Creativity Techniques
Overview
Creativity techniques are methods that encourage creative actions, whether in the arts or sciences. They focus on a variety of aspects of creativity, including techniques for idea generation and divergent thinking, methods of re-framing problems, changes in the affective environment and so on.
Techniques for Idea Generation
Idea generation techniques are primarily centered around breaking out of normal patterns of thought and enabling a creative insight. These techniques involve approaches that help to expand the range of thought, and includes methods such as brainstorming, mind mapping, and lateral thinking.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution to a problem. The method was first popularized in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn, an advertising executive and the author of the book "Your Creative Power".
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a graphical technique for visualizing connections between several ideas or pieces of information. The mind map begins with a central idea or concept, around which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added.
Lateral Thinking
Lateral thinking is a method of problem-solving by approaching problems indirectly and creatively. The term was coined by Edward de Bono in his book "The Use of Lateral Thinking" published in 1967.
Techniques for Reframing Problems
Reframing is a technique used in the field of creativity to change the way one looks at a problem and thus generate new ideas. Techniques for reframing problems include the problem reversal technique, SCAMPER, and TRIZ.
Problem Reversal
Problem reversal is a creativity technique that involves turning a problem or challenge completely on its head. The idea is to reverse the problem or challenge in order to view it from a completely different perspective.
SCAMPER
SCAMPER is an acronym for a checklist that helps generate ideas for new products and services. The letters in the acronym stand for: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Rearrange.
TRIZ
TRIZ is a problem-solving, analysis and forecasting tool derived from the study of patterns of invention in the global patent literature. It was developed by Soviet inventor and science-fiction author Genrich Altshuller and his colleagues, beginning in 1946.
Changes in the Affective Environment
Changes in the affective environment can also stimulate creativity. Techniques that alter the affective environment include synectics, morphological analysis, and attribute listing.
Synectics
Synectics is a problem-solving methodology that stimulates thought processes of which the subject may be unaware. This method was developed by George M. Prince and William J.J. Gordon, originating in the Arthur D. Little Invention Design Unit in the 1950s.
Morphological Analysis
Morphological analysis is a method developed by Fritz Zwicky for exploring all the possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified complex problem.
Attribute Listing
Attribute listing is one of the best known cognitive creativity techniques. It operates under the principle that the more attributes or characteristics that can be identified for a product or problem, the more likely it is that some of these will provide insight for innovative solutions.