Aha! moment and creativity of ideas in divergent thinking: The mediating role of idea elaboration

Insight has rarely been investigated on the material of divergent thinking tasks, where no single correct solution exists. This study examined whether insightful ideas generated during divergent thinking are, on average, more creative than analytically generated ideas, and whether this relationship is mediated by idea elaboration and idea sequence. To test the hypotheses, an experimental study was conducted with a final sample of 102 participants. For 15 minutes participants generated ideas in the Alternate uses task. After each idea, they reported whether they had an Aha! moment and rated its intensity. Creativity of ideas was then assessed using OCSAI, and the number of words was used as a metric of idea elaboration. We found both the direct connection between creativity and Aha! moments and their intensity, and an indirect one via elaboration. We also found evidence of an indirect link between Aha! moments and creativity through idea sequence. The results suggest that Aha! moments signal more creative ideas and motivate their further refinement. Implications for involvement of metacognitive experiences in creative ideation are discussed.