Solving Social Problems Creatively

J . P . G U I L F O R D

M O A N A H E N D R I C K S

RALPH HOEPFNER

Solving Social Problems

Creatively*

Of all the problems that the average person encounters on a day-to-day basis, those concerned with personal interactions are among the most common. The processes of social living generate numerous problems, little ones and big ones. Coping with other persons, whether they are one’s peers, superiors, or subordinates, entails numerous tactical measures of one kind or another. One can develop certain habits and skills for such cop- ings, but they do not cover all contingencies. New kinds of situations continually arise, calling for new modes of coping behavior, and this in turn calls for problem solving. In dealing with coping behavior as a technical psychological problem, we should recognize at the outset that readiness for solving problems in the area of interpersonal behavior de- pends upon abilities quite different from those needed for solving problems in other areas. Analysis of intellectual abilities has demonstrated that there are four basic areas of information, of which behavioral information is only one. Perceived or concrete information is the area of figural information. An- other area has to do with our meaningful thoughts-semantic information. Still another deals with signs or symbols, and hence

AREASOF INFORMATION

* See page 154 for publisher’s address of Guilford tests which are presently available.

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Solving Social Problems Creatively

is known as symbolic information.* Behavioral information is communicated rather directly by expressive actions. This fourth area includes what we can know about the perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and intentions of individuals, often exhibited in what they do and say, by interpreting the mental and physical attitudes they assume at given moments. The four basic kinds of information are somewhat like four different languages, and we can be more or less skilled and more or less creative in each one of them. Figural information is the language of the pictorial artist (visual) and the composer (auditory). Semantic information is primarily the language of the creative writer, the scientist, and the planner. The mathematician and the modern logician deal in the language of symbols. Among those who depend relatively more upon the "behavioral" language are the salesman, the politi- cian, the diplomat, the teacher, the social worker, in fact anyone who has much to do with influencing and managing others.

This is not to say, of course, that the same person does not indulge in more than one language, for he commonly does, and translates from one to another; but in his creative endeavors he is likely to favor one language relative to others. In the investigation of social intelligence, which is the area

COGNITION of behavioral information, six abilities (we call them behavioral-cognition abilities) have already been demonstrated pertaining to understanding other persons (OSullivan, Guil- ford, & de Mille, 1965). In each of the first three informational areas there have been found, with two exceptions that we can overlook, six abilities of a creative nature. By analogy, then, six abilities of a creative kind were expected in the behavioral area, and an investigation was initiated to determine whether they could be demonstrated by factor analysis. This study is well under way in the Aptitudes Project at the University of Southern California.* The results will soon become known, but in the meantime we can illustrate the kinds of abilities expected by giving examples of tests that have been designed to demon- strate them. The tests will supply concrete, empirical referents for the six abilities expected in this area of intellectual functioning.

*We use this in its narrow definition, recognizing, of course, that all information may involve use of symbols in the broad sense.

t This particular study is supported by Grant O.E.-4-6-061376-1792 from the Office of Education of the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Guilford and Hoepfner are co-responsible investigators and Hend- ricks is Study Leader.

FOUR LANGUAGES

BEHAVIORAL-

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The Journal of Creative Behavior

DIVERGENT- PRODUCTION

ABILITIES

SOME BEHAVIORAL-

DIVERGENT- PRODUCTION

TESTS : Expressing

Mixed Emotions

Alternate Picture

Meanings

The six abilities are in the operational category known as divergent production in the Guilford (1967) structure-of-intel- lect model, which is the theoretical basis for all of our descriptions of intellectual abilities. In the process of divergent production, starting with given information, one produces a variety of other items of information, as in the step in problem solving when, having become aware of the nature of the problem, one generates from his memory store a number of different, alternative solutions. This is the most creative aspect of problem solving in general. (One could also produce alternative interpretations of a problem, an activity that also be- longs in the category of divergent production.)

We recognize six different divergent-production abilities on the basis of there being six kinds of items of information (or mental constructs used by the individual) that may be called for. These six “products” are units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications. The meanings of these terms, as applied to behavioral information, should become clear as examples of the six abilities are given. One test designed to measure the ability to generate behavioral units or single behavioral ideas is called “Expressing Mixed Emotions.” One item asks the examinee (E) to make a written list of as many different things as he can that a person might say if he were both disappointed and jealous (where “jealous” is to be interpreted broadly). E might say, “You can have it, I don‘t want it”; “Yeah, Bill won. He always wins”; or ”He got it? But I expected to”; and so on.

This test is clearly parallel with a test called ”Ideational Fluency” for the divergent production of semantic units. For example, the latter asks E to list as many objects as he can that are both edible and white. In both tests, two specifications or common class properties are given, with E to supply members of the class. Another test, called “Alternate Picture Meanings,” presents a line drawing of a face that has a somewhat ambiguous expression. E is to write a list of alternate interpretations as to the psychological meaning of the expression. In this case, E is not so much restricted to a defined class except as the expression delimits a class.

The use of verbal communication in the tests is largely a matter of expediency, enabling us to administer them to large groups. But this use of verbal responses has aroused some

157


fear that they would involve semantic content. And, al- though earlier experience had taught us that verbal communication, either in the given information or in E’s responses, need not involve semantic information provided the intent of the statements is behavioral, we have been trying out two individually administered tests in which E gives expressive responses other than in writing. In one test he gives facial expressions and in the other, vocal expressions.

In either case, typically, a situation is briefly described to E. To elicit a vocal response, we may tell him to say aloud ”I. don’t believe it” in as many different appropriate ways as he can, and his responses are tape recorded for later replay and scoring. In the test with facial-expression responses, having produced each expression that he wants to give, E presses a button to snap his own picture. In both cases E is alone in a quiet room, where he is much less inhibited.

By using these two tests we hope to determine whether tests with written responses measure the same ability to the same extent as do similar tests with vocal and facial expressions. In everyday life, much communication that is designed to influ- ence or control others is through the more direct expressive media. The modes of expression in these two tests are therefore more lifelike. The ability to reclassify information is an important form of flexibility. To determine the amount of this ability that individuals might have, a collection of information units is given, with E required to group and regroup the units in various ways. In the semantic category of divergent-production abilities we give a list of perhaps a dozen familiar words, each of which has several properties in common with others in the list and which, as a result, can be classified in several different ways. For example, a grape can be classified with other fruits, with sources of alcohol and of jelly, or with spherical objects. In the behavioral category, “Multiple Behavioral Grouping” presents a list of statements for E to classify in different ways. For example, the comments might be:

TESTING RECLASSIFI-

CATION ABILITIES

Multiple B.ehnviom2

Groupins

I. You get out of here 2. Are you sure 3 . What a bore 4. How could you do such a thing 5. Didn’t you listen to me 6 . I wonder what time it is

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Punctuation marks are omitted in order to give E a little more leeway in interpreting and using each comment. One grouping might be composed of comments 2, 4, and 5, which have in common an attitude of disbelief. In the combination of statements I, 3 , and 5 there is a common feature of annoyance or anger. Comments 2, 4, and 6 indicate in common a question- ing frame of mind.

Another test for the behavioral reclassification ability presents line drawings of expressions of the face, hands, and other body parts, from which E is to select small groups, each pos- sessing common attributes as to the psychological disposition indicated. Still another test presents head-and-shoulders photo- graphs of the same individual in quite a variety of expressions. From the total collection alternative groupings are to be made.

FIGURE I

Creating Social

Rela f ions

PERSON A PERSON B

The best tests dealing with behavioral relations, either in the area of cognition or in the area of divergent production, contain pictures of people-usually two-with some possible relations between the members in each picture. "Creating So- cial Relations" shows line drawings of two people, such as in Figure 1. E is asked to think of several different relations that could reasonably occur between the two individuals, in view of the combination of expressions, and to propose what person B is saying to person A. For the pair in Figure I, some perti- nent responses would be:

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Why do you think I did it? How did you find that out? Oh brother! Here we go again.

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We have found that a behavioral system may be either in the form of a momentary social situation, a contemporary event, or a sequence of events. In other words, the system may be either cross-sectional or longitudinal. In the first case, three or more people are caught as if in a snapshot. In the latter case the time dimension becomes relevant. In nonbehavioral areas of information the sequence of events is also a form of system. In a behavioral system, the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of the individuals pIay prominent roles. The test “Creating Social Situations” calls for several alternative story plots, given three prescribed characters, e.g., (A) a fearful woman, (B) an angry man, and (C) an unhappy child. A sample response might be “C brings home a poor report card. B, his father, is angry with C. A, his mother, is afraid that B will hurt C.”

Another story-production test presents in each item a photo- graph of three young people in different positions and expressions, as though they were captured in the middle of a group activity. E is to suggest a number of descriptions of what may be going on, emphasizing the apparent psychological connec- tions among the three persons. Still another systems test presents the first and last pictures of a three-picture cartoon, the middle being left blank. E is to suggest what happened in the intermediate part, giving alternative completions, each mak- ing a different sequence of events. A transformation is a change of some kind and a behavioral transformation could be a change of interpretation or of a sequence of events. Readiness to produce transformations is another important kind of flexibility. The precise information we need in order to solve a problem may not exist as such in our memory store, but some item of information could possibly serve the purpose well, with some alterations. Being resource- ful and being ready to improvise are often needed assets for creative soIutions to problems. In each problem of the “Multiple Expression Changes” test, E is presented with a number of faces, all of the same sex, each with a different expression, as in Figure 2 . In the typical item there are 15 such faces. E is told of three related events, for example : A man trips a lady who is walking by. I F - - He apologizes to the lady.. . . . . . . . . . . A G - - The lady becomes angry.. . . . . . . . . . . . C E - -

Creafing Social

Situations

TESTING

FORMATION ABILITIES

TRANS-

Multiple Expression

Changes

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FIGURE z

E's task is to select, in turn, sets of three faces for the man, one face to go with each step in the series of events. For example, E might select the set composed of faces I, A, and C, indi- cating that the man first looks surprised, then embarrassed, and finally angry because the lady does not accept his apol- ogy. Or, E might select the set F, G, and E, because he first thinks tripping the lady is funny, then he feels a bit sorry, then is amused at her anger. Each set after the first requires a revision of the man's sequence of reactions and attitudes. These revisions are transformations.

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TESTING FOR ELABORATIVE

In general, an implied item of information is suggested by some other item. Fire is implied when we see smoke. Cooler weather is expected when we see clouds. We assume a child is hurt if he cries. There is often a kind of cause-and-effect connection involved or some other kind of connection that justifies a predicted outcome. Or there is an extrapolation from present events to future events. Elaborating upon an idea or a theme is also an example of divergently produced implications. In a test entitled "Suggested Feelings And Actions," E is given a situation such as follows: "Late at night when A and his family are in their mountain cabin, he hears over the radio that a forest fire is raging a few miles away." E is to think of different emotions and corresponding actions arising from the situation. Appropriate responses might include "fear-pack up and leave; interest-tune to other radio stations to hear more; or concern-get a shovel and join the fire fighters." These are all relevant effects of the same cause.

Alternate Many implications are conclusions or outcomes of given - Social situations. In the test "Alternate Social Solutions," a problem

Solutions of a social nature is given, with E to offer alternative solutions. For example, "You are on a trip with friends. They want the group to go hunting, while you want to go fishing. What could you do?" Possible outcomes that could be given are: Go hunting with them. Tell them to go hunting while you go fishing. Talk them into going fishing. Suggest tossing a coin to decide the matter. Offer to cook dinner if they go fishing with you.

The predictive and anticipatory character of answers in the tests just mentioned is obvious. The divergent-productive aspect is emphasized by the need to invent alternatives, some of which may never have occurred to E before, and to produce them in quantity.

Early in this paper we suggested categories of occupations in which creative dealings with people on the basis of behavioral information are greatly dependent upon the behavioral-divergent-production abilities. After the more analytical view of behavioral or social creativity has been considered, we are in a much better position to suggest for which of these groups the six abilities in question would seem relatively more important. We shall only suggest examples, in order to further relate the abilities to successful functioning where interpersonal problems must be solved.

Suggested Feelings

and Actions

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LOGICAL RELEVANCE OF

BEHAVIORAL- DIVERGENT-

PRODUCTION ABILITIES

For Small

Groups

Within Systems

Among those who need to have a fluid readiness to see different behavioral meanings in the actions and expressions of other individuals, the poker player comes to mind. In general, those who are low on richness of interpretations of states of mind of others are likely to jump to conclusions from their limited visual and auditory cues and to hold rigidly to their hypotheses as to what the other fellow is thinking or feeling. There is closure or lack of openness to alternative interpretations of individual dispositions. There is accordingly a limited preparation for coping with the other person. In our mental economy, generally, informational classes are of special value wherever there must be diagnostic conclusions. The medical doctor diagnoses a particular ailment by putting it in a class of very similar disorders. In the social or behavioral realm, diagnoses are made not only by psychiatrists and psychologists, but also by judges and probation officers. Through long experience with people, these officials develop categories of cases. Putting the newcomer in one of the categories implies the kind of treatment that should be applied. If either the judge or the probation officer suffers from the ailment that has been called "hardening of the categories," he lacks the flexibility to be free of snap judgments and pre-conceived biases. Among those concerned most with relations between pairs of people are marriage counselors. The counselor cannot do his best for a marriage or for its partners without taking into ac- count the attitudes and general behavior of both members of the pair. He is concerned with a little constellation of psychological dispositions, in which "it takes two to tango." I t will help him to get around to crucial relational facts if he is fluid with respect to alternatives and not too ready to impose upon the couple a decision and a prescription that misses the point. A police officer may also often be involved with an inter- action problem, where there are diadic social problems, and he should be ready to consider many different possibilities before arresting a pair rather than letting the two "fight it out." Police officers are even more frequently concerned with behavioral systems. It might be a gang war, a concerted hostility against the arrest of an individual, or in the extreme case a riot. The social worker, and more specifically the family counselor, are involved with family constellations and family malaise. Either agent should be flexible and fertile in thinking about the nature of the family trouble and in prescribing a remedy.

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For Large Groups

In the ongoing events of a social group there are shifts in attitudes and intentions, and anyone concerned with the conduct of the group activity must be on the alert for such changes or transformations and also must be ready with a pocketful of possible changes of direction for the group when it is in an undesirable behavioral state. A teacher or group-discussion leader is in this kind of role. The playwright is constantly faced with the need for ideas of transformations as he revises his stories. The product of implications, with its predictive feature, sug- gests prognosis. In social affairs, this means future outcomes in behavior of individuals and of pairs and groups. Anyone who prescribes treatment for another person or group is also concerned about prognosis. He must consider the possible consequences of his verdict, and he should consider as many consequences as he can. The consequences are often in the form of psychological disposition-improved mental health, improved behavior, or improved character. In this sense, especially, ev- eryone is a naive psychologist, for he anticipates future actions and dispositions of persons with whom he is concerned. Hav- ing a rich repertoire of future possibilities at his disposal will be most useful in successfully coping with others.

The six abilities of creative potential that have received the least attention in both research and application-the behavioral-divergent-production abilities-should all be appreciated for their importance in our everyday existence, for this constellation of aptitudes enables us to “solve social problems creatively.”

In General

REFERENCES GUILFORD, J. P., The nature of human intelligence. New York: McGraw- Hill, 1967.

O’SULLIVAN, M., GUILFORD, J . P., & DE MILLE, R. The measurement of social intelligence. Reports from the Psychological Laboratory Univer- sity of Southern California, No. 34, 1966.

All three authors of this article are affiliated wi th the University of Southern California. Address: Department o f Psychology, University Park, Los Angeles, California, 90007.

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Solving Social Problems Creatively