the programmer’s main problem was not so much technical as psychological: he couldn’t make progress because he was trying to solve the wrong problem. We finally solved his problem by breaking through his conceptual block and solving an easier problem. Conceptual Blockbusting by James L. Adams studies this kind of leap and is generally a pleasant prod towards more creative thinking. Although it was not written with programmers in mind, many of its lessons are particularly appropriate for programming problems. Adams defines conceptual blocks as “metal walls that block the problem-solver from correctly perceiving a problem or conceiving its solution”. - Programming Pearls, by Jon Bentley
texts below are from © Conceptual Blockbusting 4th Edition, by James L. Adams
Chapter One Introduction
We spend little time monitoring our own thinking and comparing it with a more sophisticated ideal.
Thinking form
Conceptual blocks still control us. Much of thinking is quite automatic.
The following puzzle, which originates with Carl Duncker, is taken from The Arc of Creation by Arthur Koestler.
Puzzle: One morning, exactly at sunrise, a Buddhist monk began to climb a tall mountain. A narrow path, no more than a foot or two wide, spiraled around the mountain to a glittering temple at the summit. The monk ascended at varying rates of speed, stopping many times along the way to rest and eat dried fruit he carried with him. He reached the temple shortly before sunset. After several days of fasting and meditation he began his journey back along the same path, starting at sunrise and again walking at variable speeds with many pauses along the way His average speed descending was, of course, greater than his average climbing speed. Prove that there is a spot along the path that the monk will occupy on both trips at precisely the same time of day.
Solutions to Problems That Don’t Exist
Conceptual Blocks
mental walls that blocks the problem-solver from correctly perceiving a problem or conceiving its solutions.
Once again, please do the exercises and problems. The only way you will identify your own conceptual blocks is to try activities that are impeded by their existence.
Chapter Two Perceptual Blocks
Perceptual Blocks are obstacles that prevent the problem-solver from clearly perceiving either the problem itself or the information needed to solve the problem.
One: Detecting What You Expect - Stereotyping
Context is a key element in many memory techniques.
Two: Difficulty in isolating the Problem
Three: Tendency to Delimit the Problem Area Poorly
Puzzle: Draw no more than four straight lines(without lifting the pencil from the paper) which cross through all nine dots.
the widespread nature of this block is what makes this puzzle classic.
Four: Inability to See the Problem from Various Viewpoints
Five: Saturation
Six: Failure to Utilize all Sensory Inputs
Chapter Three Emotional blocks
The Mystery of Emotion
Freud
The Humanistic Psychologists
Fear of Taking a Risk
No Appetite for Chaos
Judging Rather than Generating ideas
inability Or Unwillingness to Incubate
Lack of challenge versus Excessive Zeal
Reality and Fantasy
of Flow and Angst
Chapter Four Cultural and Environmental blocks
Taboos
Humor in Problem-Solving
Reason and Intuition
Left-Handed and Right-Handed thinking
Primary and Secondary Creativity
Everybody Should Be Just Like Me
Cyber Is Better
Adria Anuzis looked at three aspects of communication, which she called
personal(same location, personal interaction),
cultural(commonalties of interest, background, and values),
cyber(interacting electronically).
she found that the most successful professional interaction made use of all three.
the best creative work comes from people who are not only electronically interconnected, but also share cultural values and interact personally in the same physical space.
Tradition and Change
Thinking Through Blocks
Environmental Blocks
Supportive Environments
Accepting and Incorporating Criticism
Autocratic Bosses
Non-Support
Chapter Five Intellectual and Expressive Blocks
Choosing Your Problem-Solving Language
Flexibility in Your Use of Strategies
| | | |
|---|---|---|
| Build up | Display | Simulate |
| Eliminate | Organize | Test |
| Work Forward | List | Play |
| Work Backward | Check | Manipulate |
| Associate | Diagram | Copy |
| Classify | Chart | Interpret |
| Generalize | Verbalize | Transform |
| Exemplify | Visualize | Translate |
| Compare | Memorize | Expand |
| Relate | Recall | Reduce |
| Commit | Record | Exaggerate |
| Defer | Retrieve | Understate |
| Leap In | Search | Adapt |
| Hold back | select | substitute |
| Focus | Plan | combine |
| release | predict | separate |
| force | assume | Change |
| relax | question | vary |
| dream | hypothesis | cycle |
| imagine | guess | repeat |
| purge | define | systemize |
| incubate | symbolize | randomize |