Творчеството при решаване на проблеми : преформулирането на проблема и генериране на творчески решения

Abstract

Two groups of students in business administration (n = 12 and n = 13) used the Alternative Words Method (Getz, 2000) to redefine a given problem in an experimental study of the impact of problem redefinition on the generation of creative, i.e. original and effective solutions to real-life problems. Four professional psychologists rated the problem redefinitions for breadth and generalisation while four experienced managers rated the creativity of the proposed solutions to the problems. Subjects have provided more solutions to the redefined problem than to the non-redefined one and their solutions to the redefined problem were judged as more creative. However, this effect was observed in but one of the groups. Individual differences in tolerance of ambiguity and creative thinking skills (Stoycheva, 2003) were also related to problem redefinition and creativity. Students who were high in tolerance of ambiguity have provided problem redefinitions that were judged as more broad and generalised and the mean creativity score of their solutions to the redefined problem was higher than the mean creativity score of their solutions to the non-redefined problem. Students with lower level of creative thinking skills have performed better on the redefined problem: their most creative solution to the redefined problem scored higher than their most creative solution to the non–redefined problem. No significant effects were observed among students who were low in tolerance of ambiguity and those with higher level of creative thinking skills. The study’s findings are discussed in relation to the creative problem solving model and its application in creativity training and research.