THE MECHANICS OF CREATIVITY
WE ALL KNOW
WHAT CREATIVITY IS BUT HOW TO BRING IT OUT?
PRESENTING
CREATIVITY-AT-WILL
The Creativity theory
Hi friends.
This is your friendly neghbourhood blogger again and this time we will tackle the mechanics of creativity. In this post we will start from where we left off.
Last time,we discussed creativity in general and concluded that creativity is nothing but looking at things from a different perspective.Now, so many different things happen in our range of vision that the brain employs a filtering system so that we see only what will interest us. The other things also happen but those files go to the recycle bin of our mind and are then eliminated altogether. Maybe, some are retained as temporary cookies which will explan subconscious and conscious vision,but that is besides the subject of discussion.
The Gorilla in the basketball court
I read about this a long time back and I may not be 100% accurate but its good enough for the purpose. In a study of cognition, a group of volunteers are taken to a basketball court where the opposing teams are in white and black. The volunteers are told to count the number of passes the team in white make. The whistle blows and soon a high intensity passing game starts and lasts for about 1 to 2 minutes. In the middle a man in a gorilla suit comes up, beats his chest, and then walks away. When the time runs out, the volunteers are asked about the number of passes and they give the answers. They are then asked about the gorilla and nobody recalls seeing a gorilla.
If you want to check it out for yourself, there are plenty of videos posted on youtube.com by colleges and educators.You can easily get a lot of links from google. However, most people find that it doesn't work as well as described, because they are already watching out for the gorilla,which is not supposed to be the way its done. You already know about the gorilla which you are not supposed to know. Therefore, I am linking another video which shows us the same thing, allbeit, in a different scenario alltogether.Check it out by clicking HERE.
Nevertheless, we mentally block these sidetracks and go straight and straight on, in the usual and common way, never seeing the sidetracks. We therefore need a way to make these sideway paths appear to us. In other words, we need a "PO" event which will provoke us to leave the main track and enter the sidetrack. This Dr. DeBono asserted can be humor.
Just a small joke here. Its a knock-knock joke.
Knock-Knock
Whose there?
Etch
Etch Who?
Bless You!
Conversation between two deaf men, as they me et on the road, coming from opposite directions.
One is carrying a fishing rod over his shoulder!
Deaf Man(DM)1: Hi, Are you going fishing?
Deaf Man(DM)2: No! I am going fishing.
DM1: Oh! I thought you were going fishing.
DM2: No! I am going fishing.
Here in both cases we have the punch lines and what happens is that due to inertia we try to go straight on the highway. But the humor in the punch line comes from a sidetrack. So, when we get it ,we jump to the sidetrack which DeBono calls " the lateral jump of creativity" Again, sometimes we do not get it and go on walking straight. Therefore the punch line acts as the provocation and we take a lateral leap to a creative sidetrack.
Once we are in the sidetrack, we have the creative atmosphere all around.So do we innovate here? No-we don't.We may form ideas for innovation in the sidetrack but we do not give them concrete shape by implementing them.I personally feel that there is a relationship of the following type between creativity and innovation.
That is , an idea can grow only in a creative place and once you think about it, you ensure that you don't forget it by giving it a concrete shape by implementing the idea. Now that is innovation. Please remember that I am not talking about winning nobel prizes here or billion dollar contracts. Maybe an idea to generate a lead, maybe a new way to manage time , simple things but valuable enough to create a difference. Think about it. I have always felt that people with a sense of humor can give you fantastic ideas.
I think we have covered a long way this time, so let's part here till next time.
Adios and take care
Bilbo (Hob-beet)
The Gorilla in the basketball court
I read about this a long time back and I may not be 100% accurate but its good enough for the purpose. In a study of cognition, a group of volunteers are taken to a basketball court where the opposing teams are in white and black. The volunteers are told to count the number of passes the team in white make. The whistle blows and soon a high intensity passing game starts and lasts for about 1 to 2 minutes. In the middle a man in a gorilla suit comes up, beats his chest, and then walks away. When the time runs out, the volunteers are asked about the number of passes and they give the answers. They are then asked about the gorilla and nobody recalls seeing a gorilla.
If you want to check it out for yourself, there are plenty of videos posted on youtube.com by colleges and educators.You can easily get a lot of links from google. However, most people find that it doesn't work as well as described, because they are already watching out for the gorilla,which is not supposed to be the way its done. You already know about the gorilla which you are not supposed to know. Therefore, I am linking another video which shows us the same thing, allbeit, in a different scenario alltogether.Check it out by clicking HERE.
How does creativity work
We have become so accustomed to thinking in the same old way like “Event A will lead to B and B will lead to C”, i.e. in a cause and effect way that starting to look from a different perspective is difficult. Let us now bring Edward De Bono, into the picture the man who first coined the term “Lateral Thinking” and who is considered as the leading intellectual authority on the subject of creative thinking. Dr. De Bono has written a long list of books on the subject of creative thinking starting from 1969 and has more than 35 years of experience in this field.
Creativity and a Sense of Humor
In his book “Serious Creativity” Dr. De
Bono, describes the humor model of lateral or creative thinking. Dr. Bono
argues that in normal cases, our thinking process moves in the conventional
straight line of cause and effect, as shown in the figure below. Going along
this main route of thought, one comes across various sidetracks,
following some of which and then reversing direction, we can come back to the
originating point i.e. we can think creatively and maybe, find new answers to
existing problem, or in other words, exercise innovation. However, like the
gorilla, we never see them, as we mentally block these sidetracks and go
straight and straight on, in the usual and common way. We therefore need a way
to make these blocks appear. Dr.Bono calls these ‘provocations’ i.e. events
which provokes us to leave the main
track and enter the sidetrack, naming them 'po'.
HUMOUR AND CREATIVITY: A NATURAL PO
The Lateral Jump to "CREATIVE" land
We have become so accustomed to thinking in the same old way like “Event A will lead to B and B will lead to C”, i.e. in a cause and effect way that starting to look from a different perspective is difficult. Let us now bring Edward De Bono, into the picture the man who first coined the term “Lateral Thinking” and who is considered as the leading intellectual authority on the subject of creative thinking. Dr. De Bono has written a long list of books on the subject of creative thinking starting from 1969 and has more than 35 years of experience in this field.
Creativity and a Sense of Humor
In his book “Serious Creativity” Dr. De
Bono, describes the humor model of lateral or creative thinking. Dr. Bono
argues that in normal cases, our thinking process moves in the conventional
straight line of cause and effect, as shown in the figure below. Going along
this main route of thought, one comes across various sidetracks,
following some of which and then reversing direction, we can come back to the
originating point i.e. we can think creatively and maybe, find new answers to
existing problem, or in other words, exercise innovation. However, like the
gorilla, we never see them, as we mentally block these sidetracks and go
straight and straight on, in the usual and common way. We therefore need a way
to make these blocks appear. Dr.Bono calls these ‘provocations’ i.e. events
which provokes us to leave the main
track and enter the sidetrack, naming them 'po'.
| |||||
HUMOUR AND CREATIVITY: A NATURAL PO |
The Lateral Jump to "CREATIVE" land
Nevertheless, we mentally block these sidetracks and go straight and straight on, in the usual and common way, never seeing the sidetracks. We therefore need a way to make these sideway paths appear to us. In other words, we need a "PO" event which will provoke us to leave the main track and enter the sidetrack. This Dr. DeBono asserted can be humor.
Just a small joke here. Its a knock-knock joke.
Knock-Knock
Whose there?
Etch
Etch Who?
Bless You!
Another one? Okay!
Conversation between two deaf men, as they me et on the road, coming from opposite directions.
One is carrying a fishing rod over his shoulder!
Deaf Man(DM)1: Hi, Are you going fishing?
Deaf Man(DM)2: No! I am going fishing.
DM1: Oh! I thought you were going fishing.
DM2: No! I am going fishing.
Here in both cases we have the punch lines and what happens is that due to inertia we try to go straight on the highway. But the humor in the punch line comes from a sidetrack. So, when we get it ,we jump to the sidetrack which DeBono calls " the lateral jump of creativity" Again, sometimes we do not get it and go on walking straight. Therefore the punch line acts as the provocation and we take a lateral leap to a creative sidetrack.
Once we are in the sidetrack, we have the creative atmosphere all around.So do we innovate here? No-we don't.We may form ideas for innovation in the sidetrack but we do not give them concrete shape by implementing them.I personally feel that there is a relationship of the following type between creativity and innovation.
CREATIVITY+IDEA+IMPLEMENTATION = INNOVATION
That is , an idea can grow only in a creative place and once you think about it, you ensure that you don't forget it by giving it a concrete shape by implementing the idea. Now that is innovation. Please remember that I am not talking about winning nobel prizes here or billion dollar contracts. Maybe an idea to generate a lead, maybe a new way to manage time , simple things but valuable enough to create a difference. Think about it. I have always felt that people with a sense of humor can give you fantastic ideas.
I think we have covered a long way this time, so let's part here till next time.
Adios and take care
Bilbo (Hob-beet)
I don't agree with you that an idea can appear only in creative space. It can appear everywhere, esecially when you start looking at mundane things from another perspective.
ReplyDelete