Insight And Creativity In Problem Solving

To date we have only a fragmentary understanding of the thought processes that engender insightful solutions to problems that require a change in representation or the discovery of distant associations to presented information. We likewise have only a piecemeal understanding of the thinking that underpins creative problem solving, where solutions are needed that are new to the solver. Recently there has been a growing interest in removing the mystery from insight and creativity through better specified theories and theory-driven experimentation. The chapters in this volume reflect key developments in this expanding field of insight and creativity research. Collectively, the chapters converge on a nuanced view of insight and creative thinking as often arising from the interplay between two qualitatively distinct types of processes that interact to yield sudden, surprising and innovative solutions to problems that initially seemed impenetrable and resistant to the application of inventive ideas. This dual-process perspective, which capitalises on the distinction between ‘special’ (automatic, unconscious and associative) Type 1 processes and ‘routine’ (controlled, conscious and analytic) Type 2 processes, helps advance a theoretical understanding of insight and creativity, whilst also provoking important new research questions. This book was originally published as a special issue of Thinking and Reasoning.

Creativity is not a rare talent. On the contrary, argues Tudor Rickards in this book, most people have the capacity to be creative but their potential is often untapped. Creativity at the workplace can be seen as a process of escaping from constraints, some of them self-imposed and some produced by an organizational climate unsympathetic to new thinking.

Discover how creativity depends on inside-the-box thinking-that's right, not outside the box-and a new perspective on creative thinking.

This updated text provides a lively introduction to the essential skills of creative problem solving. Using extensive case-studies and examples from a wide range of business situations, it explores a wide range of problem-solving theories and techniques, illustrating how these can be used to solve a range of management problems. Thoroughly revised and redesigned, this new edition retains the accessible and imaginative approach to problem solving skills of the first edition. Contents include: blocks to creativity and how to overcome them key techniques including lateral thinking, morphological analysis and synectics computer-assisted problem solving increased coverage of group problem solving techniques and paradigm shift. As creativity is increasingly recognized as a key skill for successful managers, this book will be welcomed as a comprehensive introduction for students and practising managers alike.

How cognitive psychology explains human creativity Conventional wisdom holds that creativity is a mysterious quality present in a select few individuals. The rest of us, the common view goes, can only stand in awe of great creative achievements: we could never paint Guernica or devise the structure of the DNA molecule because we lack access to the rarified thoughts and inspirations that bless geniuses like Picasso or Watson and Crick. Presented with this view, today's cognitive psychologists largely differ finding instead that "ordinary" people employ the same creative thought processes as the greats. Though used and developed differently by different people, creativity can and should be studied as a positive psychological feature shared by all humans. Creativity: Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, Science, Invention, and the Arts presents the major psychological theories of creativity and illustrates important concepts with vibrant and detailed case studies that exemplify how to study creative acts with scientific rigor. Creativity includes: * Two in-depth case studies--Watson and Crick's modeling of the DNA structure and Picasso's painting of Guernica-- serve as examples throughout the text * Methods used by psychologists to study the multiple facets of creativity * The "ordinary thinking" or cognitive view of creativity and its challengers * How problem-solving and experience relate to creative thinking * Genius and madness and the relationship between creativity and psychopathology * The possible role of the unconscious in creativity * Psychometrics--testing for creativity and how personality factors affect creativity * Confluence theories that use cognitive, personality, environmental, and other components to describe creativity Clearly and engagingly written by noted creativity expert Robert Weisberg, Creativity: Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, Science, Invention, and the Arts takes both students and lay readers on an in-depth journey through contemporary cognitive psychology, showing how the discipline understands one of the most fundamental and fascinating human abilities. "This book will be a hit. It fills a large gap in the literature. It is a well-written, scholarly, balanced, and engaging book that will be enjoyed by students and faculty alike." --David Goldstein, University of Toronto

Research on insight problem solving examines how new ideas are generated to solve problems that initially resist the application of prior knowledge or analogue solutions. In the laboratory, insight problems are designed to create an impasse; overcoming the impasse is sometimes accompanied by a distinctive phenomenological experience, the so-called Aha! moment. Insight: On the Origins of New Ideas presents research that captures these episodes of insight under laboratory conditions and informs models that account for their emergence. Descriptions and analyses of episodes of discovery both in and out of the laboratory are included to provide a general overview of insight. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, the volume debates the relative importance of intelligence and working memory, the development of an alternative interpretation of the problem based on deliberate analyses and heuristics, and unconscious inferences in the emergence of insight. These discussions generate new testable hypotheses to shed light on the cognitive processes underpinning insight, along with concrete methodological recommendations that, together, map a productive programme of future research. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of thinking and reasoning - specifically those interested in insight and creative problem solving.

This encyclopaedia provides specific information and guidance for everyone who is searching for greater understanding and inspiration. Subjects include theories of creativity, techniques for enhancing creativity, individuals who have made contributions to creativity.