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4 - Creativity: A Source of Difficulty in Problem Solving

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Todd I. Lubart  and
Christophe Mouchiroud
Edited by
Janet E. Davidson  and
Robert J. Sternberg
Todd I. Lubart
Affiliation:
Université René Descartes, Paris
Christophe Mouchiroud
Affiliation:
Université René Descartes, Paris
Janet E. Davidson
Affiliation:
Lewis and Clark College, Portland
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

Many problems can be solved by accessing stored knowledge or by applying pre-established, “algorithmic” procedures to reach a solution. Such problems are the bread and butter of problem solving; from kindergarten to the university, students accumulate a great deal of experience with these “canned” problems. Difficulties arise, however, when people need to solve problems that do not fit the mold, that require some innovative thinking. Guilford (1967) proposed that “real” problem solving involved actively seeking, constructing new ideas that fit with constraints imposed by a task or more generally by the environment. In other words, in most instances “real” problem solving involves creative thinking (see Mayer, 1983). One well-known example of an unpredictable yet vital problem that was solved successfully is illustrated by the epic return flight of the Apollo 13 space mission (King, 1997). Preserving the lives of the crew members required a cascade of operations, each involving creative thinking, as the explosion of the ship's main oxygen supply was not the kind of problem that the flight crew expected to encounter, and thus they had no specific training, no preestablished procedure to follow.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

The world in which we live can be characterized as a rapidly evolving, technology- and information-oriented one in which creative problem solving skills are increasingly valued (Sternberg & Lubart, 1996).

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The Psychology of Problem Solving , pp. 127 - 148
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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