symbolic analogy. Personal analogy

And synectics are different techniques, they are both group and both contribute to the development of new ideas and the encouragement of creativity. Traditional sessions are hosted by a moderator, but can take place without one. Group members are instructed to generate ideas, approaches or solutions without thinking about cost, feasibility, etc. Group members are also asked not to criticize any ideas coming from their colleagues. Instead, they support the "construction" of ideas by other members of the group, developing and modifying them.

In a synectic assault, criticism is acceptable, which allows you to develop and modify the ideas expressed. This assault is led by a permanent group. Its members gradually get used to working together, stop being afraid of criticism, and are not offended when someone rejects their proposals.

In 1961, William Gordon's book Synectics: The Development of the Creative Imagination was published in the United States. The book opened a new chapter in the history of methods for finding new solutions. The approach to the organization of creativity described in it, the rules of work, training, had a great influence on the developers of new technology, methodologists. Unfortunately, the book was not published in our country.

Work on the method began in 1944. Gordon pointed out that the word "synectics" is of Greek origin and means the combination of various, and sometimes even apparently incompatible elements.

The idea of synectics is to unite individual creators into a single group for joint setting and solving specific problems. The method includes practical approaches to the conscious decision and use of unconscious mechanisms that manifest themselves in a person at the moment of creative activity. The purpose of developing the method, according to Gordon, was the desire to increase the likelihood of success in setting and solving problems. But how can this be achieved? On the one hand, the incomprehensible spontaneity, the uniqueness of each individual, on the other hand, the need for a training system, measuring control. Attempts to combine these views led Gordon to the idea of "groupthink". In the course of this work, in Cambridge in 1952, a group of sinectors was created, which conducted an experiment in increasing, gradual insight into the essence of creativity and the search for new things by observing in practice, both their own creative process and the process of the work of the whole group.

Observations of synectic groups during work, experiments involving individual people, made it possible to penetrate into the essence of the process under study.

Gordon solved the problem of identifying, objectifying mental activity directly in the process of creativity. He pointed out that psychological states, mechanisms that operate at the time when a person creates, are usually hidden from observation. In a situation where synectors are united in groups, they are required to express their thoughts and feelings on the issue under discussion. This makes it possible to bring the links of the most complex process of individual creativity to the public, after which they can be compared with others and analyzed.

The key point of synectics, which distinguishes it from the brainstorming method, is the approach to the decision process. The typical brainstorming of ideas is rejected by synectors for almost the entire process of work. It is indicated that a complete, holistic thought, which is an idea or a set of ideas based on certain premises, is issued by an individual after he himself comes up with it. This integrity can be accepted by others as true, useful, or rejected as incorrect. Integrity resists further change. No one can acknowledge the authorship of this idea, except for the one who expressed it. Attempts to combat this negative phenomenon are evident from the fact that before brainstorming, they specifically agree on the distribution (or commonality) of authorship for the ideas put forward, but this does not remove the problem.

On the other hand, irrational information is the cause of the manifestation in the memory of metaphors, images that are still vaguely outlined, unsteady. However, based on it, all members of the group can continue their movement towards a solution. Constant stimulation of the subconscious leads to manifestations of intuition. The phenomenon of "insight" manifests itself quite often in the work of a well-trained, prepared group, when it acts in a coordinated manner, constantly fixing itself on a more or less irrational basis, avoiding attempts to formulate finally completed ideas and thoughts for some time.

Thus, in synectics, according to Gordon, the results of solving the problem are rational, while the process leading to the solution is irrational. The organization of the group's influence on the creative activity of individuals is also unusual. At the same time, attention is paid to attempts to surpass oneself, the rejection of standard approaches. Risk, a difficult task, has great psychological prestige in the synector group, each tends to take on the greatest part of the difficulties.

Observations also showed that in the process of work it is useful to put forward completely unrealistic ideas, proposals, abstract images, that is, what was originally called by the author "game" and "irrelevance". However, the mood to identify the operators forced later to clarify what was hidden under these terms.

Here are five main principles underlying the synectic approach:

Postponement, i.e., first looking for new points of view or perspectives rather than solutions. For example, rather than directly discussing types of pumps for pumping water, it is better if the synectic group talks on a more general topic, how to generally move "things" from place to place.
Autonomy of the object, i.e., allowing the problem to "succeed" on its own. For example, instead of talking about what is feasible in terms of creating desktop publishing software, the group could focus on what the "ideal" desktop publishing system would be like. Thus, the problem, more than potential technological solutions, becomes the center of discussion.
The use of "platitudes", i.e., the use of the familiar in order to understand the unknown. An example of this approach: a group of university professors is given the task of creating a computer science curriculum for beginners. Rather than focusing on computer science, one might ask the group to focus on what would generally be regarded as "mastery" in that area.
Inclusion / selection, i.e., alternation of general and specific, particular, so that specific examples are identified and considered as part of a larger one.
The use of metaphors, i.e., the use of analogies to offer new points of view.

Playing with metaphor is one of the fruitful mechanisms when you need to make the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. Metaphors are used based on explicit or implied comparisons, both between similar and clearly inconsistent objects. This also includes the mechanism of personification, with its main question: “How would this or that thing feel if it were a human being and could react to everything? How would I feel if I were this thing?

It is believed that the elegance of the decisions issued by the group is a function of the diversity of knowledge, interests, and emotional characteristics that the participants have.

An important criterion for the selection of group members is to take into account the emotional type. It affects how a person approaches a problem:

Does he try to get to the bottom of the problem right away, or does he beat around the bush?
Is he passive in the face of imminent defeat, or is he persistently striving to succeed?
When he is wrong, does he connect it with his actions or justify himself, looking for reasons outside?
Can he use his intellectual energy effectively in difficult situations, or does he give up at the most critical moment?

Here is another line of differences between synectics and brainstorming. The selection of a group of brainstorming generators consists in identifying active creators with different knowledge. Their emotional types are not particularly taken into account. In synectics, on the contrary, two people with the same baggage of knowledge will be more likely to be selected, if at the same time they have significant differences in the emotional sphere.

Avoiding specialization, the presence in the group of professionals in various fields of knowledge, allows you to work on the problem from a variety of points of view. Of course, no group can be competent in all areas of science and technology in which it has to solve problems. Therefore, often an expert in this field of knowledge is included in the group. Depending on the situation, he can play the role of "encyclopedia" or "devil's advocate" in the first mode, he works rather passively, i.e. issues specific advice, information at the request of group members.

In the "devil's advocate" mode, he immediately reveals and rejects the weaknesses of the put forward concepts, concepts, approaches. Often the expert is included in the group for a long time. The expert has to work hard to adapt the specific terminology of his specialty to the public. He must also deal with back translation, as well as allow the "invasion" of the group on the "territory" of his field of knowledge.

The most important element of the synectic process is the practical implementation of the ideas obtained in the process of work. Synectors must take part in practical work, this is considered a vital process for keeping them in good shape. Without access to practice, the process of thinking closes in abstractions, and they lead to even greater abstractions and uncertainty.

The solutions that sinectors offer often seem original, sometimes ordinary, ordinary, but it should be borne in mind that the basis and the greatest amount of work of sinectors is not in solving a problem, but in posing it, in the ability to see an unexpected angle, turn, accent. The tasks set are usually not difficult, usually solutions are found soon after the situation is clarified, so that additional means, for example, other methods of solving problems, are usually not involved. Synectics can be defined as a means for setting goals. Actually, finding a solution is a consequence of the well-known position that the correct formulation of the problem is half the solution.

Block diagram of the synectic process

1. Statement of the problem

2. Translation of the task, "as it is posed" into the task, "as it is understood."

3. Identification of a question that causes analogies.

4. Work on finding analogies.

5. Use of analogies:

Direct analogy
Symbolic analogy
Personal analogy
Fantastic analogy

6. Search for the possibilities of translating the found analogies and images into proposals for solving the problem.

Synectics operators

Synectics defines the creative process as mental activity in situations of setting and solving problems, where the result is an artistic or technical discovery (invention). Operators of synectics are specific psychological factors that support and drive forward the entire creative process. They should be distinguished from psychological states such as empathy, involvement, play, etc. Psychological states are the basis of the creative process, but they are not controllable. The terms “intuition”, “empathy”, etc. are just names attached to very complex actions. Operators of synectics, its mechanisms are designed to stimulate, activate these complex psychological states.

When solving a problem, it is pointless to try to convince yourself or the group to be creative, intuitive, involved, or to admit obvious disproportions. It is necessary to give the means to enable a person to do this.

Despite the fact that in the process of describing the evolution of synectics, we briefly touched on its main mechanisms, we will consider them again, already in a finalized form.

Globally, synectics includes two basic processes:

a) Turning the unfamiliar into the familiar.

b) The transformation of the familiar into the unfamiliar.

A. Turning the Unfamiliar into the Familiar

The first thing a person who has to solve a problem does is try to understand it. This stage of work is very important, it allows you to reduce the new situation to the already tested, known. The human body is fundamentally conservative and therefore any strange thing or concept threatens it. An analysis is needed that can “swallow” this strangeness, bring it under a certain, already familiar basis, give an explanation within the framework of a familiar model. To start working on the problem, specific assumptions must be made, although in the future, in the process of work, the understanding of the problem will change. The process of turning the unknown into the known leads to a huge variety of solutions, but the requirement for novelty is, as a rule, the requirement for a new point of view, a look at the problem. Most of the problems are not new. The point is to make them new, thereby creating the potential for new solutions.

B. Turning the familiar into the unfamiliar

To turn the familiar into the unfamiliar means to distort, turn over, change the everyday view and reaction to things, events. In the "known world" objects always have their definite place. At the same time, different people can see the same object from different angles, unexpected for others. To insist on considering the known as the unknown is the basis of creativity.

Synectics identifies four main mechanisms for the transformation of the known into the unknown:

Personal analogy
Direct analogy
Fantastic analogy
Symbolic analogy

According to W. Gordon, without the presence of these mechanisms, no attempts to formulate and solve the problem are possible. These mechanisms are specific mental operators, special “tools” for activating the creative process. There is a certain prejudice of inventors against any mechanization of human creativity. However, synectics consciously implies just such a “mechanization”. The use of these mechanisms helps to sharply increase creative activity, to make it the result of conscious efforts.

Personal analogy

Personal identification with the elements of the problem frees the person from traces and products of its mechanical, external analysis. “The chemist makes a problem known to himself by means of equations, describing the reactions that take place. On the other hand, to make the problem unknown, the chemist may identify with the molecules in motion. A creative person can imagine himself as a moving molecule, fully involved in its activity. He becomes one of the host of molecules, he himself, as it were, is subject to all the molecular forces that pull him in all directions. He feels with his whole being what happens to the molecule at one time or another.” It is clearly seen here that to make the problem unknown means to see new aspects, facets that were not perceived before.

Direct analogy

This operator provides the process of comparing analogues that exist in parallel in various fields of knowledge, facts, technologies. It requires a person to activate his memory, turn on the mechanisms of analogy and identify in human experience or in the life of nature the similarities of what needs to be created.

The effectiveness of transferring ideas from biology to engineering practice is widely known. So, for example, a device for movement in the ground was created by engineers on the basis of a thorough study of the principle of operation of the teredo shipworm, which makes a tunnel for itself in a log. The fruitfulness of the use of analogies is constantly confirmed in practice in our time.

In fact, the use of direct analogy is a free associative search in the vast external world, based on the relationship of functions and procedures performed in various areas of life. Successful use of the mechanism of direct analogy is ensured by the diversity of professions and life experience of group members.

Fantastic analogy

With a fantastic analogy, it is necessary to imagine fantastic means or characters that perform what is required by the conditions of the task. For example, I would like the road to exist where the wheels of a car touch it.

Symbolic analogy

This mechanism differs from the mechanism of previous analogies in that the symbolic analogy uses objective and impersonal images to describe the problem. In fact, the synector forms at this stage a poetic response to the problem. (The term "poetic" here means concise, figurative, contradictory, having a great emotional and heuristic meaning).

The purpose of symbolic analogy is to discover paradox, ambiguity, contradiction in the familiar. A proper symbolic analogy is a two-word definition of an object. The definition is bright, unexpected, showing the subject from an unusual, interesting side. This is achieved by the fact that each of the words is a characteristic of the subject, and in general they form a contradiction, or rather, they are opposites. There is another name for such a pair of words - "the title of the book." Here it is necessary to show in a bright, paradoxical form the whole essence of what lies behind the “title”. Synectors argue that symbolic analogy is an indispensable tool for seeing "the extraordinary in the ordinary."

Here are a few examples of such a vision of the analyzed objects:

the exhibition is an organized accident
sale - formalized trust
the book is a silent interlocutor

The use of this mechanism in practical work is very valuable, as it allows you to see in the object a complex set of opposing tendencies, aspects, qualities.

Work on the preparation of synectic groups has been going on since 1955. During this time, a very large number of effectively working specialists have been trained. Synectics successfully tries to turn some unconscious mechanisms into conscious ones so that they would work as soon as they are needed. The work of synectors is most effective in the field of searching for ideas for new products, in creating effective and unusual advertising.

So, in this and the previous article, we looked at the “intuitive search methods” used in solving the problem: brainstorming and synectics.

Brainstorming serves as a means of generating a significant number of ideas. The weakness of the method lies in the fact that it lacks mechanisms and tools that allow you to work with images. But it is the images that serve as a source of ideas.

This drawback is eliminated in synectics, the main strength of which is the mechanisms for working with images, their generation and change. The generation of ideas here fades into the background, becomes a derivative of the idea found. But the images are also not primary, they are derived from the general picture of the world, from accepted in society and therefore not perceived frameworks, restrictions, norms. Like air, they surround us and are natural to complete "transparency". The apparent freedom of action within the framework of methods is freedom within the framework of an unconsciously limited space.

To overcome this level of limitations, the following method is intended - the method of free action. The essence of the method cannot be revealed in a short article. However, the general focus of the mechanisms used is to identify internal boundaries and barriers, stereotypes and overcome them. This method allows you to correct the images and ideas formed about the object, and therefore go beyond the usual. It is this kind of overcoming stereotypes that at all times led pioneering companies to the ideas of new products, opened new niches in the market, and sometimes, in principle, changed this concept itself.

Another extraordinary way of generating ideas, along with techniques such as brainstorming and Edward De Bono's six hat method is the method of synectics. The synectics method is applied to solve problems and find new ideas through the use of analogies and the transfer of your tasks to ready-made solutions that exist in various fields and areas. Synectics is a combination of heterogeneous, and sometimes even incompatible elements in the process of setting and solving problems.

To more intelligibly explain the essence of this method, we can refer to the example of its application by the founder of synectics, William Gordon, who used it when creating Pringles chips.

Kellogg (a well-known American manufacturer of breakfast cereals) faced an impossible task - how to make and package potato chips in order to reduce the amount of air filled into the package, while making it more compact and avoiding product crumbling. To solve this problem, William Gordon was involved, who in 1961 wrote his famous book - Synectics: the Development of Creative Imagination, and a little later created a company - Synectics Inc., which teaches creative thinking and provides services for the development of innovative ideas (today the company's clients corporations such as IBM, General Electric, Zinger and many others). As an analogy, to create new chips, Gordon chose the process of laying fallen leaves in a plastic bag. If the leaves placed in the bag are dry, certain difficulties arise - they break and scatter, and when the leaves are wet, they are soft and easily take the form of a neighboring sheet. If you remove the leaves after rain, you will need few garbage bags, because damp leaves leave much less air between themselves and are packed more compactly. This analogy gave rise to Pringles chips - shaping and wetting dry potato flour helped solve the problem with their packaging.

Appeared in the early 50s of the last century as a result of many years of work by William Gordon on the improvement brainstorming method. An important distinguishing feature of the method we are considering today is that the synectics method is used to solve specific problems and is not aimed at using the objective laws of development of various systems. And a more or less trained and permanent group of trained specialists should work on its application (despite this, an ordinary person, having familiarized himself with the techniques of synectics, will be able to adopt some techniques to solve some of his problems and tasks). In this sense, synectics is a professional activity, and brainstorming is only a collective amateur activity. It is also worth noting that, unlike brainstorming, criticism is allowed in synectics. And, of course, the main feature is the essence of the synectics method - the use of comparisons and analogies. By focusing their flexible minds on the problem at hand, the synectics group uses four types of analogies to discuss.

Types of analogies of the synectics method

The fact that the existing analogies fully cover the experience and thoughts of people will become more clear if this classification is explained as follows: direct and fantastic are real and unreal analogies, and subjective and symbolic are bodily and abstract. However, we are not talking about their fundamental nature, since the regular practice of using the synectics method gradually expands the range of tools and allows you to develop more and more new methods of in-depth study and analysis of objects and phenomena.

Formation of a synectic team

The process of forming a group of synectors includes three phases:

The first is the selection of group members. Special tests are used, attention is drawn to the presence of a variety of knowledge, general erudition, a sufficient level of education, experience in experimental activities and flexibility of thinking. Sinectors are chosen by people of different professions and preferably with two incompatible specialties, for example, a physicist, an economist-engineer, or a musician-chemist.
The second phase of the formation of a group of synectors is their training. In Russia, the synectics method has not taken root (there are no own educational and methodological developments, and the existing world experience is rarely ignored), but in the West, both small companies and large corporations spend a lot of money on training their specialists in special institutions. For example, in the United States, the preparation of synectic groups lasts about a year and consists of face-to-face and correspondence sessions. The first ones are held in training centers, and then the trainees do practical work in their companies, solving theoretical and real problems.
The final phase is the introduction of the group into the real environment. A company that has sent its specialists for training or ordered a ready-made team (this can be a one-time or regular cooperation) receives it under certain conditions to work on its own projects.

The history of the development of synectics shows that the application of creative thinking in enterprises and the use of special units increases the likelihood of success in the field of setting tasks and solving problems, demonstrating the effect of synergy.

What are the special conditions created for the synectic procedure:

Obligatory initial abstraction of participants from problems and tasks.
Restraint of opinion and rejection of final conclusions.
Naturalness and ease in discussions, a predisposition to playing around and modeling the situation.
The manifestation of rationality in judgments.

As we can see, rationality appears only at the final stage of the synectic procedure. Before that, images, metaphors and analogies are used.

Stages of the synectics method

Like any other creative method of generating ideas, the synectics method consists of several stages, which, since its inception, have been constantly improved and modified. If we take the phases of the synectic process as described by William Gordon in his book Synectics: The Development of the Creative Imagination, they look like this:

At present, the steps of the synectics method are simplified and look more understandable. Although in reality this method is very difficult to use. It is not just that the training of synector groups lasts a whole year. If the owner of a large enterprise decides to use this method, one way or another he will need to find experienced specialists who train personnel in all the tricks of synectics. An ordinary person, on the other hand, can use analogies to solve creative problems, which are an important tool of the synectics method.

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Making direct analogies seems to be the most productive way to generate ideas. This technique allows you to invent comparisons and find similarities between various events and facts, as well as phenomena in the so-called parallel worlds, according to the principle: “If X successfully works in a certain way, then why can’t Y act just as successfully? »

A. Bell compared the work of the internal organs of the ear region with the vibration of the membrane and invented the telephone. Edison created the phonograph by drawing analogies between a toy child's funnel, the movements of a doll, and sound vibrations. Underwater structures became a reality when the behavior and habitat of mollusks were investigated.

One day in the late forties, the Swiss inventor Georg de Mestral went hunting. By chance, he and his dog wandered into a thicket of burdock, the fruits of which immediately clung to the dog's hair and the clothes of its owner. For most people, this would cause a slight annoyance, but de Mestral saw an interesting problem here. Arriving home, he examined the burdock fruits under a microscope and found that their spines have tiny hooks at the ends, which cling to the villi of fabric and wool. This discovery prompted him to think about a new type of clasp.

Many years have passed from conception to implementation, but now de Mestral's invention is used everywhere - from blood pressure measuring devices to tennis equipment.

The analogy used should not be too complex or sophisticated. For example, stamp collecting is a hobby, but in some of its characteristics it is comparable to many types of business: both need to do market research, and there and there concepts such as inventory, costs, price, bargain, etc. are used. .

Look at the picture. At the first inspection, you will see only different options for the intersection of the two lines. However, on reflection, you can find that two intersecting lines form 4 segments and 4 angles.

1 line + 1 line = 4 segments + 4 corners

Similarly, by "adding" your problem to an arbitrary subject or concept, you can get some new ideas.

Suppose I need to increase creativity at work. I arbitrarily associate my task with an unrelated ordinary household appliance - a toaster. Following the chosen analogy, I will look for ideas to increase my creative activity at work in the properties and functions of an ordinary toaster, that is, try to find the answer according to the formula: 1 (creative activity at work) + 1 (toaster) = 4 (new ideas)

I write out the main characteristics and functions of the toaster.

□ Connected to a power source.

□ Activated by pressing a special key or button.

□ Fully accommodates toasted toast.

□ Concentrates the radiant heat energy on the surface of the bread.

□ Allows you to make toast in different sizes and with different types of bread.

□ May "shock" if you try to take out bread with a knife or fork while the appliance is on.

□ Allows you to make toast with bread spread with butter or jam.

By analyzing the description of the toaster, I find new ways to increase my creativity at work.

□ I should drop my prejudice about my low creativity. (“Turned on by pressing a special key or button.”)

□ It is necessary to identify the real benefits of increasing my creative activity. ("Source of electricity.")

□ It is necessary to develop an integrated approach to solving the problem. ("Fully accommodates toasted toast.")

□ Efforts need to be focused on new ideas rather than thinking about their validity. ("Concentrates radiant heat energy on the surface of the bread.")

□ It is necessary to use different methods of creative search. (“Toasts of different sizes and from different types of bread.”)

□ Take risks and come up with more original ideas. ("May 'shock'.")

□ Try to combine different creative methods. ("Butter and jam.")

Thus, using my imagination and an ordinary toaster, I was able to draw up a whole program of actions to increase my creative activity at work.

1 (increased creativity) + 1 (toaster) – 7 (ideas).

ACTION PLAN

Consider the basic algorithm for using the direct analogy technique:

1. Formulate a task. Example: The owner of a lumber store was looking for ways to increase the sales of his product.

2. Choose a keyword or key phrase related to your problem. The key word was "sales".

3. Choose a word related to an area clearly unrelated to your problem. The more distant this area is from your problem, the higher the chances of finding original ideas. Thus, analogies from the business world will be less productive in solving business problems than analogies from the field of television or cooking. In our example, the word “computers” was chosen.

4. Make a list of concepts that you associate with the chosen word, and select from it one or more of the most promising in terms of finding new ideas.

The list of concepts associated with the word "computers" included the following: science, parallel use, "friendly" interface, compatibility, software, extension of possibilities of use, computer-aided design, use of computers in business, entertainment games.

5. Look for similarities and connections between the selected concepts and your problem.

Do not treat the search for analogies as something difficult and unpleasant. Give free rein to your imagination, let your thoughts be easy and spacious.

The store owner carefully analyzed all possible analogies and settled on the following concepts: computer-aided design, computer empowerment, and entertainment use. By mentally linking them to the challenge of increasing sales of lumber, he came up with an interesting solution.

Idea: using a computer to design a future home. With the help of a computer, the customer will be able to design the house he wants on the monitor screen. The built-in calculator immediately, at the request of the client, will calculate the cost of the future home. If the price seems too high to the customer, he can simplify the design. If the price satisfies, you can print the project on a printer. As a result, more houses will be built, which means that lumber will not be stale.

The new area of concepts with which you associate your problem, the so-called parallel world, should be well known to you. The more details, different situations and events you can remember, the better. For example, the words "Stanley Cup winner" or "Montreal Canadiens" will give you many more analogies than just the word "hockey". And if you settled on the word "restaurant", choose an institution where you have been more than once, where you are familiar with a lot - from the menu to the interior.

Below is a list of various concepts, scientific disciplines, areas of knowledge, in other words, "parallel worlds" that can be used to find associations with the business world.

Use this list to select a “parallel world” for your task, and if it turns out to be too small for you, you can expand it. As a next step in your chosen area, consider 4-5 narrower areas and choose the one that best fits the essence of the problem and in which you feel more competent.

What follows is a list of various fields, areas and disciplines that have something in common with the business world. Use this list to get started, but be sure to compile a unique list of parallel activities that best suits your knowledge. When choosing a parallel region, consider four or five options to choose the one that best suits the general principles of your problem.

Parallel fields of activity

England Hawaii

Architecture Deli

Astrology Geography

Astronomy Geology

Ballet Germany

Bars Hypnosis

Basketball Golf

Baseball Mining

Biography Civil War

Biology Civil Rights Movement

Big Depression Bowling Jungle

Accounting Wild West

Vatican Animal world

Great Books Journalism

Wine Stars

Revolutionary War Acupuncture

Armed Forces Publishing

World War II Inventions

Computing India

Vietnam War Art

The Art of Dance

Cardiology

caribbean

Composers

Computers

cooking

Literature

skiing

Maths

The medicine

Meteorology

Mythology

Monasteries

Animation

Soap operas

Tax Office

Insects

Law Enforcement

Manufacturing industry

Education

Olympic Games

Wholesalers

Interior design

Monuments

Sailing

World War I

Printing

Piloting

Politics

Political science

Pornography

Funeral homes

Government

Unions

Psychiatry

Psychology

Shakespeare plays

Entertainment

Talk radio

Restaurants

Fast food restaurants

Fishing

Agriculture

Seminars

Sculpture

plumbing

Sociology

USSR special education

Pharmacology

Physiotherapy

Photo

Chiropractic

Evolution

Economy

South America

Jurisprudence

Nuclear physics

steel industry

Dentistry

TV news

Terrorism

Transport

Travel business

Garbage collection

department stores

Wall Street

Try to find in the selected "parallel world" all the information that can be associated with your task (like a Chinese restaurant chef using all parts of a duck to prepare national dishes).

Suppose your problem is selling copiers. You randomly select "television" from the list provided and focus your attention on televangelists, and then write down their main characteristics and compare them with the principles of selling copiers. Your goal will be to identify analogies that can suggest a new productive idea.

So what did you get?

Some would say that preachers are also selling their sermons. Someone will add that they also “sell” the hope that they instill in people with their speeches. In other words, hope is a product of a product. And what can be the "product of the product" of the sale of copiers? In a new service? Extra amenities? In performance improvement? Do you think that if you promote a “product of a product” on the market, you can achieve an increase in the sale of your equipment?

Now let's compare the same problem with service in a restaurant. Suppose that the proposed menu is varied (an analogy is a wide range of equipment offered), but the procedure for placing an order with a waiter (an analogy is a sales representative of a company) is very inconvenient for the client: each dish (an analogy is a certain type of copying equipment) must be ordered from a specific waiter. In this situation, one solution may be to reduce the range of products sold and simplify the ordering procedure.

A friend of mine wanted to build a swimming pool, but he was not happy with projects with standard dimensions of 20 by 40 feet. He wanted to have a pool that would allow him to swim, dive, and swim. However, an original idea was needed to develop a new project. Using the technique of direct analogy, my friend chose the game of golf as his "parallel world" for his task and compiled the following list of keywords: court, hole, club, equipment. Focusing his attention on the last two, he began to look for possible analogies with his problem.

Look at the picture. It shows a plan of the pool, shaped like a golf club: a modified hexagon with an overall length of 23 feet and a narrow waterway 60 feet long adjoining it.

This configuration of the pool satisfied all the initial requirements; in addition, it allowed to reduce water consumption by a third, as well as reduce the cost of chemical cleaning, filtration and pump operation. Over a narrow waterway, it was possible to install a light awning, "fastened" with a zipper - like a cover for clubs. A friend of mine confessed that using the direct analogy technique gave him twenty-four possible solutions!

This mechanism differs from the mechanism of previous analogies in that it uses objective and impersonal images to describe the problem. In fact, the synector forms at this stage a poetic response to the problem. (The term "poetic" means concise, figurative, contradictory, with a great emotional and heuristic meaning).

The purpose of symbolic analogy is to discover paradox, ambiguity, contradiction in the familiar. A proper symbolic analogy is a two-word definition of an object. The definition is bright, unexpected, showing the subject from an unusual, interesting side. This is achieved by the fact that each of the words is a characteristic of the subject, and in general they form a contradiction. Rather, they are opposites. There is another name for such a pair of words - "the title of the book." It is necessary in a bright, paradoxical form to show the whole essence of what lies behind the "title".

Sinectors argue that symbolic analogy is an independent tool for seeing "the extraordinary in the ordinary".

Here are a few examples of such a vision of the analyzed objects, usually cited in popular literature on methods for solving creative problems:

Grinding wheel - precise roughness;

Ratchet mechanism - reliable intermittency;

Flame - transparent wall; visible warmth;

Marble - iridescent constancy;

Durability is enforced integrity.

Indeed, consider the first example. The grinding wheel is usually closely associated with such a concept as machining accuracy. But at the same time, it processes the material because it is rough. And the more irregularities on the surface of the circle, the faster the processing. But the more irregularities, the less processing accuracy. So the symbolic analogy allowed us to see the complex real problem facing people involved in the development and use of grinding wheels. 74

There are no clear rules that allow one to formulate a symbolic analogy for a given object. There is a set of recommendations, auxiliary techniques, and it is better to start mastering with them.

First of all, the main function of the object is revealed, the action for which it was created. Almost all objects perform not one, but several main functions; would like to see them all. After that, it is determined whether the object has opposite qualities, whether the function is performed, the inverse of one of the main ones. Their combination will be the basis of the symbolic analogy.

The practice of using symbolic analogies shows that in the process of learning, students quickly master this form of object representation. Let us give a number of examples obtained during the training in synectics.

Object: parquet.

Analogies: slippery friction, integer fractionality, discrete continuity, singing silence, sinuous floorboard, high bottom, shiny roughness, polygonal rectangle, swollen plane, flat Christmas tree, wooden carpet, crackling immobility, desired punishment, trampled luxury, multi-element monotony.

Object: tree.

Analogies: motionless dynamics, motionless movement, green fire, swaying firmament, soft strength, living mineral, changeable constancy, porous density, reverberant

consumer, knotty harmony, splintery smoothness, straight branching, towering deepener, green heat, dry water pump.

Object: fan.

Analogies: frozen stream, air fountain, refreshing speed, hard wind, discharged pressure, table draft, frozen whirlwind, annoying pleasure, electric wind, warm coolness.

The application of this mechanism in practical work is also very valuable.

to. allows you to see in the object a complex set of opposing tendencies, aspects, qualities.

Example. In the process of solving a practical problem, it was necessary to improve the gearbox, make it more compact, adjustable in power. The process of formulating symbolic analogies brought the creative team much closer to the solution. The greatest heuristic value, according to the developers, had symbolic analogies, where the gearbox was defined as a “fixed step” and “crumpled lever”.

In a broader sense, the mechanism of symbolic analogy is the representation of an object in the form of a symbol, image, sign, pictogram. That is why the symbolic analogy can also be expressed in the form of a drawing.

Note. Actually symbolic analogies have been known for a very long time, much earlier than synectics. In linguistics, such combinations are called "oxymotrons" - they are used to make speech more expressive. (For example - "Ringing Silence", "Blinding Haze", "Invention Algorithm", "Creativity as an Exact Science", etc.).

This approach has long been used for problematization in teaching. So, for example, who lived in the VIII century A.D. e. the English monk and scientist Alcuin, who was invited to teach Pepin, the son of Charlemagne, built learning in an interactive mode. Pepin asked questions, Alcuin answered. And his answers are very reminiscent of symbolic analogies - they are short, expressive:

What is fog?

Night by day.

What is language?

Air scourge.

What is a dream?

Image of death, etc.

This form of description of objects has very deep connections with the Icelandic kannungs.

Synectics believes that the consideration of the known as the unknown is the basis of creativity. Synectics distinguishes 4 mechanisms for the transformation of the known into the unknown: Personal analogy; Direct analogy; Symbolic analogy; Fantastic analogy. Synecters view creativity as the result of conscious effort.

Synectic meetings, usually lasting several hours, occupy only a small part of the total time for solving the task. The rest of the time, synectors devote to engineering analysis, study and discuss the results, consult with specialists, experiment, and when the solution is ripe, they look for the best ways to implement it. Great importance is attached to the mandatory tape recording of meetings. Learning them is a powerful training tool, as well as helping to prioritize and preventing any valuable idea from being overlooked in the midst of general excitement.

An interesting feature is the leader function. In synectic groups, they abandoned a clear leader, because it turned out that in the process of work, the leader includes part of the resources in the process of confirming his rights, trying to work on the approval of his activities. At the same time, a leader is needed. Now, as part of the synectic group, as a rule, the role of leader is performed by all members of the group in turn, depending on the specifics of the situation. The protocols also revealed a mechanism for turning familiar things (objects of change) into strange, unrecognizable ones.

With the help of psychophysiological activation, one can bring oneself into a state close to that experienced by a person during "insight", and this significantly increases the likelihood of reaching strong decisions.

In the process of work, it is useful to put forward completely unrealistic ideas, proposals, abstract images, that is, what was originally called by the author "play" and "irrelevance". However, the mood to identify the operators forced later to clarify what was hidden under these terms. It turned out that there are three general types of actions here:

1. Playing with words, with meanings and definitions.

It involves the transformation of a specific problem into its definition using a generalizing word or statement. "Inversion" was also included in this mechanism as another method of playing around with already accepted values.

2. Game with the denial of any basic law, scientific concept.

As part of these actions, the group asks itself a situation in which one of the laws of nature is violated, and tries to answer the question: "How can we actually achieve this?"

3. Playing with metaphor.

Playing with metaphor is one of the fruitful mechanisms when you need to make the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. Metaphors are used based on explicit or implied comparisons between both similar and clearly inconsistent objects. This also includes the mechanism of personification with its main question: "How would this or that thing feel if it were a human being and could react to everything? How would I feel if I were this thing?"

Mechanisms (operators) and basic processes of synectics

Synectics defines the creative process as mental activity in situations of setting and solving problems, where the result is an artistic or technical discovery (invention). Synectics operators are specific psychological tools that support and lead the entire creative process forward. They should be distinguished from psychological states such as empathy, involvement, play, etc. Psychological states are the basis of the creative process, but they are not controllable. The terms "intuition", "empathy" etc. are just names attached to very complex activities in the hope that a specific label for the activity will actually describe it. Operators of synectics, its mechanisms are designed to stimulate, activate these complex psychological states.

Global synectic work includes two basic processes:

The transformation of the unfamiliar into the familiar;

The transformation of the familiar into the unfamiliar.

Turning the unfamiliar into the familiar.

The first thing a person who has to solve a problem does is try to understand it. This stage of work is very important, it allows a person to reduce a new situation to already experienced, known ones. The human body is fundamentally conservative, and therefore any strange thing or concept threatens it. An analysis is needed that can "swallow" this strangeness, bring it under a certain, already familiar basis, give an explanation within the framework of a familiar model. To start working on the problem, specific assumptions must be made, although in the future, in the process of work, the understanding of the problem will change. The process of turning the unknown into the known leads to a huge variety of solutions, but the requirement for novelty is, as a rule, the requirement for a new point of view, a look at the problem. Most of the problems are not new. The point is to make them new, thereby creating the potential for new solutions.

The transformation of the familiar into the unfamiliar.

To turn the familiar into the unfamiliar means to distort, turn over, change the everyday look and reaction to things, events. In the "known world" objects always have their definite place. At the same time, different people can see the same object from different angles, unexpected for others. To insist on considering the known as the unknown is the basis of creativity.

Synectics identifies 4 mechanisms for the transformation of the known into the unknown:

1. Personal analogy.

3. Symbolic analogy.

4. Fantastic analogy.

These mechanisms are specific mental operators, special "tools" for activating the creative process. There is a certain predisposition of "inventors" against any mechanization of human creativity. However, synectics consciously implies just such a "mechanization".

The use of these mechanisms helps to sharply increase creative activity, to make it the result of conscious efforts.

Personal analogy

Personal identification with the elements of the problem frees the person from its mechanical, external analysis.

"The chemist makes the problem known to himself by describing the reactions that take place with equations. On the other hand, to make the problem unknown, the chemist can identify himself with the molecules in motion. The creative person can imagine himself as a moving molecule, fully engaging in its activity. He becomes one of a host of molecules, he himself is, as it were, subject to all the molecular forces that pull him in all directions. He feels with his whole being what happens to the molecule in one or another period.

It is clearly seen here that to make the problem unknown means to see new aspects, facets that were not perceived before.

Direct analogy

This operator provides a process of comparison of knowledge, facts, technologies that exist in parallel in various fields. It requires a person to activate his memory, turn on the mechanisms of analogy and identify in human experience or in the life of nature the functional or structural similarities of what needs to be created.

The effectiveness of transferring ideas from biology and botany to engineering practice is widely known. So, for example, a device for movement in the ground was created by engineers on the basis of a thorough study of the principle of operation of a shipworm, making a tunnel for itself in wood.

Symbolic analogy

This mechanism differs from the mechanism of previous analogies in that it uses objective and impersonal images to describe the problem. In fact, the synector forms at this stage a poetic response to the problem. (The term "poetic" means a response that is concise, figurative, contradictory, and has a great emotional and heuristic meaning).

The purpose of symbolic analogy is to discover paradox, ambiguity, contradiction, conflict in the familiar. A proper symbolic analogy is a two-word definition of an object. The definition is bright, unexpected, showing the subject from an unusual, interesting side. The result is achieved by the fact that each of the words is a characteristic of the subject, but in general they form a contradiction, or rather, they are opposites. There is another name for such a pair of words - "book title". It is necessary to show in a bright, paradoxical form the whole essence of what lies behind the "title".

Sinectors argue that symbolic analogy is an indispensable tool for seeing the "extraordinary in the ordinary."

Here are a few examples of such a vision of the analyzed objects, usually cited in popular literature on methods for solving creative problems:

Grinding wheel - precise roughness;

Ratchet mechanism - reliable intermittency;

Flame - transparent wall; visible warmth;

Marble - iridescent constancy;

Durability is enforced integrity.

There are no clear rules that allow one to formulate a symbolic analogy for a given object. There is a set of recommendations, auxiliary techniques, and it is best to start mastering the tool with them.

First of all, the main function of the object is revealed, the action for which it was created. (Almost all objects perform not one, but several functions; important for the consumer, it is desirable to see them all). After that, it is determined whether the object has opposite qualities, whether the function opposite to the selected one is performed. Their combination will be the basis of the symbolic analogy.

The practice of using symbolic analogies shows that in the process of learning, students quickly master this form of object representation.

Fantastic analogy

The inventor deserves and should allow himself the same freedom of creativity as the innovator - the artist. He needs to be able to test the right idea, imagine the best solution to the problem and at the same time temporarily "not take into account the laws (norms) established in the world.

Only in this way can the image of the ideal be created. The expression "conscious self-deception" is used in synectics to express the fact that a person who solves a problem must be liberated in relation to the laws of nature that are in conflict with his ideal solution. A person who solves a problem must see what laws of the surrounding world are in conflict with his ideal solution.