We live in a society that criticizes the different, in which we are used to thinking like everyone else, of being white sheep, we think and believe in what goes through our head, without reorganizing our thoughts in many cases, because we consider the opinion of the majority as a truth. We don’t want to be ‘black sheep’.
Are our thoughts determined by our learning, education, and culture?Therefore, many times, we open our own field of thought, we do not reformulate our opinions to act differently. Well, if everyone thinks, does and says “about it. “
In many areas of our lives, we live under heavy manipulation of thought.
This is what is extracted from existence through intellectual activity, the product of the mind.
Different types of thoughts are distinguished, depending on the activity in question:
Deductive thinking: it goes from the general to the individual
Inductive thinking: ranging from the particular to the general.
Analytical thinking: consists of separating the whole into identified or categorized parts.
Systematic thinking: a complex view of various elements with their various interrelationships.
Critical thinking: evaluates knowledge
Creative thinking: the one who uses the modification of something, inducing novelties.
Question thinking: think about the questions that are being asked, identify what is interesting for someone on a certain topic.
Social thinking: the thinking of all people in society
Divergent thinking, also called lateral thinking, will be defined as what differs, diverges or separates, that is, the search for alternatives and creative and different possibilities to solve a problem. Divergent thinking would be included in creative thinking, because it is more related to imagination. The term divergent thinking was introduced by Eduward De Bono, who stated that it was a way to organize thought processes through unrthodox strategies, you can train with techniques that help you look at an object from different points of view, promoting change and overcoming. both socially and personally.
The creative person (with divergent thoughts) does not differ from those who are not because they are smarter, the fundamental difference lies in personality traits, through many qualities such as cognitive characteristics, sensitivity of perception, imagination, critical capacity, intellectual curiosity, emotional. characteristics, self-esteem, wit, passion, audacity, depth, tenacity, tolerance to frustration, ability to make decisions?
As an example, I propose two riddles. At the end of the article, I will put the solutions:
PENDING IN THE COFFEE. This morning there was an earring in the café. Although the cup was full, the earring didn’t get wet. How is that possible?
TWO CANS OF WATER. We have two cans full of water and a large empty container, is there any way to put all the water in the large container to know what water came out of each can?
Explaining the meaning of divergent thinking and everything that characterizes it, we can see very clearly that little is promoted in our current education (although it is something that varies culturally and from one family to another). In the socio-educational context, it shines through absence. Generally, we are asked to think CONVERGENTly (since, in this way, the population is more manipulable), often rejecting creatives by rebels or undesirables so as not to submit to the rules, thoughts and solutions proposed by the majority.
A clear example is that creative children (active, independent and often uncomfortable for their educators) are considered to have deficit or over-care disorders, while in most cases they only need a more creative type of stimulus, which differs from traditional education.
We need to encourage divergent thinking; we can’t be a herd of white sheep. Avoid the traditional, no matter what others think; being the ‘black sheep’ because being different is not a bad or unpleasant thing, being different opens us up to creativity, restlessness and the opportunity to discover new experiences.
The wrong assumption is that coffee means “liquid. “The slope fell into a cup of coffee beans.
Think of the ice. Freeze the contents of the cans and place the contents in the container as two pieces of ice.
Photo courtesy of Lee O? Dell