Process-Based Measures of Creative Problem-Solving Skills: I. Problem Construction

Many students of creativity have argued that certain cognitive processing skills are required for successful performance on the kind of complex, novel problems confronting creative people. In this study, a measure was developed to assess problem construction skills. This measure, based on a model of the problem construction process proposed by Mumford, Reiter-Palmon, and Redmond (1994), presented multiple alternative problem definitions that varied with respect to content, quality, and originality. When scores on this measure were related to performance on a series of creative problem-solving tasks, multiple correlations in the mid .30s were obtained. Further, it was found that the tendency to define problems using high-quality procedures and restrictions added to the variance explained by the standard measures of ability and divergent thinking skills. The implications of these findings for assessing processing skills are discussed as well as their implications for understanding the problem construction process.