Towards Characterizing Cognitive Style Coping Behavior in Engineering Design

Abstract

Problem solving is a crucial aspect of engineering design, and cognitive style, or preferred problem-solving style, is an important way to understand designers’ individual behavior. When there is significant misalignment between the problem frame and one’s cognitive style, it results in cognitive gaps. Large cognitive gaps may hinder effective problem solving. According to Kirton’s adaption-innovation theory, such gaps are managed through coping behavior. However, coping behavior is understudied in the literature, especially when assessing person-problem gaps. We argue that a deeper understanding of these gaps and its resulting coping strategies in problem solving can aid in facilitating effective design. Therefore, the current study was developed to understand how cognitive style and the problem frame impacts solution outcomes; and identify the design strategies and behaviors that are elicited by participants of varying cognitive styles. Through a mixed methods analysis, we found that the problem frame can impact the types of solutions that designers develop and the cognitive experience of their design — where some behaviors indicate the prevalence of coping.