Psychological Inertia and the Role of Idea Generation Techniques in the Early Stages of Engineering Design

Although the key role of concept generation during the early stages of engineering design is widely acknowledged, many engineering curricula lack sufficient and clear emphasis on the associated idea generation processes and techniques.In addition, in spite of the many idea generation techniques with good potential to enable design students in creating new design concepts, challenges remain in utilizing and applying them successfully in practice.This paper examines two of these challenges -(1) the psychological inertia of the designer, and (2) the paradox of structure in selecting and applying idea generation techniques -and provides practical recommendations for managing both from a cognitive perspective.In addition, we propose a new classification scheme for idea generation techniques (both divergent and convergent) based on cognitive style and the level required for their mastery.