Questioning the impact of personality on design outcomes: Should we take it into account?

Gül E. Okudan, Linda C. Schmidt, Noe Vargas Hernandez, Kathryn Jablokow, Chun Yu Lin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

To investigate the impact of personality factors on the novelty and variety of design outcomes, we conducted an experiment with 33 engineering students of various class standings. All students were enrolled in an introductory engineering design class and completed the same design task, improving the functionality of a traffic light while making sure that it runs sustainably. Our results indicate significant impact of two personality dimensions on design outcomes: openness and agreeableness. These results match findings in the literature that show significant impact of certain personality dimensions of individual scientists on creative problem solving outcomes. We argue that creative problem solving in the engineering domain can be different, as it might require a higher level of tactile thinking in comparison to science; thus, investigation of the impact of personality on creative outcomes was necessary. Accordingly, we recommend measuring and using the personality dimensions as co-variates in empirical observations of design outcomes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationASME 2012 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2012
Pages95-102
Number of pages8
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2012
EventASME 2012 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2012 - Chicago, IL, United States
Duration: Aug 12 2012Aug 12 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
Volume7

Other

OtherASME 2012 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityChicago, IL
Period8/12/128/12/12

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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