Abstract

Creative problem solving is often conceptualised as a process of search. However, little is known about the difficulties of carrying out this search process. We conducted three studies examining how strongly different task characteristics impact creative problem-solving performance. In Study 1, regression analyses on normative data of Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems identified key task characteristics that best predict performance. We replicated these findings in a sample that was more diverse with respect to age and education background and proposed that two key factors may interact in predicting RAT problem difficulty (Study 2). We then confirmed this prediction in a pre-registered study (Study 3). Our results suggest that (a) the semantic distance between the cues and the answer and (b) the number of strong but irrelevant associates are important determinants of RAT problem difficulty, and that their influence is interdependent. Implications for theories and for studies aimed at improving creative problem-solving performance are discussed.

摘要

创造性的问题解决通常被概念化为一个搜索的过程。然而，人们对执行这一搜索过程的困难知之甚少。我们进行了三项研究，研究不同的任务特征对创造性问题解决能力的影响程度。在研究 1 中，对远程关联测试 (RAT) 问题的规范数据的回归分析确定了最能预测绩效的关键任务特征。我们在一个在年龄和教育背景方面更加多样化的样本中复制了这些发现，并提出两个关键因素可能在预测 RAT 问题难度时相互作用（研究 2）。然后，我们在一项预先注册的研究（研究 3）中证实了这一预测。我们的结果表明（a）线索和答案之间的语义距离和（b）强大但不相关的关联的数量是 RAT 问题难度的重要决定因素，并且它们的影响是相互依赖的。讨论了对旨在提高创造性问题解决能力的理论和研究的影响。