Creativity techniques

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Creativity techniques are methods that encourage creative actions, whether in the arts or sciences. They focus on a variety of aspects of creativity, including techniques for idea generation and divergent thinking, methods of re-framing problems, changes in the affective environment and so on. They can be used as part of problem solving, artistic expression, or therapy.

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Some techniques require groups of two or more people while other techniques can be accomplished alone. These methods include word games, written exercises and different types of improvisation, or algorithms for approaching problems. Aleatory techniques exploiting randomness are also common.

Aleatory techniques

Aleatoricism is the incorporation of chance (random elements) into the process of creation, especially the creation of art or media. Aleatoricism is commonly found in music, art, and literature, particularly in poetry. In film, Andy Voda made a movie in 1979 called Chance Chants , which he produced by a flip of a coin or roll of a dice. In music, John Cage, an avant-garde musician, composed music by using the I Ching to determine the position of musical notes, [1] superimposing star maps on blank sheet music, by rolling dice and preparing open-ended scores that depended on the spontaneous decisions of the performers. (1) Other ways of practicing randomness include coin tossing, picking something out of a hat, or selecting random words from a dictionary.

The aleatory approach is also demonstrated in the case of the process called provocation, which was initially introduced by Edward de Bono as an aid to research. [2] This method, which Richard Restak said was also employed by Anthony Burgess, aims to achieve novel ideas in writing by directing a plot with creative connections through random words picked from a reference book. [3] Restak explained that the two hundred billion interconnected neural cells in the brain are capable of an abundance of possibilities for long-range connections and creative interactions using random and unrelated words. [3]

In short, aleatoricism is a way to introduce new thoughts or ideas into a creative process.

Improvisation

Improvisation is a creative process which can be spoken, written, or composed without prior preparation. [4] Improvisation, also called extemporization, can lead to the discovery of new ways to act, new patterns of thought and practices, or new structures. Improvisation is used in the creation of music, theater, and other various forms. Many artists also use improvisational techniques to help their creative flow.

The following are two significant domains that use improvisation:

In problem solving

In problem-solving contexts, the random-word creativity technique is perhaps the simplest method. A person confronted with a problem is presented with a randomly generated word, in the hopes of a solution arising from any associations between the word and the problem. A random image, sound, or article can be used instead of a random word as a kind of creativity goad or provocation. [6] [7]

There are many problem-solving tools and methodologies to support creativity:

In project management

For project management purposes, group creativity techniques are creativity techniques used by a team in the course of executing a project. Some relevant techniques are brainstorming, the nominal group technique, the Delphi technique, idea/mind mapping, the affinity diagram, and multicriteria decision analysis. [8] These techniques are referenced in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge . [9]

Group creativity techniques can be used in a sequence; for example: [9]

  1. Gather requirements using idea/mind mapping
  2. Continue generating ideas by brainstorming
  3. Construct an affinity diagram based on the generated ideas
  4. Identify the most important ideas by applying the nominal group technique
  5. Obtain several rounds of independent feedback using the Delphi technique

Affecting factors

Distraction

Multiple studies have confirmed that distraction actually increases creative cognition. [10] One such study done by Jonathan Schooler found that non-demanding distractions improve performance on a classic creativity task called the UUT (Unusual Uses Task) in which the subject must come up with as many possible uses for a common object. The results confirmed that decision-related neural processes occur during moments of unconscious thought while a person engages in a non-demanding task. The research showed that while distracted a subject isn’t maintaining one thought for a particularly long time, which in turn allows different ideas to float in and out of one’s consciousness—this sort of associative process leads to creative incubation. [11]

Ambient noise is another variable that is conducive to distraction. It has been proven that a moderate level of noise actually heightens creativity. [12] Professor Ravi Mehta conducted a study to research the degree of distraction induced by various noise levels and their effect on creativity. The series of experiments show that a moderate level of ambient noise (70 dB) produces just enough distraction to induce processing disfluency, which leads to abstract cognition. These higher construal levels caused by moderate levels of noise consequently enhance creativity. [12]

Walking

In 2014, a study found that walking increased creativity. [13]

Sleep and relaxation

Some advocate enhancing creativity by taking advantage of hypnagogia, the transition from wakefulness to sleep, using techniques such as lucid dreaming. One technique used by Salvador Dalí was to drift off to sleep in an armchair with a set of keys in his hand; when he fell completely asleep, the keys would fall and wake him up, allowing him to recall his mind's subconscious imaginings. [14] Thomas Edison used the same technique, with ball bearings. [15]

Meditation

A study [16] from 2014 involving 40 Chinese undergraduates found that performing a short 30 minute meditation session each day, for seven days, was sufficient to improve verbal and visual creativity, as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, due to the positive effects of meditation on emotional regulation. The same researchers [17] also showed in 2015 that short term meditation training could also improve insight-based problem solving (the type commonly associated with an "Ah-ha", or "eureka" type moment of realization) as measured by the Remote Associates Test.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Improvisational theatre</span> Theatrical genre featuring unscripted performance

Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.

Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen – but it is also related to both the old French word "emprouer" and the English "improve", to improve. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties, across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creativity</span> Forming something new and somehow valuable

Creativity is a characteristic of someone or some process that forms something new and valuable. The created item may be intangible or a physical object.

TRIZ is an approach that combines an organized and systematic method for problem solving with analysis and forecasting techniques derived from the study of patterns of invention in the global patent literature. The development and improvement of products and technologies in accordance with TRIZ are guided by the objective laws of technical systems evolution, forming the basis for TRIZ problem solving tools and methods. It was developed by Genrich Altshuller, a Soviet inventor, and science-fiction author, along with his colleagues, starting in 1946. In English the name is typically rendered as the theory of inventive problem solving, and occasionally goes by the English acronym TIPS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lateral thinking</span> Manner of solving problems

Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term was first used in 1967 by Maltese psychologist Edward de Bono in his book The Use of Lateral Thinking. De Bono cites the Judgement of Solomon as an example of lateral thinking, where King Solomon resolves a dispute over the parentage of a child by calling for the child to be cut in half, and making his judgment according to the reactions that this order receives. Edward de Bono also links lateral thinking with humour, arguing it entails a switch-over from a familiar pattern to a new, unexpected one. It is this moment of surprise, generating laughter and new insight, which facilitates the ability to see a different thought pattern which initially was not obvious. According to de Bono, lateral thinking deliberately distances itself from the standard perception of creativity as "vertical" logic, the classic method for problem solving.

Creative problem-solving (CPS) is the mental process of searching for an original and previously unknown solution to a problem. To qualify, the solution must be novel and reached independently. The creative problem-solving process was originally developed by Alex Osborn and Sid Parnes. Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of using creativity to develop new ideas and solutions to problems. The process is based on separating divergent and convergent thinking styles, so that one can focus their mind on creating at the first stage, and then evaluating at the second stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brainstorming</span> Group creativity technique

Brainstorming is a creativity technique in which a group of people interact to suggest ideas spontaneously in response to a prompt. Stress is typically placed on the volume and variety of ideas, including ideas that may seem outlandish or "off-the-wall". Ideas are noted down during the activity, but not asssessed or critiqued until later. The absence of criticism and assessment is intended to avoid inhibiting participants in their idea production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daydream</span> Aspect of human thought and consciousness

Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. There are various names of this phenomenon including mind-wandering, fantasy, spontaneous thoughts, etc. When thoughts move to a different place while daydreaming it is referred to as mind-wandering. Daydreaming is the term used by Jerome L. Singer, whose research laid the foundation for nearly all the subsequent research today. The terminologies assigned by researchers today puts challenges on identifying the common features of daydreaming, and on building collective work among researchers.

Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation comprises all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization. Ideation can be conducted by individuals, organizations, or crowds. As such, it is an essential part of the design process, both in education and practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Spolin</span> American academic and acting theorist

Viola Spolin was an American theatre academic, educator and acting coach. She is considered an important innovator in 20th century American theater for creating directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life. These acting exercises she later called Theater Games and formed the first body of work that enabled other directors and actors to create improvisational theater. Her book Improvisation for the Theater, which published these techniques, includes her philosophy and her teaching and coaching methods, and is considered the "bible of improvisational theater". Spolin's contributions were seminal to the improvisational theater movement in the U.S. She is considered to be the mother of Improvisational theater. Her work has influenced American theater, television and film by providing new tools and techniques that are now used by actors, directors and writers.

Unified Structured Inventive Thinking (USIT) is a structured, problem-solving methodology for finding innovative solution concepts to engineering-design type problems. Historically, USIT is related to Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT), which originated in Israel and is related to TRIZ, the Russian methodology. It differs from TRIZ in several ways, but most importantly it is a simpler methodology, which makes it quicker to learn and easier to apply. It requires no databases or computer software.

In music therapy improvisation is defined as a process where the client and therapist relate to each other. The client makes up music, musical improvisation, while singing or playing, extemporaneously creating a melody, rhythm, song, or instrumental piece. In clinical improvisation, client and therapist relate to one another through the music. Improvisation may occur individually, in a duet, or in a group. The client may use any musical or nonmusical medium within their capabilities. Musical media includes voice, body sound, percussion, and string, wind, and keyboard instruments. Nonmusical media can consist of images, titles, and stories.

Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of thought</span> Overview of and topical guide to thought

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to thought (thinking):

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Divergent thinking</span> A process of generating creative ideas

Divergent thinking is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. Following divergent thinking, ideas and information are organized and structured using convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a "correct" solution.

Convergent thinking is a term coined by Joy Paul Guilford as the opposite of divergent thinking. It generally means the ability to give the "correct" answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in most tasks in school and on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.

6-3-5 Brainwriting is a group-structured brainstorming technique aimed at aiding innovation processes by stimulating creativity developed by Bernd Rohrbach who originally published it in a German sales magazine, the Absatzwirtschaft, in 1968.

Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) is a thinking method developed in Israel in the mid-1990s. Derived from Genrich Altshuller's TRIZ engineering discipline, SIT is a practical approach to creativity, innovation and problem solving, which has become a well known methodology for innovation. At the heart of SIT's method is one core idea adopted from Genrich Altshuller's TRIZ which is also known as Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TIPS): that inventive solutions share common patterns. Focusing not on what makes inventive solutions different – but on what they share in common – is core to SIT's approach.

"Yes, and...", also referred to as "Yes, and..." thinking, is a rule-of-thumb in improvisational comedy that suggests that an improviser should accept what another improviser has stated ("yes") and then expand on that line of thinking ("and"). The improvisers' characters may still disagree. It is also used in business and other organizations as a principle that improves the effectiveness of the brainstorming process, fosters effective communication, and encourages the free sharing of ideas.

In computer supported brainstorming, team members contribute their ideas through electronic means either synchronously or asynchronously. The brainstorming software selected by the team mediates the individual interactions and helps to organize and shape the products of the brainstorming session. Computer supported brainstorming can be implemented using a wide variety of electronic technologies.

References

  1. ↑ Mikics, David (2007). A New Handbook of Literary Terms . New Haven: Yale University Press. pp.  6. ISBN   9780300106367.
  2. ↑ Collins, Hilary (2017). Creative Research: The Theory and Practice of Research for the Creative Industries. Laussane: AVA Publishing SA. p. 30. ISBN   9782940411085.
  3. 1 2 Bundy, Wayne (2002). Innovation, Creativity, and Discovery in Modern Organizations. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. p. 91. ISBN   978-1567205695.
  4. ↑ Improvisation | Define Improvisation at Dictionary.com
  5. ↑ Yorton, Tom. "The art of improv: How to make decisions without a script". Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
  6. ↑ "More On Idea Generation Tools and Techniques. IdeaFlow: Discussion about innovation and creativity - new products, strategy, open innovation, commercialization of technologies..." Archived from the original on 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  7. ↑ "Idea Generation, Creativity and Incentives" (PDF). Mitsloan.mit.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  8. ↑ Boral, Sumanta (2016). Ace the PMI-ACP exam: a quick reference guide for the busy professional. New York: Apress. p. 225. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-2526-4. ISBN   9781484225257. OCLC   967511997. S2CID   27902062.
  9. 1 2 "Group creativity techniques to collect requirements". projectmanagement.com. 13 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "How To Waste Time Properly - Issue 7: Waste - Nautilus". Nautilus. 2013-11-14. Archived from the original on 2016-10-03. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  11. ↑ Baird, Benjamin; Smallwood, Jonathan; Mrazek, Michael D.; Kam, Julia W. Y.; Franklin, Michael S.; Schooler, Jonathan W. (1 October 2012). "Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation". Psychological Science. 23 (10): 1117–1122. doi:10.1177/0956797612446024. ISSN   0956-7976. PMID   22941876. S2CID   46281941.
  12. 1 2 Mehta, Ravi; Zhu, Rui (Juliet); Cheema, Amar (2012). "Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition". Journal of Consumer Research. 39 (4): 784–799. doi:10.1086/665048. JSTOR   10.1086/665048.
  13. ↑ Oppezzo, Marily; Schwartz, Daniel L. (2014). "Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 40 (4): 1142–1152. doi:10.1037/a0036577. PMID   24749966. S2CID   11962777.
  14. ↑ "Sleep without Sleeping « Almost Bohemian". almostbohemian.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-13.
  15. ↑ "Geeks Take Their Cue from Thomas Edison's Napping Technique". Wired. 2008-05-19.
  16. ↑ hDing, Xiaoqian; Tang, Yi-Yuan (2014). "Improving creativity performance by short-term meditation". Behavioral and Brain Functions. 10 (9): 9. doi: 10.1186/1744-9081-10-9 . PMC   3994657 . PMID   24645871.
  17. ↑ Ding, Xiaoqian; Tang, Yi-Yuan (2015). "Short-term meditation modulates brain activity of insight evoked with solution cue". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 10 (1): 43–49. doi:10.1093/scan/nsu032. PMC   4994853 . PMID   24532700.
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