Analyzing Individual Differences in Creative Performance: A Case Study on the Combinational Ideation Method in the Interior Design Process. Issue 3 (September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Suh, Joori; Cho, Ji Young
• Is Part Of: Journal of interior design. Volume 43:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 9
• Page End: 23
• Publication Date: 2018-09
• Subjects: Interior decoration -- Periodicals; Interior decoration -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 729.05
• DOI: 10.1111/joid.12124
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1071-7641

Abstract

Research on creative performance indicates that a combination of the primary sources such as known concepts and existing ideas plays an important role in the generation of new ideas. Although studies show a link between the combinational approach to ideation and creativity, how individual differences in cognitive styles are related to this approach is not well understood. This exploratory study examines the domain–specific relationship between individuals' cognitive styles and improvement of creative performance within the structured combinational ideation process where mixing various ideas is encouraged. Fifty interior design students enrolled in the second year of an interior design program at a Midwestern university participated in this study. The workshop designed for this study was structured in the following stages: initial design (ID) + the combinational ideation process (the variation process [VP] + the combination process [CP]) + final design (FD). The participants' creative performance was measured at the ID and the FD phases by three experts. Findings indicated that intuitive individuals generally showed the highest creativity in the ID phase, but they showed a decrease of creativity in the FD, implying that a structured combinational ideation method might not be the best method for intuitive individuals. In contrast, individuals possessing an adaptive and an analytical information processing style showed an increase of creativity in the FD after completing the structured combinational ideation process, suggesting that students with a nonintuitive cognitive style benefit most from this method. The result of this research will provide design educators with meaningful insight into the instruction methods that take students' cognitive styles into consideration, especially in helping nonintuitive students who struggle in the ideation process.