Creativity
Creativity
Creativity
Creativity
Syllabus of 1 module st
• Divergent Thinking:
• Divergent thinking is the process of recalling possible
solutions from past experience, or inventing new ones.
Thoughts spread out or 'diverge' along a number of paths
to a range of possible solutions. It is the process from
which many of the following creative problem solving
techniques have been designed.
• Convergent thinking:
• Convergent thinking is the subsequent process of
narrowing down the possibilities to 'converge' on the most
appropriate form of action.
Creative Style
• Our creative style depends on whether we are a
structured thinker or not, or somewhere in between.
• A structured thinker is very logical and when
diverging (coming up with ideas) he or she might
come up with ideas about what the garden can look
like and put it up in an Excel sheet and categorise the
ideas according to when each plant will bloom or
make a list of themes.
• While a less structured thinker might come up with
ideas in a less structured way and more connected to
how he or she feels about the idea.
• When converging (choosing the idea) a
structured thinker will think logically and
carefully about how to choose an idea while a
less structured thinker will likely not pay as
much attention to details and follow his or her
feelings when choosing which idea to use.
Dimensions of Creative Style
Valuing diversity in thinking:
• The idea that our thinking is shaped by our culture,
background, experiences, and personalities is core to
the concept of diverse thought. Companies that bring
together people who think differently from one another.
• Diversity of thought introduces not only differences of
perspective, but also differences in approach.
Traditional, rule bound organizations that impose one
right way, restrict learning from alternative ways of
doing things. Organizations that prove successful in
learning from diversity of thought may well find criteria-
guided decision-making, focused on outcome, more
productive than rule-bound decision-making, focused
on enforcement of one approach.
Thinking Preferences
• The awareness of one’s own thinking preferences and
the thinking preferences of others, combined with the
ability to act outside of one’s preferred thinking
preferences is known as “Whole Brain Thinking.” The
model was developed by Ned Herrmann.
• Using brain research developed by others and his own
studies, Herrmann discovered that there were four
patterns that emerged in terms of how the brain
perceives and processes information.
• The Whole Brain® Model emerged as a validated
metaphor for describing the four different preference
modes.
• Whole Brain® Thinking is a methodology designed to
help thinkers, teams and organizations better benefit
from all of the thinking available to them.
• It acknowledges that while different tasks require
different mental processes, and different people prefer
different kinds of thinking, organizations will get better
results when they can strategically leverage the full
spectrum of thinking available.
• Each person has thinking preferences, some strong,
others intermediate.
• Those preferences develop into dominances, and
without the awareness of those preferences, you may
fall victim to blind spots when it comes to other
people’s ways of thinking.
Cognitive biases of creativity
• Cognitive biases are psychological tendencies that
cause the human brain to draw incorrect
conclusion.
• Such biases are thought to be a form of “cognitive
shortcut”, often based upon rules of thumb, and
include errors in statistical judgement, social
attribution and memory.
• These biases are common outcome of human
thought, and often drastically skew the reliability of
anecdotal and legal evidence. The phenomenon is
studied in cognitive science and social psychology.
• What is a cognitive bias? It is assumed to be,
essentially, a systematic bias in the outcomes of
decisions people make, arising from the application
of one or more heuristics1: “rules of thumb” or
“inference mechanisms”—simple ‘shortcut’
strategies for making decisions or judgements.
• For example, if we are in an unfamiliar city in the
evening, looking for somewhere to eat, a quick
heuristic might be to go for a restaurant that looks
popular, while a more detailed heuristic might
involve looking up information on the different
restaurants in the city and comparing relative
distances, prices, and so on.
Heuristics:
Rule of thumb that simplify the process of
making decision.
Decision makers use Heuristics to deal with
bounded rationality. If the Heuristics is wrong,
however, poor decision results from its use.
• A cognitive bias is a mistake in reasoning,
evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive
process, often occurring as a result of holding onto
one's preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary
information.
• There are many cognitive biases that should be
avoided for creative thinking. Some of the cognitive
biases are given below:
1. Mere Exposure; We like things we are familiar with. So the
more we have seen something, the more we will like it. It’s
one reason why advertising works, as it makes things more
familiar, and hence makes us more likely to choose them. A
similar bias is the availability cascade(is a self-reinforcing cycle in
which information is perceived to be plausible and correct due to its
increasing repetition in the public domain.) where if we repeat
something enough, it becomes true.
2. Backfire effect: when people react to evidence that
challenges their opinion by strengthening their existing
beliefs. Closely related is irrational escalation, a phenomenon
where people justify increased commitment to a course of
action based on prior investment, even in the face of new
evidence suggesting that the original action was wrong. If you
innovate for long enough, you’ll find these somewhere!
3. Illusory Correlation, or False Cause Fallacy: Inaccurately
perceiving a relationship between two unrelated events,
often because they occur in close temporal proximity.
• Correlation does not mean causation, but we are wired to
make that connection.
• Often harmless, it can lead to superstitions like a lucky
jacket. However, it can also be a barrier to innovation,
particularly in situations where a new product is
incorrectly linked to background problems that routinely
occur, but become more visible simply because the
innovation focuses more attention on the whole usage
experience.
• For example, linking vaccination to Autism, or a new drug
to apparent side effects, such as an upset stomach, which
in reality would have occurred with or without the drug.
4. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, or interpret
information in a way that confirms our preconceptions.
• Expectation bias is closely related, and is the tendency for
experimenters to believe data that agree with their
expectations for the outcome of an experiment, and
• To disbelieve and discard data that appear to conflict with
those expectations
5. Functional fixedness limits a person to using an object only in
the way it is traditionally used.
• The killer application of many inventions is not the one it was
originally created for. Being able
• to see though this bias can be a huge enabler for innovation,
whether it leads to the Post-It note,
• or James Dyson’s use of centripetal separation in his vacuum
cleaner.
6. Framing effect: We draw different conclusions from
the same information, depending upon on how or
where that information is presented. Framing bias
being influenced by the way in which information is
presented rather than the information itself. We see
this one all the time, particularly when developing
prototypes for pitching as well as in presenting
polished slides. People will avoid risk if presented well
and seek risk if presented poorly meaning that
decision making logic can easily be skewed.
7. Context Effect: Never go shopping when you are
hungry, you will buy more calories! People
• who are happy will respond to an innovation
differently to people who are frustrated.
• Refreshed people are more open to new ideas,
while tired people are more likely to fall back on old
habits. Context is also crucial for Innovation
research.
• Data generated in a lab, a focus group, or when
someone is wired up to an EEG machine or brain
scanner, will often be different to behavior in the
real world.
8. Distinction bias is the tendency to view two
options as more dissimilar when evaluating them side
by side than when evaluating them separately.
• This is important for research, where we often
compare different option in close proximity, when in
the real world they may never be seen together..
• This is also related to the Relativity bias, which is
the tendency to make relative, rather than absolute
evaluations.
9. Mental accounting: The tendency to value things differently based on
what internal classification we put on them.
• The way we think of money is different depending upon whether we
are paying cash or using a credit card. We think of value differently for
luxury versus commodity items.
• Framing an innovation to match the right internal classification for
potential buyers can be the difference between success and failure just
as much as the innovation itself.
10. Endowment effect and Loss Aversion Bias: : once a decision has been
made, sticking to it rather than taking risks due to the fear of losing what
you gained in starting something and wishing to see it finished.
• People often demand much more (often 2x) to give up an object than
they would be willing to pay to acquire it. A bird in the hand is worth
two in the bush, even if we are given a guarantee that we’ll get the
ones in the bush later. Giving someone a bonus, and then taking it back
if somebody doesn’t meet a goal is often more powerful than giving
them the same bonus if they do.
11. Information bias is the tendency to seek information
even when it cannot affect action. This delays action, and
hence risk, and the potential for loss or blame, but of course,
also slows down innovation.
12 . Knowledge bias the tendency of people to choose the
option they know best rather than the best option. As
innovators, overcoming this bias can be the key to disruption,
as looking in unexpected places is more likely to drive big,
innovative leaps.
13. Bandwagon effect the tendency to do (or believe) things
because many other people believe the same. Not always a
bad idea. If everyone believes something is poisonous, you
may not want to eat it, and crowd sourcing can be a powerful
tool. However, challenging widely held givens can also be a
way to be at the front of the crowd, rather than following it.
SETTING THE STAGE FOR SUCCESS:
1. Basic philosophy
2. Having a vision
3. Setting the right attitude
4. Recognizing and avoiding mental blocks
5. Avoiding mindsets
6. Risk taking
7. Paradigm shift
8. Individual and teamwork
1. BASIC PHILOSOPHY
• philosophy (from the Greek or phílosophía, meaning ‘the love of
wisdom’) is the study of knowledge, or "thinking about thinking",
although the breadth of what it covers is perhaps best illustrated
by a selection of other alternative definitions:
• the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live
(ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential
natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge
(epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning
(logic) (Wikipedia)
• investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality,
knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than
empirical methods (American Heritage Dictionary)
2. Having a vision
• Assign a percentage
• What’s the risk?
• Not right now
Strategy 4: Transform the block
• Take action
• Talk about it
• See the cycles
• Reset yourself
5. Avoiding mindsets
• What is a Mindset?
• “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your
thoughts become your words, your words
become your actions, your actions become
your habits, your habits become your values,
your values become your destiny.” —
Mahatma Gandhi
• .
Eight principles can be used to describe the
underlying nature of mindsets
1) Mindsets are habits of mind
2) Mindsets are created by experiences
3) Mindsets create blind spots
4) Mindsets are self-deceptive
5) Mindsets shape our everyday lives
6) Mindsets create our shared world
7) Mindsets can be developed in complexity
8) Mindsets can be transcended
TYPES
6. RISK TAKING
• As an entrepreneur you have to be willing to be brave, jump in
and take risks. Without risk, there is no reward. It’s that simple.
Reasons why risk taking leads to success:
• 1. Unforeseen opportunities often come from risk-taking.
• 2. Taking risks shows confidence and helps you stand out.
• 3. We learn from risks and those lessons may lead us on an
important, new path.
• 4. Success won't fall in your lap, you have to pursue it.
• 5. You don't achieve your dreams by playing it safe.
• 6. Embracing risk-taking helps you overcome a fear of failure.
7. PARADIGM SHIFT AND PARADIGM
PARALYSIS:
• A paradigm is a perception or a group of ideas
about how things should be done, made, or
thoughtabout. In other words, it's your perspective
on the world, your point of view, or your beliefs
aboutwhat's true.
• A paradigm shift occurs whenever there's a
significant change in the way an individual or a
group perceives something, and the old paradigm is
replaced by a new way of thinking, or a new belief.
• A paradigm shift (also radical theory change), a concept
identified by the American physicist andphilosopher Thomas
Kuhn (1922–1996), is a fundamental change in the basic
concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline.
A fundamental change in an individual’s or a society’s view of
how things work in the world is called paradigm shift.
• The 6 major paradigm shifts:
1. Push to pull.
2. Consume to Create
3. Assets to Access
4. Linear to Complex
5. Scarcity to Abundance
6. Universal to Unique
• 1. Push to pull is the shift from pushing structures and products to
pulling in resources and demand. We are moving from marketing
existing stocks to manufacturing on demand; shifting from top-
down allocation to pulling resources for projects; moving from
fixed structures to varying constellations, and understanding and
responding to emergent patterns of user behavior.
• 2. Consume to create is the shift from passively consuming to
actively contributing and creating. We are shifting to a more
participatory experience, in which the customer is actively
involved, co-creating the product or experience. We are becoming
prosumers who bring content to platforms such as YouTube and
Facebook.
• 3. Assets to Access is the shift from acquiring and hoarding
knowledge to spreading and sharing knowledge. In education, it
means shifting from memorizing facts to knowing where to find
information. The new skill is searching for and evaluating
information.
• 4. Linear to complex is the shift from independent and predictable
systems to interdependent adaptive systems. We are transitioning
from seeing the world in a linear way, in which small causes have
small effects and large causes have large effects, to realizing that it’s
perfectly possible for large marketing campaigns to have almost no
result, while small things go viral and flood the market.
• 5. Scarcity to abundance is the shift from scarce natural resources to
using natural abundance. Where a specific situation may have had a
limited set of choices, it now specializes on an abundance of
renewable resources.
• 6. Universal to unique is the shift from mass production to tailored
and individualized artifacts. In the health-care field, it is shown by the
emergence of individualized medicine tailored to the genetic make-
up of the user, and by the rise of individual quantified self-data
8. Individual and teamwork