Have you tried 'brain breathing'? Structured thinking and problem construction

Problem construction is one of the first steps in creative problem solving. We compared two active techniques with that of a placebo intervention and show a benefit in problem construction performance for the active techniques. The active techniques required participants to either utilise six questions (six men), or adopt six perspectives, incorporating a range of specific questions (six hats). In a fully between design, we had 118 participants trained on the techniques before asking them to restate a given problem in as many different ways as they could within an allotted time. The six men tool produced greater fluency, flexibility and originality relative to 'brain-breathing’ placebo and the six hats. The six hats tool led to the production of more original responses relative to the brain-breathing control group. Both six men and six hats tools benefited performance. These results underline that explicitly scaffolding thinking can benefit creative problem solving.