Modelling the Creative Process and Cycles of Feedback

Dual physicist and psychologist Shaw (1989) published an account speculating on the modelling of a series of feedback loops within the structure of the creative process following a series of in-depth interviews with 12 scientists concerning the use of cognitive and affective processes in the act of scientific creation. These feedback loops were hypothesized to operate between each phase of the classical model of creative problem solving as typified by the seminal work of Wallas (1926). However, data providing evidence of their operation has been scarce. Using a sizable sample (n = 405) and recently developed software that enables bidirectional pathways to be modelled (M-Plus v6), this study examines the evidence for the existence of feedback loops within the creative process using structural equation modelling (SEM) procedures. The research builds on the findings of a previous study in which participants solved two novel mathematics problems in the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians. Empirical evidence for both the classical stage model of creative problem solving and Shaw’s feedback loops namely the Vinacke and Lalas loops, are presented and discussed. The participants were middle school students in Grades 7 to 10 drawn from across two states of Australia.

[1]  S. Arieti,et al.  Creativity: The Magic Synthesis , 1979 .

[2]  A. Cropley,et al.  Resolving the paradoxes of creativity: an extended phase model , 2008 .

[3]  D. Kahneman.  Thinking, Fast and Slow , 2011 .

[4]  C. Aldous.  Attending to Feeling: It May Matter More than You Think , 2014 .

[5]  Franziska Frankfurter.  Creativity In Education And Learning A Guide For Teachers And Educators , 2016 .

[6]  D. Jeffries,et al.  Recognising Intimation: An Affective Reality in the Act of Creation , 2016 .

[7]  K. Jöreskog.  A general approach to confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analysis , 1969 .

[8]  Seattle.  Structural stability, the theory of catastrophes, and applications in the sciences , 1976 .

[9]  J. Hadamard,et al.  The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field. , 1945 .

[10]  G. Wallas.  The art of thought , 1926 .

[11]  R. Sternberg.  RETRACTED ARTICLE: The Nature of Creativity , 2006 .

[12]  S. Epstein.  Constructive Thinking , 1998 .

[13]  Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.  Solution Tree CHAPTER 4 Building Smart Students : A Neuroscience Perspective on the Role of Emotion and Skilled Intuition in Learning , 2009 .

[14]  S. Epstein.  Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. , 1994, The American psychologist.

[15]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[16]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Creativity In Context: Update To The Social Psychology Of Creativity , 1996 .

[17]  T. Lubart.  Models of the Creative Process: Past, Present and Future , 2001 .

[18]  June E. Downey,et al.  The Psychology of the Inventor. , 1933 .

[19]  Simon Singh,et al.  Fermat's last theorem : the story of a riddle that confounded the world's greatest minds for 358 years , 1997 .

[20]  Michael D. Mumford,et al.  Process analytic models of creative capacities , 1991 .

[21]  Nordin Abd Razak,et al.  Developing a modelling approach and the examination of models , 2013 .

[22]  C. Aldous.  Measuring cognitive and non-cognitive systems of reasoning: some preliminary findings , 2001 .

[23]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  A power primer. , 1992, Psychological bulletin.

[24]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[25]  J. Guilford,et al.  The nature of human intelligence. , 1968 .

[26]  Melvin P. Shaw,et al.  The eureka process: A structure for the creative experience in science and engineering , 1989 .

[27]  P. Hilton,et al.  Structural stability, the theory of catastrophes, and applications in the sciences : proceedings of the conference held at Battelle Seattle Research Center, 1975 , 1976 .

[28]  Allan Snyder,et al.  Creative People Use Nonconscious Processes to Their Advantage , 2012 .

[29]  E. Spelke,et al.  Sources of mathematical thinking: behavioral and brain-imaging evidence. , 1999, Science.

[30]  W. E. Vinacke,et al.  The Psychology of Thinking. , 1952 .

[31]  S. Sloman.  The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. , 1996 .

[32]  Scott G. Isaksen,et al.  Curriculum Planning for Creative Thinking and Problem Solving. , 1985 .

[33]  Arthur I. Miller,et al.  SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HENRI POINCARE AND ALBERT EINSTEIN , 1992 .

[34]  J. Cusack.  Creative Cognition: Theory, Research, and Applications , 1994 .

[35]  A. Osborn.  Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking , 1953 .

[36]  A. R. Hall,et al.  Scientific Thought , 1972, Nature.