Collaborative Proposal: DHB: Dynamics of Idea Generation in Individual and Group Brainstorming: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach Using Network Models and Behavioral Experiments

这个合作项目由位于长岛的霍夫斯特拉大学、纽约、辛辛那提大学和位于阿灵顿的德克萨斯大学的研究人员组成，代表了对群体和组织中创造性想法产生过程的全面研究。现代全球经济竞争日益激烈，科学、工业、商业和政府面临越来越大的压力，需要为困难问题提出新的想法和创新的解决方案。因为大多数现实世界的问题都是高度技术性的，或者涉及到跨多个专业领域的信息集成，所以几乎所有产生创造性的、有效的解决方案的努力都必须在许多层面上进行协作。近年来，社会心理学家研究了在各种环境中的小团体中创造性想法的产生，并确定了似乎促进或阻碍组织创新的因素。然而，现在重要的是开发系统优化群体创造力的方法，这是本研究项目的最终目标。基于大脑如何从记忆中检索信息并将该信息组织成熟悉和新颖的组合的现有知识，个体创意生成模型将被用作群体和团队创意生成实验研究的基础。基于复杂网络理论的模型的扩展将用于建议在较大组织层面加强创新的方法。研究团队本身就是不同个体之间有效合作的一个例子，计算机科学家，工程师以及认知和社会心理学家汇集他们的专业知识来研究复杂而重要的问题。

This collaborative project by a team of researchers at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Texas at Arlington represents a comprehensive study of the creative idea generation process in groups and organizations. The modern global economy is increasingly competitive, and there is growing pressure on science, industry, business and government to produce novel ideas and innovative solutions for difficult problems. Because most real-world problems are highly technical or involve the integration of information across a number of domains of expertise, almost all efforts to generate creative, effective solutions must be collaborative at many levels. In recent years, social psychologists have studied creative idea generation in small groups in a variety of settings, and have identified the factors that seem to facilitate or hinder innovation in organizations. However, it is now important to develop ways for systematically optimizing group creativity, and that is the ultimate goal of this research project. A model of idea generation in individuals, based on current knowledge of how the brain retrieves information from memory and organizes that information into both familiar and novel combinations, will be used as the basis for experimental studies of creative idea generation in groups and teams. Extensions of the model based on the theory of complex networks will be used to suggest ways to enhance innovation at the level of larger organizations. The research team itself is an example of effective collaboration among diverse individuals, with computer scientists, engineers, and cognitive and social psychologists pooling their expertise to study a complex and important problem.