CREATIVE SYNTHESIS

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CREATIVE SYNTHESIS

• David Pearson
• Room T10, William Guild Building
• d.g.pearson_at_abdn.ac.uk

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• Creative synthesis task suggests that people can
  recognise emergent properties that result from
  the mental transformation of images.
• However, only requirement of these emergent
  patterns is that they depict a recognisable
  object.
• Less clear whether these findings can be
  generalised to the use of imagery in more
  practical design-oriented settings.

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Creative Invention

• Creative invention task (Finke, 1990) is a
  modification of the original creative visual
  synthesis task (Finke Slayton, 1988).
• Participants are verbally presented with the
  names of three component parts randomly selected
  from a stimuli set of 15.
• Within two minutes must attempt to mentally
  combine the components into a practical object or
  device.
• Participants productions had to be interpreted
  within one of eight object categories.

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cylinder, wire, cube

• Tension Wind Vane
• (Scientific Instrument)

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• All productions were rated by independent judges
  for practicality and originality on five-point
  scales.
• An object with an average practicality rating of
  at least 4.5 was classified as a practical
  invention.
• A practical invention with an average originality
  rating of at least 4.0 was further classified as
  a creative invention.
• First experiment examined the effect on
  performance of varying the constraints under
  which people had to try and produce creative
  inventions.

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• There were three conditions
• Condition 1 object category was randomly
  selected, but participant was able to select the
  three components to combine together.
• e.g. transportation
• Condition 2 component parts were randomly
  selected, but participant was able to select the
  object category .
• e.g. sphere, hook, wheels
• Condition 3 both object category and component
  parts were randomly selected.
• e.g. transportation sphere, hook, wheels

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• Results indicate that the more highly constrained
  the task demands, the greater the proportion of
  creative inventions produced.
• Appears counter-intuitive, but does parallel some
  observations of creative thinking in real world,
  i.e.
• - product constraints in design
• - scientific theories constrained by need to
  account for empirical data
• - effect of constraints on artistic creativity

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Sistine Chapel (1508-1512)
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Picassos Guernica (1937)
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Beethoven and Deafness
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DO ALL FORMS OF TASK CONSTRAINT INCREASE THE
PRODUCTION OF CREATIVE INVENTIONS?

• Finke carried out a second experiment in which
  either the type of object or its function were
  randomly assigned.
• Condition 1 component parts randomly selected
  for each trial, and within an object category a
  specific type of object was randomly selected
  i.e., chair, or table etc.
• Condition 2 component parts randomly selected,
  and within an object category a specific function
  was randomly assigned i.e., a piece of
  furniture a handicapped person could use, or a
  weapon that uses light.

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• Specifying a random type of object rather than
  random function severely limits the number of
  creative inventions produced.
• Features contained in basic object types are very
  specialised (Rosch et al., 1976). E.g., a chair
  must allow you to sit on it.
• May not be possible to include all of these
  features when components are specified at random.
• Random functions allow a greater variety of
  possible features and object types to be
  considered.

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Preinventive Forms

• Novel and ambiguous forms may be more likely to
  contain unexpected emergent properties than forms
  created with specific object categories or
  functions in mind.
• An experiment was carried out to test this
  hypothesis
• Stage 1 participants are given one minute to
  mentally synthesise a preinventive form from
  three randomly selected components.

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• Stage 2 participants randomly presented with one
  of the eight basic object categories, and have
  one minute to interpret their preinventive form
  as a practical object or device within that
  category.
• Preinventive form condition contrasted with two
  other conditions one in which participants chose
  the object category, another in which it was
  randomly selected.
• In both cases the object category was defined
  prior to mental synthesis taking place.
• Finke added a highly creative classification,
  which was for those objects which achieved
  maximum scores on both practicality and
  originality scales.

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cone, half-sphere, tube
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cone, half-sphere, tube

• Contact Lens Remover

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• Results showed that participants produced a
  greater proportion of creative and highly
  creative inventions when they decided the basic
  form of object prior to knowing what function it
  was expected to perform.
• Inventions displayed an Illusion of
  Intentionality
• - Form perceived as being constructed
  specifically for the function it performs.

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• These results runs counter to the accepted maxim
  that form follows function
• Finke suggests a reversal of this, in which
  creativity is enhanced by establishing a basic
  preinventive form prior to the specification of
  function i.e., function follows form.

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Sydney Opera House

• Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon

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Form in Architectural Design

• American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was
  originator of concept of organic architecture.
• Felt design of buildings should be inspired by
  pre-existing forms in nature.

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Emerald-Shapery Centre
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Creative Synthesis

• Finke regards insight as the basis of creative
  thought.
• Convergent a set of data is unified into a new
  pattern or structure.
• Divergent new uses are found for an existing
  pattern or structure.
• Finke argues divergent insight produces the most
  creative thought.

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Geneplore Model of Creativity (Finke, 1990)
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• Model consists of two distinct processing
  components a generative phase, followed by an
  exploratory phase.
• Generative phase consists of construction of
  preinventive forms.
• In exploratory phase individual tries to
  interpret these preinventive forms in meaningful
  ways.
• Creative thinking initiates a geneplore cycle
  in which preinventive forms are continually
  generated, regenerated, and modified.

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Geneplore Model of Creativity (Finke, 1990)
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• Number of cycles determined by desired extent of
  conceptual refinement or expansion of finished
  product.
• Both generative and exploratory phases can be
  affected by product constraints.
• These can include constraints on product type as
  well as product function.
• Restrictions on product category may benefit
  creative thinking, while similar restrictions on
  product type may constrain it.