The study relates performance on a cognitive-style measure of perceptual sensitivity and grade point averages to several indices of creativity as affected by a checklist procedure and verbal pretraining. Subjects were 76 students, half of which received verbal pretraining requiring them to list adjectives under five categories. The pretrained…

Reviews the perspective of Donald Campbell on creative thought and argues that the role of blind variation and selective retention in Darwinian evaluation and human invention is different. Proposes that a contrast can be drawn between "smart" and "not so smart" blind variation. (CR)

Argues that while blind variation and selective retention (BVSR) may not be involved in all forms of human behavior and thought, Donald Campbell has made a compelling case that human creativity and invention involve BVSR. The complementary nature of prior and current BVSR in creative human endeavor is discussed. (Author/CR)

Reports the results of a study of active ingredients of creativity techniques, devices that promote idea generation, through an analysis of 172 idea-generation methods which identified three types of idea-generation devices--strategies, tactics, and enablers. These devices were organized into meaningful categories comprising a formulary of active…

The paper identifies some major issues in assessing creative problem solving. Four main problems are discussed: (1) no single widely accepted theory of creativity exists; (2) there is a lack of understanding of the implications of the differences in assessment procedures; (3) researchers, on the one hand, view creativity as entirely a cognitive…

This introductory article discusses a blind-variation and selective-retention model of the creative process developed by Donald Campbell. According to Campbell, creativity contains three conditions: a mechanism for introducing variation, a consistent selection process, and a mechanism for preserving and reproducing selected variations. (Author/CR)

Argues that the cognitive mechanisms in human creativity are, for the most part, sighted rather than blind. Reviews attempts to apply evolutionary ideas to psychology and argues that these ideas do not apply to the psychology of human creativity. An alternative sighted-variation framework is then proposed. (Author/CR)

Research is currently underway at the Malmo School of Education dealing with selected aspects of educational objectives in compulsory school at the "gymnasium" and post-"gymnasium" levels. The main thesis is that these schools prepare students with knowledge and specific skills but fail to equip the student with more general skills and attitudes…

Listed alphabetically by author are 996 references on experimentation and investigation in the area of creativity since 1954. Included are all articles which have appeared in Psychological Abstracts since 1954, unpublished doctoral dissertations, masters theses, papers, and reports. (AJ)