An Influence of Positive Affect on Decision Making in Complex Situations: Theoretical Issues With Practical Implications

This article reviews evidence indicating that, in most circumstances, positive affect enhances problem solving and decision making, leading to cognitive processing that is not only flexible, innovative, and creative, but also thorough and efficient. These results have implications regarding consumers’ potential reactions to affect generated by ads, products, consumption situations, and service encounters. These cognitive effects of positive affect are considered in the context of effects on social interaction that show that positive affect leads to helping, generosity, and interpersonal understanding. Together, these findings suggest implications especially for customer satisfaction, and particularly for a role for employee positive affect, or employee satisfaction, in generating customer satisfaction. Moreover, studies specifically in the domain of medical decision making and problem solving indicate that these implications would apply to the specific areas of doctor–patient interaction, medical decision making, and medical consumer satisfaction. Finally, it is suggested that the benefits of positive affect be considered when formulating healthcare policy and be included in economic models and policy decisions more generally as well.     

Adult Attachment Style and Cognitive Reactions to Positive Affect: A Test of Mental Categorization and Creative Problem Solving

Three studies examined the moderating effect of attachment style on cognitive reactions to positive affect inductions. In Study 1 (N = 110), participants completed attachment style scales, were asked to retrieve a happy or a neutral memory, and, then, performed a categorization task. Study 2 (N = 120) used the same affect induction, while examining creative problem solving in the Remote Associates Test. Study 3 (N = 120) replicated Study 2, while using another affect induction (watching a comedy film) and controlling for trait anxiety scores. Overall, securely attached persons reacted to positive affect with broader categorization and better performance in creative problem-solving tasks. Anxious–ambivalent persons showed an opposite pattern of cognitive reactions to positive affect, and avoidant persons showed no difference in their cognitive reactions to positive and neutral affect inductions. The discussion emphasizes the role that attachment-related strategies of affect regulation may play in episodes of positive affect.     

The affective consequences of artistic and scientific problem solving

Abstract

Although the influence of affect on creativity has received some theoretical and empirical attention, the role of affect as a consequence of creative problem solving has been neglected. This study is the one of the first to examine empirically the affect that results from creative problem solving. In a 2 (group) × 3 (time period) × 2 (task) factorial design, 122 art and science students were randomly assigned to complete an art or science task and to report on the kind and intensity of affect before, during, and after creative problem solving. It was predicted that art and science students would report different levels of affect only after the insight, not before or during, and that the effects of task, not just group, would contribute to affective variability between art and science students. Science students reported similar levels of (positive) affective intensity before and during creative insight as art students. It was only after the insight that art students reported more intense affective experiences than science students. Task differences accounted for a significant amount of variance in affective intensities, but primarily for art-oriented subjects. These findings suggest that viewing affect as a dependent variable of cognition, rather than primarily as an independent variable, is a direction that would benefit the field of empirical work on cognition and emotion. Current cognitive theories of emotion offer much potential in understanding the affective consequences of creative problem solving.     

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.     

创造性思维与认知抑制的关系

抑制是创造性思维过程中的一种重要的认知加工机制。创造性思维与认知抑制的关系主要有三种观点：创造性思维的认知去抑制假说、认知抑制假说和适应性认知抑制假说。本文系统评述了创造性思维与认知抑制关系的相关理论、研究新进展和神经机制。未来研究应加强创造性思维与认知抑制关系的理论整合与构建,分析创造性思维的不同阶段的认知抑制机制,采用无意抑制与有意抑制研究范式,对创造性思维与认知抑制的关系、影响因素及神经机制进行深入研究。     

The Contributions of Creative Cognition and Schizotypal Symptoms to Creative Achievement

Although previous research has suggested that people with subclinical levels of schizophrenic symptoms achieve a greater number of creative accomplishments, the contention that there is a creative cognitive advantage in schizotypy has received mixed support. It was hypothesized that accounting for complex relationships between (a) creative cognition abilities (moderated relationships), and (b) creative cognition and schizotypy variables (mediated, moderated, and curvilinear relationships) would significantly increase the ability to predict creative performance and provide a more accurate survey of the schizotypic creative cognitive advantage. One hundred and fourteen participants completed a creative problem solving measure, measures of cognitive creative abilities (Remote Associates Test, a divergent thinking task, and a deductive reasoning task) and measures of positive and negative symptoms of schizotypy. Regression analyses supported the conception of a multistage process in which creative cognition variables interact with each other to predict performance on a creative problem solving task. There was no evidence of a creative cognitive advantage in schizotypy: People high in schizotypy performing the same or worse than people reporting few schizotypic symptoms on measures of creative cognition and creative problem solving performance. If people with schizotypy are, indeed, more creative than those without, it is because of factors other than the cognitive processes surveyed in this investigation.     

How positive affect modulates cognitive control: reduced perseveration at the cost of increased distractibility

A fundamental problem that organisms face in a changing environment is how to regulate dynamically the balance between stable maintenance and flexible switching of goals and cognitive sets. The authors show that positive affect plays an important role in the regulation of this stability-flexibility balance. In a cognitive set-switching paradigm, the induction of mild increases in positive affect, as compared with neutral or negative affect, promoted cognitive flexibility and reduced perseveration, but also incurred a cost in terms of increased distractibility. Rather than influencing set switching in an unspecific way, positive affect thus exerted opposite effects on perseveration and distractibility. Results are consistent with neuropsychological models according to which effects of positive affect on cognitive control are mediated by increased dopamine levels in frontal brain areas.     

The influence of positive affect on the unusualness of word associations

A pilot study and two experiments investigated the influence of positive affect, induced in three differing ways, on the uniqueness of word associations. Persons in the positive-affect conditions gave more unusual first-associates to neutral words, according to the Palermo & Jenkins (1964) norms, than did subjects in the control conditions. In Study 3, where word type (positive, neutral, negative) was a second factor along with affect, in a between-subjects design, associates to positive words were also more unusual and diverse than were those to other words. These results were related to those of studies suggesting that positive affect may facilitate creative problem solving and to other work suggesting an impact of positive feelings on cognitive organization.     

创造性思维的酝酿效应

酝酿效应是指当人们遭遇无法解决的难题时, 暂时将其搁置, 转而去完成其他无关任务, 反而有利于原有问题解决的现象。近年来, 研究者对创造性问题解决过程中的酝酿效应及其影响因素进行了广泛的研究, 同时提出了较多理论试图进一步解释酝酿效应。酝酿效应的代表性理论可分为“选择性遗忘理论”、“激活扩散和线索同化理论”、“无意识加工理论”等, 它们从不同角度解释了酝酿效应的机制, 并对其影响因素和有关现象各有预测。对心智游移和睡眠这些特殊形式的酝酿的研究进一步揭示了酝酿效应的机制。认知神经研究表明, 酝酿期的基本认知成分, 即表征重构和激活扩散, 涉及到前额叶、纹状体、海马体等多个脑区的协同合作。未来研究需要以深化理论建设为基础, 利用认知神经方法进一步揭示酝酿效应的机制, 从而更为深刻地认识创造性酝酿的本质。     

The Impact of Affective States and Affective Shifts on Creative Ideation and Evaluation

This study aims to examine the impact of affective states and affective shifts on ideation and evaluation of creativity. Affects were induced by a two‐stage imagination procedure of recalling autobiographical experiences. Three periods of divergent thinking were measured to represent the participants’ creative ideation at different times. Creative evaluation was measured by estimating the originality of each response provided by the participants. The results indicate that (a) during the initial period of ideation, groups with positive affect obtain better creative ideation than the groups with neutral or negative affect. (b) The ideation in positive affect groups gradually decreases over time, while the ideation in negative affect groups gradually increases over time. (c) During the evaluation of originality, groups with negative affect have a higher proportion of over‐estimates and a lower proportion of under‐estimates than groups with positive affect. The viewpoints of cognitive tuning theory, which posit that the affective state influences creativity, are supported.     

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。     

Enhancing Digital Fluency through a Training Program for Creative Problem Solving Using Computer Programming

The purpose of this paper is to propose a training program for creative problem solving based on computer programming. The proposed program will encourage students to solve real‐life problems through a creative thinking spiral related to cognitive skills with computer programming. With the goal of enhancing digital fluency through this proposed training program, we investigated its effects. Two sets of experiments were performed in which 119 typical students and 30 younger, gifted students participated. Two synthetic creative problem solving tests, which had a high correlation with logical ability, scientific problem solving ability and divergent thinking ability, were developed to measure creative problem solving ability. We provided the treatment group with a paper‐based booklet with relevant problems developed specifically for that group. ANCOVA statistical procedures were used to analyze the pre‐ and post‐synthetic creative problem solving tests. The findings of our study are as follows: with typical students, the originality of the treatment group outperformed the control group, a result that was compatible with previous research. With gifted students, the fluency of the treatment group outperformed the control group, and overall creative problem solving ability was enhanced. Remarkably, fluency increased significantly, a notable difference from the results of prior studies. In conclusion, we inferred that, given the definition of digital fluency, if creative problem solving ability is enhanced by a training program for creative problem solving based on computer programming, digital fluency will ultimately be improved. In this paper, we discuss the result of fluency enhancement that contradicts prior research. We suggest that this training program could be a new learning environment for the students who have grown up with digital media.     

创造发明中顿悟的原型启发脑机制

科学界关于“原型启发”催化创造发明中顿悟发生的事例十分普遍, 从中国的“鲁班从带齿边的茅草中得到启发而发明锯子”的传说, 到“瓦特从沸腾的开水壶上受到启发而发明蒸汽机”的经典故事, 都说明“原型启发”是创造发明的一种重要思维方式。然而, 由于创造发明思维过程的复杂性, 国内外关于创造性思维脑机制的研究还停留在非科学问题解决的研究上。依据科学家运用原型启发而成功发明创造的最新实例, 项目组编制了《创造发明实验问题材料库》, 并计划以功能性磁共振成像(fMRI)和事件相关电位(ERP)作为技术手段系统探讨原型启发催化创造发明中顿悟发生的脑机制, 例如, 原型激活和启发信息利用的脑机制、问题意识下灵感捕捉的脑机制以及原型知识表征、动机与情绪状态、大脑工作状态等因素对原型启发影响的脑机制。该研究的开展, 对理解人类的创造性本质具有重要的理论意义, 对培养和激发人的创造力具有一定的实践价值。     

The differential influences of positive affect,random reward,and performance-contingent reward on cognitive control

Growing evidence suggests that positive affect and reward have differential effects on cognitive control. So far, however, these effects have never been studied together. Here, the authors present one behavioral study investigating the influences of positive affect and reward (contingent and noncontingent) on proactive control. A modified version of the AX-continuous performance task, which has repeatedly been shown to be sensitive to reward and affect manipulations, was used. In a first phase, two experimental groups received either neutral or positive affective pictures before every trial. In a second phase, the two halves of a given affect group additionally received, respectively, performance-contingent or random rewards. The results replicated the typical affect effect, in terms of reduced proactive control under positive as compared to neutral affect. Also, the typical reward effects associated with increased proactive control were replicated. Most interestingly, performance-contingent reward counteracted the positive affect effect, whereas random reward mirrored that effect. In sum, this study provides first evidence that performance-contingent reward, on the one hand, and positive affect and performance-noncontingent reward, on the other hand, have oppositional effects on cognitive control: Only performance-contingent reward showed a motivational effect in terms of a strategy shift toward increased proactive control, whereas positive affect alone and performance-noncontingent reward reduced proactive control. Moreover, the integrative design of this study revealed the vulnerability of positive affect effects to motivational manipulations. The results are discussed with respect to current neuroscientific theories of the effects of dopamine on affect, reward, and cognitive control.     

Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving

Four experiments indicated that positive affect, induced by means of seeing a few minutes of a comedy film or by means of receiving a small bag of candy, improved performance on two tasks that are generally regarded as requiring creative ingenuity: Duncker's (1945) candle task and M. T. Mednick, S. A. Mednick, and E. V. Mednick's (1964) Remote Associates Test. One condition in which negative affect was induced and two in which subjects engaged in physical exercise (intended to represent affectless arousal) failed to produce comparable improvements in creative performance. The influence of positive affect on creativity was discussed in terms of a broader theory of the impact of positive affect on cognitive organization.     

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.     

Affect in analogical transfer

Abstract:

The putative importance of analogy in creative insight and intelligence has been repeatedly supported in anecdotal reports of creative scientists and theoretical proposals on creativity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of affect on analogical transfer. For that purpose, three experiments were conducted in which negative, neutral, or positive affect was induced by films. Persons were asked to solve ill‐defined, well‐defined, and insight problems. Analogical reasoning was evoked by base information presented prior to the film and target problem. The first two experiments indicated that positive affect facilitates transfer in ill‐defined problems, but impairs it in well‐defined problems. These findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive strategies used to solve well‐ and ill‐defined problems, and the theoretical assumptions about the impact of positive affect on cognitive organization. The results of the third experiment supported the hypothesis that the influence of positive affect on analogical transfer is related to the form (visual/verbal) of presenting the base analogy.     

竞争与情绪对顿悟的原型启发效应的影响

以汉字字谜为材料, 采用“原型学习-问题测试”范式, 考察不同竞争水平(高、中、低竞争强度和无竞争)情境下诱发的情绪效价(积极、中性和消极)对顿悟中的原型启发的影响。结果发现：1)竞争水平对字谜问题解决中的原型启发有显著影响, 低强度竞争水平最有利于靶字谜问题的解决, 中等强度和高强度下效果次之, 无竞争条件下效果最差; 2)诱发情绪对靶字谜问题解决的原型启发也有显著影响, 消极情绪和中性情绪下比积极情绪下靶字谜的正确率更高; 3)有无竞争与情绪效价之间的交互作用显著, 体现了竞争和情绪这两种动力相关因素在原型启发中的动力作用不是独立的。     

Insight problem solving in individuals with high versus low schizotypy

Insight problem solving requires restructuring of a problem space by stepping out of the framework provided by the commonly activated cognitive schemas and acquiring a new perspective on the problem. Schizotypy has been linked with loosened associative and overinclusive thinking that may be advantageous for this process. The present study tested this hypothesis and found that individuals with a high degree of schizotypy show better performance on a set of insight problems relative to individuals with low schizotypy, but not on a set of incremental problems that required focused goal-related thinking. Results support the notion that schizotypy is associated not only with enhanced abilities in creative processes involved in divergent thinking but also in creative operations during analytical problem solving.     

Neurology and Creative Thought: Some Thoughts About Working Memory,the Cerebellum,and Creativity

Abstract

Students of creativity have long been interested in the neurological mechanisms that underlie creative thought. Vandervert, Schimpf, and Liu (this issue) have proposed a new model of the neurological mechanisms that give rise to creative thought. In the present commentary, we examine this model for what it might tell us about creative problem solving. We conclude that the proposed model is in line with much of what is known about creative problem solving. However, certain key predictions of this model, for example the role of visual images and basic cognitive images, are questioned. The implications of these observations for future neurological research are discussed.