Thinking Beyond Your Own Experience: How Expert Cases and Guidance Enhance Creativity for Non-Experts

Abstract

Research suggests that when individuals have limited prior knowledge, drawing from concrete past cases rather than abstract concepts enhances conceptual combination and creativity. However, it remains unclear whether these cases should stem from personal experiences or expert-provided sources. Additionally, there is little guidance on which aspects of personal experiences contribute to higher creative performance, warranting an initial investigation into their role in problem-solving. This two-study effort examined how 347 college students designed a high school curriculum using either personal experiences, expert-provided cases, or a combination of both, with some also receiving heuristic guidance to aid conceptual combination. Results showed that personal experiences associated with positive outcomes and emotions were linked to higher creative performance. However, Study 2 revealed that expert-provided cases combined with heuristic support led to greater conceptual combination effectiveness, improving solution quality and elegance, suggesting that external expert cases may be preferable for individuals with low-to-moderate expertise. Interestingly, more effective case combination was associated with reduced originality, underscoring a potential tradeoff between heavily relying on past cases and novelty. These findings highlight how case source and heuristic guidance shape creative problem-solving, offering insights into optimizing knowledge integration strategies for individuals with limited domain expertise.