Beyond Dichotomy—Towards Creative Synthesis

There are two ways for overcoming limitations of methods used in psychology, as Toomela (Integr. Physiol. Behav. Sci. doi:, 2007) points out. These are inventing new methods of research, and looking back into the history of methodological thought for new ideas. Though he limited the former as if it is a quantitative area and he declared to take the latter path, his paper actually advocates the need to create new methodology for understanding the human psyche through historical approach. We discuss problems of sampling and generalization in that context, and suggest a new way to creative synthesis through elaboration of qualitative methodologies. To us this direction constitutes an updated version of the German–Austrian methodology exactly as Toomela suggests.

Effects of differentially modeled stimuli on vicarious autonomic arousal

The present study examined effects of variations in modeled pain cues on level of vicarious arousal, using heart rate and blood-volume amplitude as psychophysiological measures. Students were assigned randomly to one of four groups in which they either (a) underwent directly the cold-pressor test, (b) observed a model exposed to the cold-pressor test and expressing pain by facial and bodily movements, (c) heard only the modeled verbal expressions of pain, or (4) observed the model express neither verbal expressions nor physical movements while undergoing the painful stimulation. The results show aversive stimulation increases heart rate whereas vicarious aversive stimulation produces reductions in heart rate. The deceleration of heart rate was not found in response to all three forms of modeling. Both direct and vicarious aversive stimulation produced decreases in the amplitude of vasomotor responses. The size of the decrement between direct stimulation and the minimal modeling condition of vicarious arousal showed significant differences, but differences between direct stimulation and the maximal modeling condition were not significant. The vasoconstriction was found in response to two forms of modeling.     

Spontaneous eye blinks during creative task correlate with divergent processing

Creativity consists of divergent and convergent thinking, with both related to individual eye blinks at rest. To assess underlying mechanisms between eye blinks and traditional creativity tasks, we investigated the relationship between creativity performance and eye blinks at rest and during tasks. Participants performed an alternative uses and remote association task while eye blinks were recorded. Results showed that the relationship between eye blinks at rest and creativity performance was compatible with those of previous research. Interestingly, we found that the generation of ideas increased as a function of eye blink number during the alternative uses task. On the other hand, during the remote association task, accuracy was independent of eye blink number during the task, but response time increased with it. Moreover, eye blink changes in participants who responded quickly during the remote association task were different depending on their resting state eye blinks; that is, participants with many eye blinks during rest showed little increasing eye blinks and achieved solutions quickly. Positive correlations between eye blinks during creative tasks and yielding ideas on the alternative uses task and response time on the remote association task suggest that eye blinks during creativity tasks relate to divergent thinking processes such as conceptual reorganization.