This thesis addresses creativity in design as a property of systems rather than an attribute of isolated individuals. It focuses on the dynamics between generative and evaluative or ascriptive processes. This is in distinction to conventional approaches to the study of creativity which tend to concentrate on the isolated characteristics of person, process and product. Whilst previous research has advanced insights on potentially creative behaviour and on the general dynamics of innovation in groups, little is known about their interaction. A systems view of creativity in design is adopted in our work to broaden the focus of inquiry to incorporate the link between individual and collective change. The work presented in this thesis investigates the relation between creativity and innovation in computational models of design as a social construct. The aim is to define and implement in computer simulations the different actors and components of a system and the rules that may determine their behaviour and interaction. This allows the systematic study of their likely characteristics and effects when the system is run over simulated time. By manipulating the experimental variables of the system at initial time the experimenter is able to extract patterns from the observed results over time and build an understanding of the different types of determinants of creative design. The experiments and findings presented in this thesis relate to artificial societies composed by software agents and the social structures that emerge from their interaction. Inasmuch as these systems aim to capture some aspects of design activity, understanding them is likely to contribute to the understanding of the target system. The first part of this thesis formulates a series of initial computational explorations on cellular automata of social influence and change agency. This simple modelling framework illustrates a number of factors that facilitate change. The potential for a designer to trigger cycles of collective change is demonstrated to depend on the combination of individual and external or situational characteristics. A more comprehensive simulation framework is then introduced to explore the link between designers and their societies based on a systems model of creativity that includes social and epistemological components. In this framework a number of independent variables are set for experimentation including characteristics of individuals, fields, and domains. The effects of these individual and situational parameters are observed in experimental settings. Aspects of relevance in the definition of creativity included in these studies comprise the role of opinion leaders as gatekeepers of the domain, the effects of social organisation, the consequences of public and private access to domain knowledge by designers, and the relation between imitative behaviour and innovation. A number of factors in a social system are identified that contribute to the emergence of phenomena that are normally associated to creativity and innovation in design. At the individual level the role of differences of abilities, persistence, opportunities, imitative behaviour, peer influence, and design strategies are discussed. At the field level determinants under inspection include group structure, social mobility and organisation, emergence of opinion leaders, established rules and norms, and distribution of adoption and quality assessments. Lastly, domain aspects that influence the interaction between designers and their social groups include the generation and access to knowledge, activities of gatekeeping, domain size and distribution, and artefact structure and representation. These insights are discussed in view of current findings and relevant modelling approaches in the literature. Whilst a number of assumptions and results are validated, others contribute to ongoing debates and suggest specific mechanisms and parameters for future experimentation. The thesis concludes by characterising this approach to the study of creativity in design as an alternative �in silico� method of inquiry that enables simulation with phenomena not amenable to direct manipulation. Lines of development for future work are advanced which promise to contribute to the experimental study of the social dimensions of design.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

This thesis addresses creativity in design as a property of systems rather than an attribute of isolated individuals. It focuses on the dynamics between generative and evaluative or ascriptive processes. This is in distinction to conventional approaches to the study of creativity which tend to concentrate on the isolated characteristics of person, process and product. Whilst previous research has advanced insights on potentially creative behaviour and on the general dynamics of innovation in groups, little is known about their interaction. A systems view of creativity in design is adopted in our work to broaden the focus of inquiry to incorporate the link between individual and collective change. The work presented in this thesis investigates the relation between creativity and innovation in computational models of design as a social construct. The aim is to define and implement in computer simulations the different actors and components of a system and the rules that may determine their behaviour and interaction. This allows the systematic study of their likely characteristics and effects when the system is run over simulated time. By manipulating the experimental variables of the system at initial time the experimenter is able to extract patterns from the observed results over time and build an understanding of the different types of determinants of creative design. The experiments and findings presented in this thesis relate to artificial societies composed by software agents and the social structures that emerge from their interaction. Inasmuch as these systems aim to capture some aspects of design activity, understanding them is likely to contribute to the understanding of the target system. The first part of this thesis formulates a series of initial computational explorations on cellular automata of social influence and change agency. This simple modelling framework illustrates a number of factors that facilitate change. The potential for a designer to trigger cycles of collective change is demonstrated to depend on the combination of individual and external or situational characteristics. A more comprehensive simulation framework is then introduced to explore the link between designers and their societies based on a systems model of creativity that includes social and epistemological components. In this framework a number of independent variables are set for experimentation including characteristics of individuals, fields, and domains. The effects of these individual and situational parameters are observed in experimental settings. Aspects of relevance in the definition of creativity included in these studies comprise the role of opinion leaders as gatekeepers of the domain, the effects of social organisation, the consequences of public and private access to domain knowledge by designers, and the relation between imitative behaviour and innovation. A number of factors in a social system are identified that contribute to the emergence of phenomena that are normally associated to creativity and innovation in design. At the individual level the role of differences of abilities, persistence, opportunities, imitative behaviour, peer influence, and design strategies are discussed. At the field level determinants under inspection include group structure, social mobility and organisation, emergence of opinion leaders, established rules and norms, and distribution of adoption and quality assessments. Lastly, domain aspects that influence the interaction between designers and their social groups include the generation and access to knowledge, activities of gatekeeping, domain size and distribution, and artefact structure and representation. These insights are discussed in view of current findings and relevant modelling approaches in the literature. Whilst a number of assumptions and results are validated, others contribute to ongoing debates and suggest specific mechanisms and parameters for future experimentation. The thesis concludes by characterising this approach to the study of creativity in design as an alternative �in silico� method of inquiry that enables simulation with phenomena not amenable to direct manipulation. Lines of development for future work are advanced which promise to contribute to the experimental study of the social dimensions of design.

1 SUMMARY In general this thesis deals with the question whether or to what extent human thinking is rational in terms of the optimality of the way people achieve their goals and in terms of the consistency between people's beliefs and the structure of the world. This question is quite difficult to answer unequivocally because the answer will always depend on the nature of the particular task and the exact way in which we define rationality. Among other things, that's the reason why we can meet two contradictory schools of thought within the so-called Great Rationality Debate, one of which is convinced of the systematic irrationality of human thinking (in the sense of the systematic deviation of human thinking from normative predictions stemming from the principles of rational thinking as they are captured by the statistical theory of probability, formal logic or decision theory), while the other one considers human thought to be more or less rational, and finds the source of its (alleged) failure elsewhere. In the case of the latter, however, the question is how to explain the apparent existence of irrational behavior and interindividual differences in such behavior. One possible answer to this question is illustrated by Griffiths and Tenenbaum's Bayesian model of causal reasoning based on perceived...

Introduction – Shopping groceries online has had an explosive growth in relation with Covid-19 pandemic, where consumers have been restricted and has had to re-prioritize how and where they shop, which has forced new habits and consumer behaviors. Grocery stores are constantly trying to influence consumers’ buying behaviors through a number of different promotional tools to get a response from consumers. Purpose – The purpose of our study is to examine how the adoption process is affected when consumers start shopping groceries online and gain a deeper understanding of how consumer behavior has changed. Theoretical frame of references – The theoretical frame of reference is based on previous research on food trade via the internet and factors that influence consumer behavior. The areas that we have identified as important for analyzing our empirical data with theories are: The adoption process, perceived customer values, online promotion and impulse buying behavior. Methodology – Based on the purpose of the study, we have chosen to do a qualitative study with a deductive approach. The collected material consisted 6 personal interviews where we chose a semi-structured interview method. The collected material has been transcribed and analyzed based on the thematic analysis method. Results – The results of the study showed that there are several factors that affect the respondents’ consumer behavior. However, our results show the importance of situational factors in understanding why consumers start and interrupt their online grocery shopping. Furthermore, our results indicate that online grocery shopping has attracted a wider range of consumers in relation with Covid-19 pandemic, thus affecting consumers by various factors depending on the type of buying behavior consumers have. Contribution – The study contributes both practically and theoretically where we have developed a new model that grocery stores can use to strength the motivation and influence consumers’ buying behavior through a dynamic marketing strategy. / Inledning - Att handla livsmedel via nätet har haft en explosionsartad tillväxt i samband med Covid-19 pandemin där konsumenter har blivit begränsade och har fått omprioriterat hur och var de handlar, vilket har tvingat fram nya vanor och konsumentbeteenden. Livsmedelsbutiker försöker ständigt påverka konsumenternas köpbeteenden genom ett antal olika promotionverktyg för att få en respons från konsumenterna. Syfte - Syftet med denna studie är att förklara hur adoptionsprocessen påverkas när konsumenter börjar handla livsmedel via nätet och få en djupare förståelse för hur konsumentbeteendet förändrats. Teoretisk referensram - Den teoretiska referensramen är uppbyggd på tidigare forskning om handel av livsmedel via nätet och faktorer som påverkar konsumentbeteendet. De områden som vi har identifierat som viktiga för att analysera vår empiri med teorier är: Adoptionsprocessen, upplevda kundvärden, online promotion och impulsköpbeteendet. Metod - Utifrån studiens syfte har vi valt att göra en kvalitativ studie med en deduktiv ansats. Det insamlade materialet bestod av 6 personliga intervjuer där vi valde en semistrukturerad intervjumetod. Det insamlade materialet har transkriberats och analyserats utifrån den tematiska analysmetoden. Resultat - I studiens resultat framkom att det finns flera faktorer som påverkar respondenternas konsumentbeteende. Dels visar vårt resultat situationsfaktorernas betydelse för att förstå varför konsumenter börjar och avbryter sin handel av livsmedel via nätet. Vidare tyder vårt resultat på att handel av livsmedel via nätet har tilldragit sig ett bredare spektrum av konsumenter i samband med Covid-19 pandemin, således påverkas konsumenterna av olika faktorer beroende på vilken typ av köpbeteende konsumenterna har. Bidrag - Studien bidrar både praktiskt och teoretiskt där vi har tagit fram en ny modell som livsmedelsbutiker kan använda för att stärka motivationen och påverka konsumenternas köpbeteende genom en mer dynamisk marknadsföringsstrategi.

The choice of a career is an important decision that a person has to make in his life. The purpose of this study was to identify factors at play at the time that learners' have to commit themselves to chosen career paths. From the literature it became,evident that there exists an interplay between personal and situational factors. This interplay results in the formation of a certain identity which is later actualised in a chosen career. The empirical study revealed that factors like the type of school attended, the school curriculum the socio-economic location of the school and the availability of guidance services played an important role in the choice of a career. Family factors and other factors such as prestige and remuneration were also influential. It appeared however that the level of a learner's career maturity would be a major factor influencing career identity formation, choice and subsequent satisfaction. / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Een van die belangrike besluite wat In mens moet maak in sy lewe is die van In beroepskeuse. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om die faktore te identifiseer wat In rol speel gedurende die tyd wanneer leerders hulself verbind tot In gekose loopbaan. Uit die literatuur blyk dit dot daar In wisselwerking best a an tussen persoonlikeen omstandigheidsfaktore. Hierdie wisselwerking lei tot die vorming van In sekere identiteit wat later verwesenlik word in In gekose beroep. Die empiriese ondersoek toon dot faktore soos die tipe skool bygewoon, die kurrikulum, die sosio-ekonomiese ligging van die skool en die beskikbaarheid van voorligtingsdienste In belangrike rol gespeel het in die keuse van In beroep. Gesinsfaktore en onder faktore soos aansien en vergoeding het ook 'n rol gespeel. Dit het veral geblyk dot die vlak van die leerder se beroepsvolwassenheid In aansienlike faktor was wat beroepsidentiteitsvorming, keuse en die daaropvolgende beroepsbevrediging, be'invloed het. / Psychology of Education / M.Ed. (guidance and Counselling)

Au Québec, le policier a l’autorité de faire respecter plusieurs lois et d’assurer le maintien de l’ordre. Puisque le policier peut être confronté à une multiplicité de problématiques, il est, dans certaines circonstances, contraint à employer une force pour se protéger lui-même ou pour protéger toute autre personne contre la mort ou contre des lésions corporelles graves. Cependant, bien que l’usage de la force par la police soit l’un des éléments les plus visibles et les plus controversés de l’intervention policière, les connaissances sur ce sujet spécifique demeurent limitées. Afin de pallier à certaines lacunes de la recherche et de la théorie, l’objectif général de ce mémoire vise à identifier les facteurs individuels, situationnels et contextuels liés au niveau de force utilisé par la police lors d’une intervention dans les postes de quartier et dans les secteurs de recensement. Les données dans le cadre de cette étude proviennent des rapports d’incidents déclarés d’usage de la force d’un service de police canadien pour une période couvrant les années 2007 à 2011, les données issues du recensement canadien de 2006 et les données criminelles issues du Programme de déclaration uniforme de la criminalité (DUC). La stratégie analytique privilégiée est la modélisation hiérarchique qui permettra de tester les liens entre les différents niveaux d’analyse. Au terme des analyses multiniveaux, les résultats indiquent que plusieurs facteurs ont un impact sur le niveau de force utilisé par le policier. Au niveau des déterminants individuels du sujet, c’est le fait d’être un homme, de résister physiquement à l’intervention et de posséder une arme qui est associé à des niveaux plus élevés de force. Au niveau des facteurs contextuels, on découvre que la proportion de minorité visible et le désavantage social ont un impact appréciable sur le niveau de force utilisé par le policier. Ces résultats nous amènent donc à conclure que les policiers tiennent surtout compte de la situation immédiate (facteurs individuels et situationnels) pour évaluer le degré de dangerosité ou de menace, mais qu’ils sont également influencés par l’endroit où ils se trouvent. D’autres études sont toutefois nécessaires pour vérifier la constance de nos résultats. / In Quebec, the officer has the authority to enforce various laws and to maintain order. Since the police officer may be faced with a multiplicity of problems, he is, in certain circumstances, forced to use physical force to protect himself or to protect any person against death or serious injury. However, although the phenomenon of police force raises a good number of criticism and it is widely publicized, only a few studies have connected individual, situationnal and contextual factor to police use of force practices. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and to understand the phenomenon of police use of force in Quebec by identifying individual, situational and contextual factors on levels of police force. The data for the current study are derived from three primary sources : the incident reports of use of force of a Canadian police force for a period covering the years 2007 to 2011, 2006 Canadian Census and Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR). The use of multilevel models reveals that several factors have an impact on the level of police use of force. Individual and situationnal findings suggest that police are more likely to use higher level of force when they encounter males, citizens who physically resist and citizens who possess or display a weapon. Contextual findings indicate that the proportion of racial heterogeneity and concentrated disadvantage have an impact on levels of police force. Findings lead us to conclude that the nature of the immediate situation (individual and situational factors) is one of the most prominent explanations for police decision making, but police behavior can also be accounted for by variation in demographic and institutional characteristic of communities. However, further studies are needed to verify the consistency of our results.

The choice of a career is an important decision that a person has to make in his life. The purpose of this study was to identify factors at play at the time that learners' have to commit themselves to chosen career paths. From the literature it became,evident that there exists an interplay between personal and situational factors. This interplay results in the formation of a certain identity which is later actualised in a chosen career. The empirical study revealed that factors like the type of school attended, the school curriculum the socio-economic location of the school and the availability of guidance services played an important role in the choice of a career. Family factors and other factors such as prestige and remuneration were also influential. It appeared however that the level of a learner's career maturity would be a major factor influencing career identity formation, choice and subsequent satisfaction. / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Een van die belangrike besluite wat In mens moet maak in sy lewe is die van In beroepskeuse. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om die faktore te identifiseer wat In rol speel gedurende die tyd wanneer leerders hulself verbind tot In gekose loopbaan. Uit die literatuur blyk dit dot daar In wisselwerking best a an tussen persoonlikeen omstandigheidsfaktore. Hierdie wisselwerking lei tot die vorming van In sekere identiteit wat later verwesenlik word in In gekose beroep. Die empiriese ondersoek toon dot faktore soos die tipe skool bygewoon, die kurrikulum, die sosio-ekonomiese ligging van die skool en die beskikbaarheid van voorligtingsdienste In belangrike rol gespeel het in die keuse van In beroep. Gesinsfaktore en onder faktore soos aansien en vergoeding het ook 'n rol gespeel. Dit het veral geblyk dot die vlak van die leerder se beroepsvolwassenheid In aansienlike faktor was wat beroepsidentiteitsvorming, keuse en die daaropvolgende beroepsbevrediging, be'invloed het. / Psychology of Education / M.Ed. (guidance and Counselling)

由於網際網路的興起，網路使用人口便快速地攀升，同時帶動網際網路在商業應用的發展，以網際網路為基礎的電子商務也成為資訊社會中一種嶄新形態的商業行為。在此環境中網路競標逐漸形成一種網路消費的模式，而本研究則試圖以消費者的角度來探討網路競標此一交易的行為。 本研究從國內外的網路競標現況以及相關研究理論進行文獻的探討，經過整理後，決定以情境因素、消費者購買涉入、接受創新態度、與人口統計變數來探討消費者的網路競標意願是如何受到這些變數的影響。 本研究的主要結果發現： 1.在溝通情境下，以「產品提供的豐富性」、「產品搜尋的效率性」、和「產品資訊的豐富性」對消費者的網路競標意願最具有影響力。 2.在購買情境下，以「目標商品價格低於個人預算」與「目標商品結標期限將至」最能影響消費者的網路競標意願。 3.購買涉入程度愈高的消費者，其參與網路競標的意願也愈高。 4.創新接受態度愈高的消費者，其參與網路競標的意願也愈高。 5.曾經參加過網路競標以及每日上網時數較多的消費者，也有較高的網路競標意願。 最後根據研究結果，本研究對於競標網站的經營業者提出以下的6點建議與策略： 1.針對女性消費者的需求，提供所需商品或設計專屬網站。 2.多元的交易付款方式。 3.強化網站的使用功能與知名度。 4.熱門商品宜縮短其競標期限。 5.針對高購買涉入消費者的行銷策略。 6.吸引低創新接受態度消費者的行銷策略。 / The appearance of Internet has contributed to rapid growth of both surfer population and business applications. As a result, the Internet-based E-commerce has become a new business practices in the information society. Under the impact, the new consumption trend of online bidding is growing rapidly. This thesis takes a look into the new online transaction-online bidding in terms of the perspective of consumer behavior. This thesis compiles documents such as current foreign and domestic online bidding status, relevant researches, and related theories, to construct the operating framework on it, which is to study the impact of situational factors, consumer purchasing involvement, innovativeness, and demographic variation on online bidding intention. The following points are the major discoveries of this thesis: 1.Among all the factors of communication situation, "product variety," "efficiency in product searching," and "accessibility to product information" are the most influential factors on consumers' online bidding intention. 2.Among all the factors of purchase situation, consumers are most interested in online bidding when "prices of desired products are lower than personal budget" and "deadlines for bidding are approaching." 3.Consumers with higher purchasing involvement have higher online bidding intention than those who with lower purchasing involvement. 4.Consumers inclined to adopt innovations are more willingly to participate in online bidding. 5.Consumers who have experiences of online bidding and those who spend more time surfing on the Internet have higher intention on online bidding. Based on the findings, this thesis proposes several reference suggestions and approaches for online bidding websites. 　1.To provide products women need or establish websites designed exclusively for women. 2.To accept various ways of payment. 3.To strengthen functions and publicity of websites. 4.To shorten the bidding term of popular products. 5.The marketing strategy to attract consumers with high purchasing involvement. 6.The marketing strategy of appealing to consumers with low innovativeness.

Aujourd’hui, un nombre croissant de formats de distribution (i.e. magasins amiraux, centres commerciaux,points de vente éphémères, corners, etc.) à travers le monde adoptent la stratégie d'artification de l'expérience de magasinage, reposant sur l'introduction d'éléments artistiques dans la surface marchande. Toutefois l'utilisation de cette variable d'atmosphère s’avère pour le moment très intuitive. D’un point de vue académique, la revue de la littérature amène à qualifier ce champ de recherche d’embryonnaire. Par conséquent cette thèse se propose de mesurer l'impact de l'artification de l'expérience de magasinage sur la performance du point de vente, ainsi que sur les réactions du consommateur. Dans cette optique, une expérimentation a été réalisée à partir d’un plan factoriel manipulant la dimension artistique de l’atmosphère du point de vente. La collecte de données a été effectuée pendant deux mois dans des magasins réels, selon une méthode quantitative. Les résultats indiquent que la stratégie d'artification de l'expérience de magasinage, lorsque adoptée au seul niveau du point de vente et en tant que proposition éphémère, a pour impact positif d’améliorer la performance marketing du point de vente,ceci au niveau de la différenciation perçue du point de vente, du caractère créatif de l’image (du point de vente et des produits), de la valeur perçue de l'offre (rapport qualité/prix et désensibilisation au prix), et de la satisfaction du consommateur. En revanche l'artification de l'expérience de magasinage n'agit pas sur la performance commerciale du point de vente (ventes, taux de transformation, fidélité attitudinale), suggérant un effet de muséification avec la perte de la finalité transactionnelle du point de vente et sa reclassification fonctionnelle en musée/galerie d'art. En conclusion, l'adoption de cette stratégie expérientielle nécessite une réflexion en amont relative aux objectifs de l’entreprise (stratégie d’image vs. rentabilité directe du point de vente) puisqu’elle implique des arbitrages en termes de coûts directs et indirects concernant l'allocation de la surface marchande. / Today a growing number of retail formats (i.e. flagship stores, shopping malls, pop-up stores, corners, etc.)worldwide are adopting the shopping experience artification strategy, consisting of introducing artistic elements in the sales surface. However using this atmospherics’ variable remains for now very intuitive. From an academic perspective, this research field can be qualified as seminal. Thus this dissertation’s aim is to measure the impact of the shopping experience artification on store performance, as well as on customer reactions. In that regard, an experimentation was carried out with a factorial design manipulating the artistic dimension of store atmospherics. The data collection was conducted during two months in real retail stores, using a quantitative method. The results indicate that the shopping experience artification strategy, when adopted only at the store level and as an ephemeral proposition, positively impacts store marketing performance, namely regarding store perceived differentiation, the creative dimension of image (store’s and products’), store offering’s perceived value (price/quality ratio and price desensitization), and customer satisfaction. However the shopping experience artification does not impact store commercial performance (sales, conversion rate, attitudinal loyalty), which suggests a museumification effect with the store possibly losing its transactional purpose and being functionally reclassified as a museum/art gallery. As a conclusion, adopting this experiential strategy calls for an upstream reflection upon the company’s objectives (branding strategy vs. direct store profitability) since it implies tradeoffs regarding direct and indirect costs concerning sales surface allocation.