Understanding, Measuring, and Enhancing Individual Creative Problem-Solving Efforts

Abstract

Accumulated theories and research findings about the nature of the creative problem-solving (CPS) process, the cognitive and personality traits of persons who do CPS well, the measurement and evaluation of CPS, and the enhancement of CPS skills by training are reviewed with the aim of increasing understanding of and ability to measure and enhance individual CPS efforts. Given this review and analysis, a complete CPS process is understood to entail considerable convergent and divergent thought in continuing alternation. Other conclusions about the nature of CPS and the persons who do it well are set forth and discussed, and these conclusions are incorporated into a "matching theory" about CPS—which observes that creatively solvable problems vary in complexity, knowledge needs, and amount of divergent and convergent thought needed—and it predicts that problem solvers with different preferences and abilities, knowledge, and work plans will best match the needs of particular problems. Limitations in current concepts, methods, and resulting knowledge about individual CPS efforts are identified and discussed, and extensions of existing research as well as new directions for future research are proposed.