TASK DEMANDS AND GENERATIVE THINKING - WHAT CHANGES AND WHAT REMAINS THE SAME

Generative thinking can be characterized as the development of novel i nstantiations of existing concepts. Using this framework, the present study examined the impact of three conditions on the way subjects gene rated ideas about imaginary extraterrestrials. Control subjects develo ped alien animals but were given no special instructions. Those in the Wildly Different Condition were asked to generate creatures that were as wildly different from Earth animals as they could be. Both groups were highly and equally likely to imagine creatures that were symmetri c and possessed standard senses and appendages, but the latter introdu ced significantly more novel variations, particularly on the number of sense organs and appendages. A third group was asked to imagine and d escribe things that might live on another planet, but were not initial ly instructed to provide drawings or limit themselves to considering l iving things that would be considered to be animals. This last group a lso preserved symmetry, but was significantly more likely to develop c reatures without standard senses and appendages. Even so, 75% of this group developed creatures with standard senses and appendages. The res ults are discussed in terms of constraints on innovation, ways of over coming those constraints, and the general tendency for new ideas to pr eserve many of the central properties of existing concepts.