Psychology
The Influence of Preconceived Notions on Creativity
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
Psychology
Start Date
13-4-2018 11:15 AM
End Date
13-4-2018 11:45 AM
Sponsor
Katherine Knight Tuttle (Hanover College)
Description
Creativity is highly valued in today’s culture, and it is important to understand how it may be influenced by factors such as prior background knowledge, experience, and exposure. One way to assess creativity is through the related concept of divergent thinking, which involves generating as many possible, plausible, different, or unique ideas about a topic in a limited period of time. (Jesus Gíl Hernandez, Leadership Summaries, Divergent thinking vs. Convergent Thinking, 2014). This study will attempt to use a divergent thinking task (building a bridge with a standard set of materials) to examine prior exposure to a potential solution limits the number of a solutions the person can produce. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: A (immediately building), B (brain-storming / planning time allotted), and C (viewing finalized examples/brainstorming time allotted). They will then have the opportunity to produce as many solutions as possible to the task in 15 minutes. Solutions will be assessed for a total purpose score consisting of time, materials, and length, functionality, and uniqueness/ originality. Participants will also complete a measure of creativity self -reporting. I predict that the first group that immediately starts building will self report as feeling the most creative, and will score the highest. I think the brainstorming / planning group will have the second highest scores, with the group who views finalized products displaying the least amount of creativity.
The Influence of Preconceived Notions on Creativity
Indianapolis, IN
Creativity is highly valued in today’s culture, and it is important to understand how it may be influenced by factors such as prior background knowledge, experience, and exposure. One way to assess creativity is through the related concept of divergent thinking, which involves generating as many possible, plausible, different, or unique ideas about a topic in a limited period of time. (Jesus Gíl Hernandez, Leadership Summaries, Divergent thinking vs. Convergent Thinking, 2014). This study will attempt to use a divergent thinking task (building a bridge with a standard set of materials) to examine prior exposure to a potential solution limits the number of a solutions the person can produce. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: A (immediately building), B (brain-storming / planning time allotted), and C (viewing finalized examples/brainstorming time allotted). They will then have the opportunity to produce as many solutions as possible to the task in 15 minutes. Solutions will be assessed for a total purpose score consisting of time, materials, and length, functionality, and uniqueness/ originality. Participants will also complete a measure of creativity self -reporting. I predict that the first group that immediately starts building will self report as feeling the most creative, and will score the highest. I think the brainstorming / planning group will have the second highest scores, with the group who views finalized products displaying the least amount of creativity.