Experimental Investigation on Effects of Explanation Activities on improvement in creative ideas
DS 66-2: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2010)
Year: 2010
Editor: Taura, T and Nagai, Y
Author: Kanzaki, Nana; Miwa, Kazuhisa
Section: Short Presentation B
Abstract
In the present study, we investigate the effects of explanation activities on creative idea generation. In our experiment, in Phase 1, the participants were required to design furniture from given parts with pencil and paper. The products designed in this phase were called pre-products. In Phase 2, the participants explained their products in the explanation condition. In the control condition, the participants engaged in thinking about innovative furniture instead of explaining it. Last, in Phase 3, the participants were required to design innovative furniture by revising their own pre-products. The products designed in this phase were called post-products. The pre- and post-products were rated from the viewpoint of originality and practicality. Increase of practicality from pre- to post-products was more salient in the explanation condition than increase in the control condition. This result suggests that explanation activities contribute to maintaining high practicality while generating high originality ideas.
Keywords: creative idea generation, creative cognition, creativity, explanation activity