Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono Edward de Bono is a physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is known as the originator of the term lateral thinking, wrote a best selling book Six Thinking Hats and is a proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking as a subject in schools, for the solution of problems through an indirect and creative approach. Lateral thinking is about reasoning Reasoning is the cognitive process of looking for reasons, beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic Logic is the study of arguments. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. Logic examines general forms which arguments may take, which forms are valid, and which are fallacies. It is one kind of critical thinking. In philosophy, the study of logic.
The term first appeared in the title of de Bono's book New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking, published in 1967.
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Methods
Critical thinking "Critical" as used in the expression "critical thinking" connotes the importance or centrality of the thinking to an issue, question or problem of concern. "Critical" in this context does not mean "disapproved" or "negative." There are many positive and useful uses of critical thinking, for example is primarily concerned with judging the truth value In logic and mathematics, a logical value, also called a truth value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth of statements and seeking errors. Lateral thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas.
There are four types of "thinking tools" defined in Edward de Bono's Lateral Thinking: The Power of Provocation manual:[1]
- Idea generating tools that are designed to break current thinking patterns - routine patterns, the status quo Status quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" - literally "the state in which" - is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are. The related phrase status quo ante, literally "the state in which before",
- Focus tools that are designed to broaden where to search for new ideas
- Harvest tools that are designed to ensure more value is received from idea generating output
- Treatment tools that are designed to consider real-world constraints, resources, and support
Idea generating tools
Random Entry Idea Generating Tool: Choose an object at random, or a noun from a dictionary, and associate that with the area you are thinking about.
For example imagine you are thinking about how to improve a web site. Choosing an object at random from an office you might see a fax machine. A fax machine transmits images over the phone to paper. Fax machines are becoming rare. People send faxes directly to phone numbers. Perhaps this could be a new way embed the web site's content in emails and other sites.
Provocation Idea Generating Tool: choose to use any of the provocation techniques - wishful thinking, exaggeration, reversal, escape, or arising. Create a list of provocations and then use the most outlandish ones to move your thinking forward to new ideas.
Challenge Idea Generating Tool: A tool which is designed to ask the question "WHY?", in a non threatening way, why something exists, why it is done the way it is. The result is a very clear understanding of WHY? which naturally leads to fresh new ideas. The goal is to be able to challenge anything at all, not just items which are problems.
For example you could challenge the handles on coffee cups. The reason for the handle seems to be that the cup is often too hot to hold directly. Perhaps coffee cups could be made with insulated finger grips, or there could be separate coffee cup holders similar to beer holders.
Concept Fan Idea Generating Tool: Ideas carry out concepts. This tool systematically expands the range and number of concepts in order to end up with a very broad range of ideas to consider.
The other focus, harvesting and treatment tools deal with the output of the generated ideas and the ways to use them.
Lateral thinking and problem solving
Problem Solving: When something creates a problem, the performance or the status quo of the situation drops. Problem solving deals with finding out what caused the problem and then figuring out ways to fix the problem. The objective is to get the situation to where it should be.
For example, a production line has an established run rate of 1000 books per hour. Suddenly, the run rate drops to 839 books per hour. Ideas as to why this happened and solutions to repair the production line must be thought of.
Creative Problem Solving: Using creativity Creativity is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality. The process involves original thinking and then producing, one must solve a problem in an indirect and unconventional manner.
For example, if a production line produced 1000 books per hour, creative problem solving could find ways to produce more books per hour, use the production line, or reduce the cost to run the production line.
Creative Problem Identification: Many of the greatest non-technological innovations are identified while realizing an improved process or design in everyday objects and tasks either by accidental chance or by studying and documenting real world experience.
See also
- Thinking outside the box This is sometimes called a process of lateral thought. The catchphrase, or cliché, has become widely used in business environments, especially by management consultants and executive coaches, and has spawned a number of advertising slogans
- Provocative operation
- Lateral thinking puzzles, also referred as situation puzzles
- Oblique Strategies
- Derailment (thought disorder)
- Serendipity Serendipity is a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words that were hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been imported into many other languages
Books
- De Bono, Edward Edward de Bono is a physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is known as the originator of the term lateral thinking, wrote a best selling book Six Thinking Hats and is a proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking as a subject in schools (1970). Lateral thinking: creativity step by step. Harper & Row. pp. 300. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-14-021978-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=H-ROAAAAMAAJ.
- De Bono, Edward Edward de Bono is a physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is known as the originator of the term lateral thinking, wrote a best selling book Six Thinking Hats and is a proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking as a subject in schools (1972). Po: Beyond Yes and No. Penguin Books. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-14-021715-0.
- De Bono, Edward Edward de Bono is a physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is known as the originator of the term lateral thinking, wrote a best selling book Six Thinking Hats and is a proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking as a subject in schools (1992). Serious creativity: using the power of lateral thinking to create new ideas. HarperBusiness. pp. 338. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-88730-635-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=NbB9AAAAMAAJ.
- Sloane, Paul (1994). Test your Lateral Thinking IQ. Sterling Publishing Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. is a publisher of nonfiction titles, with more than 5,000 books in print. Founded in 1949, it publishes a wide range of nonfiction and illustrated titles in categories which include art, biography/autobiography, body/mind/spirit, crafts, culinary, do-it-yourself, gardening, gift, history, holiday, juvenile,. pp. 96. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-8069-0684-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=0op9AAAAMAAJ.
- The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills, Paul Sloane, (Kogan Page, 2006 Categories: 2006 works | Books by year | 2000s books ), ISBN 0-7494-4797-4
References
- ^ Published in 2006 by de Bono Thinking Systems
Categories: Thought Thought is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Concepts akin to thought are sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination | Creativity Categories: Human skills | Intelligence | Problem solving | Innovation | Problem solving Categories: Cognition | Innovation | Critical thinking | Anticipatory thinking Categories: Collaboration | Futurology | Strategic management | Systems science | Problem solving | Planning | Innovation Innovation is the use of new ideas, processes, goods, services, business models and practices in a more or less commercial way, based on any application of science and/or technology | Logic Categories: Abstraction | Branches of philosophy | Formal sciences | Interdisciplinary fields | Axiology
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Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:50:18 GM
What Is . Lateral Thinking. ? The term '. lateral thinking. ' is a term that has been used for quite a long term in business and ma...
