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…

Zhongyong thinking is a common approach adopted by Chinese people to solve problems encountered in life and work. Based on the four modes of zhongyong thinking proposed by Pang (Social Sciences in China, 1, 1980, 75), this study chooses the "neither A nor B" form, which represents the "mean" ([Chinese character omitted])…

This study investigated the personality facets that underpin the construct of problem-solving style, particularly when approaching more creative kinds of problem-solving. Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire and VIEW--An Assessment of Problem Solving Style were administered to 165 students from the Norwegian Business School. We…

Building upon previously developed and more general dual-process models, this paper provides empirical support for a multidimensional thinking style construct comprised of linear thinking and multiple dimensions of nonlinear thinking. A self-report assessment instrument (Linear/Nonlinear Thinking Style Profile; LNTSP) is presented and…

Recent research has reported successful training interventions that improve insight problem solving. In some ways this is surprising, because the processes involved in insight solutions are often assumed to be unconscious, whereas the training interventions focus on conscious cognitive strategies. We propose one mechanism that may help to explain…

The present experiment examined whether or not the type of associations (close (e.g. apple-pear) and distant (e.g. apple-fish) word associations) and memory instruction (paying attention to the ideas of others) had effects on the idea generation performances in the brainwriting paradigm in which all participants shared their ideas by using paper…

Incubation has long been proposed as a mechanism in creative problem solving (Wallas, 1926). A new trial-by-trial method for observing incubation effects was used to compare the forgetting fixation hypothesis with the conscious work hypothesis. Two experiments examined the effects of incubation on initially unsolved Remote Associates Test (RAT)…

A central question in creativity concerns how insightful ideas emerge. Anecdotal examples of insightful scientific and technical discoveries include Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization of rubber, and Mendeleev's realization that there may be gaps as he tried to arrange the elements into the Periodic Table. Although most people would regard…

This study investigates the effects of prior experience, task instruction, and choice on creative performance. Although extant research suggests that giving people choice in how they approach a task could enhance creative performance, we propose that this view needs to be circumscribed. Specifically, we argue that when choice is administered…

College art students were videotaped creating original drawings from an array of objects. Judges reliably assessed the creativity of the drawings. Videos of the creation of ten high- and ten low-rated drawings were coded frame-by-frame to quantify the extent to which artists engaged in several categories of activities (selecting objects, selecting…

This study with 432 college students examined how variables influence the relative performance of groups and individuals on creative problem-solving tasks. Having more ideas available (through a priming manipulation) led to better individual performance. Group performance, however, was enhanced by training appropriate to problem content that…

Four studies of undergraduates were conducted to assess the relative importance of quality and quantity as goals of brainstorming. Participants (n=65) believed it was more important to produce creative and high-quality ideas than to generate many ideas and believed brainstorming would enhance the quality of others' ideas (n=109). (Author/CR)

This study assessed whether insightful problem solving could be trained, specifically whether solutions to a heterogeneous set of verbal insight problems could be promoted using a training scheme that emphasizes application of mechanisms that underlie the restructuring process. Facilitation effects in five experiments with college students ranged…

A study examined the relationships among creative problem solving (PS) and problem generation (PG) abilities and coping skills in 74 undergraduates. PG and PS abilities were negatively related to such coping processes as confrontation, distancing, escape-avoidance tendencies, and excessive acceptance of responsibility, and positively associated…

This study examined the impact of three conditions on how subjects (105 college students) generated ideas about imaginary extraterrestrials. Results are discussed in terms of constraints on innovation, ways of overcoming those constraints, and the general tendency for new ideas to preserve many of the central properties of existing concepts.…