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from Part III - Creativity in the Sciences

Edited by James C. Kaufman, University of Connecticut, Vlad P. Glăveanu, Universitetet i Bergen, Norway, John Baer, Rider University, New Jersey
Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity across Domains
Published online: 15 September 2017
Print publication: 28 September 2017, pp 261-275
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Summary

Abstract
Engineering can claim an important association with the birth of the modern creativity era. The Sputnik Shock of 1957 led to the identification of creativity not only as a valuable quality in general, but also as a vital element of practical, successful problem solving. The engineering domain epitomizes the interdependence of the Four Ps of creativity – Person, Product, Process, and Press – highlighting the necessity of each as a component of generating effective and novel solutions to problems.

In this chapter, we discuss both what makes engineering unique as a domain of creativity, and also how important the core, psychological constructs of creativity are to this domain. We discuss, in particular, two facets of creativity – the characteristics of creative products, and the measurement of divergent thinking – where insights from the domain of engineering add value to the understanding of creativity as a systems phenomenon.