The Influence of Constraints On Creativity

The influence of constraints on creativity was examined in this study. Thirty-four college students took The Unusual Uses Test which is used to measure real-life creativity. Subjects were randomly split into two conditions, constraint condition and control condition. Subjects were asked to give as many uses as possible for a specific item. In the constraint condition subjects were told not to give responses that fit into the most commonly used category for this specific test. There was no significant difference in the number of original responses between the constraint group and the control group. However, the constraint group scored significantly higher in proportion of total answers that were original. The results of this study suggest that constraints can be used to focus the creative thinking process on more creative thoughts and ideas.