A1 Journal article (refereed)
Mental self‐renewal as a measure of systems thinking (2024)

Mononen, L., & Kujala, T. (2024). Mental self‐renewal as a measure of systems thinking. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Early View. https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3017

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Mononen, Laura; Kujala, Tuomo

Journal or series: Systems Research and Behavioral Science

ISSN: 1092-7026

eISSN: 1099-1743

Publication year: 2024

Publication date: 28/05/2024

Volume: Early View

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3017

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/95459

Abstract

Systems thinking research confronts theoretical and empirical challenges, and new measures based on the cognitive sciences have been sought. In this paper, mental self-renewal is proposed as a suitable new theoretical construct for studying systems thinking. The objective was to construct and validate a psychometric scale of mental self-renewal (MSRS) and to investigate its associations with complex postformal thinking (CPFT), existing systems thinking scores (STSR) and visual remote associative thinking (vRAT). Data were collected by surveying 311 international designers. Exploratory factor analysis and correlative analyses indicate construct validity for a novel scale with 14 different factors that, when taken together, measure designer's mental self-renewal. The MSRS is a strong predictor of CPFT, whereas its correlation with STSR is weak. MSRS or CPFT did not predict performance in the vRAT test, while STSR did. In conclusion, MSRS can measure novel aspects of systems thinking; however, further research is necessary.

Keywords: systems thinking; thinking; creativity; development (active); renewal; measurement

Free keywords: complex postformal thinking; dynamical systems paradigm; embodied dynamism; mentalself-renewal; systems thinking; visual remote associates

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2024

Preliminary JUFO rating: 1