Analogy and the Generation of Ideas

Bibliographic Data

ID21612010
AuthorsKeith J Holyoak (0000-0001-8010-6267, University of California, corresponding author), Nicholas Ichien (0000-0002-0928-0809, University of California), Hongjing Lu (0000-0003-0660-1176, University of California)
Year2024
Volume36
Issue3
Pages532-543
Publication date2024-07-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCreativity Research Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1040-0419 • E-ISSN: 1532-6934
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10400419.2023.2232673
OpenAlexW4385341738
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited66

Creativity is typically defined as the generation of novel and useful ideas or artifacts. This generative capacity is crucial to everyday problem solving, technological innovation, scientific discovery, and the arts. A central concern of cognitive scientists is to understand the processes that underlie human creative thinking. We review evidence that one process contributing to human creativity is the ability to generate novel representations of unfamiliar situations by completing a partially specified relation or an analogy. In particular, cognitive tasks that trigger generation of relational similarities between dissimilar situations – distant analogies – foster a kind of creative mind-set. We discuss possible computational mechanisms that might enable relation-driven generation, and hence may contribute to human creativity, and conclude with suggested directions for future research

Analogy · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Creativity · Epistemology · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications

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