Understanding fixation effects in creativity: A design-theory approach

DS 75-2: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED13), Design for Harmonies, Vol.2: Design Theory and Research Methodology, Seoul, Korea, 19-22.08.2013

Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Agogue, Marine; Cassotti, Mathieu
Series: ICED
Institution: 1: CGS, Mines ParisTech, France; 2: LaPsyDe, Université Paris Descartes, France
Page(s): 103-112
ISBN: 978-1-904670-45-2
ISSN: 2220-4334

Abstract

Despite diverse studies grasping at different aspects of fixation in creativity and design reasoning, the underlying mechanisms of fixation, i.e. the processes that lead to being fixed on a small number of unvaried solutions, are still unclear. We propose a theoretical framework to model fixation based on C-K design theory, in which fixation is characterized as a set of restrictive heuristics activated in a creative reasoning. Thus, a restrictive heuristic is a design reasoning that uses only spontaneously activated knowledge in the K space and restrictive partitions in the C space. Any expansion in the design reasoning will then lead to explore solutions outside of fixation, characterizing expansive reasoning. We then use a creative task to test our framework. We apply our theoretical frame on this task to characterize the fixation effects that can occur and we confront this model with a set of experiments, where 142 participants where asked to generate solutions to this task. We show how different populations can be fixed in different ways and how the theoretical framework we propose allows making sense of this variety of fixation in design processes.

Keywords: Concept-knowledge theory, fixation effects, design theory, design cognition, creativity

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