The Influence of Constraints on Consumer Creativity

1
The Influence of Constraints on Consumer
Creativity

• Page Moreau
• PhD Proseminar
• September 17, 2004

2
Constraints Consumer Creativity

• Budgetary Constraint
• (1,000 per house)
• Time Constraint
• (2 days)

3
Creativity

• Problem Solving
• Insight
• Remote Associates Test (Mednick 1962)
• Rat, Blue, Cottage
• Nine Dot Problem
• Connect all of the dots using no more than 4
  straight lines, never going to a given dot twice,
  and never lifting the pen

4
Creativity

• Problem Solving
• Insight
• Problem Finding
• Requires Problem Definition
• Requires an allocation of cognitive capital
  (Sternberg Lubart 1991) to think about what
  youre going to think about (Nickerson 2000)
• More associated with creativity
  (Csikszentmihalyi Getzels 1971 1975)

5
Creativity Defined

• The ability to produce work that is BOTH
• Novel (i.e., original, unexpected, innovative)
• Appropriate (i.e., useful, practical, effective)
• (Sternberg 1999 Finke, Ward, Smith 1992)
• The novel/original dimension is the more
  respected of the two
• (Barron 1995 Runco Sakamoto 1999)

6
Approaches to Studying Creativity

• Case Studies / Historiometric
• Developmental
• Biological
• Psychometric
• Experimental
• Social-Personality
• (e.g. motivation, risk-taking, intelligence)
• Cognitive
• (e.g., processing strategies, imagery)

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The Creative Cognition Approach

• Creative accomplishments, whether mundane or
  extraordinary, are based on ordinary mental
  processes
• Thus, our understanding of human cognition can be
  directly applied to understanding creative
  thought as well

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The Creative Cognition Approach

• The Geneplore Model
• Generative Processes
• Pre-Inventive Structures (Finke, Ward, and Smith
  1992)
• Mental transformation / assimilation to create a
  structure
• For example, arrange an 8, a V, and a circle to
  make a figure or structure
• Exploratory Processes

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Creative Cognition

• Path of Least Resistance (POLR) (Perkins
  1997 Ward 1994)
• Top-Down Process
• Recall an existing solution to an active problem
• Implement a well-known plan to solve it

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Constraints and the POLR

• Constraints
• Input Restrictions
• In-Stock (Acquisition Costs)
• Monetary (Budgetary Constraints)

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Input Constraints and the POLR
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Constraints and the POLR

• Constraints
• Input Restrictions
• In-Stock (Acquisition Costs)
• Monetary (Budgetary Constraints)
• Input Requirements
• Regulatory
• Time

13
Constraints Cognitive Processing

• H1 When inputs are both restricted and
  required, participants will deviate from
  the POLR, showing more evidence of
  creative processing than participants for
  whom one or more of the constraints are
  relaxed.

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Cognitive Processing Creativity

• H2 Creative processing will be
  positively related to the rated novelty
  of the product produced but will not be
  significantly related to its appropriateness.

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Study 1

• Creative Task
• Design a toy, anything a child (age 5-11) can
  use to play with.
• Design
• 2 X 2 between subjects
• Up to 5 shapes to be used as inputs
• Factors
• Input Restrictions (we choose vs. they choose)
• Input Requirements (use all 5 vs. use as many)

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Shapes
17
Shapes
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Study 1

• Dependent Variables
• Creativity Novelty and Appropriateness
• Toy ideas judged by three professional designers
  on their novelty and usefulness (3 items for
  each)
• Scores standardized within judge

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Study 1
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Study 1

• Dependent Variables
• Creativity Novelty and Appropriateness
• Toy ideas judged by three professional designers
  on their novelty and usefulness (3 scales for
  each)
• Scores standardized within judge, and summed to
  form an overall creativity index
• Creative (Generative and Exploratory) Processes
• Please describe the process you used to come up
  with your design (i.e., how did you go about
  creating your final toy design - what steps did
  you take - how did you approach the task).
  Please be sure to write down as much of the
  process as you can put into words.
• Protocols coded by 2 RAs using 6 scale measures

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Study 1 Results

• Creative Processes
• ANCOVA
• Predictors
• 2 manipulated factors and their interaction
• 2 covariates language and time
• Results
• A main effect of input restrictions (F(1, 95)
  9.20, p lt .01)
• (M we choose .64 vs. M they choose - .56)
• An interaction between the restrictions and
  requirements(F (1, 95) 3.96, p lt .05)

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Study 1 Results

• Creative Processes

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Study 1 Results

• Novelty and Appropriateness
• Regression
• Predictors
• 2 manipulated factors and their interaction
• The creative processes index
• 2 covariates language and time
• Novelty Results
• Main effect of creative processes (B .27)
• Main effect of time (B .29)
• Appropriateness Results
• Main effect of time (B .24)
• Total Creativity
• Main effect of creative processes (B .29)
• Main effect of time (B .35)

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Study 1 Discussion

• Summary
• When either input constraints are relaxed,
  participants revert to the POLR.
• Limitations
• Is it really the restriction of the parts driving
  the effect or is the ability to choose
  interacting with the input requirements?

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Study 2

• Purpose
• To rule out the possibility that its the act of
  choosing the parts (or the selected parts
  themselves) that decreases creative processing.
• To provide further evidence that top-down,
  goal-directed processes are consistent with
  following the POLR.
• H3 When participants who choose their parts do
  so in the absence of a problem or goal, their
  creative processing will be similar to
  those for whom the parts were chosen.

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H3 Prediction
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Study 2

• Design and Procedure
• Exactly the same as Study 1 with one exception
• Those who are able to choose their parts do so
  PRIOR to receiving the task instructions (that
  they will be creating a toy).

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Study 2 Results

• Creative Processes
• ANCOVA
• Predictors
• 2 manipulated factors and their interaction
• 2 covariates language and time
• Results
• A main effect of input requirements (F(1, 70)
  6.34, p .01)
• (M use as many -.94 vs. M use all .98)

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Study 2 Results Creative Processing
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Study 2 Results

• Novelty and Appropriateness
• Regression
• Predictors
• 2 manipulated factors and their interaction
• The creative processes index
• 2 covariates language and time
• Novelty Results
• Main effect of creative processes (B .35)
• Appropriateness Results
• Main effect of time (B .24)
• Total Creativity
• Main effect of creative processes (B .25)

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Study 2 Discussion

• Summary
• Ruled out the possible alternative explanation
  that the ability to select the parts drove our
  effects
• Provided further evidence that top-down processes
  are consistent with a POLR strategy

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Study 3 The Influence of Time

• The Influence of Time
• Do time constraints also work to push people off
  the POLR or does time operate differently as a
  constraint?
• Genius is 1 inspiration and 99 perspiration
  (Edison)
• Most creative individuals and creativity
  researchers argue that hard work matters (e.g.,
  Amabile 2001 Ward, Finke and Smith 2001 John
  Irving).
• Recent work by Burroughs and Mick (2004)
• Predicts and finds a negative main effect of time
  on creativity (i.e., time constraints yield more
  creative solutions)
• Their manipulation

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• Just suppose you are going out to dinner one
  evening. You have just
• moved into the area to take a new job. It is the
  annual company
• banquet held by your new employerand you are
  going to be called up
• front to be introduced by your new boss. You put
  on a black outfit and
• think you are ready for the dinner when you
  discover your new shoes
• are all scuffed up and the scuffs are definitely
  noticeable. You then
• discover that you are out of shoe polish.
• This is the only pair of shoes you have to go
  with this outfit and there is
• really no other outfit you can wear. You have 2
  minutes (3 hours)
• before you must head out to dinner in order to be
  on time. All of the
• stores are closed in your part of town for the
  evening. The mall is open
• but it means an extra 5 miles of freeway
  driving.
• What do you do?

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Study 3 The Influence of Time

• Is that a manipulation of time constraints or
  input constraints?
• What is the effect when the time to generate the
  solution is actually constrained?
• H4a When input constraints are operating,
• time will have a positive effect on
  creative processing.
• H4b When input constraints are not operating,
  time will not have a significant
  effect on creative processing.

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Study 3

• Creative Task
• Design a toy, anything a child (age 5-11) can
  use to play with.
• Design
• 2 X 2 between subjects
• Factors
• Input constraints
• (high we choose and use all vs. low choose 5
  and use as many)
• Time
• (constrained 5 minutes vs. unconstrained as
  many minutes)

36
Study 3 Results

• Creative Processing
• ANCOVA
• Predictors
• 2 manipulated factors and their interaction
• 1 covariate language
• Results
• An interaction between input constraints and time
• (F(1, 131) 5.02, p lt .05)

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Study 3 Results Creative Processing
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Study 3 Results

• Novelty and Appropriateness
• Regression
• Predictors
• 2 manipulated factors and their interaction
• The creative processes index
• 1 covariate language
• Novelty Results
• Main effect of creative processes (B .17)
• Main effect of input constraints (B .35)
• Appropriateness Results
• Main effect of input constraints (B .31)

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Study 3 Discussion

• Summary
• Input constraints, when combined with sufficient
  time, facilitate creative processes

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Future Research Additional Types of Constraints

• Outcome
• The Creation vs. the Realization of the Solution
  Representation

41
An Example

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42
Future Research Additional Types of Constraints

• Outcome
• The Creation of the Solution Representation
• Process
• Experience
• Knowledge
• Intelligence

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The Cookie Study

• Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci Ryan
  2000)
• More specific than other motivation theories
  (e.g., flow theory, Csikszentmihalyi 1975 1990)
• 3 key needs underlie human motivation
• Autonomy
• Competence
• Relatedness
• Hennessey (2000) advocated the use of SDT to
  understand the social psychology of creativity
  and requested that researchers think more about
  how SDT might be specifically applied to the
  creative process.

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The Cookie Study

• Creative Task
• To make and decorate a cookie
• Design
• 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects design
• Factors
• Outcome Constraint Solution Representation
• (yes - fixed form vs. no fixed form)

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The Cookie Study

• Creative Task
• To make and decorate a cookie
• Design
• 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects design
• Factors
• Outcome Constraint Solution Representation
• (fixed form vs. no fixed form)
• Process Constraint Level of Instruction Provided
  
• (none vs. full instructions and tool
  descriptions)
• Knowledge Constraint Prior Baking Experience
• (low vs. high)

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The Cookie Study

• Procedure

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The Cookie Study
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The Cookie Study

• Procedure
• Dependent Measures
• Autonomy
• Competence
• Task Enjoyment

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Results The Cookie Study

• Autonomy
• Main effect of solution representation
• Lower perceived autonomy when forced to make
  specific cookie
• Competence
• Main effect of solution representation
• Lower perceived competence when forced to make
  specific cookie
• Main effect of experience
• Higher perceived competence with experience
• Three way interaction

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Results The Cookie Study

• Competence

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Results The Cookie Study

• Task Enjoyment
• Main effect of solution representation
• Lower task enjoyment when forced to make specific
  cookie
• Main effect of experience
• Higher task enjoyment with experience
• Main effect of competence
• Positive correlation between competence and
  enjoyment
• Main effect of gender
• Higher task enjoyment for women

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Conclusion

• Directions for Future Research