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82 Creativity

fruitful structure of part-whole relations. to solve the problem is to let its struc-
ture collapse into a different and better Gestalt which is complete and balanced,
or at least more so. in the words of Wertheimer, the tradition’s senior member:

Before the thought process takes place, or in its early stages, one often
has a certain whole-view of the situation, and of its parts, which is some-
how unsuited to the problem, superficial, or one-sided. … On the other
hand, when the change [i.e., the restructuring, S.O.] has occurred, and
the problem has thereby been solved, one is sometimes astonished to see
how blind one has been … what matters here, and what is characteris-
tic of intelligent processes, is the transition from a less adequate, a less
proper structural view to a more sensible one. 56

The new representation is typically accompanied by a feeling of insight,
the standard translation into english of the German word Einsicht; the latter
could equally well be rendered as comprehension or understanding. Subjectively,
the problem solver perceives the problem situation differently. Difficulties are
not so much resolved as dissolved or left behind: Köhler wrote, “How must
we change the situation so that the difficulties disappear and our problem is
solved?” Behaviorally, the problem solver might express a certain surprise
57
and rouse himself from a state of frustrated inactivity to resume work on the
problem. a moment of insight – sometimes called an Aha-experience – can
be accompanied by a feeling that the new view was, or should have been, self-
evident all along. restructuring is something that happens to a person rather
than something he chooses to do. We cannot will ourselves to see a problem dif-
ferently, but the probability of restructuring is a function of multiple triggering
factors, some of which can be influenced by voluntary action. For example, the
Gestalters insisted that it helps to analyze the given situation and the goal care-
fully. The better one’s grasp of the structure and requirements of the problem,
the more salient the gaps, and the greater the probability that the situation will
collapse into a better Gestalt.
The fact that any problem or situation can be interpreted in multiple ways
answers the question of how novelty is possible, but we are left wondering what
is distinctive about creative thinking. The Gestalters’ interest in good think-
ing – in various senses – made them neglect not-so-good thinking. analytical
thinking is only present in their writings as a somewhat repulsive contrast
case. Wertheimer wrote about “blind” problem solutions and contrasted good
and bad errors. The former are those that foreshadow an insightful solution.
Bad errors, on the other hand, are discussed as if they were embarrassments of
manner, like picking your nose at the dinner table. The Gestalters had no theory