How Creative Thinking Works

Why the post?

I have an interest is how we think and our different modes of thought. Especially the nature of creative thinking has always intrigued me. So I here is an attempt to set out how creative minds work. 

Two divergent views

The image of the lone tormented genius inventing something that changes the way humanity functions is a popular one; strengthened further in recent years by the often cited 10 000 hour rule for mastery of a domain. Then again, the technique of group brainstorming invented by Alex Osborn many decades ago, is a widely used method to seek and generate new ideas and solutions to problems.

It has been said that creative thought arises from the willful attention to a problem and the deliberate generation of potential solutions to that problem. Creative problem solving does not occur in a vacuum and needs to be goal-directed and conscious to arrive at any meaningful answer. 

But also, creativity is ultimately a mystery and the mind’s hidden sub-conscious machinations is the key to unlocking new ideas and thought. Render a problem to the sub-conscious and invariably after some gestation, a new thought or solution will arise in your mind. The “Eureka” moment of Archimedes exemplifies this belief.

A divergence appears in the views and understanding of creative thinking between especially two bases of novel thought:

1. Are people more creative - and more likely to invent breakthroughs - when they work alone or work together?

2. Do creative ideas emanate from the intuitive and sub-conscious mind, or from deliberate and conscious thinking?

Five propensities of thought

Introverts derive energy most from being with themselves and their own thought. They tend to find the presence of others taxing on their mental energy and can function fully in groups for limited periods of time. Introverts formulate thought best in solitary fashion.

Extroverts on the other hand find their energy in the outer world of events and people. They think aloud and formulate thought best when conversing with others and in groups. They seek external stimulation and solitude tends to drain their mental energy.

Deliberate thinking is that we are conscious of and focuses the mind on a specific theme or problem. It is applied when digesting new information and ordering it in sequence, degrees of importance and probability. It is the conscious combination of information bits to form new ideas.

Intuitive thinking is the mind processing outside of awareness. The intuitive mind is vast and takes in many more impressions than what we are aware of. It is the data-bank of memories. The intuitive and sub-conscious mind is never at rest – it constantly takes in information and churns it into new thought combinations – some of which surfaces into conscious thought and most of it which remains hidden from awareness.

Working memory is the amount of information bits that one can think about consciously and alternate in sequence or in calibration. It is the memory system responsible for the transient holding and processing of new and already stored information – which is normally between four and seven data-bits or information pieces at any given time.

All together now...

A creative idea is essentially a novel combination of information data-bits. The data bits can be obtained by the conscious mind when absorbing and re-configuring information, or it can be retrieved from the intuitive mind when accessing the brains’ memory bank. The subconscious contains vastly more data bits or thought bits than the conscious mind. The sub-conscious intermittently pushes up new data bits to the conscious mind, and the conscious mind orders and recombines thought bits obtained from focused thought and from the sub-conscious.

The recombination of ideas is processed within working memory. Working memory is transient and the four to seven data-bits than can be reconfigured by it, changes continuously. As one or more pieces of information gets discarded from the working memory base, new data pieces takes their place. The new replacement information bits is retrieved by the mind either by way of deliberate thinking and information intake, or by data surfacing from the sub-conscious into the awareness of thought.

The energy behind creative thought - the data combination velocity and associative breadth brought to bear on finding a new idea - is primarily determined by introversion or extroversion. Introverts function best when engaged in a solitary quest for a new idea. Extroverts function optimally when energy of a group optimizes their data combination speed and associative breadth.

Creativity is a function of mental energy applied to certain thought domain, the speed and range of working memory and the interactivity between conscious and subconscious thinking. The higher ones' mental energy, working memory capacity, sub-conscious data storage capacity and ability to have these two function in a dynamic way - the higher one's potential creative thought output.

From divergence to convergence

So, are people more creative - and more likely to invent breakthroughs - when they work alone or together? 

This depends primarily on whether one is introverted or extroverted as these dispositions derive energy differently from groups. Introverts need groups at times to reset their mind and to reality test their ideas. But they think best when by themselves. Extroverts need groups to formulate to stimulate and formulate their ideas. They gain inspiration and excitement from talking and discussing ideas with other people. They think best among others.

Do creative ideas emanate from the intuitive and sub-conscious mind, or from deliberate and conscious thinking?

From both. Deliberate application of thought is focused and powerful but limited in its capacity to allow new information to surface into working memory to recombine as new ideas. It is needed to decide on and hone creative output. Putting the problem aside and allowing the sub-conscious to activate into working memory wider and more remote memory data-bits related to the theme or problem, makes for a wider range of possible combinations and solutions.It is needed to generate novel alternatives. 

A  postulation

To enhance creative thought, the polarized pursuit of one thinking mode; alone or in groups, conscious or sub-conscious, is perhaps then not the answer. The real answer is to enhance the dynamic between these four bases of creativity. The more the oscillation between deliberate and intuitive thinking, and allowing for the introvert / extrovert personalities within a grouping, the more novel ideas are created. 

To enhance creative thought is to engage in this dynamic of creativity.