Table Of ContentCREATIVITY IN ENGINEERING
EXPLORATIONS
IN CREATIVITY
RESEARCH
Series Editor
James C. Kaufman
CREATIVITY IN
ENGINEERING
Novel Solutions to Complex
Problems
David H. Cropley
UniversityofSouthAustralia
MawsonLakes,SA,Australia
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Dedication
“Invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those
images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory.
Nothing can come of nothing. He who has laid up no materials can produce no
combinations.”
SirJoshuaReynolds,11723(cid:1)1792
“... innovation is the only mechanism that can actually change things in sub-
stantiveways.Innovationiswherecreativethinkingandpracticalknow-howmeet
todonewthingsinnewways,andoldthingsinnewways.”
Dr.CharlesVest,21941(cid:1)2013
1ADiscourseDeliveredtotheStudentsoftheRoyalAcademy,ontheDistributionofthe
Prizes,December11,1769,bythePresident.(Seehttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/2176/
2176-h/2176-h.htm).
2President,U.S.NationalAcademyofEngineering,2007(cid:1)2013.
List of Figures
Figure1.1 TheExtendedPhaseModeloftheCreativeProcess 10
Figure1.2 A“Systems”ConceptofCreativity 12
Figure2.1 TheBasicProcessofEngineering 15
Figure2.2 EngineeringasNeeds-DrivenProblemSolving 15
Figure2.3 ChangeastheStimulusforEngineering 17
Figure2.4 ChangeasaDriverofNeedsandSolutions 18
Figure2.5 SixPathwaysinEngineeringProblemSolving 20
Figure2.6 TypesofCreativeEngineeringProblemSolving 23
Figure2.7 SystemBoundary—FuelSavingProblem 31
Figure2.8 FuelSavingProblemandtheSystemofInterest(SoI) 31
Figure3.1 ThePhasesofCreativeThinking,AccordingtoWallas(1926) 44
Figure3.2 TheExtendedPhaseModelofCreativity 50
Figure3.3 ConvergenceandDivergenceinProblemSolving 52
Figure3.4 TheTop-DownParadigminEngineering 53
Figure3.5 TheTheoreticalandAvailableDesignSpaces 56
Figure3.6 VeeModel 57
Figure4.1 TheHierarchyofCreativityCriteria 72
Figure5.1 RemoteAssociates,Categories,andNetworks 100
Figure6.1 TheOpenness(cid:1)ComplexityGrid 149
Figure7.1 TheSystemanditsEnvironment 170
Figure7.2 SocialandOrganizationalEnvironments 170
Figure7.3 TheInteractionbetweenPropertiesoftheIndividualandthe 186
Environment
Figure7.4 FactorsoftheInstitutionalEnvironment 196
Figure8.1 TheInnovationProcess(Luecke&Katz,2003) 219
Figure9.1 AMindMapofPublicTransport 250
Figure10.1 ExpertiseandCreativity 265
Figure10.2 AligningCurriculumObjectives,TeachingandLearningActivities, 273
andAssessmentTasks
xi
List of Tables
Table2.1 FuelBurnandTakeoffProfiles 30
Table2.2 TotalWeightand$Savings—SouthwestAirlines 34
Table3.1 StagesofCreativeProblemSolving 43
Table3.2 GeneralModelsofProblemSolving 47
Table3.3 AComparisonoftheExtendedPhaseModelandOther 51
Problem-SolvingModels
Table3.4 MappingGenericPhasestoEngineeringDesignModels 60
Table4.1 DifferentTypesofCreativeProduct 65
Table4.2 TheHierarchicalOrganizationofProducts 69
Table4.3 CriteriaofCreativityinaSolution 78
Table4.4 TheOriginal30-ItemCreativeSolutionDiagnosisScale(CSDS) 80
Table4.5 TheOriginal30-ItemCreativeSolutionDiagnosisScale(CSDS) 82
Hierarchy
Table4.6 TheRevised27-ItemCSDSFactorStructure 83
Table4.7 HypotheticalProductCreativityScores 83
Table4.8 ProductandthePhasesofProblemSolving 84
Table5.1 CharacteristicsofDivergentThinking 94
Table5.2 ExamplesofThinkingLeadingtoProductionof 96
Variability/Orthodoxy
Table5.3 ExamplesofBipolarCognitiveStyles 102
Table5.4 CreativityQuotientScores 110
Table5.5 CharacteristicsofConvergentThinking 117
Table5.6 ProcessesofDivergentandConvergentThinkinginGenerating 125
Novelty
Table5.7 ProcessandthePhasesofProblemSolvig 128
Table6.1 Creativity-EnablingPersonalityTraits 155
Table6.2 PossibleCombinationsofPsychologicalPrerequisitesforCreativity 157
Table6.3 Test-DefinedCharacteristicsthatAreFavorableforCreativity 165
Table6.4 PersonandthePhasesofProblemSolving 166
Table7.1 DomainsandtheKindandAmountofCreativity 179
xiii
xiv
LISTOFTABLES
Table7.2 OpposingForcesinaSociety 190
Table7.3 ExamplesofMotivational,Personal,andSocialFactorsAssociated 202
withCreativity
Table7.4 StereotypesofMaleandFemale 203
Table7.5 OverviewofTestsoftheWorkplaceEnvironment 211
Table7.6 PressandthePhasesofProblemSolving 214
Table8.1 TheInnovationPhaseModel(IPM) 223
Table8.2 HypotheticalIPAIData 224
Table8.3 InterpretationofIPAIPhaseScores 225
Table8.4 InterpretationofIPAIDimensionScores 225
Table9.1 Sternberg’s12KeysforDevelopingtheCreativityHabit 235
Table9.2 DifferencesamongAcademicFields 237
Table9.3 MorphologicalAnalysisinEngineeringProblemSolving 249
Table10.1 SummaryoftheProblems 267
Table10.2 LevelsofUnderstandinginEducation 276
Table10.3 TeachingPlan 279
Table10.4 ObjectivesandAssessmentActivities 287
Table10.5 GradingCriteria,AssignmentA 288
Foreword
There is a genuine risk in trying something new. As many have
noted(such as Robert Sternberg), we say we want creative and different
ideas ... but we generally don’t actually want them. Studying creativity
is itself a risky act; it is a topic of great general interest that nonetheless
does not have a firm home in any one discipline. Psychology, educa-
tion, and business probably make the most notable contributions,
although they often use different terminology and publish in different
journals. When scholars from different fields decide to study creativity,
there is the temptation to not conduct due diligence. It is easy to
assume that because no one in a field has delved deeply into creativity,
there is nothing notable to learn. What often happens then is that peo-
ple from disparate fields tend to try to research from scratch and end
up reinventing thewheel.
David Cropley is a rare exception, which is why I am so delighted to
have this book kick off the Explorations in Creativity Research book series
for Academic Press. David has delved deeply into both classic and cur-
rent creativity scholarship while simultaneously bringing his own
nuanced and informed perspective to the debate. His engineering back-
ground and sharp, analytical mind have helped turn him into one of
the most exciting currentscholarsin creativity studies.
I believe that Creativity in Engineering: Novel Solutions to Complex
Problems is a major work in the field, and am thrilled to introduce it in
this new series.
James C. Kaufman
Neag School ofEducation
University ofConnecticut
xv
Preface
THE APPROACH OF THIS BOOK
Thisbookprovidesasetofresearch-basedconcepts, firmlygrounded
in the body of knowledge of creativity, which will help professional
engineers, engineering managers, and engineering educators to under-
stand creativity in a systematic way. The material in the book will help
these stakeholders to identify its key aspects, develop it in themselves,
foster its development in students and professionals, and acknowledge
and reward it appropriately. The aim is
(cid:129) to demystify the concept ofcreativity, i.e.,helpeducators, managers,
practitioners andstudents understand it in apractical, concrete way;
(cid:129) to show that there isa common core to creativity in alldisciplines;
(cid:129) to helppeopleacquire a foundationof creative skills, motives,
attitudes, and values from the very beginning;
(cid:129) to show educators andmanagers how to facilitate the development
of these through their leadership;
(cid:129) to show educators andmanagers how to evaluateother people’s
work in ways that foster creativity.
The approach to creativity in this book emphasizes three comple-
mentary facets:
1. thethinking skills and strategies peopleneed for creativity (cognitive
factors);
2. thepersonal and motivational propertiesthat permitand activate
these skills and strategies (noncognitive factors);
3. thecharacteristics of theenvironment (socialandorganizational
factors) that influencethe whole process.
WHY IS THIS BOOK DIFFERENT?
Much of what has been written about creativity in the domain of
engineering is unsatisfactory. There is no shortage of books and articles
that teach readers cognitive tricks. These approaches, however, are
overly dependent on the reapplication of factual knowledge, often in
xvii
