CONUNDRUM 4 - CONVERGENT THINKING

In the previous post we had an overview about divergent thinking (right sided brain) which belongs to creative, artistic and solution generation brains. So now we will scan about Convergent thinking (left sided brain) which is personality trait of logical, analytical and solution reducing brains.

Convergent thinking is the ability to correctly hone in the single correct solution to a problem. In creativity convergent thinking often requires taking a novel approach to the problem, seeing the problem from a different perspective or making a unique association between parts of the problem. These solutions are scored either correct or incorrect.

Artistic assessments are the evaluations of an artistic product (e.g., painting, story, poem, musical composition, collage, drawing etc.). Evaluations are typically done by two or more judges that must be in near agreement on the creativity of the product.

1. Remote Association Task

In Remote association Task, examinees are presented with three words and are asked to come up with the word that associates the other three together. A triad of words is presented each of which can form a compound word or a two-word phrase with a single solution word.

For example - French, car, shoe 

Solution – horn

Scoring - Scoring is 1 point for correct and 0 for incorrect.

Before trying out the below examples, the hint is try to prefix or suffix the answer with all the words of the triad. Try it to know your score.

Triad	Solution
Falling    Actor    Dust	STAR
Widow     Bite     Monkey	SPIDER
Broken    Clear    Eye	GLASS
Coin   Quick   Spoon	SILVER
Gold   Stool   Tender	BAR
Playing   Credit   Report	CARD
Salt      Deep     Foam	SEA
Square   Cardboard   Open	BOX
Barrel   Root   Belly	BEER
Wheel   Hand    Shopping	CART
Time   Hair    Stretch	LONG
Rock    Times   Steel	HARD
Big      Leaf      Shade	TREE
Blank     White   Lines	PAPER
Magic    Plush   Floor	CARPET
Call        Pay     Line	PHONE
Wood      Liquor   Luck	HARD
Jump    Kill     Bliss	JOY
Board   Magic   Death	BLACK
Mouse    Sharp    Blue	CHEESE

 

2. 16 Personality Test

You can google 16 personality test to answer the general and basic questions about your attitude and personality, Creativity, Social behaviour and many other things. It gives results and it’s an easy test (as compared to above as it asks your views and opinions only). You can later find deep analysis for your personality types along with renowned people belonging to your category type.

Thank you for your time. Hope you are enjoying the riddles.

CONUNDRUM 3 - DIVERGENT THINKING - PART 2

Divergent thinking can be tested and enhanced through various tests. In the previous post, I have discussed one such test and now we will play and practice other two tests under divergent thinking.

 

1.Wallace and Kogan (1965)

In this test of creativity, examinees are asked to come up with many possible items that contain a specific component. Let us have a look at it with some example.

Name things with wings:

1. Aeroplane
2. Bird
3. Dragon
4. Dreams
5. Mind
6. Time
   Scoring
   Scoring is comprised of four components:

1. Originality - each response is compared to the total amount of responses from all the people you gave the test to. Usual responses are awarded 1 point and unique responses will be awarded 2 points. Total all the point. Higher scores indicate creativity
2. Fluency - Just add up all the responses. In this example, it is 6.
3. Flexibility – It’s also known as different category, in this case a (Vehicle), b and c (animals) and d,e,f (Metaphorically implied to have wings) are the 3 different categories. More the number of categories, more is flexibility and more points.
4. Elaboration - amount of detail (for Example "a car" = 0 whereas "a car racing down the street" = 1 (another point is given for the detail of where the car is going).

You might have noticed that the higher fluency the higher the originality.

You can try it out for other things. One example is given below.

Name things with wheels:

1. a car
2. a truck
3. a train
4. mind
   
    
   
   

2.Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (1974)

The Figural TTCT: Thinking Creatively with Pictures is appropriate at all levels, kindergarten through adult. It uses three picture-based exercises to assess five mental characteristics – fluency, resistance to premature closure, elaboration, abstractness of titles and originality.

Appropriate for first graders through adults, the Verbal TTCT: Thinking Creatively with Words uses six word-based exercises to assess three mental characteristics – fluency, flexibility and originality.

These exercises provide opportunities to ask questions, to improve products, and to "just suppose."

Example - Figural TTCT

What might this be?

Responses:

a. A smooshed spider

b. A star

c. A clock with too many hands

d. Crazer map on pioneer spaceship

e. Butterfly with wings

f. A set of mini blinds caught in a tornado

Now see the example below.

Scoring

To score the TTCT you will need "Manual for Scoring and Interpreting Results", obtainable from the Torrance Centre, or from Scholastic Testing Service. The manual includes national norms, standard scores, and national percentiles for each age level.

Hope you are mesmerized with the conundrums.

Thank you for your time.

CONUNDRUM 2 - DIVERGENT THINKING - PART 1

Creativity tests are typically divided into four main components: Divergent thinking, Convergent thinking, Artistic assessments and Self assessments. In this post, we will consider Divergent thinking.

Divergent thinking refers to a way of solving problems wherein a variety of possible solutions are proposed, in an effort, to find one that works. These solutions must be original, fluent, flexible, elaborative. There are many tests covered under this component.

Guilford's Alternative Uses Task (1967)

In Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task (1967), we are asked to list down myriad uses for a common item. Many could list up to 10-15 things and people who are really good at it can list even 100 uses.

Anyone can administer Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task (1967). No training required. Materials can be created by the examiner and individually administered to the examinees. It represents an expected factor of "flexibility of thinking" in an investigation of creative thinking.

  

There was a test conducted, which measured “Genius people” (who score above the specified percentage), in kinder garden. Stupendous students who crossed this test to reach “Genius” title was 98% of total students in the kinder garden. When same students were retested 5 years later (8-10 years age students), the 15% of students to earn this title were merely 8-10% and after another 5 (13-15 years age students) years it was 10%.

This study infers that we all have divergent thinking ability and mostly it deteriorates as we grow up. What can be done then? We must think differently about the human capacity. We must improvise our definition of education and come over the conceptions like theoretical, academic, extra-curricular and many more as most of the great learning happens in groups and by collaboration.

It is also a commonly asked interview question these days. Let us consider some example. Try to list as many as possible uses of BRICK.

1.  A paperweight
2. A doorstop
3. To throw through a window
4. To use as a weapon
5. To hit my sister on the head with
6. Sanitary uses
7. To use as ‘chula’
8. To elate the water tank
9. To write on a wall
10. Flowerpot
11. Landscaping
12. Mailbox
13. Smokehouses
14. Ballast
15. To hold the sheets of cloth or plastic

Scoring is comprised of four components (Score out of 2 points for each component):

1. Originality - Each response is compared to the total amount of responses from all the people you gave the test to. More the unique responses (greater must be points awarded), more is creativity.
2. Fluency – It is nothing but total number of uses written. More the number of uses (greater are the points), more creativity.
3. Flexibility – It is also called ‘different categories’. In this case, there are many different categories (weapon and hit sister are from the same general idea of weapon). So points awarded accordingly.
4. Elaboration - Amount of detail (for Example "a doorstop" = 0 points whereas "a door stop to prevent a door slamming shut in a strong wind" = 2 (one for explanation of door slamming, two for further detail about the wind).

 You can also try it with others and then match your responses. Try out this – Safety Pin, Newspaper, Eyeglass case, Rubber band, soap, keychain, straw, needle, hair clip, etc.

Following are some of the uses of these things:

 

  

 

 



 

Hope you are enjoying solving conundrums.

Thank you for your time.

CONUNDRUM 1 - THE CANDLE PROBLEM

As I have talked about the creativity in the previous blog, we will have a practical experience of it. How creative are you? This question can be answered by taking quick conundrums that psychologists have been using to study ingenious creativity for decades. You don’t need any special lab equipment to take these tests.

The Candle Problem is a classic test of creative problem solving developed by psychologist Karl Duncker in 1945. Subjects are given a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches, and asked to affix the lit candle to the wall so that it will not drip wax onto the table below. The test challenges functional fixedness, a cognitive bias that makes it difficult to use familiar objects in abnormal ways.

The candle problem or candle task, also known as Duncker's candle problem, is a cognitive performance test, measuring the influence of functional fixedness on a participant's problem solving capabilities. This test is used in business organisations at various levels. You can now try this and later view the solution given below.

Many of the people who attempted the test explored other creative, but less efficient methods to achieve the goal. For example, some tried to tack the candle to the wall without using the thumbtack box, and others attempted to melt some of the candle’s wax and use it as an adhesive to stick the candle to the wall. Neither method works. However, if the task is presented with the tacks piled next to the box (rather than inside it), virtually all the participants were shown to achieve the optimal solution, which is self-defined.

The solution is to empty the box of thumbtacks, put the candle into the box, use the thumbtacks to nail the box (with the candle in it) to the wall, and light the candle with the match. The concept of functional fixedness predicts that the participant will only see the box as a device to hold the thumbtacks and not immediately perceive it as a separate and functional component available to be used in solving the task.

As long as the task involved only mechanical skills, bonuses worked as they would be expected: the higher the pay, the better the performance. But once the task called for “even rudimentary cognitive skills,” a larger reward led to poor performance. “In eight or nine tasks, which were examined across the three experiments, higher incentives led to worst performance.” We find that the financial incentives can result in a negative impact for overall performance.

Everyone in the life have their own Candle Problem, which do not have a clear set of rules or a single solution. It has a mystifying rule indeed backed up with the surprising and non-obvious solution, if at all it exists. In the Candle problem of any kind and in any field, the ‘if then’ rewards in the business don’t work.  This is not a feeling or a philosophy, but it is a true fact.

BUSY PEOPLE V/S PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE

Some of us feel as if there are just not enough hours in the day. We are constantly rushed and struggle to keep our head above water. People who are always busy may appear to be accomplishing a lot. But are they being productive?

The fact of the matter is BUSY DOES NOT MEANS PRODUCTIVE. Just because someone is constantly performing tasks, does not necessarily mean that they r moving closer to any major goal.

There are many fundamental differences between Busy People and Productive People.

Busy People have many goals but Productive People have priorities. Multitasking may seem to be a valuable skill but if you try to read 4 books at once, do you really think you will retain any of the knowledge? Trying to reach too many goals at the same time is slower than handling each goal, one at a time. Productive People on the other hand set stubborn priorities and can categorize their goals in such a way that the most critical things get handled first and receive the most attention. So, if your top priority is to reduce extra body fats, no matter what you should start your day with 1000 push-ups exercise without any excuses and distractions. Do not let emails, texts or any other lesser tasks interfere with the highest priority. Once the higher priority task has been completed then and only then you can move on to the next priority task.

  

The next major difference is busy people quickly say YES to everything. While productive people will say NO, or will take time to consider and calculate before saying YES. Bruce Lee once said “One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily INCREASE, but daily DECREASE. The height of cultivation always runs on Simplicity.” This basically means having less in your life will lead to more clarity, creation and production. If you say yes to every little request, you are filling your schedules with tasks that are not getting you closer to your ultimate goals, freedom and success. Productive people have learned to shut the door to the distractions and side-tracks.

There is a philosophy in economics called 80-20 Rule which states that clear majority of a profit comes from a small fraction of a client base and 80 % revenue comes from 20% or less customers. Conversely, 80% of your headaches and problems comes from 20% of your difficult clients. So simply saying no to difficult client or stressful tasks will lead to more success and allow you to focus on the greater target.

This 80-20 Law evidences can be also found in many regular chores. The most frequently used 20% of the words account for 80% of the word occurrences in language. The richest 20% of the humans have 80% of worlds income. In the US, 20% of the patients use 80% of the health care resources. In 2002, Microsoft reported that 80% of the errors and crashes in windows and office are caused by 20% of the bugs involved. People wear around 20% of their clothes 80% of the times.

How do you spend your free time when you are not at work? Do you have any hobbies or like certain leisure activities that help you relax and feel better? If watching TV and just lying on the couch accounts for 80% of your precious downtime, it will only bring you 20% of actual enjoyment and happiness. Change this around and find a hobby that will be beneficial to your body and mind.

Busy people get things done just in time but on the other hand productive people set unrealistic deadlines. If you are going to trip in a month, how long will it take you to pack? An hour before your flight you will still be scrambling around trying to finish packing. But let’s say you had a gun to your head and you are told to pack in 10 min. Could you, do it? Of course, you could because work always takes the full amount of time you allow it to. So, if you set a goal with no deadline inside, that goal will just keep getting further away. By settling an unrealistic deadline, you force yourself into immediate action.

The most Productive People have only one to three things on their daily to-do-list whereas, busy people have more than 20. So next time before making to-do-list, ask yourself your highest priorities and what things can you eliminate so that you won’t feel that you are inventing things to feel busy. With such productive mind-set, vision becomes clear and success becomes reality.


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