Psychological Development and Education ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (6): 774-781.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2024.06.02

Previous Articles    

The Effect of Sensation Seeking and Tolerance of Ambiguity on Scientific Invention Problem Finding

TONG Dandan1,2, SHI Jingjing1, LU Peng1, PENG Chenyu1, LI Wenfu3, ZHANG Qinglin2, QIU Jiang2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070;
    2. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715;
    3. School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining 272067
  • Published:2024-11-13

PDF (PC)

Abstract: The present study used real-life examples of scientific inventions as experimental material to explore the effects of sensation seeking and tolerance of ambiguity on prototype-inspired scientific creative problem finding. Experiment 1 used sensation seeking and prototype treatment as independent variables, it was found that individuals in the high sensation seeking group were significantly more likely to be inspired by prototypes to ask novel scientific questions than those in the low group. Experiment 2 used tolerance of ambiguity and prototype treatment as independent variables, and found that individuals with high ambiguity tolerance were better at using prototype information to ask more novel and useful scientific questions. In addition, individuals in the prototype condition had a higher rate of raising novel or novel and useful science questions. The findings suggested that prototypes have a stable inspirational effect on scientific creative problem finding, and that sensation seeking and tolerance of ambiguity are important personality traits for scientific creative problem finding inspired by prototypes, and have different effects on novel or novel and useful scientific problem formulation.

Key words: creativity, problem finding, sensation seeking, tolerance of ambiguity, heuristic prototype

CLC Number: 

  • B844
Abdulla, A. M., Reiter-Palmon, R., Sultan, Z. M., & Ayoub, A. E. A. (2021). Which divergent thinking index is more associated with problem finding ability? The role of flexibility and task nature.Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 671146. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.671146
Alon, U. (2009). How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular Cell, 35(6), 726-728.
Chen, X. (2013). Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Chinese—Cultural adaptation and psychometric assessment. Personality & Individual Differences, 54(5), 604-609.
Claridge, G., & Mcdonald, A. (2009). An investigation into the relationships between convergent and divergent thinking, schizotypy, and autistic traits.Personality & Individual Differences, 46(8), 794-799.
Cranford, E. A., & Moss, J. (2012). Is insight always the same? A protocol analysis of insight in compound remote associate problems. Journal of Problem Solving, 4(2), 128-153.
Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7, 336-353.
Feist, G. J. (1998). A meta-analysis of personality in scientific and artistic creativity.Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2(4), 290-309.
Ford, C. M., & Gioia, D. A. (2000). Factors influencing creativity in the domain of managerial decision making.Journal of Management, 26(4), 705-732.
Furnham, A., & Ribchester, T. (1995). Tolerance of ambiguity: A review of the concept, its measurement and applications. Current Psychology, 14(3), 179-199.
Gvirts, H. Z., Mayseless, N., Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Barnea, Y., Segev, A., Lewis, D. Y., … Bloch, Y. (2017). Novelty-seeking trait predicts the effect of methylphenidate on creativity. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31(5), 599-605.
Hirsh, J. B., Mar, R. A., & Peterson, J. B. (2012). Psychological entropy:A framework for understanding uncertainty-related anxiety. Psychological Review, 119(2), 304-320.
Hu, W., Shi, Q. Z., Han, Q., Wang, X., & Adey, P. (2010). Creative scientific problem finding and its developmental trend.Creativity Research Journal, 22(1), 46-52.
Huang, F. R., Song, Y., Jiang, Y., Zhao, Q. B., & Luo, J. (2021). Where and how are original and valuable ideas generated? tDCS of the generation-related posterior temporal lobe and the executive control-related prefrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 32(5), 1004-1013.
Hwang, T. J., & Choi, J. N. (2020). Different moods lead to different creativity:Mediating roles of ambiguity tolerance and team identification. Creativity Research Journal, 32(2), 161-173.
Liu, D., Sun, J., Ren, Z., Yang, J., Shi, B., & Qiu, J. (2022). The neural basis of acceptance of uncertain situations: Relationship between ambiguity tolerance and the resting-state functional connectivity of the brain. Current Psychology, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02879-5
Martín-Fernández, M., Marco, M., Romo, M., & Moyano, M. (2021). Adaptation of the brief sensation seeking scale in Spanish young adults: Psychometric properties and validity evidence.Current Psychology, 40(6), 2698-2706.
Mccarthy, M., Chen, C. C., & Mcnamee, R. C. (2018). Novelty and usefulness trade-off: Cultural cognitive differences and creative idea evaluation.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(2), 171-198.
McLain, D. L. (2009). Evidence of the properties of an ambiguity tolerance measure: The Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale-II (MSTAT-II). Psychological Reports, 105(3), 975-988.
Ming, D., Tong, D., Yang, W., Qiu, J., & Zhang, Q. (2014). Howcan we gain insight in scientific innovation? Prototype heuristic is one key. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 14, 98-106.
Okamoto, K., & Takaki, E. (1992). Structure of creativity measurements and their correlations with sensation seeking and need for uniqueness. Japanese Journal of Educational & Social Psychology, 31(3), 203-210.
Ren, J. Y., Huang, F. R., Zhou, Y., Zhuang, L. P., Xu. J. H., Gao C. J.,… Luo, J. (2020). The function of the hippocampus and middle temporal gyrus in forming new associations and concepts during the processing of novelty and usefulness features in creative designs. NeuroImage, 214, 116751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116751
Robinson, J. R., Workman, J. E., & Freeburg, B. W. (2019). Creativity and tolerance of ambiguity in fashion design students.International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology & Education, 12(1), 96-104.
Rubenson, D. L., & Runco, M. A. (1995) The psychoeconomic view of creative work in groups and organizations. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 4(4), 232-241.
Shen, W., Hommel, B., Yuan, Y., Chang, L., & Zhang, W. (2018). Risk-taking and creativity:Convergent, but not divergent thinking is better in low-risk takers. Creativity Research Journal, 30(2), 224-231.
Sunder, J., Sunder, S. V., & Zhang, J. (2017). Pilot CEOs and corporate innovation.Journal of Financial Economics, 123(1), 209-224.
Tegano, D. W. (1990). Relationship of tolerance of ambiguity and playfulness to creativity. Psychological Reports, 66(3), 1047-1056.
Toh, C., & Miller, S. (2016). Choosing creativity: The role of individual risk and ambiguity aversion on creative concept selection in engineering design.Research in Engineering Design, 27(3), 195-219.
Tong, D. D., Shi, J. J., Zhang, R. L., Lu, P., Gu, X. J., Zhang, Q. L., & Qiu, J. (2022). Right inferior frontal gyrus gray matter density mediates the effect of tolerance of ambiguity on scientific problem finding.Current Psychology, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04007-9
Wan, Z. H., Lee, J. C. K., & Hu, W. P. (2021). How should undergraduate students perceive knowledge as a product of human creation? Insights from a study on epistemic beliefs, intellectual risk-taking, and creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 39, 100786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100786
Wang, J., Wang, P., Yang, X., Zhang, G., Wang, X., Zhao, F., … Lei, L. (2019). Fear of missing out and procrastination as mediators between sensation seeking and adolescent smartphone addiction. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17(4), 1049-1062.
Wertheimer, M. (1945).Productive thinking. New York: Harper and Row.
Yang, W. J., Green, A. E., Chen, Q. L., Kenett, Y. N., Sun, J. Z., & Qiu, J. (2022). Creative-problem solving in knowledge-rich contexts. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(10), 125-141.
Zenasni, F., Besançon, M., & Lubart, T. (2008). Creativity and tolerance of ambiguity: An empirical study. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 42(1), 61-73.
Zuckerman, M. (2015). Sensationseeking: Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 18(6), 607-614.
陈丽君, 郑雪. (2014). 大学生问题发现过程的眼动研究. 心理学报, 46(3), 367-384.
胡卫平, 程丽芳, 贾小娟, 韩蒙, 陈英和. (2015). 认知抑制对创造性科学问题提出的影响:认知风格的中介作用. 心理与行为研究, 13(6), 721-728.
黄译莹. (2003). 学术社群说出“创造力”的语言及其反映的思维:一般创造力与儿童创造力研究文本对照中的启示. 台湾师大学报(科学教育类), 48(2), 255-276.
李海燕, 胡卫平, 申继亮. (2010). 学校环境对初中生人格特征与创造性科学问题提出能力关系的影响. 心理科学, 33(5), 132-136.
刘英芝. (2019). 新颖寻求特质在创造性思维过程中的作用机制(硕士学位论文). 华中师范大学, 武汉.
师保国, 申继亮, 许晶晶. (2008). 模糊容忍性:研究回顾、现状与展望. 心理与行为研究, (4), 311-315.
童丹丹, 李文福, 禄鹏, 杨文静, 杨东, 张庆林. (2020). 科学发明情境中问题提出的脑机制再探. 心理学报, 52(11), 1253-1265.
童丹丹, 禄鹏, 杨文静, 邱江, 杨东, 张庆林. (2020). 创造性科学问题提出材料的编制及效度研究. 心理学探新, 40(3), 240-246.
童丹丹, 杨文静, 李亚丹, 郭亚男, 邱江, 张庆林. (2015). 发明问题解决中的蔡格尼克效应. 科学通报, 60(36), 3583-3593.
魏淑华, 宋广文, 张大均. (2017). 不同职业认同水平教师对职业生活事件的社会认知加工特征. 心理发展与教育, 33(1), 45-55.
叶宝娟, 刘建平, 杨强. (2014). 感觉寻求对工读生病理性网络使用的影响机制. 心理发展与教育, 30(1), 96-104.
于薇, 刘幸娟, 张明. (2011). 大学生感觉寻求对职业倾向的影响及其教育对策. 教育科学, 27(5), 60-63.
张鑫, 侯志瑾, 朱佳佳, 王丹妮. (2018). 模糊容忍度对生涯决策困难的影响:生涯适应力与焦虑的中介作用. 中国临床心理学杂志, 26(2), 347-352.
赵琪慧, 李西营, 陈英和, 胡卫平, 皮忠玲. (2020). 模糊容忍性与发散性思维的关系:不同认识兴趣的作用. 心理科学, 43(3), 542-548.
[1] LI Jiaojiao, XU Bibo, YUAN Hailong, YIN Xiyang. The Relationship between Social Exclusion and Malevolent Creativity of College Students: The Chain Mediating Effect of Coping Styles and Aggressiveness [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(5): 667-674.
[2] ZHANG Huan, XIE Zhongguang, WANG Yali, QIN Xiquan, LIU Tuo. The Development of Group Creativity and Its Relationship with Individual Creativity in Middle-aged Children [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(4): 468-478.
[3] HAN Jiantao, QIAN Junni, ZHANG Jieyu, PANG Weiguo. The Relationship between Creativity and Meaning in Life among College Students: The Role of Positive Emotion and Creative Self-efficacy [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(2): 187-195.
[4] XIE Li, JIN Hui, WANG Zhiying, YE Qiaojian, YANG Xilan. The Effect of Supervisor-induced Ostracism on Scientific Research Creativity among Postgraduate Students: The Bidirectional Chain Mediation Roles of Research Self-efficacy and Scientific Anxiety [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 833-841.
[5] LI Wenfu, JIA Xuqing, LI Gongying, ZHANG Qinglin. The Effect of Parenting Style on Mobile Phone Addiction: The Chain Mediating Effect of Self-control and Sensation Seeking [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(5): 660-667.
[6] YAO Haijuan, TONG Na, ZHANG Shanshan, GONG Yanbin. The Effects of Cognitive Inhibition on Scientific Creativity and Artistic Creativity [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(3): 353-362.
[7] LIAO Yaqiong, YE Baojuan, JIN Ping, XU Qiang, LI Aimei. The Effect of Resilience on Mobile Phone Addiction among Minority Preparatory Students in Han District:Moderated Mediating Effect [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2017, 33(4): 487-495.
[8] HU Weiping, ZHAO Xiaomei, JIA Peiyuan, CHEN Yinghe. The Effect of Learn to Think Online Program on Creativity of Primary School Students: Moderating Effects of Cognitive Style [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2017, 33(3): 257-264.
[9] YIN Kui, SUN Jianmin, XING Lu, YANG Xijin. The Effect of Graduate Students' Research Role Identification on Research Creativity: Roles of Mentor's Inclusive Leadership and Error Management Culture [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2016, 32(5): 557-564.
[10] YUAN Jingchi, YU Fangrong, TIAN Lumei. Effects of Sensation Seeking and Peer Pressure on Tobacco and Alcohol Use among High School Students [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2016, 32(4): 486-494.
[11] LIU Chunhui, LIN Chongde. The Impact of Individual and Material Variables on Creative Problem Finding Ability [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2015, 31(5): 513-521.
[12] CHENG Lifang, HU Weiping, JIA Xiaojuan. Cognitive Inhibition and Artistic Creativity: The Moderating Effect of Cognitive Style [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2015, 31(3): 287-295.
[13] HU Weiping, HAN Kuikui. Theoretical Research and Practical Exploration of Adolescents' Scientific Creativity [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2015, 31(1): 44-50.
[14] YE Bao-juan, Liu Jian-ping, YANG Qiang. The Effect Mechanism of Sensation Seeking on Reform School Students’ Pathological Internet Use [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2014, 30(1): 96-104.
[15] ZHANG Jing-huan, MAN-da-hu, LIU Gui-rong, ZHANG Shun, DOU Fei-fei, LIN Chong-de. A Research on the Relationship between Elementary School Students’ Parenting Styles and Social Creativity：the Mediating Role of Self-esteem [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2013, 29(6): 595-603.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Copyright 2018 © Editorial office of Psychological Development and Education
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd