Timing is everything: Examining the role of constraints throughout the creative process

Although traditional conceptions of creativity argue for the benefits of a free and unconstrained creative process, recent research suggests that constraints may enhance creativity. However, the majority of research in this area has focused solely on idea generation, ignoring other key processes involved in creative problem solving. The present effort aimed to add to our understanding of the relationship between constraints and creativity by examining the role of constraints at the process level. Approximately 300 undergraduate students completed an experimental, restaurant-development task in which the type, number, and timing of constraints were manipulated. Measurements were taken during each process of the creative proposal development (i.e., problem identification, conceptual combination, idea generation, and idea evaluation) in addition to the final proposal. Results suggest that introducing constraints prior to problem identification improves creative performance on final proposals and that constraints foster idea evaluation. Findings regarding the effects of constraints on specific processes, as well as the implications of these results, are discussed.