In work and life, we often have to face problems that lead to a dead end, although it seems that their solution lies somewhere on the surface. “Eh, I would now have other people's brains,” you think. Fortunately, the operation is not necessary, it is enough to use MFOs, RVS, children's tongue and little people! Don't worry, these are scientifically proven methods that make the brain work differently. Together with the presenters of the Telegram channel Creativity 101 , we deal with the phenomenon of inertia of thinking and overcome psychological barriers.
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Foreword
Try to quickly answer the questions: What is two squared? And four squared? And five squared? And the corner in the square?
Did you manage to answer the last question as quickly as you did the previous three? You probably did not immediately switch from raising numbers to the second power to degrees of angles in an equilateral rectangle. But if the last question stood separately (What is the angle in the square?), Then the answer would follow much faster. This is an example of the inertia of thinking - when we think “on the roll” and it is difficult for us to switch to new information.
In everyday life, thinking inertia is useful and necessary, it allows you to save energy and do what worked before. But it also prevents you from noticing the problem and finding the best solution, creating something new. Everyone has the inertia of thinking. For professionals in their field, perhaps, it is even stronger, because they already know how it was right, which makes it more difficult to decide to change the method. But what was right once does not mean that it is still relevant now.
For example, it is difficult to convince some old designers of oil refineries that now it is possible to use pipes of new brands with a different wall thickness, because the way they did before worked. However, new technologies objectively perform better.
Inertia of thinking from the point of view of the brain
Physiologist Ivan Pavlov introduced the concept of "dynamic stereotype". Roughly speaking, this means that an action took place, which entailed a series of reactions in the brain: some centers were excited, others were suppressed, and all this, in a certain sequence and interaction, formed a persistent habit or stereotype. From the point of view of survival or the instinct for self-preservation, what has already worked is better than what can only work. Therefore, the brain will reproduce stereotypical actions, so as not to be in frightening unknown and potential danger - even if these actions no longer lead to the initial positive effect.
Disruption of the usual course of action leads to severe stress. There are even tables of stress events and the relative points by which they are measured. These include, for example: a change in leisure time (34 points), and an entertainment trip (33), and a change in working conditions (43) or a change in profession (50). Therefore, it is difficult to just take and start doing something differently - the brain avoids unnecessary stress.
So what can be done to ease the inertia of thinking? Heinrich Altshuller (Soviet science fiction writer, inventor, author of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) and the theory of the development of a creative personality, back in the middle of the last century, noticed that engineers who are keen on science fiction invent bolder, are not afraid of daring and unusual ideas when solving problems using TRIZ. That is, fantasy and imagination help them overcome the inertia of thinking. Later, special operators for damping the inertia of thinking were identified, which, among other things, help develop creative imagination. Let's consider some of them.
1. Method of focal objects (MFO)
One of the tools is the Focal Object Method (MFO). Imagine yourself with a magic wand in your hands, which allows you to transfer the properties of one object to another. Use the properties or attributes of randomly selected objects to improve your object by transferring selected characteristics to it.
How to use a method like this:
- We set a goal (for what?).
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:we need to change the chair, come up with something new with it. We select several arbitrary words (for me it is a refrigerator, a window, a toy). We determine the properties of the selected words: refrigerator (large, cool, tall, gray, magnets on it, two-chamber), window (transparent, plastic, opens in different variations, with a mosquito net), toy (soft, pleasant to the touch, has body parts, easy). Now we apply the written properties to our original object. Large Chair, Refrigerated Chair, High Legged Chair, High Back Chair, Metal Chair, Magnetic Chair, Double Chair, Transparent Chair, Plastic Chair, Convertible Chair, Ventilated Chair, Mosquito Net Dome Chair, Soft Chair, a chair covered with a material that is pleasant to touch, a chair that can be hugged, a chair made of super light material. There is plenty to choose fromtrue?
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Another way to weaken the inertia of thinking is through children's language. Not the one that hu-hu-mu-hu, but in which you would speak with a person far from your profession. When you describe a problem in professional terms, those terms impose their corresponding content. You need to be able to present the question in such a way that even a child understands it, that is, to reveal the essence.
The point is to describe the problem not in professional terms, but in everyday terms (bowl, rope, stick, bucket), functional (holder, digger, trail), universal (gizmo, figovin, this crap that does this ...). There are many examples when professional terms are replaced by functional ones: in a tire shop, on a construction site, and even at home, we often name things by their functional characteristics.
How to use children's language?
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Example: A steel mill was trying to save gas for heating a smelter tank. When the metal was removed from it, even an empty vat had to be heated, otherwise, with further use, scale formed on the cold walls.
If you try to explain this problem to a child, the following will come out: an empty kettle is hanging, it needs to be heated, but some of the heat goes up without touching the kettle itself, and the kettle itself cools down quickly, because there is a large hole on top through which this heat leaves. And if the heat goes up, then what can be done to keep the heat in an empty pot? Flip! Now the heat will not go further than the bottom of the pot. The problem has been solved.
3. The method of little people (modeling with little people)
The next way to get away from stereotyped thinking and think through associations is to use little people (to feel like a pharaoh with an army of slaves).
The bottom line is, firstly, to identify the place of the problem and depict it in the form of little people reflecting what is happening there. Second, depict what needs to be done.
How to use?
- We determine what needs to be changed (improve, fix, eliminate the error, complete).
- We write what will be the Ideal end result (IFR).
- We draw a zone and little people who perform the task.
- We see what they are doing and solve the problem without them.
Little people know how to do everything (run, jump, hold on to each other, let go of their hands, everything in general), and there is no need to think about how they will do it. It is only important to figure out what they should do, the rest is irrelevant.
Example: solving the problem of accumulated snow in drainpipes. Repeatedly thawing and freezing, the snow turns into an ice plug, and then, with warming, falls down, breaking the pipe. It turns out that the ice plug should not fall down. RBI - the cork itself does not fall down until it melts.
We draw people in the pipe (many people) holding the cork. What does it look like? Chain! As long as the cork is hanging on the chain, it will not fall down like a bomb and break the pipe, but will drain gradually.
The method of little people is used in various fields, not only technical ones. In logistics, medicine, school education. It can be used to explain complex processes; it is used in corporate training, where employees themselves act as little people.
For example, how to imagine orthodontic treatment with the Little Man Method? Here are the teeth, they are a little uneven. A small man is attached to each tooth right in the center, which will pull the tooth to the arc so that all the men line up along this arc. But little men can reach not only to the arc, they can reach wherever they want, you just need to figure out where. If you need to quickly combine the upper and lower dentition, then the free men will stretch from one to the other (they pulled the elastics). If we need to insert some teeth into the bone or, on the contrary, pull out a little, then we imagine what the little men would do in this case. We would find support on what to do this. A mini screw threaded into the bone will do. Now the little men can continue their work.
If you are at a dead end in the solution of the issue, use this method, make a lot of little people work.
4. RVS operator (size, time, cost)
And the last way for today to muffle the inertia of thinking is to become an operator of size, time and cost and imagine yourself as a person changing reality. The RVS operator will not solve your problem, but with his help you can get several unusual directions of solution. Its essence is to mentally:
- Increase the size of the object to infinity, and then reduce it to a minimum;
- Increase the time of action on an object to infinity, and then reduce it to a minimum;
- Increase the value of the object to infinity, and then reduce it to a minimum.
Example: A long narrow pipe needs to be laid with a wire. If you mentally enlarge the pipe to a large size, then a tunnel appears, and the laying method becomes more understandable (you just need to take the wire and carry it in, it remains to figure out who will do it).
If we imagine that there is an infinite amount of time, then the wire itself can become overgrown with a shell-pipe. If the time is only a second, then you can launch a rocket fired into the pipe, at the end of which the cord flies through the pipe.
The cost is the same: imagine that there is an infinite amount of money, and then you can launch nanorobots that will drag the wire or even construct it right there. Well, if there is almost no money, we will use the means at hand.
And here is how the RVS operator works in a more everyday way, for example, in organizing work at home:
The size. What if your workplace was huge? How would you organize it? For example, we moved everything disturbing and distracting as far as possible. What if you imagine your workplace is so small that you have to work while standing?
Time. We increase the time of what you need to do from a week to a year. How to organize the work now? And if there is only a second? What needs to be done right now?
Cost. You have a million to tackle an ordinary task. How would you spend it? Perhaps something was delegated? And if there is no money at all? Maybe it's time to learn something and do it yourself?
So, we examined the inertia of thinking and some ways to break out of its captivity. Psychological barriers will come down as you systematically develop creative thinking - through the methods presented above and science fiction literature. Do not be afraid to generate strange or even crazy ideas at the very beginning. Later, they can lead you to strong decisions that you would not even consider initially.
And here's another way, this time how to save money - the HABR promo code gives an additional 10% discount, which is summed up with the discount on the banner.
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