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…

Many techniques have been used to train creative problem-solving skills. Although the available techniques have often proven to be effective, creative training often discounts the value of thinking about applications. In this study, 248 undergraduates were asked to develop advertising campaigns for a new high-energy soft drink. Solutions to this…

People make errors in their creative problem-solving efforts. The intent of this article was to assess whether error-management training would improve performance on creative problem-solving tasks. Undergraduates were asked to solve an educational leadership problem known to call for creative thought where problem solutions were scored for…

Studies of creative thinking skills have generally measured a single aspect of creativity, divergent thinking. A number of other processes involved in creative thought have been identified. Effective execution of these processes is held to depend on the strategies applied in process execution, or heuristics. In this article, we review prior…

Idea evaluation is a critical aspect of creative thought. However, a number of errors might occur in the evaluation of new ideas. One error commonly observed is the tendency to underestimate the originality of truly novel ideas. In the present study, an attempt was made to assess whether analysis of the process leading to the idea generation and…

The generation of new ideas is a complex demanding activity involving multiple processing operations. As is the case in other forms of complex cognition, biases in process execution can induce errors that limit peoples' ability to generate viable new ideas. In the present effort, the nature of these biases, and their impact on creative thought,…

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…

Reviews studies on the cognitive mechanisms underlying creative thought and proposes a general model. This model holds that creative thought involves interactions among a number of distinct cognitive components. Some of the implications of this model for the design of effective educational programs are discussed. (Author/CR)

College students (N=135) were presented with novel, ill-defined problems and asked to select concepts they thought would help solve the problems. The use of concepts organized around long-term goals was positively related to indices of solution quality and originality. (DB)

Undergraduates (n=195) were asked to work on three creative problem-solving tasks. Beliefs consistent with the nature of the task were found to be those most likely to be related to performance. Belief measures were found to be reasonably powerful predictors of the production of original, high-quality solutions. (Contains references.) (CR)

Prior meta-analytic studies have provided evidence for the effectiveness of creativity training. In the present study, 156 training programs were obtained and a content analysis was used to appraise these programs with respect to: a) cognitive processes, b) training techniques, c) media, and d) types of practice exercises. A cluster analysis was…