Intellectual dialogue in creative thinking (Based on the analysis of creating inventions)

One of the topical issues in the psychology of thinking is the study of conditions for successful solutions of creative tasks and problems. They include the intellectual dialogue. In this context, the authors conducted an empirical study of the intellectual dialogue in creative thinking as a condition for successful problem solving. The study was based on the theory of problem situations and structural level theory. The purpose of the research was to study the forms and functions of the intellectual dialogue at different stages of solving creative problems. Hypotheses: the functions and forms of the intellectual dialogue are related to the stage of solving a creative problem; specific features of creative problem solving determine those personal characteristics of the subjects being co-authors of the intellectual dialogue that are significant for achieving a solution. The study was carried out on a sample of inventors, various specialists in the scientific and technical field of Azerbaijan and Russia, patent holders (N = 17) aged 42 to 80 years old, (65% of males, 35% of females). The researchers used the original methodology (by F. S. Keberlinskaya, A. A. Matyushkina) that is aimed at assessing the forms and functions of the intellectual dialogue with the help of the thinking personalities’ ‘roles’ (Ch. M. Gadzhiyev) in relation to the process of creating their own inventions at its various stages. Diagnostics of personal characteristics was carried out with the help of the “Five-Factor Personality Model Questionnaire” (Robert R. McCrae, Paul T. Costa) adapted by A. B. Khromov, and the test by K. Thomas “Conflict Mode Instrument” (Kenneth W. Thomas, Ralph H. Kilmann) adapted by N. V. Grishina. The results show that the intellectual dialogue performs different functions correlated to the stage of problem solving in the process of creative problem solving that leads to a new invention at the level of discovery in the scientific and technical field and its later implementation in practice. At the stage of problem statement, the internal dialogue is significant for the author of the idea. This dialogue serves to understand the meaning of the problem as potentially solvable. At the stages of hypothesizing and developing final solutions, the role of an external dialogue is essential. This dialogue performs the functions of providing additional information and synthesizing it from different fields of knowledge.