Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association

Creativity is an important quality that has been linked with problem solving, achievement, and scientific advancement. It has previously been proposed that creative individuals pay greater attention to and are able to utilize information that others may consider irrelevant, in order to generate crea...

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Main Authors: Tara Zaksaite, Peter M. Jones, Chris J. Mitchell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Maria Curie-Sklodowska University 2017-11-01
Series:Avant
Subjects:
Online Access:http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/T-Zaksaite-P-Jones-C-Mitchell-Creativity-and-Blocking.pdf
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author Tara Zaksaite
Peter M. Jones
Chris J. Mitchell
author_facet Tara Zaksaite
Peter M. Jones
Chris J. Mitchell
author_sort Tara Zaksaite
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description Creativity is an important quality that has been linked with problem solving, achievement, and scientific advancement. It has previously been proposed that creative individuals pay greater attention to and are able to utilize information that others may consider irrelevant, in order to generate creative ideas (e.g., Eysenck, 1995). In this study we investigated whether there was a relationship between creativity and greater learning about irrelevant information. To answer this question, we used a self-report measure of creative ideation and a blocking task, which involved learning about irrelevant stimuli. We failed to find evidence for this association, with a Bayes Factor indicating support for no relationship between these measures. While it is possible that a different measure of creative ideation, for example one which does not rely on self-report, may produce different results, a more lucrative research direction may be focusing on the link between creativity and cognitive flexibility, in line with suggestions by Zabelina and Robinson (2010).
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spelling doaj.art-2f4e9a44a0c94ae3be2927baf9fba7392023-12-03T04:14:21ZengMaria Curie-Sklodowska UniversityAvant2082-67102017-11-018S13514610.26913/80s02017.0111.0013Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an AssociationTara ZaksaitePeter M. JonesChris J. MitchellCreativity is an important quality that has been linked with problem solving, achievement, and scientific advancement. It has previously been proposed that creative individuals pay greater attention to and are able to utilize information that others may consider irrelevant, in order to generate creative ideas (e.g., Eysenck, 1995). In this study we investigated whether there was a relationship between creativity and greater learning about irrelevant information. To answer this question, we used a self-report measure of creative ideation and a blocking task, which involved learning about irrelevant stimuli. We failed to find evidence for this association, with a Bayes Factor indicating support for no relationship between these measures. While it is possible that a different measure of creative ideation, for example one which does not rely on self-report, may produce different results, a more lucrative research direction may be focusing on the link between creativity and cognitive flexibility, in line with suggestions by Zabelina and Robinson (2010).http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/T-Zaksaite-P-Jones-C-Mitchell-Creativity-and-Blocking.pdfblockingcreative ideationcreativitylearningRunco Ideational Be⁠hav⁠ior Scaleblocking
spellingShingle Tara Zaksaite
Peter M. Jones
Chris J. Mitchell
Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association
Avant
blocking
creative ideation
creativity
learning
Runco Ideational Be⁠hav⁠ior Scale
blocking
title Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association
title_full Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association
title_fullStr Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association
title_full_unstemmed Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association
title_short Creativity and Blocking: No Evidence for an Association
title_sort creativity and blocking no evidence for an association
topic blocking
creative ideation
creativity
learning
Runco Ideational Be⁠hav⁠ior Scale
blocking
url http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/T-Zaksaite-P-Jones-C-Mitchell-Creativity-and-Blocking.pdf
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