Creativity, openness to experience, and environmental support in problem solving

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Authors
Weakland, Marie A.
Advisor
Butler, Darrell L., 1949-
Issue Date
1999
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (M.A.)
Department
Department of Psychological Science
Other Identifiers
Abstract

The relationship between the personality trait of openness to experience and problem solving ability in environments offering various levels of informational support in the form of analogous problems was investigated using 173 participants. I suspected the strongest positive relationship in an environment offering moderate support and that individuals who were high on openness to experience would be likely to see that previous presented information was analogous in nature. There was no relationship between penness to experience and problem solving ability as a function of the environment or in general. However, students given a high level of support solved significantly more problems than those participants receiving no support. Also, more students solved the problems when they saw an analogous connection between the experimental and the demonstration problems. An implication may be that problem solving ability can be taught using analogies, if the information is complete and students are able to determine the relevance to future problems.

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