Need something different? Here’s what’s been done: Effects of examples and task instructions on creative idea generation

Abstract

Creative idea generation involves search and retrieval of memory. There is a default tendency to rely too heavily on familiar or easily accessible information during idea generation, especially in tasks such as the alternate uses task (AUT) that involve generating novel uses for common objects. Knowing which obvious ideas to avoid may be important in creating more original ideas. The present experiments tested whether instructions encouraging participants to avoid a set of common example ideas would enhance originality or cause fixation on the AUT. The results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that presenting a verbal list of common example uses along with a warning to avoid those uses enhanced originality. In contrast, when the example ideas were presented in the absence of any "avoid" instructions, there was no benefit on originality, indicating that mere example exposure did not stimulate more creative idea generation. The design of Experiment 2 was parallel to that of Experiment 1, but the verbal examples were replaced with visually depicted examples. Exposure to the visual examples led to reduced originality, suggesting fixation. Although the "avoid" instruction helped to mitigate this fixation, it did not enhance originality beyond the no-example condition. The results suggest that under some conditions presenting unoriginal examples along with an "avoid" warning can allow people to shift their focus away from easily retrieved ideas and toward more novel approaches. The results are also consistent with prior work showing a negative impact of visual presentation of examples on creativity.

The Influence of Situational Cues on Children’s Creativity in an Alternative Uses Task and the Moderating Effect of Selective Attention

“…This may have had a limiting effect on their originality. Evidence for such a constraining effect can also be found in previous work of George and Wiley (2020) and Smith et al (1993) on the use of examples of alternative uses as part of the task instruction. In both studies, participants, upon performing the actual task, were found to search for alternative uses similar to the examples, resulting in less original responses.…”

“…For example, to detect that a coffee mug can be used as a template to draw a circle, one needs to perceive that the cup can be traced around. The presentation modality may affect the perception of common and uncommon affordances (Chrysikou et al 2016;George and Wiley 2020). For example, Chrysikou et al (2016) have shown that participants were more likely to perceive common affordances when presented visual vs. verbal stimuli in an open-ended Alternative Uses Task.…”

“…In addition, the modality of presented examples influences creativity. Instructions that encourage individuals to avoid a set of common example ideas only enhance originality when the list is presented verbally, but not when examples are depicted visually (George and Wiley 2020). While the perception-action framework outlined here pertains to perceptual processing guided by outward-directed attention, we assume that similar processes can take place based on imagination or mental simulation, guided by an inward-directed focus of attention (Beaty et al 2016;McClelland 2020;Van Dijk et al 2018).…”

A New Perspective on the Multidimensionality of Divergent Thinking Tasks

“…Thus, instruction-scoring fit for creative quality and the original Guilford instruction would be slightly higher as compared to the fully unrestricted be-fluent instruction used in the current study. Instruction-scoring fit could even be further enhanced when instructions to avoid the most common use (Wilson et al, 1960) are further supplemented by commonly generated example ideas which are also required to be avoided (Shin et al, 2018; George and Wiley, 2019). Hence, it is yet unclear which degree of instruction-scoring fit (with explicit instructions to be creative representing maximum instruction-scoring fit when creative quality is of interest) is required for subjective ratings to be node-unidimensional.…”

Great expectations: Misleading effects of images in the alternate uses task.

“…However, the most accessible information is often the least useful when aiming for originality. For example, exposure to common example ideas prior to generating one’s own ideas seems to heighten the accessibility of these ideas, which can subsequently diminish originality in creative thinking tasks (Cardoso & Badke-Schaub, 2011; George & Wiley, 2020; Smith et al, 1993). In this sense, activation arising from obvious ideas, initially retrieved information, or dominant associations can impede our ability to make creative connections between concepts.…”