Not Too Much, Not Too Little: The Influence of Constraints on Creative Problem Solving

Although, traditionally, constraints are held to inhibit creative thinking, more recent research indicates that constraints can, at times, prove beneficial. Constraints, however, come in many forms. In the present study, 318 undergraduates were asked to develop advertising campaigns for a new product, a high-energy root beer, where campaigns were evaluated for quality, originality, and elegance. Prior to starting work on these campaigns different constraints were, or were not imposed, with constraints being established based on fundamentals in marketing, themes in marketing, environmental information, and task objectives. It was found that task objective constraints resulted in better creative problem solving when participants were motivated. However, imposition of multiple constraints led to poorer creative problem solving. Thus the number and nature of the constraints imposed on creative problems must be balanced. The implications of these observations for understanding creative problem solving are discussed.