Design Fixation: Effects of Examples on Creative Ideation

Abstract
Behavioral research examining cognition that underlies design fixation will be reviewed. This includes studies of implicit memory blocks, induced fixation in creative problem solving, conformity in creative idea generation, fixation in brainstorming, and applied studies of fixation in creative design. Theoretical ways for avoiding or escaping design fixation will be proposed.

Bio
Steven M. Smith is a Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M University, and is one of the founding members of the Creative Cognition group there. Dr. Smith has given invited addresses on creative cognition research around the world, including England, Spain, The Netherlands, Japan, and China. His experimental work on context-dependent memory influenced memory enhancement techniques that are used forensically to enhance eyewitness memory, and he has served as an expert on eyewitness memory in numerous legal cases. He is the author of more than ninety articles in cognitive psychology, and his books include Creative Cognition: Theory, Research, and Applications (1992), The Creative Cognition Approach (1995), Creativity and the Mind: Discovering the Genius Within (1995), and Creative Thought: An Investigation of Conceptual Structures and Processes (1997).