Object reorientation and creative performance

Abstract

Functional fixedness refers to a cognitive bias that prevents people from using objects in new ways, and more abstractly, perceiving problems in new ways. Supporting people in overcoming functional fixedness could improve creative problem solving and capacities for creative design. A study was conducted to detect whether a relationship exists between participants tendency to re-orient objects presented as stimuli in an Alternative Uses Test and their creativity, also measured using the Wallach Kogan pattern meanings test. The Alternative Uses Test measures creativity as a function of identifying alternative uses for traditional objects. The Wallach Kogan pattern-meanings test detects the ability to see an abstract pattern as different possible objects or scenes. Also studied is whether the Need for Closure scale, an individual measure reflecting aversion to ambiguity, can predict the ability to use reorientation productively to reduce functional fixedness. This study revealed highly significant, high correlations between reorientation and several creativity measures, and a significant medium correlation between reorientation and Need for Closure scores. A qualitative exploration of participants responses reveals other strategies they used to overcome functional fixedness, as well as further metrics that may be relevant to assessing creativity in the Alternative Uses Test.