We get away from stereotypes. Lateral thinking

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Lateral thinking

Lateral thinking (from the English. lateral thinking - lateral, transverse, directed to the side) is the ability to think outside the box, unconventionally, using the maximum number of approaches to solving the problem, which are often ignored by human logical thinking. The term describing the principle of an entire scientific concept was proposed in 1967 by Edward de Bono, and in 1970 his book Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step (1970) was published. Edward de Bono is today one of the most respected experts in the world of creativity.

Our mind prefers conventional and predictable solutions to problems. In most cases, we think “vertically” (logically), that is, choosing the most promising approach to solving the issue, which involves successive steps, each of which must be justified. Lateral thinking helps solve difficult tasks using unusual methods, or using elements that are ignored by conventional logical thinking.

“Another time, in an attempt to find a mesh for removing foam in a bubble oxygenator, I put together the following collection of items: a brush for washing, a washcloth for dishes, a plastic lattice for a flower pot, curlers, lace panties and, finally, nylon stockings, borrowed from the last moment from "The washcloth was the best."

Creative thinking is not talent, it is a skill that can be learned and developed. This allows you to strengthen the natural ability of a person to create and create new - and, accordingly, lead to greater productivity and success.

Creativity and innovation are the main sources of long-term and global success in today's changing world. Methods of lateral thinking are also published in the book by Edward de Bono “ The mechanism of the mind"(1969).

Criticism

Lateral marketing - a system of non-traditional methods of promoting goods and services that allows you to successfully deal with competition; it is a side view of the problem, as if outside the problem and the search for a non-standard solution to it. It allows you to develop new products, find new market niches and ultimately make a breakthrough in business. This technique shows how it is time to dilute inertial movement according to a given plan in vertical marketing with something more modern. Lateral marketing is based on lateral thinking.

Lateral marketing is the opposite of vertical marketing. It implies a creative approach to search for new marketing ideas, different from that used by vertical marketing (i.e. segmentation). Vertical marketing works within a specific market, while lateral marketing, on the contrary, presents the product in a new context. Lateral marketing involves the search for new opportunities, focusing on non-standard approaches to communication, ways and methods of sales, identifying unaccounted for desires of consumers.

The benefits and the need to use lateral thinking in modern marketing, as well as the prerequisites for the emergence of lateral marketing itself, F. Kotler and F. Trias de Bes described in their book "Lateral Marketing: Technology for Searching for Revolutionary Ideas."

By analyzing the evolution of markets, the development of competition, the shortening of the life cycle of products (goods, services), the revolution made by the transition to digital technologies and the reduction of the impact on consumer consciousness, the authors manage to identify the strengths and weaknesses of traditional marketing thinking.

Principles of Lateral Marketing :

Conduct an analysis of customer dissatisfaction and identify the object for change: product, service, communication methods.
Focus on the object of change, which we intend to transform into something fundamentally different.
To make “lateral substitution” is the interruption of the ordinary course of logical thought, the widespread, ordinary chain of judgments, in order to create an incentive that spurs our mental creative abilities.
Create a new connection, a new connection, as a result of which the object of change will be transformed.

The objectives of lateral marketing:

identifying new needs that the product can satisfy if modified;
expansion of existing market segments by changing the characteristics and attributes of the goods;
identification of additional needs of existing consumers;
analysis and identification of additional situations of use of the goods during its modification;
generating ideas for modifying goods based on existing goods;
analysis of substitute goods to attack an existing product.

In order to think outside the box and realize something new, you need to know how you can come to a new idea by abandoning old patterns. Unconventional thinking can be called global intuition, a sudden surge of inspiration or an autogenous state of a person. However, lateral thinking is not chaos in the mind. A person can control it.

Lateral thinking - what is it?

This is a way to find solutions to problems through unusual methods ignored by logic. The author of this concept is a doctor from Britain, Edward de Bono, and today his work is based on authoritative experts in the field of management and creativity. He argues that in logical thinking, logic controls the mind, while in the process of creative cognition its role is secondary. The lateral type of thinking or lateral finds an idea, and its logic develops. It's like getting out of a dead end in reverse when driving, although this is not necessary.

How to develop lateral thinking?

To think broader, ignoring patterns and standards, it is recommended to work on yourself this way:

Fight your own logic. She is the first who prompts the search for a way out of the impasse, but one should try to look at “familiar things” “illogically”. Stereotypes “blur the eye” and do not allow finding a simple and successful solution lying on the surface.
The development of lateral thinking involves the perception of things "by prying eyes." You need to forget about your experience and look at the thing as if you had not heard about it and used it before.
Track your own "logical thoughts." Realizing the lateral consciousness in practice, a person, first of all, learns to take into account his "logical" thoughts. As soon as he realizes that he is again taking the template or standard as the basis, he goes on the contrary and acts contrary to logic.

Lateral thinking methods

The most popular methods include:

Brainstorm. Its author is Alex Osborne. At the same time, several participants are working at once to solve the problem, who can express a variety of options, including fantastic ones.
Inventive Problem Solving. The late thinking of de Bon won many followers, including Heinrich Altshuller. This one developed a method that is strikingly different from the previous one, since it aims to find an algorithmic approach to solving the problem or modify the old one.
Delphi Method. At the same time, polls, interviews,. All participants are looking for a solution to the problem individually. Unrelated experts evaluate their work, predict the result, and the created organizational group brings their opinions together.

Exercises for lateral thinking

The following methods help to develop imagination and imagination:

The game in Danetka. The facilitator comes up with an unusual situation, and everyone else needs to solve it, but the manager can answer “yes” or “no” to all their clarifying questions.
Develop lateral thinking exercises to find solutions to logical puzzles and puzzles. For example, “What kind of stones do not exist in the sea?”, “How to throw a ball from a ping-pong so that it knocks down an object standing on the ground and lands in the opposite wall?”, Etc.
Draw 9 points on paper and connect them with four lines, without tearing the pen from the paper and without going through one point twice. A similar exercise: find 9 options for dividing a square into 4 equal parts.
Come up with a maximum of options for applying a thing, for example, a plastic bottle, a floor lamp, a tire, etc.

Lateral thinking - tasks

There are a huge number of tasks and training techniques that are also called upon and creative imagination:

Take two identical glasses, pouring into one water and into another compote. From a glass with compote, collect a spoonful of liquid and pour into a vessel with water. Now, pick up a spoon from a glass of water and pour it into a vessel with compote. Repeat these steps again and determine which is more: water in a vessel with compote or compote in a vessel with water.
Tasks for lateral thinking include working with pictures, stories, descriptions. The presenter can distribute to all participants pictures with two related images, but one closes. The task of the participants is to guess what is depicted in the second half. For example, seeing a little man drawn on a tree, they suggest that he: "climbed to take a kitten," "harvests," "is going to cut branches", etc.

Edward de Bono. Lateral thinking. Creativity Step By Step

This book is certainly a must for anyone interested in creativity. Edward de Bono is one of the leading international authorities in this field. The book is still interesting with a fresh approach (which, however, testifies rather to the fantastic rigidity of public consciousness, as it was written 35 years ago), practicality, British clarity. Cons: it is not very easy to read, but in my opinion, this effort is justified.

Perhaps it is worth giving a brief summary of the introductory part here - I will try to retell more or less close to the text.

The most effective method of creating new ideas is an insight that restructures existing information. As an instrument that purposefully promotes insight, the author offers what he calls further lateral thinking. (Lateral - lateral, transverse, directed to the side.) By the way, the concept of lateral thinking from de Bono’s presentation has firmly entered the English language and has already taken its place in the dictionaries.

Memory is a special medium in which information is organized in. This is a self-organizing, growing, incredibly efficient system, but the reverse side of its effectiveness is certain limitations, since patterns are difficult to restructure.

Lateral thinking has the same basis as insight, creativity and humor, but unlike them, it can be applied as intentionally as logical thinking. Lateral thinking involves restructuring patterns, avoiding restraining patterns, and creating new patterns.

Lateral thinking is completely different from traditional vertical thinking (logic, mathematics), where movement occurs in successive steps, each of which must be justified. Vertical thinking works by exclusion. In this case, although the steps in vertical thinking can be absolutely correct, the starting point of the path can be selected based on the perception due to the patterns used. However, as the author figuratively observes, you cannot make a hole in another place, deepening an existing hole.

Lateral thinking is a way of thinking, a habit, a disposition of the mind. There are special practical techniques that allow you to develop lateral thinking skills and at the same time have practical application. The main part of the book is devoted to the analysis of these techniques.

In principle, the techniques described below are not the invention of de Bono. Some of them, such as a random stimulus, have been used for millennia. De Bono has rather a specific vision of these techniques, helping to understand the mechanisms of their work.

About his own techniques, the most famous of which -, de Bono talks in other, later books.

Related Notes

Book Review Serious Creative Thinking at nomagic.ru

Comment (already 6)

[...] Today I’m leaving for Oxford for a week on the course of Edward de Bono, the godfather of creativity and the author of an interesting system of effective thinking, about which one of the books I talked about on the site. The course will consist of two parts: CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) and Six Thinking Hats. Upon return, I will talk in detail about him. [...]

[...] CoRT is De Bono’s basic thinking skills course. (Think about these words. The very idea that you can seriously teach someone to think at first seems absurd.) Who is Edward de Bono, in a nutshell, it will not work - you will have to send inquisitive readers to his biography. I can only say that this is a person of incredible productivity, able to write a book such as Lateral Thinking on an airplane during a flight from one country to another. [...]

“... One of the ways to avoid harsh words is to think on the basis of visual images, without using words at all. Based on these images, a person is quite capable of thinking sequentially. Difficulties arise only when thought needs to be expressed in words. Unfortunately, few people are able to think visually, and not all situations can be analyzed through visual images. Nevertheless, it would be worthwhile to acquire the habit of visualization of thinking, because visual images have such mobility and plasticity that words do not have.

Visual thinking does not simply mean using primary visual images as a material of thinking. That would be too primitive. The visual language of thought uses lines, charts, answers, graphs, and a host of other means to illustrate relationships that would be very difficult to describe in ordinary language. Such visual images easily change under the influence of dynamic processes and, in addition, make it possible to show simultaneously past, present and future results of the influence of any process ... ”

Edward de Bono, Lateral Thinking, Ch. 5

[...] Thus, it becomes clear that in order to overcome the costs of the mechanism of consciousness, a special type of thinking is needed that would consciously seek not only to use its advantages, but also to compensate for its shortcomings. Edward de Bono, to avoid confusion, came up with his own name for him - lateral thinking. About what it is, you can read in his book of the same name, which I already wrote about. And you can get more creative and first try to describe its properties yourself [...]

[...] Many discoveries in science and technology were made precisely through "jumps". Sometimes the hypothesis even proceeded from incorrect assumptions, however, when it was confirmed, there were other reasons for it. Edward de Bono, in particular, writes about jumping in Lateral Thinking, comparing the features of vertical and lateral thinking. [...]

when writing this book, he had this very insight, since there is so much attention and demand this direction is worthy of attention, especially since it allows you to instantly realize thoughts without analyzing what can be done after, if not by yourself, then someone will definitely be found ... interesting to find and read it ...

Lateral thinking

Edward de bono

(St. Petersburg: Peter Publishing, 1997 .-- 320s.)

Introduction

Lateral thinking is closely related to intuition, creativity and a sense of humor. They all have the same foundation. But while the possession of intuition, creative inclinations and a sense of humor is rather a matter of chance, mastering lateral thinking is a process that largely depends on us. Lateral thinking, as well as logical thinking, is a very concrete way of using our own thinking apparatus. However, these two methods have fundamental differences.

The purpose of culture is the implementation of ideas. The purpose of education is the exchange of these perceived ideas. The goal of both is to perfect ideas so that they constantly keep up to date. The only possible way to change ideas is a conflict that can proceed in two directions.

In one case, this is a head-on confrontation between rival ideas. One idea seeks dominance over another, which is suppressed, but does not change. In the second case, a conflict occurs between the new data and the old views. As a result of such a conflict, an outdated idea must be changed.

This is the method of science, for it constantly strives to seek out some new data in order to overthrow old ideas and raise new ones to the shield. But not only science uses this method - this is the method of human cognition as a whole.

Education is based on the time-tested assumption that a person only needs to accumulate how

more information is possible, such baggage will itself translate into fruitful ideas. We have created a whole set of tools for processing this information: mathematics - to expand its boundaries, logical thinking - to sift it.

When changing ideas, the conflict method is effective where information can be evaluated strictly objectively. But it completely stops working when new data is evaluated only through the prism of old ideas. Instead of undergoing changes, old ideas only strengthen their positions and become even more intractable.

The most effective method of changing ideas is to act not from the outside, in a conflict way, but from the inside, resorting to an intuitive regrouping of available information. Intuition is the only productive way of transforming ideas in an uncertain situation - when information is impossible to evaluate objectively.

But even when it can be done, as, for example, in science, the intuitive rearrangement of data allows you to make a real leap forward. Education ideally deals not only with the collection of information, but also with the best use of the accumulated information.

When ideas go ahead of information, and do not weave after it, progress will not be long in coming. However, we have not yet created practical means for the development of intuition. We can only accumulate information, hoping that sooner or later it will make itself felt. Lateral thinking can become a means of improving intuition itself.

Intuition, creativity and a sense of humor are elusive precisely because our mental apparatus is highly efficient. By functioning, he transforms everything that surrounds him into certain stereotypes or models. Once these models are created, you can already recognize them, respond to them, resort to them. And kog-

yes, they are used constantly, they are embedded in our consciousness even deeper.

The model system is a very effective way of processing information. It is worth creating such models, and they become a kind of code. This is the advantage of the coding system: instead of collecting all the information, a person collects it only as much as is necessary to determine the encoded model, which he then refers to. This is similar to how with the help of the catalog cipher we find books on the necessary subjects in the library.

It is convenient to talk about our mental mechanism as a kind of information processing machine - more like a computer. However, our thinking apparatus is not a machine, but a special environment that allows incoming information to be arranged in the form of stereotypes. This “memorizing" system, capable of self-organizing, self-enlarging, acts very reliably, creating a set of stereotypes - it is in this process that the effectiveness of our ordinary thinking lies.

But the enormous productivity of the system for creating models or stereotypes entails a number of drawbacks. Using it, it is easy to arrange stereotypes in various combinations and increase their number, but it is extremely difficult to rebuild them themselves in order to be able to influence them. Both intuition and a sense of humor are associated with a change in stereotypes.

Creativity is also associated with such a restructuring, but more emphasis is placed on decisive departure from stereotypes that limit us. Lateral thinking involves the restructuring of familiar ideas and creates the conditions for the emergence of new models.

Lateral thinking is closely related to creativity. But the result of creativity is, as a rule, only a description of the final result, and lateral thinking is a description of the process. The result can only be admired, and the process can be learned to put into practice.

In creativity, we are used to seeing a mysterious combination of talent and something like that, elusive. Such an assessment can be justified for the world of art, where creative abilities depend on the development in a person of a sense of a beautiful, emotional response and the gift of self-expression. But such an assessment is unacceptable outside this world. Increasingly, creativity is beginning to be seen as an essential component that contributes to transformation and progress.

They begin to value the ability to create above knowledge and skills, as both of these are becoming more and more accessible these days. In order to learn how to give an impetus to your creative abilities, it is necessary to deprive them of the halo of mystery and consider it as one of the methods of using your mental apparatus - the method of processing information. This is precisely what is included in the task of lateral thinking.

The goal of lateral thinking is the generation of ideas. There is a popular belief that the emergence of new ideas is directly related to the development of technical innovations. This is not entirely true. New ideas are the driving force behind transformations and progress in all spheres of human activity: from science to art, from politics to the construction of one's own destiny.

Another task of lateral thinking is to release old ideas from the shackles, which in turn helps to change the attitude to what is happening and allows you to look at many familiar things differently. Getting rid of old ideas and generating new ones are two related facets of lateral thinking.

Lateral thinking differs in many respects from vertical - a traditional type of mental activity. With vertical thinking, a person moves forward, taking sequential steps, each of which must be justified.

In lateral thinking, a person uses incoming information not for its own sake, but for

the result that she can bring. With this type of thinking, it is completely permissible to make a mistake at some stage, but in the end still come to the right decision. With vertical thinking (in logic or mathematics) this is impossible: an error at any stage will have a sensitive effect on the result.

In lateral thinking, extraneous information is deliberately sought. With vertical thinking, they choose only what is directly related to the matter.

Lateral thinking does not replace vertical. Both are needed. They complement each other. For lateral thinking, creativity is typical, for vertical - ■ selectivity.

With vertical thinking, you can come to a certain conclusion by making a number of reasonable steps. Since these steps look reasonable, a person is completely confident in the correctness of his conclusion.

But no matter how true the path itself may be, its starting point is always determined by one or another (perceptual) choice that leaves its mark on the established concepts that we use. For example, perceptual choice contributes to the creation of sharp distinctions and oppositions, after which vertical thinking begins to work with conceptual concepts organized in this vein.

Lateral thinking is required precisely in order to control perceptual choices that are outside the reach of vertical thinking. Lateral thinking also casts doubt on any strict conclusion, no matter how justified and justified it may seem.

Lateral thinking expands the possibilities of vertical thinking. Vertical thinking develops ideas born from lateral thinking. You can’t dig a hole in any other place, if only deep

add an existing one. Vertical thinking is used to deepen an existing pit. With the help of lateral thinking, they dig a hole in a new place.

Due to the fact that in the past special emphasis was placed solely on vertical thinking, teaching lateral thinking is now becoming particularly relevant. And it’s not at all because vertical progress alone is not enough to achieve progress - being alone, it can become dangerous.

Like vertical thinking, lateral is a certain method of using our thinking apparatus, that is, its usual actions and attitudes. In the same way as there is a special technique of vertical thinking, there are special methods of lateral thinking, which you can always resort to.

In this book, attention is paid to such techniques not because they constitute a certain especially important part of lateral thinking, but because they have considerable practical value. For the development of lateral thinking skills, good intentions and motivations alone are not enough. It requires an appropriate environment in which it is convenient to practice, and a set of effective techniques that could be adopted. If you understand these methods well and get skill in using them, lateral thinking becomes a mindset. In addition, these techniques can be applied for a wide variety of practical purposes.

Lateral thinking is not at all some new miracle cure. You can find many examples of how someone once resorted to such thinking in order to achieve certain results. There have always been people naturally inclined to think in this way.

The purpose of the book: to show that lateral thinking is a fundamental part of thinking and that everyone can master his skills. Instead of just

lingering on his intuition and creative inclinations, a person can resort to the methods of lateral thinking quite deliberately and consciously.

The task of thinking is to collect information and use it as best as possible. Due to the features of our thinking apparatus, which is capable of creating models of stable concepts, we can make the most of new information only if we have a set of tools for transforming old models and their modernization.

Traditional methods of thinking teach us how to test such models, determining their effectiveness. But we still will not be able to take advantage of the available information in the best way, if we do not know how to create new models and get rid of the dictatorship of the old.

Vertical thinking deals with either identifying the reliability of conceptual models, or using them. Lateral thinking is associated with the restructuring of such models (intuition) and the creation of conditions for the emergence of new ones (creativity). Lateral and vertical thinking complement each other. You must have the skills of both. However, in the public education system, the emphasis is invariably placed only on vertical thinking.

The need for lateral thinking is caused by the limitations with which the work of the thinking apparatus is associated when it acts as a self-enlarging memory system.

How to use this book

The purpose of this book is by no means a desire to introduce the reader to some new topic. The book should be a kind of practical tool. Moreover, an ordinary reader can use it - for his own improvement, and even better, a teacher - for the benefit of his students.

The thought processes disclosed in this book are universal. They are inherent in people of any age and education. I demonstrated the action of the most elementary of these processes during classes with groups consisting of indisputable intellectuals, such as experienced programmers, and, according to their reviews, their studies were not without benefit. The more prepared the students, the easier it is for them to abstract and separate the essence of the process from the concrete form of a visual example.

And if students of a younger age enjoy the exercise itself, those who are older try to comprehend what is behind this exercise. Simple examples can be given by working with groups of all ages. More complex should be offered only to older students. In younger groups, the visual form of exercise is much more effective than verbal explanation, since the child is constantly

seeks to express everything visually and, more importantly, to understand what is presented also with the help of visual images.

Lateral thinking begins to occupy an important place in the life of a child after seven years and will accompany him until he completes university education. It may seem that the age range is too wide, but lateral thought processes are as integral to a person as logical thinking, and, of course, they cannot be correlated with any specific age. In addition, such thinking helps to understand all the subtleties of a particular discipline even better than mathematics.

Lateral thinking techniques are appropriate in the study of the exact sciences, and history, and foreign languages. Due to such universal suitability, the material presented in this book does not require attachment to any particular academic subject.

It is necessary to strive so that at least from the age of seven the child develops the habit of thinking “laterally”. To which age group the ideas proposed in this book will be specifically applied will depend on how much the teacher is able to present the recommended material in an accessible form. Two errors may occur here:

The assumption that lateral thinking is completely natural and characteristic of literally all people.

The assumption that it is something exceptional and inaccessible to many, teach them or not teach.

The practical side of the book will become more and more universal as the reader moves from page to page (the exception is only additional material intended for educators).

In general, the first part of practical exercises can be applied in classes with children of seven years of age, and all subsequent sections are suitable for people

any age. However, this does not mean at all that the first part is suitable only for young children, and the subsequent ones are suitable for adults. Any age group can be introduced to the techniques of lateral thinking.

Presentation form

Like logical thinking, lateral thinking ■ is a general attitude for our mind that allows us, when necessary, to resort to a particular set of techniques. However, these mental attitudes are easiest to instill in special classes, where specific exercises and examples are used, which should contribute to the development of lateral thinking skills. Without such ordered exercises, a person is just an outside observer of the manifestations of lateral thinking, which in no way can help him turn such mental operations into a habit.

It is much more useful to devote a certain period of time for teaching lateral thinking than to try to quietly introduce its principles into the educational process when studying other subjects.

If the teacher needs to teach students the techniques of this thinking simultaneously with some other subject, then he should take a little time in the curriculum exclusively for their development (in this case, exercises can be done on the same material that is studied in the main subject).

One hour a week throughout the entire training cycle will be enough to introduce students to the methods of lateral thinking - or the methods of developing creative abilities, if you prefer this definition.

Parts of the book that are practical in nature are divided into several sections. I would not advise dedicating one of them to just one lesson, and then move on to the next. It will do little good.

The student should work through each section again and again until he has thoroughly grasped its content. You can devote a whole series of classes to his study, even for several months. In this case, the basic material may change all the time, but the practiced method of lateral thinking should remain unchanged.

The practical application of the technique of lateral thinking is important, and not the theoretical knowledge that can be acquired during the lessons. A student can equally easily learn lateral thinking both when he begins to master one particular technique thoroughly and when he briefly exercises in a series of techniques separately. There is nothing complicated in the exercise technique. What is important is the installation that stands behind them.

But just exhortation and good intentions are not enough. If you decide to master some skill, you must take a formal training course in order to be able to practice - and master the necessary tools, that is, a set of techniques. The best way to gain lateral thinking skills is to learn how to use this set of techniques, using each of which you can achieve the same desired result.

Educational materials

Many of the examples in this book may seem trivial and far-fetched. Yes, they are, essentially, such. Examples are provided only to clarify the process of thinking. Their task

not to teach the reader something, but to help understand the natural mechanisms that determine the work of his thoughts. Just as the content of parables or fairy tales is much less significant than the moral inherent in them, so our examples may seem trivial, but they will help draw your attention to the essence.

Unfortunately, in our minds there is no switch that would allow us to move from solving more important issues to less significant ones. Whatever the significance of a particular problem, our mental apparatus operates in the same way - as nature tells it to. In addition, when solving primary issues, the operation of the entire system may be undesirably affected by our own emotional outbursts, which usually do not interfere when we are considering some little things. As a result, the body acts worse than it is capable of in its capabilities.

Thus, the flaws in the functions of the thinking apparatus when it deals with solving trivial issues are in many ways the same as the failures that occur in its work when we are dealing with serious problems.

The process itself is important to us, and not what surrounds it. Trivial and deliberate examples help to uncover the process of thinking in its purest form. And we get, as it were, its quintessence. This is similar to when we separate the vital relations expressed by an algebraic formula from the symbols denoting them.

Many examples are given in visual images, including in geometric forms. This was done on purpose, because if we limited ourselves only to verbal explanations, it would lead us away from the problem. Words already contain directed information, and when discussing the process of thinking one has to unwittingly return to the situation itself, since the choice of expressions

when describing something, it is an indicator of a certain point of view that affects the thought process.

For our purposes, some simple situation is best suited, one that has not yet had time to undergo our understanding. And it is best represented in visual images, with the most preferable geometric ones - concrete and clear - their mental processing is easier to study.

When we deal with verbal descriptions, in addition to choosing a point of view and selecting words, we are also hindered by certain semantic nuances that can cause misunderstanding. And with a visible image, the shades of meaning do not play a role. A certain picture looks the same for everyone, although everyone can give it their own interpretation.

Once the principles behind the trivial examples are understood, and the students practice enough in the proposed methods of thinking, we can move on to more vital situations. This is similar to when, while studying mathematics, we first make simple and abstract calculations, and then apply the same algorithm of actions to solve more serious problems.

The range of training materials presented in the book is undoubtedly narrow. They are given simply as a sample. A person who teaches lateral thinking — either students or siblings — must supplement the examples presented on these pages with his own.

VISUAL MATERIAL.First of all, you need to pay

attention to the following:

1. In the section where an exercise with sequential rearrangement of figures from cardboard is given, you can use the proposed samples, as well as cut out figures of a different shape that would illustrate the same principle. Also good

it would be to ask the students themselves to come up with new figures.

Photos and pictures can be taken from newspapers or magazines. They are especially useful in the section on how to look at a certain situation from different points of view and how to give it a different interpretation. Naturally, such illustrations should not have any accompanying inscriptions. Pictures can be glued on cardboard for convenience. If the magazine contains a number of suitable illustrations, you should purchase several copies of it and use them as a permanent training manual.

Drawings depicting some scenes or people can come up with the students themselves. Such visual material is quite suitable for everyone else in the group. It does not matter whether such a sketch is complicated or not very accurate, it is only important how the Others will respond to it.

In sections where it is required to complete a project in the form of a drawing, the material presented is quite enough for classes with several streams of students.

WORD EXERCISES.In this case, the exercises can be written and verbal or taped. Written Material:

You can choose from newspapers and magazines.

It is not forbidden to write to the teacher himself, who has covered a topic from a certain (albeit conditional) angle of view.

It can be provided by the students themselves - they must be asked to write a short story on a specific topic.

Oral material:

You can take it from radio programs, record them on a tape recorder, or capture on tape someone’s speech made on behalf of any fictitious person.

The students themselves can create it: one of them must be asked to improvise several phrases on a given topic.

PROBLEM MATERIAL.Discussion of a problem is useful in that it causes intense work of thought. The topic for discussion is better to choose in advance. The issues addressed can be very diverse.

Global problems, such as food shortages. The conversation here may be the freest.

Issues of a more private nature, for example, regulation of traffic in the city. The students themselves had to deal with similar problems in life.

Pressing issues. They relate to the relationships that develop in the daily life of any educational institution. If someone is concerned about personal issues, it is wiser to approach their solution, considering them as if from the side, as if they belong to some third party.

Problems encountered when designing or improving something. The task here should be that the resolution of the problem gives a definite positive effect. Similar problems are usually tied to specific objects, but can be more general, for example, how to better organize the work of a kindergarten or trade in a supermarket.

Narrow problems. These include everything that has a well-defined everyday solution. Essentially

there is a way to do something, and when they find it, they consider how good it is. Such tasks can be purely applied (for example, how to hang a clothesline) or an abstract character (how to make a hole in a postcard in which you can stick your head in). Similar tasks can be borrowed from a wide variety of sources. After looking at any newspaper, you can choose some global or less large-scale problems (for example, strikes).

Everyday life also prompts them (let’s say, how to organize train movement more efficiently).

They are called by the students themselves at the request of the teacher, who makes a selection of the examples named by them.

The problems associated with the construction of something can be attributed to any object (car, desk, school desk); students are asked to think about how to improve it. You can offer them a more difficult task: say, come up with an automatic way to manufacture something that requires manual labor, for example, some intricate device. Or ask students to ponder how to do the same operation with less effort.

Traditional approaches, boilerplate solutions, well-worn paths - is it good or bad? In fact, it’s good - because the usual type of thinking gives us the opportunity, without hesitation, to do many things, not to waste time on automatically worked out actions.

And, in fact, it’s bad - because, being the only possible way of thinking, the standard approach deprives us of a mass of alternatives, fresh ideas, breakthroughs, discoveries, the possibility of development and change.

Foreword by the author.

Why is the activity of some people always rich in new ideas, while for others, no less educated, it is fruitless in this regard?

Since the time of Aristotle, logical thinking has been extolled as the only effective way to use the mind. However, the extreme elusiveness of new ideas shows that they are not necessarily born out of a logical process of thinking. Some people have a different kind of thinking, which is most simply determined by what leads to the creation of the most elementary ideas. The latter become apparent only after it has already been found. This book attempts to explore this type of thinking, to show its difference from ordinary logical thinking and its great effectiveness in obtaining new ideas. In the course of the presentation of the material, we called this kind of thinking unconventional, in contrast to ordinary, logical thinking, which is called template thinking.

The word unconventional is more understandable than the word lateral as indicated in the original source. When reading, you can use the non-standard author’s word lateral instead of the Russian version without any problems.

In order to better understand what is happening in the human brain in the process of thinking, it is necessary to present all its activities in the form of certain patterns of excitations that occur in the nervous network of the brain.

It is possible to propose a general concept of its functional organization. Just as you can understand the electrical circuit of a residential building without knowing in detail the circuitry of each individual wiring or design of each switch, the process of thinking can be understood by examining the external manifestations of the mind, showing which systems are at its core.

Using this kind of system analysis, one could, for example, investigate the effect of a complex interaction of positive and negative feedback.

However, such a look at the functioning of the brain can only serve as a more or less convenient model for the development of the concept of unconventional thinking. But in this case, the usefulness of unconventional thinking in no way depends on whether this model corresponds to reality or not. Even if it corresponds to reality, this will not affect the ability to use unconventional thinking, just as knowledge of technology does not affect the driver’s ability to drive a car. After all, it would never occur to anyone to suggest that the correct use of logical thinking depends on a comprehensive understanding of brain activity.

Therefore, the ideas expressed in this book are based on observation and on a certain understanding of the functional organization of the brain. On the pages of the book used such familiar terms as thoughts, ideas, perceptions. They carry the greatest semantic load when developing the concept of non-standard thinking.

Thinking outside the box is not some kind of new magic formula, but just another and more creative way of using the mind. Thus, new methods of teaching mathematics use unconventional thinking in an appropriate way, while in a psychedelic cult it is clearly distorted.

A reference to new methods of teaching mathematics is in this case the most appropriate, since traditional methods of approach to mathematics are replaced by the method of direct development of the student, which presents him with the opportunity to experience a sense of satisfaction with his achievements. This greatly develops the flexibility of the mind, because it actively stimulates the student to consider a particular problem from various points of view and shows that there are many ways to get the right result. Over time, the same principles of teaching that are associated with the universal basis of non-standard thinking can be extended to other types of training.

After reading this book, some readers will find out-of-the-box thinking, because something similar has flickered in their minds from time to time, and they will probably recall cases when brilliant results were achieved on the basis of these fleeting sensations. It is impossible to compile a textbook on non-standard thinking, but on the next pages of the book we will try to show how you can consciously use certain technical techniques to help free yourself from the shackling effects of logical thinking. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe book is to show what unconventional thinking is, how it works, and then encourage the reader to develop his own inclinations for thinking of this kind.

CHAPTER 1
TEMPLATE AND NON-TEMPLATE THINKING

Many years ago, when a person who owed money to someone could be thrown into a debt prison, there lived in London a merchant who had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a money-lender. The latter - old and ugly - fell in love with the merchant’s young daughter and offered this kind of deal: he will forgive the debt if the merchant gives his daughter for him.

The unfortunate father was horrified by such an offer. Then the treacherous usurer suggested casting lots: put two pebbles, black and white, in an empty bag, and let the girl pull out one of them. If she pulls out a black stone, she will become his wife; if white, she will remain with her father. In both cases, the debt will be deemed repaid. If the girl refuses to draw lots, then her father will be thrown into a debt prison, and she herself will become food and will starve to death.

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, the merchant and his daughter agreed to this offer. This conversation took place in the garden, on a gravel-strewn path. When the moneylender leaned over to find the pebbles for the draw, the merchant’s daughter noticed that he had put two black stones in his bag. Then he asked the girl to pull out one of them, so as to decide her fate and the fate of her father.

Now imagine that it is you who are standing on the garden path and you need to draw lots. What would you do if you were in the place of this unfortunate girl? Or what would you advise her?

What type of thinking would you use to solve this problem? You have the right to argue that a thorough logical analysis should help the girl find the optimal solution, if one exists. This type of thinking is template thinking. But there is another kind of thinking - unconventional.

In this situation, template-minded people are unlikely to be able to help the girl with anything, since, apparently, the method by which they could solve this problem has three possible options:

1) the girl should refuse to drag a pebble;

2) the girl should give back that she knows the cunning of the moneylender, and expose him in this way as a fraudster;

3) the girl needs to pull out a black pebble and sacrifice herself for the salvation of her father.

All the proposed options are equally helpless, because if a girl refuses to draw lots, her father will be thrown in jail, if she pulls out a pebble, she will have to marry a hated usurer.

This story shows the difference between template and non-standard thinking. Template-minded people in this situation would focus mainly on the pebble that the girl should pull out. However, people thinking outside the box would apparently have turned their attention to the little stone that would remain in the bag. Template-minded people choose the most reasonable position from their point of view, and then, developing it logically, try to solve the problem. As for those who think outside the box, they prefer to take a fresh look at the problem and explore it from different points of view, instead of sticking to a once-chosen position.