A pre-post design was used to assess the effects of this training on mental models and creative problem-solving. It was found that causal analysis training resulted in the acquisition of better mental models (in terms of subjective and objective attributes) and better solutions (in terms of quality, originality, and elegance) to problems calling for creative thought among high-ability participants. The implications of these findings for understanding the role of mental models in creative problem-solving are discussed.     

Creative Thinking: Processes,Strategies, and Knowledge

Creative achievements are the basis for progress in our world. Although creative achievement is influenced by many variables, the basis for creativity is held to lie in the generation of high‐quality, original, and elegant solutions to complex, novel, ill‐defined problems. In the present effort, we examine the cognitive capacities that make creative problem‐solving possible. We argue that creative problem‐solving depends on the effective execution of a set of complex cognitive processes. Effective execution of these processes is, in turn, held to depend on the strategies employed in process execution and the knowledge being used in problem‐solving. The implications of these observations for improving creative thinking are discussed.     

Thinking Creatively at Work: Organization Influences on Creative Problem Solving

In this article, we consider how peoples' creative problem solving efforts are influenced by characteristics of the organizations in which they work. We begin examining the situations which call for creative problem solving at work. We then consider the kinds of processes people must apply to solve these problems. Additionally, we describe certain organizational variables that might help or hinder effective application of these processes.' Some conclusions-are drawn concerning how these variables act to influence creative problem solving at work. The implications of these observations for future research are discussed.     

Thinking About Applications: Effects on Mental Models and Creative Problem-Solving

Many techniques have been used to train creative problem-solving skills. Although the available techniques have often proven to be effective, creative training often discounts the value of thinking about applications. In this study, 248 undergraduates were asked to develop advertising campaigns for a new high-energy soft drink. Solutions to this problem were evaluated for quality, originality, and elegance. Prior to preparing these advertising campaigns, participants were provided with training in strategies for thinking about the potential applications of creative problem-solutions. It was found that training people to think about the uses of ideas and preparation for idea implementation contributed to the acquisition of stronger mental models and production of advertising campaigns evidencing greater quality, originality, and elegance. The implications of these findings for creative though and creative education are discussed.     

Creative Metacognitive Feelings as a Source of Information for Creative Self-efficacy,Creativity Potential,Intrapersonal Idea Selection,and Task Enjoyment

Creativity scholars try to untangle the commonalities and differences between creative self-beliefs: creative self-efficacy, creative self-concept, creative metacognition, and creative role identity. While these efforts are already contributing significantly, we would like to suggest that for creative metacognition, we need to go beyond the assessment of confidence beliefs and regulation and include creative metacognitive feelings and intrapersonal idea selection as two additional components. To test the validity of our proposition, this study examined the influence of creative metacognitive feelings on creative self-efficacy, creative potential, accurate intrapersonal idea selection (agreement between individuals’ selection of their most creative idea and two independent judges’ selection of the participants’ best idea), and task enjoyment. To elicit metacognitive feelings, participants were randomly assigned to remember and write down two or six instances in their lives in which they generated novel and useful ideas that helped solve a problem. Participants then completed a questionnaire assessing creative self-efficacy, ease of recall as a proxy of metacognitive feelings, performance on a divergent thinking task, and task enjoyment. Results showed an indirect influence of recalling fewer examples on creative self-efficacy through its influence on metacognitive feelings. Metacognitive feelings then had an indirect influence, through creative self-efficacy, on creative potential and task enjoyment.     

发明创造问题解决中的原型位置效应

以科学发明创造问题为实验材料,采用“学习-测试”两阶段实验范式,对发明创造问题解决中的原型位置效应进行探讨,结果发现：（1）原型位置主效应显著,后呈现原型成绩显著优于先呈现原型;（2）原型位置效应受创造性倾向影响,随创造性倾向的提高而显著降低;（3）原型位置效应不受启发量影响,但不同创造性个体受高低启发量影响;（4）发明创造问题解决得分与创造性倾向总分相关显著,二者在原型位置效应上表现相同的效应。     

Predicting Creative Problem-Solving in Math From a Dynamic System Model of Creative Problem Solving Ability

Six attributes of creative problem-solving ability were investigated as predictors of creative problem solving ability in math. A total of 409 Taiwanese fifth and sixth graders were administered the recently developed Creative Problem Solving Attributes Inventory and other corresponding established instruments that measure similar attributes. The Creative Problem Solving Attributes Inventory yielded valid and reliable data on creative problem solving attributes. Results also demonstrated that divergent thinking and domain specific knowledge and skills directly predicted math problem-solving ability, whereas divergent thinking, convergent thinking, motivation, general knowledge and skills, and environment indirectly predicted math problem solving ability. Implications for nurturing creative problem solving ability and limitations of the study are discussed.     

'Paradoxical' Mood Effects on Creative Problem-solving

Two studies examined the influence of various affective states on creative problem-solving. In Study 1, individual differences in mood were measured using an adjective checklist immediately prior to task performance. Insight problems were then employed to measure creative problem-solving. Performance was compared with that obtained for analytic problem-solving tasks that were included as contrast variables. Results showed that positive mood led to significantly poorer creative problem-solving performance. No link was found between negative mood and general arousal. Performance on the contrasting analytic problem-solving tasks was negatively related to anxiety, but not to positive or negative mood states. In Study 2, the procedure was followed with the addition of experimentally induced mood states. The results obtained in Study 1 for mood ratings were replicated. In the induced mood conditions, negative mood significantly facilitated creative problemsolving performance relative to induced neutral mood, which in turn was better than the control condition. The poorest performance was obtained in the positive mood condition. The results are discussed in the context of contrasting theories of the relationships between mood and problem-solving performance.     

Transformational Leadership and Creative Problem‐Solving: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety and Reflexivity

Previous research has pointed to the importance of transformational leadership in facilitating employees' creative outcomes. However, the mechanism by which transformational leadership cultivates employees' creative problem‐solving capacity is not well understood. Drawing on theories of leadership, information processing and creativity, we proposed and tested a model in which psychological safety and reflexivity mediate the effect of transformational leadership and creative problem‐solving capacity. The results of survey data collected at three points in time indicate that transformational leadership facilitates the development of employees' creative problem‐solving capacity by shaping a climate of psychological safety conducive to reflexivity processes. However, the findings also indicate that psychological safety is related both directly and indirectly, through reflexivity, to employees' creative problem‐solving capacity. This study sheds further light on the ways in which transformational leaders help to develop and cultivate employees' capacity for creative problem‐solving.     

基层党政领导干部对创造力人才特点的隐认知

该研究对48名基层领导干部的访谈和631名基层领导干部的问卷调查,通过访谈初步研究了基层领导干部的隐创造力概念,并在访谈基础上,通过因素分析等方法,编制了中国基层党政领导干部创造力人才特点量表。研究发现,中国基层领导干部对于创造力的理解更侧重于解决实际问题而非“无中生有”。在他们看来,创造力就是如何将现有的资源加以整合利用,在既定条件的约束下,用独特的方法来解决公共服务过程中面临的各种新老问题,并取得成效。中国基层领导干部的创造力人才特点包含工作灵活、激励带动：掌握新技术、敢于突破、善于学习5个维度,各维度之间有一定相关。     

Creative Potential and Multicultural Experiences: The Mediating Role of Creative Self-Efficacy

In two studies, one in Mexico and another one in Germany, we examined the indirect influence of self-reported multicultural experience on creative potential, through its influence on creative self-efficacy, and its direct influence on creative personal identity. In both studies, business students from Mexico and Germany completed a battery of questionnaires assessing creative self-efficacy (with two different operationalizations), creative personal identity, multicultural experiences, and a divergent thinking task designed to generate ideas to solve two different business problems. Structural equation modeling was used to test our hypotheses. Results from both studies found a positive relationship between self-reported multicultural experiences and creative personal identity. Similarly, multicultural experiences had an indirect, positive relationship with originality scores from a divergent thinking task, through its influence on creative self-efficacy. Hence, the positive influence of multicultural experience on creative potential, through creative self-efficacy, was established in two countries and with different operationalizations, trait like versus state like, of creative self-efficacy. The implications of the results were discussed.     

Self‐Directed Learning in Creative Activity: An Ethnographic Study in Technology‐Based Work

Under conditions of rapid changes in working life, there is an urgent need to examine the nature of creativity and learning in organizations. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of self‐directed learning (SDL) practices in creative activity in technology‐based work. We focus on both individual and collective practices but also on the importance of organizational culture. The data consist of 46 interviews and observational field notes collected from participating organizations. Thematic and ethnographic analyses were utilized as tools to reveal the nature of SDL in creative activity. We found three themes describing of the nature of SDL in creative activity: a combination of individual and collective action, solving common problems through dialogue and discussions, and the organizational culture framing SDL in creative activity. Based on the findings, we provided support for that SDL in creative activity is manifested as a socio‐cultural phenomenon and SDL practices are intertwined with creative activity. We discovered organization cultural frames that can support the realization of SDL and creative activity in working life. However, more research on the relationship between these phenomena and the conditions for their realization is needed.     

创造性认知风格、创造性人格与创造性思维的关系

对315名初中生施测Kirton适应–创新认知风格问卷、Williams创造性倾向量表和Torrance创造性思维测验任务,以考察创造性认知风格、创造性人格与创造性思维之间的关系。相关分析表明,在创造性认知风格中,效率性、规则性均与创造性思维呈显著负相关;在创造性人格中,冒险性、好奇心及挑战性均与创造性思维显著正相关。回归分析进一步表明,在创造性认知风格中,创新性、效率性分别正向、负向预测创造性思维,在创造性人格中,好奇心正向预测创造性思维;对回归系数的逐步检验发现,创新性维度通过创造性人格而对创造性思维具有间接的积极影响。结构方程模型结果则显示,创新性维度、规则性维度以创造性人格为中介分别对创造性思维发生间接的积极、消极影响。可见,创新认知风格有利于创造性思维,而适应认知风格不利于创造性思维;创造性人格有利于创造性思维;创造性人格在创造性认知风格与创造性思维之间具有一定的中介作用,创新性认知风格通过创造性人格而促进创造性思维,规则性认知风格通过创造性人格而抑制创造性思维。     

创造性问题解决的动态神经加工模式

先前研究基于功能特化的思想, 基本完成了创造性问题解决相关的各个关键脑区的功能定位, 但并未揭示这些关键脑区在创造活动中的动态神经活动以及它们之间的相互作用关系。本研究拟从动态的功能整合的思想出发, 采用时间序列分析和有效连通性分析方法, 对语义类问题的创造性解决中的信息选择和新颖联结形成等关键子过程的大脑动态加工模式进行研究。本研究不仅能丰富并发展创造性问题解决神经基础的研究方法, 而且能够从系统的层面, 从动态信息加工的角度加深对创造性问题解决脑机制的认识, 推动其神经理论的发展。