Creativity and domain specificity: The effect of task type on multiple indexes of creative problem-solving.

Abstract

This study addresses the issue of domain specificity within creativity by understanding the characteristicsof creative tasks and how participants react to the task. Participants ( N 187) were given 1 of 3 realisticeveryday problems to solve. The problems differed in terms of complexity, involvement, and problem-based efficacy. Problem solutions were evaluated on several measures of creativity. Results indicate thatcreativity was influenced by the type of problem solved and the measure of creativity used to evaluatethe solution. Furthermore, these results were obtained after controlling for the effect of ability. Resultsimply that not all real-world problems are equivalent and that researchers need to investigate howreactions to different problems and the creativity index used may influence conclusions regardingcreative problem solving.Keywords: domain specificity, divergent thinking, creative problem solving, task effects