Are creative ideas novel and useful? (original) (raw)
Related papers
Assessing creativity: the importance of unexpected novelty
2002
Abstract In this paper we experimentally study the contribution of the unexpectedness, unpredictability or surprising value of a novel product to its overall creative value. Accordingly, this creative value is computed within our approach through the use of a mathematical function that relies on the contribution not only of novelty but also of unexpectedness.
The Journal of Creative Behavior, 2005
ABSTRACT Originality is a necessary part of creativity, but creative things are more than just original. They also solve a problem, or more generally are somehow fitting or appropriate. Yet previous research found an inverse relationship between ratings of originality and ratings of appropriateness. The present investigation employed a different methodology — it focused on the generation of ideas instead of judgments about them — to reexamine the relationships between originality, appropriateness, and creativity. Undergraduate students (N = 170) from two large universities received either realistic or unrealistic divergent thinking tasks. These were given with one of four types of instructions. These asked them to give (a) as many ideas as possible (which is the standard type of instruction for these kinds of tests), (b) only original ideas, (c) only appropriate ideas, or (d) only creative ideas. Brief definitions of originality, appropriateness, or creativity were also provided. Comparisons of the four groups indicated that there were significant differences between the different kinds of tasks, with the realistic set eliciting more appropriate ideas than the unrealistic, but the unrealistic tasks eliciting more original and varied (flexible) ideas. There was an interaction indicating that the magnitude of the impact of the instructions varied across tasks. Correlational analyses indicated that the correlation between the originality and appropriateness scores was the lowest among all possible inter-index relationships (only 7% shared variance). Future research and practical implications are explored.
Creativity and cognition: Producing effective novelty.
The cognitive approach to creativity emphasizes the processes involved in producing effective novelty, as well as the control mechanisms that regulate novelty production, and the structures that result. Merely novel structures display surprisingness and incongruity, to be sure, but they must also be meaningful and practicable to be effective. There are no special processes or control mechanisms unique to the production of effective novelty, but metasystematic operations are particularly favorable for it. Effective novelty can be produced at lower levels of cognitive development, but children’s creativity is likely to differ qualitatively from that of adults. Although the cognitive approach takes little account of motivation, personality, or the social environment, it provides an operationizable definition of some aspects of creativity, and offers insights into what needs to be fostered to promote it.
Divergent Thinking as an Indicator of Creative Potential
Creativity Research Journal, 2012
Divergent thinking (DT) tests are very often used in creativity studies. Certainly DT does not guarantee actual creative achievement, but tests of DT are reliable and reasonably valid predictors of certain performance criteria. The validity of DT is described as reasonable because validity is not an all-or-nothing attribute, but is, instead, a matter of degree. Also, validity only makes sense relative to particular criteria. The criteria strongly associated with DT are detailed in this article. It also summarizes the uses and limitations of DT, conceptually and psychometrically. After the psychometric evidence is reviewed, alternative tests and scoring procedures are described, including several that have only recently been published. Throughout this article related processes, such as problem finding and evaluative thinking, are linked to DT.
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design
The purpose of this work is to compare impact of regulatory focuses, namely preventive and promotional contexts, on creative ideation measured by novelty and usefulness. The study consisted of Singaporean students from an undergraduate university, and assessed their personality using the Big Five, Regulatory Focus, Creativity type and creativity outcomes measured with the Consensual Assessment Technique by completing a Collaborative Sketch exercise. Participants were randomly assigned to either the preventive, promotional or a baseline condition and tasked with a design problem necessitating a solution in the form of sketches. This study found the three conditions to yield significantly different novelty scores, but not usefulness scores. The most impactful condition on novelty was the baseline, indicating novice designers are capable of creating novel products and services. Those in the promotion condition created the second most novel sketches, or design solutions, followed lastly...
The subjective nature of creativity judgments
Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1982
Typically, "creativity" has been studied by identifying highly creative individuals and then comparing them with a suitable comparison group. The objective techniques employed in the identification phase have depended either on the judgment of experts or on scores obtained on psychometric tests of creativity. The argument made here is that dependence on these approaches has blinded researchers to the fact that both approaches are based, ultimately, on subjective criteria and that little is known about the subjective theories of creativity held by people. The reported research is an initial attempt at tapping these subjective criteria.