Individual problem‐solving styles and attitudes toward divergent thinking before and after training

: Afield experiment was conducted to examine the mediating effect of individual creative problem‐solving style on the impact of training in creative thinking. This intensive hands‐on training emphasized a specific three‐phase process which synchronizes divergence and convergence in problem‐finding, problem‐solving, and implementation. Two attitudes associated with divergent thinking were measured before and after training. The sample was comprised of a mixture of organizational members representing both managers (n = 90) and non‐managers (n = 66) and a variety of functional specialties, hierarchical levels, and types of business organizations. The most significant finding was that the optimizer style of creative problem‐solving improved more than the other three styles (generator, conceptualizer, and implementor) on measures of both creative thinking attitudes.