The word 'process' implies, perhaps, that CPS is performed step by step. (For more information, see the column to the right.) BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, IS IT A PROCESS OR NOT? This site uses the terminology developed by Paul Reali of OmniSkills, with stages that are consistent with the latest thinking on CPS. These changes tend to be author/practitioner preference, and are not material changes. A WORD ABOUT TERMINOLOGYĪ side effect of the continuing study and development of CPS is that the terminology - what the stages are called, primarily - can change from one model to another. The beneficiaries? Any of us who choose to use CPS today. in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College.īecause no one owns CPS – it is a kind of open-source project – it has been researched and refined, extended and enhanced, for more than 60 years. CPS is the cornerstone of the Osborn-founded Creative Education Foundation (CEF), and CEF’s annual conference, the Creative Problem Solving Institute and CPS is at the core of the M.S. More than 60 years later, CPS is known and used worldwide, by hundreds of companies and professional practitioners, and thousands of individuals.

He did not feel as if he owned it everyone owned it, and anyone should be able to use it. Osborn put CPS into the public domain so that people could use it. Unlike proprietary methodologies, no one owns CPS. Generally, when the name is written with capital letters ('Creative Problem Solving') or abbreviated 'CPS,' the work is based on the Osborn-Parnes model. There are many processes that use the term 'creative problem solving' that are not based on the work of Osborn and Parnes. Sidney Parnes, Ruth Noller, and their colleagues provided the academic scrutiny that confirmed that CPS works, that it can be taught, and that people can learn to improve the way they think and solve problems. Osborn’s work soon caught the attention of a college professor who wanted to study and extend the work. He called the process he observed “creative problem solving,” and documented it in his seminal book, Applied Imagination. In the 1950s, advertising executive Alex Osborn studied creative people to see how they came up with ideas and creative solutions. Thinking and arrive at creative (novel and useful) solutions. Used when you want to go beyond conventional WHAT IS CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING?Ĭreativity: a structured process for solving problems or finding opportunities,

This site is for practitioners, new and experienced, of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process and tools.

Applied imagination alex osborn