Creative Thinking

This component provides that “something extra” of creative perform- ance.’^ Assuming that a person has some incentive to perform an activity, per- formance will be “technically good” or “adequate” or “acceptable” if the requisite expertise is in place. However, even with expertise at an extraordinarily high level, the person will not produce creative work if creative thinking skills are

Creativity Skills

Task Motivation

lacking. These skills include a cognitive style favorable to taking new perspec- tives on problems, an application of techniques (or “heuristics”) for the explo- ration of new cognitive pathways, and a working style conducive to persistent, energetic pursuit of one’s work.

Creative thinking depends to some extent on personality characteristics related to independence, self-discipline, orientation toward risk-taking, tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance in the face of frustration, and a relative lack of con- cern for social approval.’^ However, creativity skills can be increased by the learning and practice of techniques to improve cognitive flexibility and intellec- tual independence.

An engineer’s arsenal of creativity skills might include his ability to break out of a pre-conceived perception or expectation when examining testing

results, his tolerance for ambiguity in the process of deciding on the appropriate interpretation for puzzling data, his ability to suspend judgment as he considers different approaches, and his ability to break out of strict algorithms for attack- ing a problem. He might also have learned to employ some of the creativity heuristics described by theorists: “When all else fails, try something counterintu- itive;”‘** or “Make the familiar strange.””* Finally, if he is productively creative, his work style is probably marked by an ability to concentrate effort for long periods of time-̂ ° and an ability to abandon unproductive strategies, temporarily putting aside stubborn problems.^’