As If By Design
How Creative Behaviors Really Evolve

Forget insight and genius! The many creative things we make and do generally arise from sheer chance and trial-and-error learning.

Edward A. Wasserman (Author)

9781108745109, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 July 2021

332 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg

'Recommended.' R. M. Davis, CHOICE

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.

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
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?

Subject Areas: Neurosciences [PSAN], Biology, life sciences [PS], History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Psychology [JM]