Psychometric Evaluation of an Alternate Scoring for the Remote Associates Test

The Remote Associates Test (RAT; Mednick, 1962; Mednick & Mednick, 1967) is a commonly employed test of creative convergent thinking. The RAT is scored with a dichotomous scoring, scoring correct answers as 1 and all other answers as 0. Based on recent research into the information processing underlying RAT performance, we argued that the dichotomous scoring may lead to a loss of potentially relevant information. Thus, we proposed an alternate scoring based on semantic similarity between the answer given by the participant and the correct solution using Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA; Landauer & Dumais, 1997). We evaluate the psychometric properties of the alternate LSA scoring and found evidence of construct validity for the LSA scoring which was comparable to findings for the standard scoring, but not better as we would have expected. Thus, our expectations that LSA-based scoring of the RAT counteracts potential information loss were not met. However, LSA based scorings appear to be a promising alternative for hardly solvable RAT items. We conducted additional analyses comparing different RAT item types with regard to their validity as well as evaluating the information uniquely contained in the LSA scoring. Implications of all finding for existing research using RAT items 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.     

团队沟通、工作不安全氛围对创新行为的影响:创造力自我效能感的调节作用

采用问卷调查法,以国内十三家大型企业集团75个工作团队共334名团队成员为研究对象,运用分层线性模型分析技术,探讨了团队沟通、工作不安全氛围对团队成员创新行为的影响,以及创造力自我效能感对此关系的调节作用.结果表明,团队沟通、工作不安全氛围对团队成员创新行为有倒U形的影响;创造力自我效能感调节团队沟通、工作不安全氛围与团队成员创新行为之间的关系:员工的创造力自我效能感越高,团队沟通、工作不安全氛围对团队成员创新行为的倒U形影响越小.     

Myopic loss aversion: Demystifying the key factors influencing decision problem framing

Advancement of myopic loss aversion theory has been hamstrung by conflicting results, methodological inconsistencies, and a piecemeal approach toward understanding the key factors influencing decision problem framing. A series of controlled experiments provides a more holistic view of the variables promoting myopia. Extending the information horizon promotes broad framing, which propels risk. Evaluation frequency and decision frequency interact regardless of information horizon, supporting the notion that restricting either mechanism alleviates myopia. When conducting evaluations infrequently, neither segregating nor aggregating retrospective returns significantly alters risk preferences. Moreover, students and real retirement plan participants exhibit comparable appetites for risk, implying that both groups frame decision problems similarly. Explanations for these findings and avenues for future research are discussed.     

创造性思维中语义搜索过程：基于答案累积时间函数和语义相似性的量化分析

通过描绘发散性思维测验(物品多用途, AUT)中答案生成在累积函数和语义相似性等一系列参数上的量化特征, 揭示创造性思维的语义搜索过程。结果发现：(1)新颖AUT条件中, 语义搜索呈现与自由联想类似的负加速特点, 但搜索速度较寻常AUT条件更慢。(2)新颖AUT条件中所生成的答案与题目(即物品)均具有较低的语义相似性, 且显著小于寻常AUT条件。(3)新颖AUT条件中生成的答案比寻常AUT条件表现出显著更低的聚类程度, 其中可聚类答案和未聚类答案与题目的语义相似度均较低, 且不存在显著差异, 二者在新颖性上也不存在显著差异。以上结果说明了创造性思维的语义信息搜索过程具有与自由联想类似的激活扩散特征, 但总体搜索速度较慢。新颖性要求使得个体在最初搜索时便开始摆脱题目的语义限制而进行远距离搜索(避免就近搜索), 并倾向于在每个语义场中只生成一个答案(避免局部搜索), 但也可能会在远离题目的语义场中生成多个同类别答案。     

The Impact of Type of Examples on Originality: Explaining Fixation and Stimulation Effects

There are obstacles to creativity: one of them is called fixation effect, the fact that some knowledge about existing or obvious solutions is spontaneously activated and constrains the generation of new solutions. Converging evidence in cognitive psychology has indicated that the ability to generate original ideas can be limited by recently activated knowledge, such as examples of solutions. On the other hand, neuroimaging studies have recently demonstrated that exposure to examples could, on the contrary, have a stimulating effect on originality. To make sense of what seems to be contradictory studies, we hypothesized that two types of examples could have opposite effects on originality: (1) restrictive examples—within the fixation effect—could lead to a reduction in the originality of the solutions, whereas (2) expansive examples—outside the fixation effect—could provoke solutions of higher originality. Results from a total of 160 participants confirmed that the solutions proposed by the group exposed to restrictive examples were less original than those given by the group exposed to expansive examples.     

Team Proactivity as a Linking Mechanism between Team Creative Efficacy,Transformational Leadership,and Risk‐Taking Norms and Team Creative Performance

Despite the growing body of research on creativity in team contexts, very few attempts have been made to explore the team‐level antecedents and the mediating processes of team creative performance on the basis of a theoretical framework. To address this gap, drawing on Paulus and Dzindolet's (2008) group creativity model, this study proposed team creative efficacy, transformational leadership, and risk‐taking norms as antecedents of team creative performance and team proactivity as an intervening mechanism between these relationships. The results of team‐level regression analyses conducted on the leaders and members of 103 Korean work teams showed that team creative efficacy and risk‐taking norms were positively associated with team creative performance. Furthermore, the relationships between team creative efficacy and team creative performance and between risk‐taking norms and team creative performance were mediated by team proactivity. These findings offer new insights regarding the antecedents and the mediator of creative performance in team contexts and important implications for theory and practice.     

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.     

Gift Cards and Mental Accounting: Green‐lighting Hedonic Spending

In three studies, we examine the mental accounting rules that govern how gift cards are used. We predicted that their identity as gift cards would shift consumption from utilitarian to hedonic goods even in contexts where both types of goods are available and the consumer's needs are unchanged. In Study 1a, participants were asked to imagine that they had both a gift card and a specified amount of cash and needed to purchase both a hedonic item and a utilitarian item. When asked which currency they would use to buy which item, respondents were significantly more likely to say they would use the gift card to buy the hedonic item. Study 1b replicated this result and found that it was tied to participants' beliefs how different types of money should be used. In Study 2, we found that participants who were required to spend a certain amount of their compensation in a laboratory store spent more on hedonic goods if their payment was in the form of a gift card. In Study 3, we analyzed transactions at a campus bookstore and found that shoppers tended to spend disproportionately on hedonic goods when using their gift cards than when making credit card purchases. Taken together, these studies indicate that people tend to assign the monetary value of a gift card to a hedonic mental account and spend it accordingly. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

L’invention managériale : une compétence cardinale pour les situations organisationnelles complexes

This study models “the manager invention”, cardinal skill to face the complex, contradictory, unpredictable socio-organizational reality. The works of Morin (on 1986, 1999, 2001) on the processes of the complex thought and those of Detienne and Vernant (1974), of Frontisi-Ducroux (1975) and Dejours (1993) about the mètis or practice intelligence serve us as theoretical supports, the analysis of contents of managers' narratives of empirical supports. The principles of a complex cognition (dialogical of the contradictory, complementarity of opposite, logic of the inclusive third) support the creative strategies of the managers : guile rather than force, diversion, bypassing, double position, happy medium, oblique speeches.