Chapter 5 - The quandary in creativity research: Implications for understanding innovation in groups and organizations

Abstract

Much modern laboratory research on creative thinking is based on the “remote-associates” perspective, which assumes that creative advances arise through the bringing together of ideas which were previously not directly linked. That view has provided the foundation for modern theorizing across a broad range of areas, including the role of associative processes in creativity, divergent thinking in creativity, and creativity in organizations and groups. However, contrary to the remote-associates view, analysis of real-life creative advances indicates that new ideas were firmly based on old ideas. This conflict between perspectives has resulted in a theoretical quandary for creativity studies—a “creativity quandary.” This chapter examines that quandary and its implications for the study of creativity in groups and organizations. The first section examines the pervasiveness of the remote-associates view in research at the individual and group and multiperson levels. The second section examines creative advances that raise questions for the remote-associates view, including the near-legendary creation of a new shopping cart by IDEO, the world-famous design-consulting firm. That innovation was discussed by IDEO as being the result of remote-associates thinking. The novel components in the new shopping cart were not the result of remote-associates thinking. The next section presents an alternate conception of the creative process that assumes that creative thinking is based on “ordinary” thinking, the thought processes we use in our moment-to-moment interactions with the world. We take what we know and try to make it fit the situation. The chapter concludes with an examination of implications of this view for understanding innovation in individuals and multiperson settings.