Understanding the Nature of Creativity

and the Structure of Thinking

by Rafael NELSON M. ABOGANDA

A lecture and gaming simulation presented/demonstrated on 20 September 2003

at the Youth Leadership Training for High School Students of Quezon City
held at the Quezon City Science High School, Quezon City

BACKDROP. The Russians launched the Sputnik in late 1950’s. The Americans were surprised and
called for educational reforms by infusing “creativity” in their curricula. Thus, the decade of 1960’s
ushered in an increase in research on education for creativity. Creative techniques like
brainstorming, morphological analysis and synectics (all developed in 1940’s & early 1950’s) became
popular, not only in education but more so in business.

In 1989, Ray & Myers wrote, “Time magazine ran a cover story that attributed inflation, low
productivity and failing international markets to poor management techniques and university MBA
programs. Business Week, Newsweek and Fortune quickly joined the attack. All made reasonably
uniform criticisms: MBAs specifically, and American business generally, had become too analytical,
too dependent on numbers, too conservative, unconcerned with people, shortsighted, and as a
whole shamefully uncreative.”
Consequently, American businesspersons have become more creative in the 1990’s, although many
disagree. How about the Filipinos? It appears we are still in the 1960’s or, at most, 1970’s!

INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVITY. Creativity is in everyone! But until now, the word creativity is more
easily applicable to art than in education, leadership, and many other fields. On the contrary,
rewording Wayne Van Dyck, the highest art form is really education and leadership.
Today, creative techniques have proliferated. But the creative techniques in 1950’s up to 1980’s are
strikingly different from the new millennium. Now the techniques were being related to the inner
quality of the creative individual and groups in creative interactions, and supported by scientific
findings.

What is creativity? Simply defined, creativity is the ability to create or invent something new, novel
and useful ideas (social inventions) and things (technical inventions). It is the person’s mental
capability to stimulate his/her imagination. As Albert Einstein said, “imagination is more important
than knowledge.”

Mental capacities of an individual. The individual’s mental capacities may be classified as follows:
1) Ability to concentrate, 2) Accuracy in observation, 3) Retentiveness of memory, 4) Logical
reasoning, 5) Sensitivity of association, and 6) Creative imagination. However, if we take a closer
look, this classification can be further simplified as follows:
a. Absorptive – the capacity to observe and apply attention.
b. Retentive – the capacity to memorize and to recall.
c. Intellective – the capacity to analyze, or process information to understand and to judge.
d. Creative – the capacity to visualize, to foresee, and to generate ideas.

Principal aspects of human creativity. A more systematic way of looking at creativity is in terms of
its principal aspects:

a. THE CREATIVE PERSON: The personality of the creator — The components of the creative per-
sonality are: Adequate IQ, perceptive, dedicated, forceful, confident, energetic, emotionally ex-
Understanding the Nature of Creativity & the Structure of Thinking / page 2

pressive, broad knowledge

and interest, sensitive, open
to new experience, flexible
and intuitive.
b. THE CREATIVE ENVIRON-
MENT: The environment in
which creation comes about
— The environment may
inhibit or enhance human
creativity. The internal condi-
tion in the individual is the
most significant element of
theinternal as well as the
external environment.
What is intelligence?
The term “intelligence” has been described as: Clever, sensible,
careful, methodical, innovative, prudent, acute, logical, witty, obser-
vant, critical, experimental, quick-witted, cunning, wise, judicious,
smart, skillful, etc.
Dr. Edward de Bono pointed out that “intelligence is an innate quality
that may depend on genes, early environment or a mixture of the two.
It does not matter. One day we may discover that what we regard as
intelligence is simply the speed of processing within the brain, which
gives an ‘intelligent’ person a larger scan over the same period of
time.”

c. THE CREATIVE PROCESS: The process of creating — The creative act proceeds through the
interplay of mental functioning in the individual, his knowledge, skills and experiences in certain
conditions, circumstances or environment. The creative process passes through several stages
summarized by Graham Wallas in The Art of Thought as follows:
 Preparation – in which the person works intensely on a problem or opportunity.
 Incubation – in which the problem or opportunity is temporarily put aside and the person engages
in other activities.
 Illumination – or “insight,” when the person suddenly sees how the problem can be solved or the
opportunity can be taken advantage of.
 Verification – or “revision,” in which the person works out the details of his solution, takes a new
look at it, and evaluate the results.

d. THE CREATIVE PRODUCT: The product created — At the end of the creative process is a new
product or new ways of doing things that could be a useful idea, a stage or screen performance, a
work of art, a musical composition, a scientific theory, a building, a machine or device, or—in general
—a technical invention or social innovation. But what qualities make up a creative product? A
product, to be regarded as creative, must have some “creative characteristics.” These are:
 Novel or original
 Useful, adaptable, practical, functional, workable or operable
 Elegant or aesthetically designed
 Transcending qualities, long lasting or much better than existing ones
 “Producible,” manifested into tangible product or expression; “manufacturable,” realizable,
serviceable or usable; and verifiable, or may be proven in actual implementation/execution.
Concept of Creative Thinking. The subject of thinking is surrounded by misconceptions and
concepts fossilized by tradition. Hence, it is difficult to remove some of the wrong concepts about
thinking. De Bono underscores, “thinking is a most awkward subject to discuss. xxx Much of the
awkwardness arises from the word ‘thinking’ itself.” The word is so ordinary that it is considered as
part of our capability as seeing, hearing, talking, walking, and breathing. “No one feels he needs to
be taught how to do any of these things, De Bono emphasized.

De Bono’s defines thinking as “the deliberate exploration of experience for a purpose. That purpose
may be understanding, decision-making, planning, problem solving, judgment, action and so on.”

Basic thinking processes. Dr. De Bono said thinking could be seen to arise from two simple, basic
processes:
Understanding the Nature of Creativity & the Structure of Thinking / page 3

a. CARRY-ON — means keep going... on to the end! Let one idea follow another. This is what we
may call cross-link movement. Allow the mind to move from one idea to another.
b. CONNECT-UP — means you start with two separate ideas or things or objects or topics, and try to
find a way of connecting them up, i.e. link up, fill in, close the gap, relate or associate.
Thinking modes. Based on the two basic thinking processes, De Bono explained that the modes of
thinking could be divided into two methods, and a combination of the two:

a. MOVING OUT — We have a starting point, we then move out from

that starting point. We have a general idea that we are looking for
situations that could be beneficial. We move along from idea to idea
until something begins to look promising. We then crystallize this
idea.

b. MOVING IN (convergent thinking) — We know where we want to end

up and we know what we have to deal with. We react to information
and analyze it to produce the best answer that is consistent with that
information. This is a way of tailoring a speculative idea towards a
useful idea. To use the moving-in mode, there must be an end-point.

These two modes of thinking are complementary. In moving-in mode of thinking, the definition of
usefulness is brought in right at the beginning through the acceptance of the desired end-point.
While in moving-out mode of thinking, there is a starting point and the clear definition of usefulness
has to be brought in later in the process. These starting points can be: an intrinsic asset, an
operating asset, a challenge, a significant point, a trend, a disadvantage to be transformed into an
advantage, a problem or an existing opportunity.

c. MOVING IN–MOVING OUT — After moving out from a starting point and modifying or changing
ideas, a definite idea becomes worthwhile – we are now conscious of the type of idea we are looking
for, of the constraints and requirements. But instead of applying these as a judgment screen to the
idea to see whether or not the idea satisfies the criteria, we attempt to modify the idea to see if we
can pitch it into the acceptability area, which is our end-point.

Attitudinize mode of thinking. Dr. Denis E. Waitley and Robert B. Tucker (1986) described four
attitudinize thinking modes. These are the following:
 Victim — preoccupied with the past and things that we cannot control.
 Sustainer — preoccupied with the present, does not look at the future... lives today.
 Dreamer — “I could have done that,” full of ideas but unwilling or unable to do anything to
implement ideas.
 Innovator — comes up with ideas, and takes steps to turn their best ideas into realities. An
innovator is a creative thinker and active worker.
Errors in Thinking. The basic errors in thinking as labeled by De Bono are the following:
1) Partialism – the thinker is looking only at a part of the situation and basing his argument on that
part.
2) Time-scale – is a special case of partialism in which a person looks at a narrow slice of time—
usually the immediate future.
3) Egocentricity – narrow-band thinking or tunnel vision; the partial area of perception is firmly
centered on the thinker.
4) Arrogance and conceit – this error arise when there is an apparently logical explanation for
something and this is then taken to be the right explanation.
Understanding the Nature of Creativity & the Structure of Thinking / page 4

5) Initial judgment – occurs at all levels of thinking even among the most brilliant people; the initial
judgment is most often whether he personally likes or dislikes the idea or somebody else’s
proposal.
6) Adversary thinking – puts the emphasis on logical support of positions rather than on mutual
exploration. This makes for polarization.
7) Ego-involvement – the need to be right at all times is a more powerful objective than most in
determining the direction of thinking. A person will use his thinking to keep himself right and then
believe whatever position that thinking has generated.
8) Magnitude error – an error in perception in terms of size, amount, weight, coverage, effect, etc.
9) Extremes – some people often argue from extremes; it arises from our custom of dealing with
absolute concepts and definitions.
In order to create opportunities to enhance your creativity, Dr. Waitley and Tucker suggest that we
should do the following:
 Audit your information intake  Organize your information
 Revive your sense of wonder  Monitor information-rich media
 Develop creative observation skills  Look for emerging trends and find
 Ask questions... even dumb questions opportunities that can be explored
 Make your reading time count

Avoid prejudices — “Prejudice is a judgment or opinion reached before facts are known or
maintained after the facts have changed.” It limits vision, stifles creativity, prevents problem- spotting
and restricts inflow of information. (Waitley-Tucker, 1986). Creativity means acquiring all useful
information without prejudice.
CREATIVE THINKING TOOLS & TECHNIQUES. There are many tools and techniques that can help
or lead us into successful processes of ideation. These may be arranged into two: self-help
procedures and group procedures.

Self-help procedures: The individual ideation tools

1) Relevance System. Relevance system provides an opportunity for examining the interrelations of
different problem areas or its various sub-elements. There are two main relevance system: the single
relevance tree and the binary relevance trees.

2) Input-Output Technique. This is a very simple procedure developed at General Electric in the
United States. The technique usually involves the use of energy in one form or another.
3) Forced Relating Method. Forced relating or forced relationship might have originated from the
concept known as association, like most of the tools presented above. Forced relating may also be
called “forced association” or analogy.

4) Attribute Listing. This method is applied to an analysis of problem-situation, a manufactured

product or process in terms of its attributes or components, features, characteristics, functions,
makeup, property, parts, etc.
5) Matrix Analysis. Matrix analysis is a very simple but systematic ideation tool. It sets up a matrix
within which ideas can originate or take form. The matrix may consist of two sets of attributes,
components, elements or characteristics that serve as reference points for associational ideation.
Each attributes or elements are brought together to elicit new ideas or to escape from existing trends
or patterns. This activity is repeated for all components identified or listed in the matrix.

6) Morphological Analysis. Morphological analysis is a mechanistic way of generating creative ideas

Understanding the Nature of Creativity & the Structure of Thinking / page 5

as well as a systematic way of understanding a problem or seeking opportunities. In this approach,

the problem is described thoroughly in terms of its main aspects or by identifying the parameters or
independent variables. Each aspect of the problem, each parameter, is then subdivided into every
possible dimension.
7) Checklist Method. Alex Osborn (1953), who invented “brainstorming” technique, provides a
generalized question that will help us in idea generation; hence, it is considered as a separate
ideation technique we call “checklist method” as follows:
Put to other uses Magnify Modify Rearrange Combine
Adapt Minify Substitute Reverse

Group procedures: The group ideation techniques

Unquestionably, all the self-help or individual procedures presented above can be used as a group
procedure. In the same manner, group ideation techniques can also be used as an individual
procedure. Nonetheless, the following group techniques can best be applied to produce new ideas
as group ideation procedures.

1) Hotpoint Method. The Hotpoint approach was developed at the Hot Point Company of the United
States. There are several creative methods in this approach, such as the following: a) “Waste-Not
Method” or Garbage Can Method; b) “And-Also Method”; c) “Tear-Down Technique.”
2) Brainstorming. Brainstorming originated as a means of organized ideation in group meetings in
the advertising company of Alex Osborn in late 1930s. Brainstorming means, "using the brain to
storm a problem" (Osborn 1938). It is a procedure for idea generation that involves the suspension
of judgment and evaluation so as to allow an individual the opportunity to come up with ideas without
fear of censorship or criticism.
Principles of Brainstorming — Brainstorming follows two basic principles: Suspend judgment and
quantity brings up quality.
Major Rules of Brainstorming — There are four major rules instituted to facilitate or speed up idea
generation: Postpone judgment, Freewheel, Hitchhike, and Improved other’s idea.
3) Synectics. Synectics was taken from a Greek word that means the “joining together of different
and apparently irrelevant elements.” It is a process aided by several operational mechanisms. It
defines the creative process as the mental activity in problem-stating, problem-solving situations
where artistic or technical inventions are the results (Gordon, 1961).

Operational Mechanisms — The operational mechanism applied to bring forth these psychological
states are: a) Personal analogy; b) Direct analogy or example; c) Symbolic analogy or book title, or
essential paradox, or compressed analogy; and d) Fantasy analogy.

Synectics involves play with “apparent irrelevancies.” The synectic process embraces two basic
steps: making the strange familiar; and making the familiar strange.
4) Lateral Thinking. Dr. de Bono contends that there are two types of thinking: vertical thinking
wherein progress is made by following one logical step after another; and lateral thinking which
follows an uncommon pathway not dictated by logic.

The difference between vertical and lateral thinking may be simply stated: In vertical thinking, logic is
in control of the mind; whereas, in lateral thinking, logic is at the service of the mind. Lateral thinking
is concerned with restructuring or changing patterns (insight) by putting things together in a different
way and provoking new ones (creativity). It is an attitude and a habit of mind.
Understanding the Nature of Creativity & the Structure of Thinking / page 6

Specific Lateral Thinking Techniques. Lateral thinking is specifically concerned with the changing of
concepts and perceptions and the generation of new concepts and perceptions. The end products
are usable ideas.

There are specific techniques for the application of lateral thinking. The purpose of such techniques
is two-fold. They can be used for their own sake but more importantly they can be used to develop
the lateral thinking habit. De Bono presents a comprehensive survey of the lateral thinking tools and
techniques in his book entitled Serious Creativity (1993). These thinking techniques are:
1) The six thinking hats
2) The creative pause
3) Simple focus – general-area-type focus, purpose-type focus
4) Challenge
5) Alternatives
6) The concept fan
7) Concepts
8) Provocation & movement
9) Arising provocations
10) Escape provocations
11) Stepping-stone provocations – reversal, exaggeration, distortion, wishful thinking
12) The random input
13) The stratal
14) Movement – extract a principle, focus on the difference, moment to moment, positive
aspects, under what circumstances
15) The filament technique

Understanding the Nature and Logic of Creativity

Creativity is a messy and confusing subject and seems to range from devising a new
toothpaste cap to Beethoven’s writing his Fifth Symphony. Much of the difficulty arises directly
from the words “creative” and “creativity.”
At the simplest level “creative” means bringing into being something that was not there
before. In a sense, “creating a mess” is an example of creativity. The mess was not here before
and has been brought into being. Then we ascribe some value to the result, so the “new” thing
must have a value.
We now have the notion that the creative output should not be “obvious” or “easy.” There
has to be something unique or rare about it. Exceptional craftsmanship would fit here.
When we start to introduce concepts of “unexpectedness” and “change,” we begin to get a
different view of creativity.
I believe that the crude word “creativity” covers a wide range of different skills. xxx We can
look at creativity as a mystery. Brilliant new ideas are produced and we do not know how they
came about. We can study and analyze the behavior of creative people, but this will not tell us
very much, because often such people are themselves unaware of what triggered the brilliant
idea.
My preference is to look directly at the behavior of self-organizing information systems.
These systems are patterning systems. They make and use patterns. From an analysis of the
behavior and potential behavior in such systems we can get a very clear idea of the nature of
creativity. All at once the mystique of creativity falls away. We can see how creativity works. We
can also see how we might devise techniques to increase the possibility of new ideas. In a
sense we come to look at the “logic” of creativity. The logic of creativity is the logic of patterning
systems, xxx No leap of faith or mystical acceptance is required. xxx The essence of creativity
(or more properly, lateral thinking) is laid bare.— Dr. Edward de Bono, Serious Creativity, 1993
Understanding the Nature of Creativity & the Structure of Thinking / page 7

INFORMATION, TALKING, FEELING, EGO and THINKING

THINKING & INFORMATION – The educational trinity is knowledge, intelligence
and thinking. Thinking is the operating skill through which intelligence acts upon
experience. Knowledge or information is the basic material handled by thinking.
It is true at one extreme thinking is impossible without some information on the
subject. At the other extreme perfect information would make thinking
unnecessary. In between these two extremes both thinking and information are
required.
THINKING & TALKING – The articulateness and fluency in talking very often
masquerade as thinking. The ability to generate thoughts and to link them together
in a coherent way obviously involves a degree of thinking skill, but in itself it is no
more than a skill in linking together in a grammatical fashion a number of ideas.
Language practice and articulate family members at home develop language
facility. Quite often the thinking skill has not been developed as highly as the
language skill and thoughts are poured willy-nilly into the vacuum created by fluent
expression.
THINKING & FEELING – The feeling matters most. Feeling is what makes a
human being human. In the end it is to fulfill our emotions and values that we
arrange our actions. It is this very importance of feeling that makes thinking
necessary. The purpose of thinking is to prepare something for us to feel about.
Thinking arranges and rearranges perception and experience so that we may have
a clearer view of things. It is this clearer view that then excites our feelings.
Without thinking feeling is a tyranny.
THINKING & EGO – Descartes’ famous remark, “I think therefore I am” is true in
a psychological sense as well as in a metaphysical one. We are our thoughts.
What else is there in our ego except what we are thinking at the moment? Up to
the age of ten or eleven a child’s ego is separable from his thinking. He enjoys
thinking. He enjoys playing with ideas. He is wrong so often that his security is not
dependent on his being right. After the age of eleven thinking becomes very much
part of the ego and self-image. A person is good as his thinking.
— Dr. Edward de Bono, Teaching Thinking. Penguin Books Ltd.,England, U.K. 1976