Creativity is a multifaceted process, therefore, in the process of creative search, inventors use all kinds of methods to activate thinking, helping to solve tasks and find new ideas. Among the many popular psychological techniques used to generate ideas and solve creative problems, one can single out the method control questions.
The Control Question Method (MCM) is a psychological technique that allows you to find a solution to a problem with the help of a series of questions that stimulate mental activity. Answering questions, the inventor activates his thinking, trying to find a new, unusual solution to the problem.
This method does not have any particular author. Different authors developed and offered their own variants of questions. This includes lists of questions such as famous authors as: A. Osborne, D. Pearson, D. Poya, G. Bush, G. Altshuller, T. Eyloart. The questions proposed by these authors have been successfully used in the field of creative solutions for many years, along with techniques such as synectics or brainstorming.
The MCI helps the inventor to more fully understand the essence of the problem, consider it from all sides and systematize the search for a solution. This technique is an improved trial and error method. Thus, each control question acts as a test or a series of tests. When compiling the lists, the authors, on the basis of inventive experience, choose the most effective questions. Because of this, the MKV works more productively than the usual trial and error method. However, the lack of understanding of all the subtleties of the technique of invention leads to the fact that a lot of superficial questions appear on the lists. For this reason, the main area of application of the technique is the solution of problems of the second level.
How the method works
First of all, it is necessary to define the problem. For example: “Come up with a name for the company”, “Resolve a dispute with employees”, “Develop the new kind products".
At this stage, the task has a general name. Now she needs to come up with interesting name. For example: “Come up with an ironic name”, “Come up with an aggressive name”, “Come up with a philosophical name”.
When the title is ready, you need to make a list of security questions or use one of the universal lists of any of the authors.
Now we can consider the problem from the standpoint of three formulations. The more options you can come up with, the better.
What are question lists?
As an example, consider the most popular lists of questions that inventors often use.
List of questions by A. Osborne
These questions are about physical objects, but they can be modified and used to solve any problem.
- Is it possible to find a new way to use the object in question?
- What can be added to it?
- What can be duplicated in it?
- What can be changed?
- Change speed?
- Pick a different shape, color, sound?
- Pick up another component?
- Make it out of another material?
- Position differently?
- Combine several tasks or functions into one?
- Swap the sequence of operations?
- Turn around?
List of questions by T. Eyloart
The list of questions, invented by the English inventor T. Eyloart, is considered one of the best. It represents the so-called tasks for oneself (a sequence of actions in the process of finding a solution to the problem).
- Consider all characteristics and definitions of the future invention. Try to change them.
- Clearly formulate tasks. Choose other wording. Separate primary and secondary tasks. Find similar issues.
- Consider the disadvantages of solutions that already exist. Come up with new ideas.
- Find analogies in the field of biology, economics, science fiction, in the molecular field.
- Build different models (mathematical, mechanical, electronic, hydraulic, etc.). Models allow you to express an idea more accurately than analogies.
- Consider the possibility of using all kinds of materials and energies: solids, liquids, gases, gels; electrical, light, magnetic energy; waves of different range, surface properties; various effects (Faraday, Joule-Thomson); different states of matter (ice, steam) and so on.
- Find logical connections, matches, variants, dependencies.
- Ask for the opinion of people who are absolutely ignorant of the issue under study.
- Discuss the research question in the group. Listen to the proposals of each participant in the discussion without criticism.
- Apply solutions specific to different nationalities: Chinese complexity, German precision, American extravagance, Scottish cunning, etc.
- Always keep the problem to yourself: sleep with it, go to work, eat, drink, play, walk. Do everything with her.
- Visit places that stimulate creative thinking: a technical museum, an antique store, a scrap yard, etc. Look at magazines with pictures.
- Make tables of materials, costs, quantities. Come up with new solutions to the problem, combinations and parts of solutions.
- Try to find the best solution and come up with possible ones.
- Make changes to the solution in terms of speed, dimensions, density, etc.
- Mentally imagine the internal structure of the mechanism.
- Find alternative problems that can remove a link from the chain and lead away from needed solution while creating something else.
- Understand whose problem it is and why?
- Study the history of the research question. Who first invented it? What incorrect definitions of this problem are there?
- Find out if someone else tried to solve this problem and what happened?
- Find generally accepted limits and understand the reasons why they were set.
Examples of practical tasks
Having studied the proposed control questions, you can try to solve several practical problems with their help. Such tasks are recommended for 11th grade students in technology lessons. Tasks activate thought processes, stimulating the search for new ideas.
Task 1
The design institute has a fireproof safe in which drawings of secret developments are stored. Engineers considered an ordinary lock not reliable enough and decided to invent another one. The lock must ensure the integrity of the safe in the following cases:
- if someone steals the key or makes a copy of it;
- if the best master key will be used;
- if the secret code of the lock is forgotten or lost;
- if any employee of the institute tries to take the drawings without the knowledge of the management.
It is necessary to propose the idea of such a castle.
Task 2
Many types of fire alarms emit a loud sound and flash lights to signal danger. However, in production halls with high levels of noise and sparks from welding, sounds may not be heard and flashes of light may not be seen.
It is necessary to come up with a reliable way of fire alarm for such workshops (it is impossible to de-energize!).
The use of the control questions method helps a lot in the process of generating ideas, searching for new solutions, and is also suitable for developing and training creative thinking.
It is believed that science is fundamentally different from artistic creativity. Here we have strict rules of method and proof, and there - the freedom of the author's arbitrariness. Here - years of painstaking work to test hypotheses and conduct experiments, there - only the individual will of the writer.
But if you look closely, the creative process is arranged in approximately the same way, in whatever area it proceeds. To succeed in physics or mathematics, you need to think no less creatively than in poetry, and a writer needs the same rigor of thinking and diligence as a scientist or engineer.
Henri Poincaré spoke about this back in 1908 in his report “Mathematical Creativity”. A scientific discovery is preceded by a long work, which is partly done consciously, and partly done in the subconscious, when it has already been accumulated. necessary information and the necessary efforts have been made. Then there is a sudden insight when the pieces of the puzzle suddenly come together and - eureka! - fall into place.
Here is how Poincaré describes it:
Henri Poincare
from the report "Mathematical Creativity"
One evening, contrary to my habit, I drank black coffee; I couldn't sleep; ideas jostled, I felt them collide until two of them came together to form a stable combination.
Insight cannot be approached with the mind alone, which decomposes the task into separate elements and checks for their consistency with each other. If you want to scare off inspiration, think continuously about the problem. If you want to attract him, take a break from the task for an hour, a day, a week; let your subconscious do the right job for you.
The stages of the creative process that can be found in Poincaré's discourse were later more clearly articulated in The Art of Thought by psychologist Graham Wallace ( 1926 ). Since then, this scheme has not fundamentally changed. According to Wallace, the creative process consists of four stages:
- Training. Researching new material, processing and planning, thinking about tasks. A period of conscious concentration on the problem.
- Incubation. Distraction from the task, when "mental events" begin to occur involuntarily, without conscious control. During this period, it is better to do something else or just relax. The incubation period can last from several hours to several years.
- Illumination. A flash of awareness that a solution to the problem has been found. The unconscious produces the result of the work done, which is often achieved by combining random images and associations.
- Examination. Mind control over the found solution, selection of ideas and testing of hypotheses. The initial idea is evaluated, refined and supported by rational arguments.
It can be easily seen that these stages do not always follow one after the other and may be repeated several times when working with the same problem. In some cases, insight happens gradually, as individual discoveries add up to a larger theory, as happened with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Just inspiration alone is not enough for creativity.
As Thomas Edison said, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." But rest is also indispensable here.
Intuition plays an important role in the process of creative search. This is a premonition that sets the thought process in a certain direction. Premonition can give impetus to the search for new information, as well as direct the unconscious in a certain direction.
The famous psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his work on creativity, divides the last stage into two stages: assessment and honing. At the last stage, the writer works on the formulation of individual sentences and the structure of the text, the scientist formulates hypotheses more clearly and tries to relate his work to a wider context.
But even at this stage, "insights" do not end. Sometimes the final touches add completely new features to the portrait that change the whole picture. No one would make discoveries and write novels if the result was known in advance. In fact, the creative process never stops.
The central point of this scheme is the transition from incubation to insight.
This is what we usually call creativity in the narrow sense of the word, as if everything else is just preparation and final polishing. It is this stage that grasps our consciousness worst of all. Cognitive psychologists argue that during the incubation period, "unconscious cognition": mental signals and stimuli are connected to each other in the order of arbitrary associations.
Here is how the German chemist Friedrich Kekule described the discovery of the cyclic formula of benzene, which came to him while sleeping in front of the fireplace:
Friedrich August Kekule
I sat and wrote a textbook, but my work did not move, my thoughts hovered somewhere far away. I turned my chair towards the fire and dozed off. The atoms jumped before my eyes again. This time small group modestly kept in the background. My mind's eye could now make out whole rows writhing like a snake. But look! One of the snakes grabbed its own tail and, in this form, as if teasingly, spun in front of my eyes. It was as if a flash of lightning woke me up: and this time I spent the rest of the night working out the consequence of the hypothesis. Let's learn to dream, and then maybe we will comprehend the truth.
More often than not, the workings of the subconscious cannot be described as clearly as Kekule does: the insight simply "comes." Cognitive scientists have calculated that the perception of a stimulus through the senses occurs at a speed of zero to one-fifth of a second. Consciousness requires at least ½ second for its work. The most interesting unfolds between these two stages.
As Mikhail Epstein writes, “in this gap - between sensory perception and consciousness - that pause is located, that dark “eureka”, which is only later illuminated by consciousness and is perceived as a “dazzling flash”: it clarifies a new idea and at the same time obscures, “obscures” its source. It turns out that the creative consciousness is completely permeated with the unconscious; the unconscious creates it.
This means that environment, relaxation, and distraction may be more important in the creative process than conscious effort. Perhaps creativity is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent labor, but one percent is in some cases more significant than the remaining ninety-nine.
We used to think that creativity is the work of one person. But in fact it is a systemic phenomenon.
Culture selects what is worthy and unworthy of being considered a significant work. Therefore, creativity is easier to evaluate where there are clear selection rules. For example, new mathematical theory experts will appreciate it very quickly, but literary masterpieces sometimes have to wait in the wings for decades.
Culture becomes an unconscious part of the human personality and gives rise to new creations. A creative person - whether a scientist, writer or inventor - is a finely tuned instrument that captures the currents environment and transforms them so as to make changes in this world. At the same time, the desire for novelty in itself is not an incentive for work. Such an incentive is the desire to search, and whether a solution is found or not is not so important.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
From the book "Creativity. Psychology of discoveries and inventions»
One of the distinguishing features creative work is that the work never ends. In other words, all of our respondents claimed that two things were equally true: that they worked every minute of their conscious life, and that they never worked a day in their entire life.
To make creativity a part of your life, you need to learn not only to work, but also to relax. As the American physicist Freeman Dyson says, "People who are busy all the time are usually not creative."
Creativity fills even idle pastime with meaning and intensity. Perhaps that is why it makes people happier. Contrary to the unhappy genius stereotype, most creative people are happy people.
Issues of Psychology, No. 1/92
Received July 15, 1991
The problem of motivating educational and research work, giving it a creative character has always attracted the attention of teachers and psychologists. However, the question of the factors influencing the energy of stimulators of intellectual activity remains insufficiently studied; different, often contradictory views are expressed on the essence and structure of the problem situation. That is why the author considers it necessary to dwell specifically on these aspects of this problem.
Both teaching and research are constantly associated with overcoming the difficulties of the intellectual plan, with the resolution of contradictions that underlie educational and scientific problems and require the subject to creatively search for new, missing knowledge and new ways to apply previous knowledge. What motivates him to such a search? We find the answer to this question in S. L. Rubinshtein: “The initial moment of the thought process,” he writes, “usually is a problem situation. A person begins to think when he needs to understand something. Thinking usually begins with a problem or question, with surprise or bewilderment, with contradiction. This problematic situation determines the involvement of the individual in the thought process ... ".
So, the subject is involved in the creative search due to the problematic situation. What is the nature of the problem situation? What are its structure and dynamics? We will try to get answers to these questions, which are not so obvious, despite their already certain scientific study, by "anatomizing" the motivational aspect of accepting an educational or scientific problem to the solution and the solution itself, using the results of specific psychological studies presented in the publications.
Faced with a problem, the subject seems to run into some kind of obstacle. At the same time, while it may not be clear, he is experiencing cognitive difficulty, accompanied by emotional experiences of uncertainty (surprise, bewilderment). From this moment - the emergence of a cognitive difficulty - the formation of a problem situation begins. But so far, one of its most important components is missing - "involvement in the thought process" does not occur.
Feeling some difficulty, the subject, before proceeding to overcome it, realizes the importance (significance) of the problem for himself, the need to solve it, i.e. correlates it with personal goals of activity, finds the place of the problem in the system of personal goals, in other words, develops its own motivational and value attitude towards it. If the need to solve the problem is recognized and the content side of the problem is attractive to the subject, then when he realizes (perhaps intuitively) the appropriate level of his intellectual capabilities (realization of the feasibility of solving the problem) under the influence of both motives - the subjective importance of the problem and cognitive interest in it (IP) - the problem turns into inner plan personality of the subject acquires for him personal meaning. The problem for him thus becomes his problem. As a result, an impulse to search is born, which is embodied in the "need to understand something", and, in general, in a cognitive need (the need to solve a problem). Thus, "a cognitive need arises in a problem situation", completing its formation. The problem is taken to be solved.
It should be emphasized that for the analysis of the motivational aspect of the search, the allocation of the stage of accepting the problem for a solution seems to be of fundamental importance. This allows us to distinguish between the motives for accepting a problem for a solution and the actual solution. “The motivation of thinking,” A. V. Brushlinsky and M. I. Volovikova note, “is at least of two types: 1) specifically cognitive and 2) non-specific. In the first case, cognitive interests and motives, that is, the desire to learn something new ... In the second case, thinking begins under the influence of more or less external causes, and not proper cognitive interests ... But whatever the initial motivation for thinking, as it is carried out, proper cognitive motives begin to act ". “Whatever the initial motive for inclusion (italics mine. - I. K.) in mental activity,” S. L. Rubinshtein expresses a similar thought, “but when the inclusion is completed, cognitive motives inevitably begin to operate in it, the desire to know something that is still unknown." Thus, what in the first quotation is called "the original motivation of thinking" is nothing else than the motivation of "inclusion in mental activity" - in the second. As for the action in the process of searching for cognitive motives, we would formulate the conclusion made by the authors more strictly: whatever the initial motives for accepting the problem for solution (motives of "inclusion"), the only, specifically cognitive, motive is immediate for the decision itself. - cognitive interest, which "most often means the need for knowledge", or a cognitive need, formed "in the thought process of solving a problem as a specific focus on forecasting, in general, on analyzing not any, but strictly defined properties of a cognizable object and methods of its cognition" .
Energy potential (The energy potential of the need characterizes the amount of functional costs that the subject is capable of within the framework of the actual motivational act of behavior.) of the cognitive need Rp in the period between the acceptance of the problem for solution and the decision itself is made up of the energy potentials of the "inclusion" motives, in the case under consideration - motives for the importance of Rv and interest in the problem of Rip. At the same time, the motivational state of the subject can be mathematically described by the expression: status changes accordingly.)
A few words about the legitimacy of such a "mathematization" of psychological phenomena. psychological science owns certain approaches to the official use of mathematical tools. B. F. Lomov notes that the simplest is “the so-called discursive approach, which essentially consists in replacing natural language with mathematical symbols. Ordinary language is often not adequate enough to economically and clearly express the complexity of certain ideas developed in science. In this situation, symbolism can replace long arguments. An example of such an approach is the well-known "formula of emotions" E \u003d f (P, ? I) by P. V. Simonov (in the future we will use this "formula" and therefore we will reveal the elements contained in it: E - emotion, its severity, quality and sign; P - the strength and quality of the actual need; IN-IS ==? I; IN - information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the need; IP - information about the existing means that the subject actually has) . The expressions given here and below, which are mathematical and symbolic models of the motivational states of the subject, reflecting the dynamics and nature of the interaction of search stimuli, in our opinion, are quite consistent with the indicated discursive approach.
Having accepted the problem for solution, the subject begins to realize the essence of the contradiction contained in it, formulates the problem. Of course, he can realize the contradiction even earlier, when he encounters a difficulty, which occurs when this essence lies on the surface of the problem. But often the realization of a contradiction becomes so difficult for the subject that it itself presents a problem for him, secondary to the main one and included in it. In this case, the awareness of the contradiction occurs after the acceptance of the problem for a solution.
However, now it is not important for us when the realization of the contradiction is carried out - before or after the acceptance of the problem for a solution. Essential for the analysis of the structure of the problem situation and the motivation of the search is the statement that, within the framework of the main problem, the subject is forced to solve other, derivative from it, included in it, and often in each other, problems associated with the need to recognize the main and intermediate contradictions, and this means developing an appropriate action plan, putting forward specific hypotheses, choosing and implementing certain methods for testing them. This circumstance makes it possible to present a generalized structural model of the problem in the form of a "Russian nesting doll" with built-in secondary problems in relation to it - "nesting dolls" (with the only difference that in one "nesting doll" the rest can be placed not only in each other, but and next to each other).
If we expand all these problems and the events associated with them in a chain, we get the following picture. Having started the search, the subject is faced with a new problem. A new problem situation begins to form. The emerging problem is subjected to a "technological" process of making a decision, similar to that described earlier: when the problem is feasible, under the influence of awareness of its importance (including from the point of view of solving the main problem), and possibly cognitive interest in it ("desire to know something else unknown"), a cognitive need is born situationally as a direct source of intellectual activity in solving the problem that has arisen - simultaneously with the completion of the formation of a new problem situation, which turns out to be built into the main one. This new problem, in turn, may cause the need to solve another problem subordinate to it, as a condition for solving the first one, and, as a result, the formation of a new situational cognitive need and the corresponding situation built into the previous one, etc. Thus, more without solving the previous problem, the subject is forced to start solving the next one, and so on until he reaches the final problem in this chain - a non-composite problem. Having solved it, he finally gets the opportunity to solve the rest of the problems sequentially, starting from the end of the chain.
What is the problem situation? Including a cognitive need in its structure, it remains in the search until the moment this need is satisfied, that is, until the moment the desired is obtained. Therefore, the subject, being forced to enter into another problem situation, still remains in the previous one. And only a way out of the problem situation corresponding to the last in the chain - non-composite - problem, allows him to gradually get rid of the rest of the problem situations, starting from the end of the chain. Consequently, while being in the course of the search in problem situations built into each other, at the same time, throughout the search process, the subject is in an integral problem situation corresponding to the main problem.
The above reasoning gives grounds to assert that the generalized structural-functional model of an integral problem situation quite accurately expresses the so-called "complex tunnel" or "tunnel within a tunnel" (i.e., a situation in a situation. This model is shown in the figure for a problem situation consisting from two others, derivatives of it, built into it and into each other). Just as the exit from the previous tunnel is possible only in the case of passing the next one, and, therefore, the exit from the last, non-composite, tunnel is a condition for overcoming the entire tunnel system, the solution of the previous problem is achieved only as a result of solving the subsequent, subordinate one, and the solution of the main problem turns out to be strictly dependent on the solution of the last derivative of it, the non-composite problem. This model thus reflects a specific feature of the dynamics of the search process, which consists in the fact that the solution to the final problem in this chain becomes the first, and the solution to the main problem becomes the last (a non-composite tunnel is overcome first, and the most difficult tunnel is the last).
But very often, having solved another problem, the subject comes to the conclusion that this is not enough to solve the problem that is primary in relation to it: the solved problem allows him to take a slightly different look at the primary problem, to see the perspective and significance of its further study. What is now necessary for a complete solution of the primary problem is the solution of an additional problem. Under the influence of awareness of this need and, perhaps, cognitive interest in the problem that has arisen, with a feeling of the sufficiency of their intellectual capabilities, the subject accepts it for a solution. In this case, leaving a problem situation that is adequate to the solved problem, he enters a problem situation that corresponds to new problem. Both of these problem situations, not being built into one another, turn out to be built into the problem situation that is primary in relation to them. The figure shows how, under such circumstances, the structural-functional model of the integral problem situation changes: one more tunnel is added, adequate to the additional problem situation and depicted by a dotted line.
But back to the motivation of the search. As already mentioned, problems arising in the course of the search before the start of the actual decision go through the stage of acceptance for a decision, and the motives for accepting the next problem for a solution (the motives for "inclusion") are its subjective importance (including for solving the primary problem in relation to it) and cognitive interest in it. Under the influence of these motives, with the realization of the feasibility of the problem, simultaneously with the completion of the formation of the corresponding problem situation, a cognitive need arises: for each problem there is a cognitive need. "Thus, a cognitive need is born every time as a primary, situational need and is an integral element of a problem situation. At the same time, the disclosed unknown constitutes the meaningful, and the need for the unknown is the dynamic component of motivation", and the situationally generated cognitive need is the only direct stimulus of intellectual activity in actually solving each of the problems that arise in the search process.
Having fixed our attention on the motives of "inclusion" and the actual search activity that we have identified, let us turn to the factors influencing the motivation of mental activity: "Identification by the subject (especially in insight)," write A.V. Brushlinsky and M.I. certain property cognizable object, which opens up the prospect of solving the problem, creates motivation for further analysis of this property. In the process of thinking, the subject not only discovers new qualities of the object, but determines their significance for subsequent activities, thereby forming cognitive motivation for the further flow of thinking ". cognitive motivation" [ibid.].
Experimental studies , , , ; ; show that even a partial removal of the problematic nature of the task, leading to an increase in the probability of satisfying the initial cognitive need (IT is greater than IN in the "formula of emotions"), is accompanied by positive emotional experiences of success.
Arising on the basis of needs, emotions have the opposite effect on the need, since P=E/I. “Indeed,” confirms P.V. Simonov, “emotion enhances the need. It has been experimentally proven that ... a feeling of joy, inspiration, which arose even with a small success, enhances the need to achieve the ultimate goal.” "A joyful feeling born of success," S. L. Rubinshtein concretizes this idea, "usually increases energy for further successful activity." Emotions of success, activating the search, therefore, it is legitimate to regard as a stimulus for mental activity. In this case, the expression for the motivational state of the subject in the search process has the form: Pp = Pv + Rip + Rey, where Pp is the energy potential of the need to search in the process of solving the problem, Reu is the increment of the energy potential of the need, due to the emotions of success.
Taking into account the structural-functional model of the integral problem situation given earlier, it can be argued that the first increment of ΔP occurs as a result of solving the first non-composite problem. Its further increase and, as a result, additional strengthening of the initial impulse to search are carried out as the subject exits problem situations and satisfies situationally generated cognitive needs that correspond to intermediate problems that arise in the search process, and the intensity of this build-up in accordance with the "emotion formula" is determined the frequency of occurrence of situations of success (the speed of progress through the "difficult tunnel") and the subjective assessment of their significance in terms of achieving the ultimate goal of the search.
"Emotional state experienced problem solving person, is characterized, according to the subjective reports of the subjects, not only by anxiety and tension that act against the background of unresolved mismatch (negative motivation), but also by the expectation of success (positive motivation) ". Emotional experiences of success, as well as the emotional background caused by them, shift this state in the direction of increased excitation.With strong motives and stimulus, more often in people of choleric temperament, a rather dangerous state for the body can occur, so to speak, "creative binge", depleting nervous system. And only a sober awareness of this danger allows a person to tell himself “stop!” in time.
In the context of our analysis, the motivational reasons for stopping the search are of interest. On the one hand, the search ends with finding what is sought and satisfaction of the cognitive need. At the same time, as already emphasized, the problematic situation ceases to exist. But, on the other hand, the search can be interrupted before reaching its final goal. When does it happen? If ideas and hypotheses do not receive reinforcement for a long time, this is subjectively assessed as a drop in the probability of achieving the search goal, causing doubts about the feasibility of solving the problem. Experimental studies have shown that such a course of events is accompanied by a steady increase in negative affects, emotions of failure (sorrows, disappointments, etc.), which "can reduce energy for further activity," i.e., weaken the cognitive need. Taking into account this influence, the motivational state of the subject in the search process can be described by the following expression:
Рп= Рв + Rip + Reu-Ren, where Ren is the value of the decrease in the energy potential of the need, due to the emotions of failure.
The greatest surge of negative emotions and an adequate weakening of the cognitive need occur in those episodes of the search process, when what was previously regarded as a significant success turns out to be refuted.
"Negative emotion makes an unfavorable prognosis even more pessimistic". There comes a critical phase of the search, when the subject tries to decide whether to continue the search or not. It is obvious that such an attempt is carried out outside the actual search activity. The subject rethinks the value attitude to the problem, re-evaluates his energy and intellectual resources. If the increased difficulty of the problem requires from him expenses that exceed the available energy possibilities of the "inclusion" motives, the problem is not re-admitted to the solution, and under the influence of a stronger competing motive, positively emotionally colored in contrast to the "inclusion" motives, the subject is reoriented to another activity, moreover, due to the specified emotional contrast, such a reorientation is carried out more willingly. Thus, the influence of the emotions of failure on the motivation of the search consists in the inhibition of mental activity as a result of the weakening of the cognitive need by them, as well as in the "sanctioning" of failure to achieve the goal and, accordingly, in the termination of the thought process, under the influence of a strong and positively emotionally colored competing motive.
But events can develop in a slightly different way. At critical moments of the search, the realization of the need for self-affirmation is often decisive, in which "failure can stimulate the desire to succeed at all costs" . The energy potential of the motive of the subjective importance of RS increases. As a result of the emergence of a cognitive need already strengthened due to this, the problem is again accepted for solution. The search resumes.
This process can be repeated many times. When, as a result of an increase in time during which it is not possible to identify or remove the problematic nature of the problem being solved, the probability of success is reduced to the limit, and attracting additional reserves in the form of strengthening motives that are not specific to thinking turned out to be futile, the last point is put in the search: the problem is not accepted again to a decision in view of the realization of its overpowering.
Based on the foregoing, the following conclusions can be drawn.
1. The formation of a problem situation begins at the moment of difficulty and ends at the moment the problem is accepted for solution - simultaneously with the emergence of a cognitive need (the need to solve the problem, the need to search).
2. The sources of this need, its energy donors and at the same time the motives for accepting the problem for solution, the motives for "inclusion", are the subjective importance of the problem and (or) cognitive interest in it. But whatever the motives for accepting the problem for solution, the cognitive need is the only direct, and specifically cognitive, incentive for actually solving the problem. The level of this need, and hence the search activity, is determined by the strength of the "inclusion" motives.
3. Since the emergence of a cognitive need presupposes the subject’s awareness, perhaps on an intuitive level, of the sufficiency of his intellectual capabilities (abilities and knowledge), a problem situation is formed not with any problem, but only with one that the subject a priori considers feasible to solve.
4. Including a cognitive need in its structure, the problem situation necessarily causes the process of solving the problem, i.e., any problem situation involves the subject in the creative search.
5. Problem situations, corresponding to the problems arising in the course of the search, embedding into each other or not, turn out to be embedded in an integral problem situation adequate to the main problem, in which the subject stays throughout the search process.
6. The problem situation is characterized by a bright color and high dynamism of emotional experiences, which, by changing the energy potential of the need to solve the problem, affect the search motivation, and the emotions of success play the role of a stimulus for the creative process. Emotions of failure, on the other hand, inhibit the search activity and "authorize" the termination of the search when its motives become weaker and negatively emotionally colored compared to the competing motive.
7. At critical moments of the search process, when the subjective probability of solving the problem decreases to the limit, the problem can be taken up again as a result of strengthening motives that are not specific to thinking, for example, in the case of actualizing the need for self-affirmation.
8. The problem situation ends its existence at the moment of satisfaction of the cognitive need, i.e. at the moment of overcoming the difficulty, solving the problem. Naturally, this existence ceases with the adoption of a decision on the inexpediency of further continuation of the search.
Now that the essence of our problem is sufficiently exposed, a special formulation of the problem situation is hardly capable of providing additional information. Nevertheless, having done this, we will try to summarize our reasoning in a concise manner.
So, a problematic situation can be defined as a complex state of the psyche, necessarily involving the subject in a creative search, in which it keeps him until he receives what he is looking for or until a decision is made about the inappropriateness of further search due to the realization of his overpowering. As a mental state, a problematic situation is characterized by a high dynamism of emotional experiences, striving for truth and mental activity, the level of which is determined by the degree of subjective significance, cognitive attractiveness and difficulty of the problem. Given this characteristic, the significance of the problem situation in the formation creative personality hard to overestimate.
The inevitability of the involvement of the subject in the search activity, noted in this definition, follows from our analysis. A. M. Matyushkin also points to the same feature, considering problem situations as "situations that necessitate (italics mine. - I. K.) thinking processes" . At the same time, in the psychological and pedagogical literature, the narrowed understanding of the problem situation is traditional only as a situation of cognitive difficulty,,,,. From the point of view of pedagogical expediency, such an understanding is much less preferable than the definition of a problem situation as mental state, involving the student in solving the problem, because the creation of a difficulty in itself does not make any sense if, along with it, other mandatory conditions are not provided - the subjective significance, cognitive attractiveness and feasibility of the problem, which necessarily encourage to overcome it.
In conclusion, a few practical considerations to help the researcher in a problematic situation.
1. The success of a creative search is often predetermined by the ability to turn off the inner critic in oneself, break the fetters of habitual attitudes and stereotypes, comprehend the objects under study from unusual, perhaps even paradoxical positions.
2. With prolonged, intense, but unsuccessful attempts to resolve any educational or scientific problem, it is advisable to periodically interrupt work. The moment of truth can come involuntarily, as if by itself.
3. Distracting from the creative process and at the same time getting involved in extraneous situations, the researcher often finds in their subjectively perceived side properties a hint, an analogy, an association that leads to the emergence of a hypothesis and, ultimately, to a solution to the problem.
4. The presentation of comprehended content - oral (pronunciation) or written - significantly helps to remove the problem. Translating reasoning into an external speech form, unfolding them into a logical chain, while increasing the demands on the discipline of thinking and inevitably subjecting it to control, the presentation makes it possible to identify a weak link in this chain. The specified exactingness and, as a result, the effect of the presentation is significantly increased if the reasoning is spoken not just out loud, but to someone, preferably, as qualified as possible in this field of knowledge.
5. The action of the mechanism of generating creative hypotheses, like the mechanism of dreams, when a person is in a waking state, is suppressed by the logical consciousness. The emancipation of the "generator of hypotheses" and sudden insight (insight) sometimes come in a dream.
6. Emancipation of the "hypothesis generator" and insight often occur in a specific state, intermediate between wakefulness and drowsiness (preferably in absolute silence and horizontal position), when the thought, without being distracted by anything extraneous, as if spontaneously, but at the same time under unobtrusive control of consciousness, is directed in the right direction.
Taking into account the above considerations effectively "works" for the researcher if, firstly, he thoroughly understands the problem, secondly, he is seriously fascinated by it, and, thirdly, he has experience that is generally sufficient to solve it.
literature
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The whole life of a person constantly puts before him the search for new ways, all the complex and urgent tasks and problems. The emergence of such problems, difficulties, surprises means that in the reality around us there is a lot of unknown, hidden. Therefore, an ever deeper knowledge of the world is necessary.
It is the creative search that makes it possible to cognize (discover) more and more new processes, properties, relationships between people and things.
By creating something in the external world, a person can discover something in himself, and by developing any existing abilities, i.e. creating oneself, learning something new about the outside world.
Creative search (knowledge) is a basic human need that makes a person a person. Human intelligence is based on the ability to creatively comprehend and transform the world around us, and it was the ability to create that determined the survival of our species in the distant past.
Creativity, the search for new ideas is the ability to combine known elements of the surrounding reality in new, non-standard combinations, and get a result that is different from the known natural one. First of all, creativity is the creation of a subjectively new, valuable in material or spiritual terms, both for the creator (personality) and for others.
First of all, we are talking about creativity in all areas of human life: comprehension and transformation of the world, in science, production, art, everyday activities, the relationship of people with each other and the surrounding reality.
The natural inclinations of creative abilities are inherent in every person. But in order to reveal them and develop them to the full, certain objective and subjective conditions are needed: early and skillful training, a creative climate, strong-willed qualities of a person - perseverance, hard work, courage.
At present, the search for new knowledge (unknown) and their materialization (the creation of new objects of technology) have become much more complicated in the face of increased rates of renewal. technical means and the rapid growth of scientific and technical information, which is determined by the relevance of the chosen topic. As a result, there have been developments around the world theoretical foundations and methodological means of activating creative thinking and searching for new solutions. To speed up the process of obtaining new knowledge, creating highly effective technology based on inventions, it is necessary to have the means to activate creative thinking. The specificity of these means is due to the fact that "the logic scientific discovery is far from formal logic, and the circumstances accompanying a breakthrough to a higher level of cognition do not always correspond to the importance of the moment. The hidden work of thought takes place not only in the quiet of the office, at the drawing board and in work time, but it would seem, in the most inappropriate environment, and the slightest push from the outside is sometimes enough for the twilight of expectation to be illuminated by a bright flash of instant insight and the interconnected fragments of the mysterious mosaic formed into a single picture. "Study heuristics and methods of activating creative thinking bring the moment of "insight" closer, and also develop the ability of the individual in creativity.
Mastering the theory of creativity, techniques and methods of searching for the unknown helps to realize the social significance of creativity, its social necessity, to better reveal one's creative potential in this profession.
The purpose of the work: to explore the process of creative search, its significance for a person and the world around him.
Based on the goal, we can formulate the main tasks of this work:
Reveal the essence of creativity;
Consider the types of creativity;
Analyze the creative process;
Describe the stages of creative thinking;
Observation of personality in the course of creative search.
The object of research is the process of creative search.
In the course of work, it is necessary to overcome barriers in the process of creative thinking, which affect the significance of creative search in general.
The creative process functions as a single holistic system, and its main characteristics are: the dominance of the unconscious components of the psyche, spontaneity, unpredictability of the result, autonomy, efficiency, as well as a wide time range - from compaction in an instant to the development and differentiation of various stages.
Creative stages
The profession associated with creativity exists in its own way. internal laws. Creative people in the process of creating any kind of works are in constant interaction with their emotional and sensual world.
The path along which the creative idea moves in the mind of the author originates from the so-called preparatory phase. During this stage, creativity begins. possible solutions, possible changes, possible elements of novelty.
The collection of information and the development of original ideas are concentrated in the form of material media, such as drawings, sketches, descriptions, color tests, detailed drawings. Thus, the amount of material collected makes it possible to highlight the main idea around which the creative process continues.
At the preparatory stage, it is very important to strengthen your emotional susceptibility, enrich your feelings with new impressions, draw inspiration from music.
In the process of creative search, from time to time there comes a stage of frustration. Frustration (lat. frustratio) - “deception”, “failure”, “vain expectation”, “disorder of intentions”.
This moment is often unexpected, despite the fact that almost everyone faces a phase of frustration in their work. Researchers consider the onset of this phase a natural phenomenon.
By the time of the transition to the frustration phase, the results of the analysis of the collected materials and the verification of possible solutions no longer give any progress and the achievement of the goal - a new idea - is not visible in the near future. Thus, there is an understanding that the solution of the task set does not fit into the framework of the possibilities used, that the search has ended up in a dead end, and that a non-standard, original and decisive step is required to reach the new level creative process.
Being at the stage of frustration, you can lose self-control and give up the opportunity to search for novelty. However, the knowledge that this phase is inherent in any creative project, helps to understand that further progress along the path of creative insight is impossible without reorganizing the entire work on the project.
An analysis of the causes of a creative impasse leads to an understanding of the weak link in the search for a creative solution. The need to get rid of stereotypes or limiting beliefs and obtain additional information leads to the overcoming of limiting barriers and creates the prerequisites for a process that is called "new growth".
The creative process enters an incubation phase with the end of an active and conscious search for a solution. The idea maturation process moves to the right hemisphere, and the subconscious readily provides information relevant to the problem under study. Scientists call this period mental rest.
At the stage of incubation, the role of the preparatory stage increases. The quality of the information collected affects the quality of the expected result.
Insight is the point at which a distinct response is received after a period of incubation. A conscious decision may not be noticed immediately, but the feeling of completing the search for an idea is accompanied by stormy joy, which is an indicator of the end of the hidden process of maturation. It is important to fix the appearance of an idea, otherwise the result of a long work of consciousness and subconsciousness may disappear.
The result of experiencing an insight is to immediately change the existing structure of the search for a new idea into an internal structure of a higher order.
Awakened inspiration gives strength for hard work on the formed idea. The search for a creative idea in the creative process ends with the development stage. This stage is limited in time.
All stages of the creative process lead to the implementation stage, where the idea takes on a visible shape.
Creativity is the ability to put forward interesting proposals, create new ideas, in other words, a creative approach to solving a problem. An unusual, unexpected, new idea does not come easily. Usually, ideas appear by chance, but when systems approach, they can be obtained in an organized manner.
Despite the differences in terms, various descriptions of the creative process are generally similar to each other. The creative process is usually described as a series of sequential steps. G. Helmholtz, A. Poincaré and a number of other authors identified four phases of any creative decision:
- 1 The phase of collecting material, the accumulation of knowledge that can form the basis for solving or reformulating the problem;
- 2 The phase of maturation, or incubation, when the subconscious works mainly, and at the level of conscious regulation a person can engage in completely different activities;
- 3 The phase of insight, or insight, when the solution often appears completely unexpectedly and entirely in the mind;
- 4 Phase of control, or verification, which requires the full inclusion of consciousness.
In 1926, the English sociologist Graham Walls first named these steps in the creative process. He named them like this:
- - Training
- - Incubation
- - Illumination
- - Examination.
A more detailed description of the creative process is offered by Alex Osborne, former head of the BBDO agency, which founded the Foundation in New York State. creative education, which has its own workshops and magazine:
- 1. Orientation -- problem definition.
- 2. Preparation -- Gathering relevant information.
- 3. Analysis - classification of the collected material.
- 4. Formation of ideas - the collection of different versions of ideas.
- 5. Incubation - waiting, during which insight comes.
- 6. Synthesis - development of a solution.
- 7. Evaluation - consideration of the received ideas.
Even though the steps and names are slightly different from each other, all creative strategies have a few things in common. key points. Researchers have found that ideas come after a person has immersed himself in a problem and worked himself up to the point where he wants to quit. Preparation and analysis is the main period of the most difficult work, when it is necessary to read, research and learn everything that concerns this problem.
Then comes the time of idea formation, when the material is played out, and the problem is considered from different points of view. This is also the period of the birth of ideas. Most creative people use physical way idea generation -- sketching on paper, walking, running, riding an elevator up and down, going to a movie theater, or eating certain foods. This is a very personal technique that is used to create the right mood. The task of this stage is to collect the maximum number of ideas. The more ideas collected, the better the final concept will be.
The process of analyzing, comparing different ideas and associations is tedious for most people. The explorer may run into a blank wall and give up. This is what James Webb Young calls "brain work," but it's necessary.
Incubation is the most interesting part process. At this time, your conscious mind is resting, allowing the subconscious mind to solve the problem. In other words, when a researcher gets frustrated or angry about not getting ideas, something must be done to let the problem go, and then the subconscious will start working.
Illumination is an unexpected moment when an idea comes. Usually an idea appears at the most unexpected time: not when the researcher is sitting at the table, straining his brain, but, for example, late in the evening before going to bed or in the morning when he wakes up. At the most unexpected moment, the pieces come together, and the solution becomes obvious.
One of the most important is the test or evaluation stage, where you need to go back to the very beginning and objectively consider your idea. Is it really all that great? Understandably? Does the idea match the strategy? Most people working on the creative side of advertising admit that many of their best ideas just didn't work. Ideas might be great, but they didn't solve a problem or achieve specific purpose. Lyricist also admits that sometimes ideas that seemed great did not excite them the next day or a week later.
Evaluation includes making a decision to continue work, which everyone should do creative person. Craig Weatherup, president of Pepsi, explained: "You need to have a clear vision of your goal...and you have to have the nerve to pull the trigger." The BBDO agency says: “Pepsi rejects a lot. For every commercial we go to a client with, there are probably 9 commercials that he turned down.”
Idea formation. Shaping refers to the process of obtaining an original idea. The formation of the idea occurs in the development of a new product and its name, positioning, strategic planning, cost reduction, modernization and the development of big ideas in advertising