Process and achievement, ninety years on: Same problem, new ideas?

Abstract

A focus on process and not on product should be the emphasis of research into creative thinking. This is a basic notion characterizing the thinking of Heinz Werner, who already in 1937 discussed the preoccupation with product at the expense of process as a basic problem for research and theory. In this paper, the type of process that Werner is referring to is addressed. Two test cases are presented: that of metaphor comprehension, and that of metaphor production which, itself, is a prime example of creative thinking. The focus of the discussion of metaphor production is on the stages of incubation and illumination/insight. The use of a microgenetic procedure, via which metaphor production (creative thinking) is investigated in real time, focusing on ongoing experience while producing a metaphor, is promoted here.