Holistic Approaches to Creative Problem Solving

This qualitative research study explores the complex phenomenon of intuition within the Creative Problem Solving process. The first part of the study utilized 100 alumni, students, professors, and visiting professors of the International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC). These participants were asked a series of questions in order to help the researcher answer the questions: How do creativity practitioners construe intuition? What role does intuition play in the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) (Miller, Vehar & Firestein, 2001; Noller, Parnes & Biondi, 1976; Osborn, 1953; Puccio, Murdock & Mance, 2006) process? The second part of the study involved eleven graduate students enrolled as Creative Studies majors at ICSC who were participants in a course on holistic approaches to Creative Problem Solving. The study explored the questions: Are intuitive tools and techniques effective in CPS? If so, when are they effective? When CPS is taught from a holistic perspective, is transformation likely to occur? Four theoretical models, including: a definitional model of intuition; a skill set for intuition, a process to improve the effectiveness of intuitive tools; and a transformational model of learning, were developed. These models were designed as a way for creativity practitioners to understand this phenomenon and to incorporate it into their practices.ED