Creativity Defined: Implicit Theories in the Professions of Interior Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Engineering

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine implicit theories of creativity in related fields through a mail survey of 3 1 3 professors randomly selected from accredited programs in interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering. To describe a highly creative practitioner in their respective fields, the respondents completed the Gough Adjective Check List (ACL), scored with the Domino creativity scale (Cr). The interior design professors generated a profile of the creative practitioner that obtained a significantly higher mean score than did the architecture or engineering groups on the ACL-Cr scale. No other significant differences on the creativity scale appeared between groups.Exploratory analyses of individual ACL-Cr items found considerable agreement as to what constituted creativeness in implicit theories. At least 75 percent of the respondents in each group described the creative practitioner in their respective fields as imaginative, inventive, and adventurous. Disciplinary differences among groups surfaced in 21 traits on the ACL-Cr scale that were statistically significant in areas of artistic creativity, scientific creativity, intelligence, self-confidence, and task orientation. Further, the creative interior design practitioner was perceived as significantly more individualistic and original than in the other three fields, and sixteen other traits significantly differentiated interior design profiles from those posited in architecture, landscape architecture, or engineering. By promoting a scholarship of integration, findings reveal perceived traits of the creative practitioner in allied fields and advance interdisciplinary understanding. Design educators are encouraged to reflect on their own implicit theories of creativity and those of their students to acknowledge underlying assumptions about creativity that can influence innovation and collaboration 10 0

A Concept Analysis of Creativity: Uses of Creativity in Selected Design Journals

“…A creative person is sometimes defined as an individual who has “the capacity to produce new or original ideas” (Goldschmidt & Tatsa, 2005, p. 593). Portillo (2002) surveyed professors in interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering to examine perceptions of creativity. While over half of her sample described creative practitioners as original she found that “the interior design profile differed from the other three groups by being more frequently cited as … original” (p. 20).…”

“…The creative person empirical referents were as follows: Personality attributes including creative attitude were studied by Dohr (1982) and Portillo (2002) using Gough's Adjective Checklist with Domino's (1970) creativity scale. Perceived creativity levels were measured by Gardner and Weber (1990) using the instrument “How Do You Think?” (Davis, 1977).…”

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“ Creativity is highly valued in the workplace where novel and appropriate solutions to real world problems are sought. ( Portillo, 2002 , p. 10) ”

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Personality Assessments in Architects’ Offices: An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Personality Types, Forms and Productivity in Office Interior

“…Personality is an important concept in psychology, which may be identified as particular combination of the individual's emotional, behavioural and attitudinal pattern in different situations (Sandhu & Kapoor, 2013). Portillo (2002) conducted an exploratory study to compare the Personality of interior designers, architects, landscape architects, and engineers. Results indicated that each group was described with specific Personality traits.…”

Women in Engineering: Promoting Identity Exploration and Professional Development

“…One growing area of research is the study of creativity in different fields in order to help understand how members of a profession define themselves in their field. An example of this kind of variance can be found in the research by Portillo who surveyed 313 professors from four related fields: interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering [5].…”