Psychology
37
As If By Design How Creative Behaviors Really Evolve
Edward A. Wasserman University of Iowa
Description The eureka moment is a myth. It is an altogether naïve and fanciful account of human progress. Innovations emerge from a much less mysterious combination of historical, circumstantial, and accidental influences. This book explores the origin and evolution of several important behavioral innovations including the high five, the Heimlich maneuver, the butterfly stroke, the moonwalk, and the Iowa caucus. Such creations’ striking suitability to the situation and the moment appear ingeniously designed with foresight. However, more often than not, they actually arise ‘as if by design.’ Based on investigations into the histories of a wide range of innovations, Edward A. Wasserman reveals the nature of behavioral creativity. What surfaces is a fascinating web of causation involving three main factors: context, consequence, and coincidence. Focusing on the process rather than the product of innovation elevates behavior to the very center of the creative human endeavor.
Key Features • Adopts an objective scientific approach to the study of creativity and innovation • Demonstrates the centrality of behavior in the creative process • Offers a framework for understanding creativity by stressing context, consequence, and coincidence in the evolution of innovative behaviors • Deploys a narrative approach, using real life stories to explain creativity
Contents Section I. Introduction; Section II. The Vignettes; Part I. Sports; 1. Dick Fosbury’s High Jump was No Flop!; 2. Shedding Fresh Light on the History of the Butterfly Stroke; 3. The Monkey Crouch: Jockeying for Position; 4. Riding Acey-Deucy; 5. The High Five: One Singular Sensation; Part II. Medicine; 6. The Apgar Score: ‘Millions Have Been Saved’; 7. The Ponseti Method: Effective Treatment for Clubfoot Only 2,400 Years in the Making; 8. The Heimlich Maneuver;
9. Eating to Live: The Lifesaving Contribution of Stanley Dudrick; 10. What’s in a (Drug) Name?; 11. Self-Medication by People and Animals; 12. Personalized Medicine: The End of Trial-and-Error Treatment?; Part III. Hygiene; 13. Florence Nightingale: Advancing Hygiene through Data Visualization; 14. Taking Mental Floss to Dental Floss; 15. A Very Close Shave; Part IV. Arts, Entertainment, and Culture; 16. Ansel Adams: Art for Art’s Sake?; 17. Basil Twist: ‘Genius’ Puppeteer;
Additional Information Level: General readers, undergraduate students July 2021 229 x 152 mm 328pp 978-1-108-47776-5 Hardback £69.99 / US$89.99
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18. Moonwalking: And More Mundane Modes of Moving; 19. Play on Words; 20. Cuatro Festivals Españoles; 21. Tchaikovsky: Puzzles of the Pathétique; 22. The Evolution of the Violin: Survival of the Fittest or the Fondest Fiddle?; Part V. Is This Heaven? No, It’s Iowa!; 23. The Rise and the Demise of the Iowa Caucus; 24. Iowa’s Blackout Plates: Artistic License Hits the Road; 25. If I Write It, They Will Build It; Section III. Putting It Together; 26. Context, Consequence, and Coincidence; 27. Are We Just Making It Up as We Go Along?
