Creative
thinking
is
the process of generating original or new thoughts, designs,
or products; as such, it is very similar to the process of "synthesis"
(see Bloom, 1956, on the Thinking Skills Reference List in the
Resources section). Creative
thinking, then, is divergent
thinking or working at the edge of one's
competence. When a person thinks "creatively,"
they function fairly closely to the kinds of thinking processes
used in problem solving.
The
components of
creative thinking
inlcude:
--
ideational influency,
i.e., the ability to produce large numbers of appropriate
ideas quickly and easily
-- remote
associates, i.e., the
ability to retrieve information only remotely associated with
the problem at hand
-- intuition,
i.e., the abiltiy to reach sound conclusions from minimal
evidence
Key
strategies used by
creative thinkers
for inventive thinking focus at problem
finding, or,
paying attention to what problems should
be addressed before attempting to solve the problem.
Such strategies include long
searches, making
analogies, and
brainstorming.
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