Productive and Re‐productive Thinking in Solving Insight Problems

Many innovations in organizations result when people discover insightful solutions to problems. Insightful problem‐solving was considered by Gestalt psychologists to be associated with productive, as opposed to re‐productive, thinking. Productive thinking is characterized by shifts in perspective which allow the problem solver to consider new, sometimes transformational, approaches. Re‐productive thinking, on the other hand, involves the application of familiar, routine, procedures. This article reports a study which investigated how self‐reported productive and re‐productive thinking are related to an individual's ability to solve insight problems. Our measures were tested against the Kirton Adaption‐Innovation Inventory (KAI), and a battery of spatial insight problems. The results indicated that productive and re‐productive thinking and the KAI were successful in predicting performance on spatial insight problems. Furthermore, the measures of productive and re‐productive thinking accounted for spatial insight performance independently of scores on the KAI. In addition, the results suggested that re‐productive thinking consists of two different components—one based on group conventions and the other on personal experience. Each contributed differently to solving insight problems.     

Creative self‐efficacy as mediator between creative mindsets and creative problem‐solving

An emerging area of research is how one's mindset regarding the fixedness and malleability of creative ability relates to creative performance. Malleable creative mindsets tend to be positively related to creativity while fixed mindsets often show a negative association. Similarly, creative self‐efficacy, or one's beliefs that they have the capacity to be creative, is also related to creative performance and creative mindsets. While previous studies tested the direct relationship between mindsets and creativity, this study tested creative self‐efficacy in this relationship. A total of 152 students from a Midwestern university participated in the study. They were provided with measures of creative self‐efficacy, creative mindsets, and creative problem‐solving. Solutions were assessed in terms of quality and originality. Results indicated that both malleable creative mindsets and creative self‐efficacy were positively related to solution quality and originality while fixed creative mindsets were negatively related. Mediation analysis using Preacher and Hayes' (2004) bootstrapping macro showed that creative self‐efficacy mediated the relationship between malleable mindsets and quality and originality as well as the relationship between fixed mindsets and quality and originality. This research advances the study of creativity by demonstrating that creative self‐efficacy is an important mechanism through which creative mindsets relate to creative performance.     

Synthetic and analytic thought: Similarities and differences among art and science students

Evidence is presented suggesting that differences as well as similarities exist between the thought processes of art and science students during the insight phase of problem solving. The nature of these thought processes was investigated at different time periods throughout the creative process with 122 students in art and science. Half of the subjects solved tasks corresponding to their orientation, and the other half solved problems not of their orientation. This allowed an evaluation of the variance attributable to task, as opposed to orientation. After solving the task, subjects completed the Feelings and Thoughts Questionnaire (FTQ) and a battery of personality inventories, including the NEO Personality Inventory, the Adjective Check List, and the Experience Inquiry. The FTQ is a self‐report inventory in which subjects rate lists of adjectives describing the thoughts and emotions that occurred before, during, and after the insight. Internal consistency and convergent validity were established for the two scales of the FTQ namely the Synthetic and Analytic Thought Scales. Comparisons indicated that art students tended to receive higher scores than science students on the Synthetic Thought Scale, especially after the insight. The nature of the art and science task did not contribute to variance in mode of thinking scores. The findings suggest that a differentiated view of the thought processes involved in artistic and scientific creativity is needed.     

Promoting Creativity at Work: The Role of Problem‐Solving Demand

We propose that problem‐solving demand (PSD) is an important job attribute for employees' creative performance. Applying job design theory, we examined the relationship between PSD and employee creativity. The theorised model was tested with data obtained from a sample of 270 employees and their supervisors from three Chinese organisations. Regression results revealed that PSD was positively related to creativity, and this relationship was mediated by creative self‐efficacy. Additionally, intrinsic motivation moderated the relationship between PSD and creative self‐efficacy such that the relationship was stronger for individuals with high rather than low intrinsic motivation. We discuss our findings, implications for practice, and future research.     

Creative style,personality, and artistic endeavor

Research has shown that creative style, as measured by the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI; M. J. Kirton, 1976), is correlated with more than 30 different personality traits. In this article, the author demonstrates that many of these correlations can be understood within the framework of the Five-Factor Model of personality and shows that the predominant correlates of creative style are personality indicators in the domains of the factors Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, and, to a lesser extent, Extraversion. These findings provide a basis for comparing the personality traits associated with creative style and occupational creativity. High scorers on the KAI (innovators) differ from both average and creative scientists but have personality characteristics similar to those of artists. This finding suggests that the artistic personality may be more common than is generally supposed and that common factors might underlie both artistic endeavor and creative style.     

Gender Differences in the Measurement of Creative Problem‐Solving

Despite significant scholarly attention, the literature on the existence and direction of gender differences in creativity has produced inconsistent findings. In the present paper, we argue that this lack of consensus may be attributable, at least in part, to gender‐specific inconsistencies in the measurement of creative problem‐solving. To explore this possibility, we empirically tested assumptions of multiple‐group measurement invariance using samples borrowed from four recent studies that assessed creative problem‐solving (J.D. B arrett et al., 2013; K.S. H ester et al., 2012; D.R. P eterson et al., 2013; I.C. R obledo et al., 2012). Across the four samples, apparent gender differences emerged on all three components of S.P. B esemer & K. O 'Q uin's (1999) three‐facet model of creativity (i.e., quality, originality, and elegance) such that, on average, females appeared to exhibit higher baseline levels of creativity. However, in light of violations of measurement invariance assumptions across genders found in these samples, comparisons such as these may not ultimately be appropriate. Although the underlying factor structure and factor loadings on a unitary creativity factor were consistent across gender (i.e., weak factorial invariance), measurement in‐equivalence assumptions were violated at the subfacet level (i.e., strong factorial invariance). Implications of these findings for understanding gender differences in creative problem‐solving are discussed.     

Shining Lights or Lone Wolves? Creativity and Self‐image in Primary School Children

The relationship between self‐image and creativity was studied in primary school children. Earlier research points in two directions. Some researchers describe the creative child as well adjusted. Others provide a more nuanced picture in which less well‐behaved children can also be creative. Three different measures of creativity were used in this study: the Unusual Uses Test, an activity questionnaire and a perceptual test (the Creative Functioning Test). A self‐image inventory was used to measure participants' perceptions of their own skills, physical self, psychological health and relationships to others. The results showed no self‐image differences between children with high and low creativity. The creativity measures were significantly related, with the exception of the flexibility dimension of CFT. One possible explanation is that CFT measured another aspect of creativity. This was illustrated in a cluster analysis in relation to self‐image.     

Exploring the Effect of Perceived Teacher Support on Multiple Creativity Tasks: Based on the Expectancy–Value Model of Achievement Motivation

The present study explores the effect of perceived teacher support on three forms of thinking related to creativity. Tests of convergent thinking (by means of the Remote Associates Test), insight thinking (explored through a brain‐teaser test), and divergent thinking (by means of a verbal creativity test) were given to 512 middle school students in China, along with assessments of their perceived teacher support and creative self‐efficacy. The results of this study indicate that perceived teacher support positively predicts convergent thinking and insight thinking, with creative self‐efficacy playing a partial mediating role between perceived teacher support and convergent thinking. However, no significant relationships were found between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking. The findings partly lend support to the expectancy–value model of achievement motivation that teacher’s behavior influences student performance through self‐belief pathway.     

工作记忆对顿悟和分析型问题解决的影响

摘要 采用顿悟-分析自我报告范式,以远距离联想任务为实验材料,从工作记忆容量和工作记忆负荷两个角度考察了工作记忆对顿悟和分析型问题解决的影响。结果表明,高工作记忆容量个体分析型问题解决的表现优于低工作记忆容量者,但在顿悟表现上无显著差异;工作记忆负荷较小时个体分析型问题解决表现更佳,但对顿悟表现没有影响。说明通过分析解决创造性问题的表现依赖于工作记忆的支持,而通过顿悟解决问题的表现与工作记忆无关。     

Within‐person Relationship between Creative Self‐efficacy and Individual Creativity: The Mediator of Creative Process Engagement and the Moderator of Regulatory Focus

Integrating the dynamic self‐regulatory framework with the motivational self‐regulation perspective, we theorize and test how and when creative self‐efficacy increases individual creativity at the within‐person level. Conceptualizing creative process engagement as a self‐regulation effort, we theorize that creative process engagement mediates the within‐person effect of creative self‐efficacy on individual creativity. We further explore how creative self‐efficacy and chronic regulatory focus interact to affect the within‐person mediating effect. A sample of 145 R&D workers provided two monthly reports for their creative activities and experiences over 8 months. The findings provide empirical support for the hypothesized mediating mechanism. At the within‐person level, creative process engagement mediates the relationship between creative self‐efficacy and individual creativity. The results also show that chronic regulatory focus moderated the mediated relationship. Specifically, creative self‐efficacy is positively related to individual creativity for employees with a strong prevention focus and negatively related to individual creativity for employees with a strong promotion focus.     

The Facilitative Effects of Ambiguous Figures on Creative Solution

Empirical studies of creativity emphasize the importance of ambiguity advantage in idea generation and creative problem‐solving. This study examined whether ambiguous figures could directly induce a mind‐set that would transfer to the creative problem‐solving. In Experiment 1, we examined whether presentation of ambiguous figures would influence participants' performance in alternative uses tasks, and the results showed that prior exposure to ambiguous figures significantly enhanced participants' performance in the dimension of fluency, flexibility, and originality than those exposed to non‐ambiguous figures; in general uses tasks, there were no significant difference in the reaction time and originality between the ambiguous figure condition and non‐ambiguous figure condition. In Experiment 2, the facilitative effect of ambiguous figures on creative thinking was further examined with creative story generation tasks that demand more mental effort and increased cognitive load. Results showed that creativity of stories generated in ambiguous figure condition was scored significantly higher than those in non‐ambiguous figure condition. The current research extends our understanding of the facilitative effect of ambiguous figures on creative problem‐solving.     

Need for Uniqueness,Need for Cognition,and Creativity

This study examined two neglected dispositional contributions to creativity, namely needs for uniqueness and cognition. Multiple measures of creativity were used including an inventory of creative accomplishments, preference for complex visual figures (a measure similar to the Barron‐Welsh Art Scale), unconventional rather than popular word associations, and consensually‐assessed creative products. The latter included creative drawing, creative writing (a TAT story), richness of a photo essay about the self and the vividness of a recent dream. The predictors independently made significant contributions to creativity.     

Metaphors and creative thinking

This study examined how working memory plays different roles in open-ended versus closed-ended creative problem-solving processes, as represented by divergent thinking tests and insight problem-solving tasks. With respect to the analysis of different task demands and the framework of dual-process theories, the hypothesis was that the idea generation in a divergent thinking test relies more on associative, effortless system 1 processing, but insight problem solving requires rule-based, resource-limited system 2 processing, in addition to system 1 processing. Since system 1 was suggested to be more active in resource deprivation conditions, Experiment 1 adopted the dual-task paradigm, which increased participants' working memory load. The results showed that divergent thinking performance was enhanced and insight problem-solving performance was hindered. Experiment 2 using the individual differences approach found that individuals' working memory capacity correlated with insight problem solving but not with divergent thinking performance, indicating a possible involvement of system 2 processing in insight problem solving. These findings suggested that open-ended and closed-ended creative problem solving involve different processes and helped to clarify some past inconsistencies when considering the relationship of factors with creativity.     

创造性问题解决中的联想能力及其作用

长期以来,研究者一直认为联想能力与创造力之间存在着紧密的联系,但相关的实证研究并不能很好地支持这一论断,这可能是由于联想能力的界定不清所造成的。本研究梳理了以往研究中联想能力与创造力的关系,在此基础上辨析了联想能力测验所反映的实质,进一步提出了一个创造性问题解决中联想能力的作用模型：（1）联想能力主要作用于创造性问题解决中的重构阶段;（2）存在三种相对独立的联想能力,它们对空间类顿悟问题和言语类顿悟问题的影响不同;（3）联想内容中经验关系的联想能力与领域一般创造力关联最密切。     

Improving insight and non‐insight problem solving with brief interventions

Developing brief training interventions that benefit different forms of problem solving is challenging. In earlier research, Chrysikou (2006) showed that engaging in a task requiring generation of alternative uses of common objects improved subsequent insight problem solving. These benefits were attributed to a form of implicit transfer of processing involving enhanced construction of impromptu, on‐the‐spot or ‘ad hoc’ goal‐directed categorizations of the problem elements. Following this, it is predicted that the alternative uses exercise should benefit abilities that govern goal‐directed behaviour, such as fluid intelligence and executive functions. Similarly, an indirect intervention – self‐affirmation (SA) – that has been shown to enhance cognitive and executive performance after self‐regulation challenge and when under stereotype threat, may also increase adaptive goal‐directed thinking and likewise should bolster problem‐solving performance. In Experiment 1, brief single‐session interventions, involving either alternative uses generation or SA, significantly enhanced both subsequent insight and visual–spatial fluid reasoning problem solving. In Experiment 2, we replicated the finding of benefits of both alternative uses generation and SA on subsequent insight problem‐solving performance, and demonstrated that the underlying mechanism likely involves improved executive functioning. Even brief cognitive– and social–psychological interventions may substantially bolster different types of problem solving and may exert largely similar facilitatory effects on goal‐directed behaviours.     

A Visual Representation to Quantitate,Diagnose, and Improve Creativity in Insight Problem Solving

A new visual representation for insight problems permits 22 new quantitative measures; which leads to a detailed diagnosis of a person's (or team's) creative weaknesses; which then leads to prescribing targeted, effective counter‐techniques for each weakness. Currently, only two measures are consistently used for insight problem solving: the number of problems solved and the time to solve the problems. These coarse measurements do not reveal the intricate dynamics of solving insight problems. Furthermore, four commonly used creativity measures (i.e., fluency, originality, flexibility, and elaboration) are often not applied to insight problems. This new visualization permits the easy application of all four creativity measures. I challenge creativity researchers to help determine which of the 22 proposed quantitative measures are the most diagnostic for insight problem solving in isolation and, in a weighted linear combination, which might yield an effective quotient (i.e., overall measure) of insight problem solving ability.     

The contributions of convergent thinking,divergent thinking,and schizotypy to solving insight and non-insight problems

The ability to generate diverse ideas (divergent thinking) is valuable in solving creative problems (e.g., insight problems); yet, however advantageous, this ability is insufficient to solve the problem alone and requires the ability to logically deduce an assessment of correctness of each solution (convergent thinking). Positive schizotypy may help isolate the aspects of divergent thinking prevalent in insight problem solving. Participants were presented with a measure of schizotypy (Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences), divergent and convergent thinking tasks, insight problems, and non-insight problems. We found no evidence for a relationship between schizotypy and insight problem solving. Relationships between divergent thinking and insight problem solving were also surprisingly weak; however, measures of convergent thinking had a stronger relationship with problem solving. These results suggest that convergent thinking is more important than divergent thinking in problem solving.     

Effects of Group Training in Problem‐Solving Style on Future Problem‐Solving Performance

Seventy‐five participants from one suburban high school formed 21 teams with 3–4 members each for the Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI). Students were selected to participate in either the regular FPSPI or an enhanced FPSPI, where multiple group training activities grounded in problem‐solving style were incorporated into a 9‐week treatment period. An ANCOVA procedure was used to examine the difference in team responses to a creative problem‐solving scenario for members of each group, after accounting for initial differences in creative problem‐solving performance, years of experience in FPSPI, and creative thinking related to fluency, flexibility, and originality. The ANCOVA resulted in a significant difference in problem‐solving performance in favor of students in the treatment group (F(1, 57) = 8.21, p = .006, partial eta squared = .126, medium), while there were no significant differences in years of experience or creativity scores. This result led researchers to conclude that students in both groups had equivalent creative ability and that participation in the group activities emphasizing problem‐solving style significantly contributed to creative performance.