Dear Peter,
The thread on integration and overcoming dualism
has been genuinely interesting. Rather than
respond to all the issues, I respond want to
comment on one specific theme.
You wrote, "As for scientific analysis - I've not
heard of an analysis (reductionist or otherwise)
which has provided us with a formula,
methodological framework or recipe (rice or
potatoes?) for human creativity."
This one sentence seems to raise three issues,
each different one from the next. I want to
respond to these issues-and some of the questions
they involve - to demonstrate that the missing
information is available.
Issue 1 asks whether any kind of scientific
analysis can yield a formula for human
creativity. It would be difficult to find such a
formula.
Issue 2 asks whether there exists a
methodological framework for human creativity. In
this sense, the term "methodological framework"
seems to have two possible meanings.
One meaning of the term "methodological
framework" is a framework for the comparative
analysis of research methods that shed useful
light on human creativity. This response will
point to such a methodological framework. If you
follow the references, you can decide for
yourself if the methods are useful.
The other meaning of the term "methodological
framework" is a collection of methods to foster
human creativity. These methods exist. Here, too,
I will provide sources.
Issue 3 involves recipes for human creativity.
The word "recipe" also has two meanings.
One kind of "recipe" involves the precise
formulas we use to compound chemical or
pharmaceutical prescription. There are no such
recipes for human creativity.
The other kind of "recipe" is the kind we use in
cooking or practicing a professional art. There
are many such recipes. We describe them in many
kinds of heuristics, rules of thumb, processes,
and procedures that assist human creativity.
Scientific analysis rarely yields explicit
formulas at the beginning of research into a
field. Challenging or difficult problems
involving complex issues and processes may never
yield precise formulas. This is particularly the
case for scientific research programs that have
improved human performance as goals.
While general analysis of creativity goes back a
century or so, programmatic scientific analysis
of creativity is goes back only about fifty
years. While different forms of research may one
day yield formulas on limited sub-topics in
creativity, that day is far in the future. Such
formulas may never be possible. We are so far
from knowing whether or how such formulas might
function that it is impossible to make a clear
statement.
Robert J. Sternberg's (1999) Handbook of
Creativity offers a comprehensive overview of
research in the field of human creativity to this
time. It examines and discusses different kinds
of work on creativity, including research
directly applicable to human creativity in
professional practice.
The twenty-two chapters in this book offer an
extensive methodological framework for human
creativity in both senses of the term. It
describes research on human creativity and it
describes collections of methods and approaches
to supporting and enhancing human creativity.
Many research streams in creativity are still
developing analytical or descriptive
understanding of processes. Other research
streams can contribute to the improved practice
of design.
Several scholars have pursued streams of
creativity research that can be applied directly
to improved design practice. Some authors ask how
to improve professional practice. Others examine
heuristics and problem solving. Still others ask
how individual and social creativity shapes the
framework within which individuals and
organizations innovate. For many, this includes
asking how different aspects of what they label
creativity can help in the design process.
Nadler (1981), Nadler and Hibino (1994), and
Nadler and Hibino with Farrell (1995) address
creative problem solving in engineering and
design. Their approach to creativity research
involves useful working methods for the
practicing designer or engineer.
Research into organizational learning and problem
solving fits this stream. Organizational learning
emphasizes social creativity, individual and
group problem solving, organizational innovation,
and heuristics. Much of this work focuses on
developing and using of skills in the context of
professional practice. This work applies to the
development of skill and judgment in many
professions. These include the design professions
among them, and it includes Donald Schon's work
on reflective practice.
Some of the useful authors include Argyris (1991,
1992), Argyris and Schon (1974, 1978. 1996),
Schon (1983, 1987), Senge (1990, 1996, 1999),
Senge, Roberts, Ross, Smith, and Kleiner (1994),
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Roth, and Smith
(1999).
Robert Sternberg's (1994) work on creativity also
covers issues in production and professional
practice.
Other research streams are more diffuse. They do
not necessarily apply to design, but to the
conditions under which human beings become better
suited to the application of wise judgment.
Abraham Maslow's (1962, 1987, 1998) fits this
category. So does much of Gregory Bateson's work.
Mary Catherine Bateson's (1972) Our Own Metaphor
is particularly interesting because the inquiry
applies to wise judgment situated in professional
practice.
One specific stream of creativity research
focuses on the professions and on higher
education. This stream of research explicitly
addresses the issue of how creativity research
applies to the professional practice of design.
One key book is Finke, Warde, and Smith (1992).
They examine cognitive creativity in terms of
theory, recent research, and applications.
Terry Love often notes that new knowledge on how
human brains operate is a promising source of
ways to understand the design process. Finke,
Warde, and Smith (1992) summarize much of the
work done up to the early 1990s, and their
substantial reference list gives access to
applicable research. This book demonstrates the
theoretical links and empirical consequences of
many of these issues.
Most of the research in the book is applicable to
understanding and improving design practice.
Moreover, Finke, Warde, and Smith (1992) cover
three specific design fields - product
development, human-computer interaction, and
architecture - as well as such fields as
education and psychotherapy.
One additional stream of creativity research
focuses on what Dick Buchanan and Susan Hagan
have labeled the "systematic arts of invention."
This stream focuses on the classical art of
rhetoric and contemporary work in heuristics.
Both of these arts apply directly to improving
design practice and to production.
Two good examples of the work in heuristics are
Polya's (1990 [1945]) work on problem solving in
mathematics and the Groner, Groner, and Bischof
(1983) book on heuristics. We can map many of
Polya's techniques from mathematical problem
solving onto generalized heuristics for effective
use in design practice. Much more has been done
in this field.
Research into heuristics and decision-making is
linked to applied human creativity in important
ways. Basic research in psychology and behavioral
science may be too remote for some tastes, but
research by such scientists as Nobel Laureate
Daniel Kahneman (2002) and the late Amos Tversky
can be applied to this issue.
Many high-level problem-solving skills and
strategic planning skills also function for
direct professional production. Because these
processes help to develop creativity, they
constitute an example of the systematic arts of
invention to which Dick and Susan often refer.
One problem-solving method well known to
designers (Skoe 1992, 1994) is an example of
this. Two more examples of well-known methods for
idea generation and creativity are TRIZ and value
engineering. (Despite its name, value engineering
is not an engineering heuristic, but an idea
generation and creativity development heuristic.)
There are many research streams in the area of
creativity research. These examples provide
evidence of rich methodological frameworks and
extensive recipes for human creativity.
I have not done serious research on creativity
since the 1970s, but we have two experts on the
list that may have something to add. These are
David Durling and Chris Heape. I would welcome
their comments on current issues I have probably
missed.
IMHO, overcoming dualism and adopting integrative
frameworks means that we must be willing to work
with multiple approaches to research and
practice. Rejecting scientific inquiry on an a
priori basis is also a form of dualism.
Best regards,
Ken
References
Argyris, Chris. 1991. "Teaching Smart People How
to Learn." Harvard Business Review, May- June:
99-109.
Argyris, Chris. 1992. On Organizational Learning. Oxford: TJ Press.
Argyris, Chris, and Donald A. Schon. 1974. Theory
in practice: increasing professional
effectiveness (1st ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Argyris, Chris, and Donald A. Schon. 1978.
Organizational learning: a theory of action
perspective. Reading, Massachusetts:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Argyris, Chris, and Donald A. Schon. 1996.
Organizational learning II. Theory, method, and
Practice. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company.
Bateson, Mary Catherine. 1972. Our own metaphor.
A personal account of a conference on the effects
of conscious purpose on human adaptation. New
York: Knopf.
Finke, Ronald A., Thomas B. Ward, and Steven M.
Smith. 1992. Creative Cognition. Theory,
Research, and Applications. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Groner, Rudolf, Marina Groner, and Walter
Bischof, editors. 1983. Methods of Heuristics.
Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Kahneman, Daniel. 2002. Maps of Bounded
Rationality: A Perspective on Intuitive Judgment.
Nobel Prize Lecture, December 8, 2002. URL:
http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/2002/kahneman-lecture.html
Accessed 2002 December 15.
Maslow, Abraham H., with Deborah C. Stephens and
Gary Heil. 1998. Maslow on Management. New York:
John C. Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Maslow, Abraham H. 1987. Motivation and
Personality. Third Edition. Revised by Robert
Frager, James Fadiman, Cynthia McReynolds, and
Ruth Cox. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
Maslow, Abraham H. 1962. Toward a Psychology of
Being. Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand
Company.
Nadler, Gerald. 1981. The Planning and Design
Approach. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Nadler, Gerald, and Shozo Hibino. 1994.
Breakthrough Thinking. The Seven Principles of
Creative problem Solving. Revised Second Edition.
Rocklin, California: Prima Publishing.
Nadler, Gerald, and Shozo Hibino with John
Farrell. 1995. Creative Solution Finding. The
Triumph of Full-Spectrum Creativity over
Conventional Thinking. Rocklin, California: Prima
Publishing.
Polya, G. 1990 [1945]. How to Solve It. A New
Aspect of Mathematical Method. London: Penguin
Books.
Schon, Donald A. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books Inc.
Schon, Donald A. 1987. Educating the Reflective
Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publications.
Senge, Peter M. 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The
Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.
London: Century Business.
Senge, Peter M. 1996. "Leading learning
organizations." Training and development. 50, 12:
36-37.
Senge, Peter. 1999. Creative Tension. Executive Excellence, 16, 1: 12-13.
Senge, Peter, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross,
Bryan Smith, and Art Kleiner. 1994. The Fifth
Discipline Fieldbook. London: Nicholas Brealey
Publishing.
Senge, Peter, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts,
Richard Ross, George Roth, and Bryan Smith. 1999.
The Dance of Change. The Challenges of Sustaining
Momentum in Learning Organizations. London:
Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Skoe, Anders. 1992. Fra problem til løsning. Oslo, Norway: TI-forlaget.
Skoe, Anders. 1994. Creating Customer Care.
Neuilly sur Seine, France: SITA - Societe
Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique.
Sternberg, Robert J., editor. 1994. Thinking and
Problem Solving. San Diego: Academic Press.
Sternberg, Robert J., editor. 1999. Handbook of
Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
--
Professor Ken Friedman
Department of Leadership and Organization
Norwegian School of Management
Design Research Center
Denmark's Design School
+47 67.55.73.23 Tlf NSM
+47 33.40.10.95 Tlf Privat
email: [log in to unmask]
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