Problem Solving & Creativity (Ch 9)

Question 1

Convergent thinking problems

Answer 1

• have known solutions, which can be reached by narrowing down a set of possibly answers
• intelligence tests and entrance exams include convergent problems
• require analytic thinking and crystallized intelligence

Question 2

Divergent thinking problems

Answer 2

• have many possible solutions, some of which are better than others
• must break away from normal problem solving skills to solve them and make unusual associations to arrive at novel ways of thinking
• require fluid and creative thinking

Question 3

Algorithms

Answer 3

• step by step formulas or procedures for solving problems

- algorithms help create a mental set

Question 4

Mental set

Answer 4

-tendency to continue to use a problem solving strategies that have worked in the past, even if better solutions are available

Question 5

Eureka insight

Answer 5

Solutions that occur with a flash of insight

Question 6

Thinking outside the box

Answer 6

-requires individuals to break free of self-imposed conceptual constraints and think about a problem differently in order to solve it

Question 7

Fixation

Answer 7

• inability to break out of a particular mindset in order to think about a problem from a fresh perspective
• prevents people from seeing possible solutions

Question 8

Functional fixedness

Answer 8

-tendency to be blind to unusual uses of common everyday things or procedures

Question 9

Creativity

Answer 9

• thought or behaviour that is both novel-original and useful or adaptive
• usefulness criterion requires that someone at some time sees real value and usefulness in the creative accomplishment
• early measures of creativity focused on divergent problem solving
• Torrance Tests of Creativity to measure creativity

Question 10

Creativity in the brain

Answer 10

• 3 consistent findings:
  
  1. creative insight increases frontal lobe activity
  2. insights are processed more strongly in the right hemisphere
  3. creative people solving creative problems show more balanced activity between their right and left frontal lobes

Question 11

Creative insight and frontal lobe activity

Answer 11

• frontal lobes active in abstract reasoning, planning, focused working memory, and the integration of sensory input
• creativity involves integrating ideas in novel and valuable ways
• in an experiment, neural activity was measured using MRI that assesses white matter connections in the brain
• direct positive correlation was found between students creativity scores and their neural connectivity, especially frontal lobe
• greater connectivity suggests more myelinated neurons and hence more efficient communication between neurons
• more research is needed to confirm

Question 12

Creative insight and right hemisphere

Answer 12

• sometimes use remote associate word problems
• administered these problems to either right or left visual field to control which side of the brain processed the information
• when the problem was presented to the left visual field, insight into the problems occurred much more frequently than when the problem was presented to right visual field
• sudden insights consistently activated the right hemisphere more than the left
• participants with damage to right frontal region are less able to solve problems requiring insight

Question 13

Remote associate word problems

Answer 13

• display 3 words at one time and require the participant to come up with a word that could be used with all three words
• participate forms a remote or non-obvious association in order to solve the problem
• people often solve these problems using eureka insight

Question 14

Creativity and balanced activity between hemispheres

Answer 14

• creative people have more balanced brain activity between the hemispheres than less creative people
• while problem solving they show equally active areas in their right and left frontal lobes, which translates into a widening rather than a narrowing of attention and treated flexibility in moving from one way of thinking to another

Question 15

Ideational fluency

Answer 15

• ability to produce many ideas is central to creative though
• highly creative people usually come up with more ideas for a given problem than less creative people

Question 16

Alternate uses test

Answer 16

• developed to measure creativity
• participants are given a common object such as a brick or a pencil and asked to write down all the possible uses they can think of

Question 17

Flexibility of thought

Answer 17

• a creative person can also come up with many different categories of ideas and think of other responses besides the obvious one
• gauged by the number of categories of response a person offers

Question 18

Originality

Answer 18

• thinking of unusually and novel ideas
• in alternate uses test, the individual’s originality is scored by comparing his or her responses to a set of norms developed from the answers given by thousands of respondents
• answer is scored as original if is it rare or uncommon compared to norms

Question 19

Genius (intelligence and creativity)

Answer 19

• high intelligence combined with creative accomplishments that have a tremendous impact on a given field
• having a major impact and being appreciated for one’s accomplishments is what distinguishes a genius from genius-like IQ
• creativity and IQ not strongly related
• threshold: assumes that above-average intelligence is necessary for high-level creativity
• high intelligence predicts original ideas more than just quantity of ideas
• when measure of creativity is achievement there is no positive correlation at all