Creative Thinking Notes - Split Brain Theory

Split Brain Theory

1. CE204
CREATIVE
THINKING
based on lateral thinking
concepts developed by
Edward de Bono
Adapted by J. (Hans) van Leeuwen

2. Instructor of the week
Professor J(Hans) van Leeuwen
from/of the Lions
•Born in Gouda, Netherlands
•Grew up in South Africa
•Lived in Australia for 7 y
•Lived in Ames for 7 y
Specialty: Environmental Engineering
Particularly resource recovery from industrial wastes
and wastewaters

3. Edward de Bono
•Maltese
•Island Malta

4. Edward de Bono Biography
•http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/biograph.htm
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_Bono
•Global Companies using de Bono's methods:
3M -ABB -American Express -AT&T -Barclays Bank -
Bausch& Lomb -Bayer -Bell -Benson & Hedges -Boeing -
BP -Ciba-Geigy British Airways -British Coal -Canada Life -
Citibank -Conco -DuPont -Eli Lily -Ericsson -Exxon -Ford -
General Foods -General Motors -IBM -Johnson & Johnson -
Kelloggs -Kodak -KPMG -Labatt -Mars -Merck -Microsoft -
Monsanto -Motorola -NASA -NTT -Pepsi Cola -Polaroid -
Procter & Gamble -Prudential -Pfizer -Rothmans -Siemens –
Sithline -Beecham -Statoil -Total-Xerox

5. List of Books by de Bono
• The Use of Lateral Thinking(1967) ISBN 0-14-013788-2, introduced the term "lateral thinking"
• New Think(1967, 1968) ISBN 0-380-01426-2
• The Five-Day Course in Thinking(1968), introduced the L game
• The Mechanism of the Mind(1969), Intl Center for Creative Thinking 1992 reprint: ISBN 0-14-013787-4, suggests that the mind is a pattern
matching machine
• Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step, (1970), Harper & Row 1973 paperback: ISBN 0-06-090325-2
• The Dog-Exercising Machine(1970) Technology Today(1971) Practical Thinking(1971)
• Lateral Thinking for Management(1971) Po: A Device for Successful Thinking(1972), ISBN 0-671-21338-5, introduced the term Po
• Children Solve Problems(1972) ISBN 13-978-0060110246, ISBN 10-0060110244
• Po: Beyond Yes and No(1973), ISBN 0-14-021715-0
• Eureka!: An Illustrated History of Inventions from the Wheel to the Computer(1974)
• Teaching Thinking(1976)
• The Greatest Thinkers: The Thirty Minds That Shaped Our Civilization(1976), ISBN 0-399-11762-8
• Wordpower(1977) The Happiness Purpose(1977)
• Opportunities: A handbook for business opportunity search(1978) Future Positive(1979)
• Atlas of Management Thinking(1981) De Bono's Course in Thinking(1982)
• Learn-To-Think: Coursebook and Instructors Manual(1982), ISBN 0-88496-199-0co-authored with Michael Hewitt-Gleesonand co-founder of
the School of Thinking
• Tactics: The Art and Science of Success(1985) Conflicts(1985)
• Masterthinker's Handbook(1985) Six Thinking Hats(1985) ISBN 0-316-17831-4
• I Am Right, You Are Wrong: From This to the New Renaissance: From Rock Logic to Water Logic(1990) ISBN 0-14-012678-3
• Six Action Shoes(1991) Handbook for the Positive Revolution(1991) ISBN 0-14-012679-1
• Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas(1992) ISBN 0-00-255143-8–a summation of many of De Bono's
ideas on creativity
• Sur/Petition(1992) ISBN 0-88730-543-1-creating value monopolies when everyone else is merely competing.
• Teach Yourself How to Think(1995) How to Be More Interesting(1998) Simplicity(1999)
• Thinking in the New Millennium(1999) Why I Want To Be King of Australia(1999)
• How to Have A Beautiful Mind(2004) Six Value Medals(2005)
• H+ (Plus): A New Religion(2006) How to Have Creative Ideas(2007) De Bono has also written numerous articles published in refereed
and other journals, including The Lancetand Clinical Science.

6. Exercise on adding
numbers 1-100
•The average value is ½(1 + 100) = 50.5
For 100 numbers, the sum is 50.5 x 100 = 5050
•One way would be to plot the series of numbers
as x from 1 to 100 and showing the value as y 1
to 100. To form a triangle, we need to start at 0,
so we have 101 numbers. The sum of the
numbers is the integral of the triangle, i.e. ½
basis x height, i.e. 101/2 x 100 = 5050

7. Introduction
•Lack of creativity in society -
indicators
•Engineers are not creative
–temperament
–measurables
–risk management
–competence

8. Development
of technology
and intelligence
The origin of thinking
-flee or fight
Roots

9. Topics of Discussion
•Barriers to creativity
–Misconceptions
•Perceptions
–Logic of creativity
•Need for creativity
•Techniques to be more creative
•Exercises

10. Barriers to Creativity
Misconceptions
–Art is always creative
–Creativity is a talent
–School performance
–IQ is HP -repartee
-2-finger typing

11. Groove thinking
•Zombie
•“What is” vs.“What could be”
•Crossing Barriers
Provocative operations
–square wheels
–landing plane

12. Perceptions
Thinking process
Perception Process
•90% of errors
•Math, Stat, Comp, Logic
IT is readily available
THINKING IS SCARCE!

13. Examples
–Violin
–TV host
–Releasing wood block
–Coins

14. Need for Creativity
•Innovation -competency
•Technology lacks in value
•Input-time efficiency
•Examples
–Halve a rectangle
–Communication

15. Exercise
How to reduce gasoline
consumption
–Engineering: more efficient engines
–Engineering: improved aerodynamics
–Engineering: alternative fuels
–Better: public transport
–Still better: walk, bicycles
–Creative: work from home,
shop on-line

16. Supporting information
and examples
–Oil wells
–Life insurance
–Olympics
–Blood flow in lungs
–Parallel thinking

17. Techniques of Creativity
•Asymmetry of thinking
–Leaf on tree
–Hindsight
–Humor -golf clubs
–Blowing balloons
•Overcoming hurdles
–Skew pathways
-walk for a change

18. Techniques to overcome
obstacles
–Random provocation
–Creative pausing
–Challenge
–Alternatives
–Concepts
–Six thinking hats
–Stratals
–Filaments

19. Provocation
•Close the letter after mailing
•Peer exams
•Die before you die
•Criminals pay the police force
•Shoplifters identify themselves
•Plane waits for you
•More room on airplane

20. Random Provocation
Pick a random word or
concept and link
Example –parking
Link to…
Exercises

21. Examples and Exercises
•Advertising-town crier
•Industry-compliance with
discharge regulations
•Taxiknows the way
P

22. Examples and Exercises
•Chicken and dog-
fence, food
•Prevent person to go from A B
C
•Redesign umbrella

23. Word Play
•Butterfly
•Go-getter?
•Vegetarian eats vegetables
•Humanitarian?
•How do you get off a non-stop flight?
•Drive on parkways and park on driveways?
•Ship goods –cargo; by truck shipment?
•Isn’t a good steak rarely well done?

24. The REAL problem
Automobiles –main problem in a city?
•Busy streets
•Smog
•Parking
•Centralization
•Meeting

25. Example: Parking Problems
Time value of hunting
Risks
Buy a spot? Tokyo
Buy a right? Singapore
Buy it with the car?Toyota

26. Brainstorming
Cardinal rule: Anything goes, just be polite
1.Have fun
2.Think radically
3.Violate the constraints
4.Work quickly
5.Do not dwell on any idea
6.Build out ideas of others
7.Stay focused on the problem
8.Write down the ideas
9.Use a random noun to “seed” when stuck
Tips:

27. Gyro Gearloose
Name: Gyro GearlooseAddress: He
lives together with his Helperin a house or
perhaps in his workshop in Duckburg.
Born: 19??on the Northside, Duckburg
First appearance: 1952in Gladstone's
Terrible Secret. Created by: Carl Barks
Father: Fulton Gearloose
Mother: UnknownSiblings: Unknown
Spouse: NoneChildren: None
Other close relatives: Ratchet Gearloose
(grandfather)
Nephew called Newton(wearing a mortar
board hat)
Occupation: An intelligent, but not always
successful inventor

28. Gearloose Inventions

29. The illogical
•Dear Abby, A couple of women moved in across the hall fromme.
One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker
inher mid twenties. These two women go everywhere together and
I've neverseen a man go into their apartment.
Do you think theycould be Lebanese?
•Dear Abby, What can I do about all the Sex, Nudity,
FowlLanguage and Violence on my VCR?
•DearAbby, I have a man I can't trust.
He cheats somuch, I'm not even sure the baby I'm carrying is his.
•Dear Abby,
Iwas married to Bill for three months and I didn't know he
drank until one night he came home sober.
•Dear Abby,
My forty year old son has been paying a psychiatrist $50.00
anhour every week for two and a half years. He must be crazy.

30. Nature of concepts
We are in the business of
•selling gold-plated pens
•selling writing instruments
•selling prestige writing instruments
•luxury personal items
•luxury goods
•selling whatever people want
•making our directors happy
•making profits

31. Concept Fan
Problem: Hang something from ceiling
•Ladder
•New concepts
-lengthen arm
-throw object
-use a stand instead

32. Example of the concept fan:
Problem: Coping with Water Shortage
Reduce consumption
•Increase efficiency of use
•Reduce wastage
•Discourage use
•Getting to it: Education
Increase supply
•New sources
•Recycling
•Less wastage
Do without
•Stop water using
processes
•Avoid need to use water
•Use other fluid
Use other fluid
•Wastewater
•Oil
•Air/vacuum



33. Concept fan
1.Place the problem in a circle.
2.Fan out with possible solutions.
3.If needed, step back for a broader view.
4.Generate solutions to the broader
problem.
5.Repeat steps 3-5.

34. Example
Clean water
at local beach
Extend outfalls
Filter sea water
Patrol beach litter
Control
pollution
entering sea
Contain trash
dumped at sea
Reduce
pollution
from ships
Improve WQ
Control ag &
industrial
pollution
Impose
large fines
Imprison
polluters
Inspire public
outrage
Improve sewage
treatment
Monitor river WQ
Ban solid discharge
Allow free
dumping at ports
Monitor
Eliminate it
Reduce return
to beaches
Make
polluting
unprofitable
From mindtools.com

35. Lateral thinking
“Approaching problems indirectly at diverse angles
instead of concentrating on one approach at length”
Problem: Muhammad won't come to the mountain.
1.Mountain must come to Muhammad (the classic answer)
2.Use a video conference
3.Use an intermediary
4.Ask him what he wants to come to the mountain
5.See if he'll accept a free timeshare slot in a holiday
home, which just happens to be on the mountain
6.Wait until he changes his mind
7.Cut your losses and tackle a different problem
From wikipedia.org

36. What is creative thinking?
1.Use glue instead of staples
2.Use insect repellent to kill flies
3.Replace screens with glass and an air conditioner
4.Use a softer frame
5.Kill flies with UV lights
6.Clamp the screens into the frame
7.Eliminate the window and use a camera and a
monitor to view the outside
8.Lure insects away from window with food or pheromones
Youfrequentlyencounteraproblemthatstaplesusedinattachingfly-
screensdonotpenetratethetimberframewell.Suggesttwoorthree
creativealternativeapproaches,bearinginmindwhattheultimate
objectiveis.Weneedtomovebeyondengineeringsolutions.
From CE 203, Fall 2005, exam 1

37. Lateral thinking puzzles
1.A carrot, a pile of pebbles, and a pipe lying together
in the middle of a field.
2.Joe, wearing a mask and carrying an empty sack,
leaves his house. An hour later he returns with a full
sack. He goes into a room and turns out the lights.
3.A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The
bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The
man says, "Thank you," and walks out.
4.Mr. Browning is glad the car ran out of gas.
5.A man ate some food that was not poisoned, yet
nevertheless caused him to die.
6.A man leaves a motel room, goes to his car, honks
the horn, and returns.
From rinkworks.com

38. More Exercises
•Urgent parking
•Urgent telephones
•Page numbering
•Shape of glasses

39. More Exercises
•Ballpoint
•Cut square in 4 pieces
•Construction drill bits

40. Parallel Thinking –6 Hats
Obtain facts
Feelings
Disadvantages
Creative thinking
Overview
Benefits

41. Engineering slant –logic?
•To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the
pessimist, the glass is half-empty.
To the engineer, the glass is 2x as big as it need be.
•What is the difference between mechanical
engineers and civil engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons and civil
engineers build targets.
•Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain't broke,
it’s safe to add more features.

42. The Illogical Thought

43. Logic?

45. Question 1, Assignment
•Create a joke of your own
•Consider some de Bono techniques in doing this
•By preference, the joke should be based on
wordplay, e.g. double meanings or similar
sounding words, or illogical thoughts
•Include explanation of how constructed
•Statement on authenticity to be included
•Send to [email protected]–heading must
include “CE204 joke”