Klotz, Adams, and Converse studied human problem solving; their findings are relevant wherever and whenever humans act. A press release related to the trio’s work (recently published in Nature) reports that “When considering two broad possibilities for why people systematically default to addition – either they generate ideas for both possibilities and disproportionately discard subtractive solutions or they overlook subtractive ideas altogether. Additive ideas come to mind quickly and easily, but subtractive ideas require more cognitive effort,” Converse said. Focusing on why that is the case, the researchers think there may be a self-reinforcing effect. “The more often people rely on additive strategies, the more cognitively accessible they become,” Adams said. “Over time, the habit of looking for additive ideas may get stronger and stronger, and in the long run, we end up missing out on many opportunities to improve the world by subtraction.” Klotz added, “I think our research has tremendous implications across contexts, but especially in engineering to improve how we design technology to benefit humanity.”
Jennifer McManamay.2021. “Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve Through Subtraction.” Press release, University of Virginia https://engineering.virginia.edu/news/2021/04/why-our-brains-miss-opport…
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.