Modeling Thinking Style in Engineering Design

Graduate Researchers:
Hristina Milojevic, 
Nikita Seth,
Adam Omary

Faculty Adviser:
Prof. Yan Jin

The purpose of this work is to offer a framework that analogously considers factors significant for engineering design and industrial organization, borrowing from literature in domains of cognition and social theories. We conducted two studies: at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University of Southern California, that allowed us to investigate personal, environmental, cognitive, and behavioral traits and processes, as affected by design self-efficacy, in engineering designers and non-technical designers in training. Through a social-cognitive framework for design, we explore the kind of influencing that occurs among person, environment, and behavior reciprocally. We found that the rational mode of thinking was particularly highly associated with design self-efficacy, and intuitive mode particularly insufficiently associated with design self-efficacy. Design self-efficacy was further positively associated with big five personality conscientiousness, and highly negatively associated with neuroticism, where some significance is seen in specific correlations with design self-efficacy in personality domains. The comprehensive findings call for a repetition study and further theoretical considerations for findings in the framework’s domain.

Related Publications:

Milojevic, H., Jin, Y., Patel, A., Chastain-Howley, P., and N. K. Brown “Adapted Ethnographic Approach to Social Cognition and Cognitive Apprenticeship in Design Learning Experience” in Proceedings of ASME 2020 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC-CIE 2020, August 16-19, 2020, St. Louis, MO, USA / Virtual.

Milojevic, H. and Y. Jin “Building a Social-Cognitive Framework for Design: Personality and Design Self-Efficacy Effects on Pro-Design Behaviors”, in Proceedings ofDesign Computing and Cognition DCC’18, July 2-4, 2018, Milan, Italy.

Milojevic, H., Girardello, A., Zhang, Z. and Y. Jin “Influence of Thinking Style on Design Creativity”, in Proceedings of the 4nd International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC2016), November 2-4, 2016Atlanta, USA. •Milojevic, H., Jin, Y. “Influence of Mindset on Design Performance”, in Proceedings of Design Creativity Workshop 2016, Evanston (Chicago), USA, June 26, 2016.

In preparation:

Milojevic, H., Seth, N., Omary, A., Khooshabeh, P. and Y. Jin. A Social-Cognitive Framework for Design: The role of reciprocal determinism in design self-efficacy of engineering professionals. In International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation (IJDCI)

Milojevic, H., Omary, A., Seth, N., Khooshabeh, P. and Y. Jin. Pro-Design factors in social-cognitive systems of engineering students and professionals. In International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation (IJDCI)