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Creativity and Discovery in Engineering
Published in Diane P. Michelfelder, Neelke Doorn, The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering, 2020
Divergent thinking, by contrast, involves producing multiple or alternative answers from available information by, for instance, making unusual combinations, recognizing remote links among pieces of existing information, transforming existing information into unexpected forms, or seeing obscure implications. Divergent thinking may lead to a variety of conclusions based on the same starting point, and the ideas it yields may vary substantially from person to person. The results of divergent thinking may never have existed before: Sometimes this is true merely in the experience of the person producing the variability in question, or for the particular setting, but it may also be true in a broader sense. The key characteristics of convergent and divergent thinking are set out in Table 10.1.
The Designer
Published in Miguel Ángel Herrera Batista, The Ontology of Design Research, 2020
Guilford proposes two kinds of intellect factors of production:10 convergent thinking and divergent thinking. Convergent thinking allows for logical conclusions to be reached, guided by reason, while divergent thinking is more related to creativity. Guilford (1967: 138) establishes the following characteristics of creative production: Fluency. This is the ability to generate ideas and can be evaluated by the number of alternatives generated in the solution to a problem.Flexibility. This refers to the ability to generate diversity among ideas and can be tested by the qualitative difference between the ideas produced.Originality. This is related to the generation of unique and new responses, that is, unconventional.Elaboration. This is linked to the ability to perceive deficiencies, generate ideas, and redefine them to get new improved versions.
Metacognition in Creativity: Process Awareness Used to Facilitate the Creative Process
Published in Bo T. Christensen, Linden J. Ball, Kim Halskov, Analysing Design Thinking: Studies of Cross-Cultural Co-Creation, 2017
Dagny Valgeirsdottir, Balder Onarheim
Two distinct cognitive processes have been proposed to be part of creativity: divergent- and convergent thinking (Guilford, 1950). The two concepts were developed as part of the seminal work of J. P. Guilford – a psychologist often referred to as “the godfather of creativity” as he was the first one to publicly establish creativity as a research field. We see divergent- and convergent thinking as being related to the two aspects of the standard definition of creativity. Divergent thinking is the process of coming up with novel ideas or alternatives, and convergent thinking is the process of combining those into something useful (Onarheim & Friis-Olivarius, 2013). Furthermore, these two cognitive processes are related to an operational design process, that is, a process of alternating between ‘opening up’ (diverging) and ‘closing down’ (converging), as is operationalized, for example, in the Double Diamond model (Design Council, 2005). Other cognitive aspects can potentially affect the creative process of an individual such as the ability to make remote associations (Mednick, 1962), which is one of the Five Key Concepts of neurocreativity (Onarheim & Friis-Olivarius, 2013b); remote associations, cognitive inhibition, priming, fixation and incubation are all believed to influence the creative process of an individual.
The Developers’ Design Thinking Toolbox in Hackathons: A Study on the Recurring Design Methods in Software Development Marathons
Published in International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 2023
Kiev Gama, George Valença, Pedro Alessio, Rafael Formiga, André Neves, Nycolas Lacerda
Behind these models, there are key shared concepts like divergent and convergent thinking (Brenner et al., 2016), and the notion of a problem and solution spaces, which form a general perspective of the design process, as presented by Lindberg et al. (Lindberg et al., 2011) (Figure 1). The purpose of divergent thinking is to create choices, while convergent thinking focuses on eliminating options and making choices (Brown, 2009). The problem space and solution space, illustrated on Figure 1, are also commonplace in design. The goal is to explore the problem space to build a shared understanding of the problem before the actual development process starts, and to explore the solution space to promote a creative ideation process to choose the most viable path among the many alternatives generated (Lindberg et al., 2011).
A solution in search of problems: a cognitive tool for solution mapping to promote divergent thinking
Published in Journal of Engineering Design, 2021
Jin Woo Lee, Shanna R. Daly, Aileen Huang-Saad, Gabriella Rodriguez, Quinton DeVries, Colleen M. Seifert
Previous work on solution mapping has identified several cognitive strategies shared by engineering practitioners who successfully identified problem applications for new technologies (Lee et al. 2020a; Lee 2019; Lee et al. 2019). The use of cognitive strategies in the form of specific, experience-based guidelines to support decision making have been shown to be representative of expertise (Sternberg et al. 2003). The Solution Mapping Design Tool for divergent thinking about technology problem applications was developed (Lee et al. 2020a; Lee et al. 2019). Divergent thinking, a necessary component of creativity (Kudrowitz and Dippo 2013; Guilford 1967; Baer 2014), is defined as considering alternatives, making unexpected combinations, and identifying connections among remote associations (Guilford 1967) (Treffinger et al. 2002). In design, practicing divergent thinking to generate multiple, diverse ideas has been shown to increase the potential for innovative outcomes (Brophy 2001). In this study, we investigated the impact of the Solution Mapping Design Tool on divergent thinking when searching for technology problem applications.
Exploring suppliers’ perceptions and approaches toward codes of conduct: behind the scenes at Indian apparel export firms
Published in International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 2019
Geetika Jaiswal, Jung Ha-Brookshire
Divergent thinking is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions to a problem. It provides the foundation for creative ideas, as it requires ideational search without directional boundaries and is determined by fluency, flexibility, and originality (Ledwidge, 2014). Active engagement is important in divergent thinking, as it requires a broader response than just putting pieces together (Moore, 2009). On the other hand, convergent thinking is oriented towards deriving the single best answer to a clearly defined question. Convergent thinking is a style of thought that attempts to consider all available information and arrives at the single best answer (Puccio, 1998). It involves taking different pieces of available information and putting them together in an organised manner (Zent, 2001). Overall, it places emphasis on accumulating information, recognising the familiar, reapplying set techniques, and preserving the already known.