shifting between modes of thought: a mechanism underlying creative performance?
Post on 21-Feb-2016
30 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Shifting between modes of thought: A mechanism underlying creative performance?
Andrew PringlePhD candidate (Psychology)Supervisor: Dr Paul Sowden
Overview What are “different modes of thinking”?
Evidence suggesting that creative individuals are proficient at shifting
Experiment examining if creative individuals are better at
shifting modes than less creative individuals.
Convergent thinking
?=>
Modes of thinking
?
Divergent thinking
Deployment of different modes
Idea generation
Practicality within real-world constraints
Shifting between modes
Idea generation
Practical solutions within real-world constraints
Convergent thinking
Divergent thinking
Shifting modes
Are the creative better at shifting?Wolf & Mieg (2011):
Control over the mode of thinking deployed: self-report likert scale measuring the control of divergent and convergent thinking
Measure of creative performance: invention efficiency (IE): IE = Marketed patents Granted patents
Inducing shifting and assessing shifting efficiency?
Task inducing divergent thinking
Task inducing convergent
thinking method of inducing
shifts
Is shifting efficiency (related to) creative ability?
Inducing divergent thinking
sun
Divergent task
After-sun
After-partyAfter-math
Inducing convergent thinking
Convergent task
basket eightsnow
= “ball” 1 2 3 4 5
Extent to which solution generated by insight (aha! experience)
canedaddy plum
Inducing shifting
30sec
time
basket eight snow
show life row
dew cone bee
30sec
chair
watch
air
flake mobile cone
tape
cross rain tie
Pure Convergent
Block
Alternating Block
Pure Divergent
Block
Participant details & Creativity measure
Participant details students and staff at the University of Surrey Age (M = 22.40 years, SD = 2.24, range = 18-27) All native English speakers No dyslexics
Creative achievement questionnaire (CAQ) Domains (visual arts, music, dance, architectural design, creative writing, humour, inventions, scientific discovery, theatre and film and culinary arts).
Effects of shifting on convergent problem performance 3 measures: 1) % of correct solutions generated 2) average speed at which correct solutions were generated 3) Extent to which solutions arrived in an “aha moment”.
Alternating vs. pure block performance:
Difference score = mean of convergent scores in alternating block
- mean of convergent scores within pure block
Effects of shifting on % correct solutions
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
CAQ score
Diff
eren
ce in
% o
f cor
rect
Sol
utio
ns (A
ltern
atin
g vs
. Pu
re)
Difference in % correct solutions given within alternating vs. pure blocks across CAQ scores
(r = .12, p =.24).
Effects of shifting on speed of correct solutionsDifference in speed of correct solutions given within alternating vs. pure blocks across CAQ
scores
(rs = .32, p (one-tailed) = .02).0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
-8000
-6000
-4000
-2000
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
CAQ score
Diffe
renc
e in
spe
ed (m
sec)
of c
orre
ct s
olut
ions
(A
lt. v
s. P
ure)
R2 = .10
Insightful generation across blocks
Alternating Pure.00
.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Block
Insi
ght r
atin
gs
Significantly higher ratings of “aha moments” (insight) Within alternating vs. pure problem blocks (F (1, 39) = 10.5, p = .002, ηp
2 .21, power= .89)
(M = 3.76, SE = .08) (M = 3.44, SE = .11)
Conclusions
Task inducing divergent thinking
Task inducing convergent
thinking Shifting modes
Proficient shifting (not related to) creative ability
Conclusions Creative individuals
divergent mindset convergent mindset
divergent mindset convergent mindset
Unexpected findings
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
-8000
-6000
-4000
-2000
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
CAQ score
Diffe
renc
e in
spe
ed (m
sec)
of c
orre
ct s
olut
ions
(A
lt. v
s. P
ure)
R2 = .10
Alternating Pure.00
.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
BlockIn
sigh
t rat
ings
Divergent thinking benefitting convergent problem performance?
Overall conclusion Findings so far fail to support hypothesis that more creative individuals are better at shifting.
Next:
Fully analyse performance within alternating vs. pure blocks on divergent problems.
Implications:
divergent thinking may facilitate insight on convergent problems.
Applications?
top related