Innovation and creativity 09 intelligence and thinking

Introduction to:
Innovation and Creativity
BY KAMAL M. AL MASRI
Course code: ::::.BEAD4312..::::
Israa University Gaza
Faculty of Managerial and Financial Sciences
Departmentof Management
Chapter 09: Thinking and
intelligence

2
Introduction tothe concepts of Creativity & Innovation, by Kamal M. AL MASRI
1.
•A man andhis sonare in a car accident. The
father dies on the scene, but thechildis rushed
to the hospital. Whenhe arrives the surgeon
says, "I can't operate onthis boy,he is my son! "
How can this be? The surgeon was his
mother.

3
2. Find the odd figure…
The first figure
(up/left) is unique
because it’s the
only one who is
not odd!
(Whatever is the
criteria, it is not
odd, il always
belongs to a
group of 4
objects)

4
3. Find a solution or an explanation
•A man is wearingblack. Black shoes, socks,
trousers, coat, gloves and ski mask. He is
walking down a back street with all the street
lamps off. A black car is coming towards him
with its lightoff but somehow manages to stop
in time. How did the driver see theman?
It was day time.

5
• One day Kerry celebrated her birthday.
• Twodays later herolder twinbrother, Terry, celebrated hisbirthday. How?
• Answer:Atthetimeshe wentintolabor,the motherofthetwinswas travelingby boat.
Theoldertwin,Terry, was born first earlyon March 1st. The boatthen crossed a time
zone and Kerry,the younger twin,wasborn onFebruary the 28th.Therefore,the
younger twincelebratesher birthday twodays beforeher olderbrother.
• Answer2: Becauseone ofthemdidnot necessarilycelebratetheirbirthday on the day
they wereborn,but celebratedlater or earlier.Much simplerthan havingMomgiving
birth whilecrossing the InternationalDateLineand tossingin a LeapYear and thelike.
Needlesslycomplicated.

6
•Why is it better tohaveround manhole covers thansquare
ones? This is logical rather thanlateral, but it is agood puzzle
thatcan besolved by lateral thinking techniques.
•It is supposedlyused by a very well-knownsoftware company as
an interview question for prospectiveemployees.
•Answer:Asquare manhole cover can beturned and dropped down
thediagonalof the manhole. A round manhole cannot be dropped
down the manhole. So for safety and practicality,allmanhole covers
should be round.

7
•You are given aballand you are asked to throw it as hard as you can
but it must return back to you. It is an openground and you can't
findany wallor objectin your vicinity. Thereis no one around to
catch your balland throw it back to you. Also, you can't attachany
stringor rope with the ball.
•Answer:Itis an openground right?You canjust throw the ball inair
and it willbe brought back to your hand automaticallyby the
gravity.

8
•Solve the brain teaser by moving 3 sticks and
form a square.

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•If we tell you that there is a relation between the
numbers and letters in the givenfigure, can you analyze
it and find the missing letter in the last box ?
•Solution:
•The last missing throw will have 3 as the result. This is
because, with each pair of the throws you can find that
the total sum is increasing by three and then decreasing
by one. Therefore the missing throw be 3.

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• EightBrothers livein an oldhouse where there is noelectricityand nocomputers or
any othergadget.
Brother-1: ReadingComics
Brother-2: Playing Chess
Brother-3: Writing
Brother-4: makingfoodforthe family
Brother-5:sleepingand snoring
Brother-6: cleaninghouse
Brother-7: wateringthe plants
whatis Brother-8doing ?
Solution:
Playing chess
Game needs two players so
Brother-8 is playing chess
with Brother-2

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Observations?
1. Not easy tofind a solution.
2. Nounique answer!
3. The answers may seem ridiculous…
4. A lot of imagination is needed!
•What else?

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ILO’s
•Discuss the meaning of intelligence.
•Discover the intelligence abilities.
•Contrast the different types of thinking.
•Explain importanceof creative thinking.
•Discuss the concepts of lateral thinking.
•Explain the design thinking.
•Solve basic complex problems.

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Introduction
•Thinkingand intelligenceare majortopics in
phycology(and now in technology).
•Theyhave an importantrole inthe humanlife.
•Religion(Islam) encourages ustothinkaboutthings
that compose our life.
•Thinkingand intelligenceare tightlyrelated to
creativity.

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What is “thinking”?
•Thinking refers to “the process of
considering or reasoning about something.”
•It is “the actionof using one's mind to
produce thoughts” (merriam-webster.com).

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Concretely …
•Thinking is “manipulatinginformation,as
when we form concepts, engage inproblem
solving, reason and make decisions.”
•The act of thinking, produces thoughts…
•See “the science of thinking(here).

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What is intelligence? (many definitions)
•“the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills”,
•“the capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness,
learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning,
creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving.”
• ”the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new
or trying situations : reason also : the skilled use of
reason.”
• www.merriam-webster.com

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What is intelligence? (cont.)
•“the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's
environment or to think abstractly as measured by
objective criteria (such as tests)”
•Human intelligence is “mental quality that consists of
the abilitiesto learn from experience, adapt to new
situations, understand and handle abstract concepts,
and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment.”
• www.merriam-webster.com

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The nature of “intelligence”
•An artistic work such as Gustav Eiffel,
•The ideas of Voltaire,
• The novels of Agatha Christie, …
•Different natures that imply different skills and
behaviors:
• Learning, calculating, memorizing, feeling, formulating words,
prioritizing, making a vision, choosing expressions, expecting
events, …
• Also positive thinking, judgment, adaptability, creativity …

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To resume …
•Intelligence is the ability of a “being” to
effectively interact with its environment in
order to achieve its goals.
•Its all about “abilities”, “cognitive” or mental
abilities. “ability” is main the
keyword!

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Intelligence “abilities”
•Intelligenceabilities can belogical, mathematical,emotional,
spatial,imaginative, creative, …
•Intelligence“abilities”include:
• memory,
• comprehension,
• understanding,
• social, interpersonal,
• reasoning, and
• abstract thought.
• …
One of the most known
theories is: Gardner's
Theory of Multiple
Intelligences

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Howard Gardner’s eight specific
“intelligences”. (Adapted from Gardner, 1999)
Intelligence Description
Linguistic The ability to speak and write well
Logico-mathematical The ability to use logic and mathematical skills to solve problems
Spatial The ability to think and reason about objects in three dimensions
Musical The ability to perform and enjoy music
Kinesthetic (body) The ability to move the body in sports, dance, or other physical activities
Interpersonal The ability to understand and interact effectively with others
Intra-personal The ability to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings
Naturalistic
The ability to recognize, identify, and understand animals, plants, and other
living things

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For psychologists, these abilities are: (very well mind)
•To learn: The acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge.
•To recognize problems: To put knowledge to use, people
must be able to identify possible problems in the environment
thatneed to be addressed.
•To solve problems: People must then be able to take what
they have learned to come upwith a useful solutionsto a
problem they have noticed in the world around them.

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Triarchic theory of intelligence
•One advocate of the idea of multiple intelligences is
thepsychologistRobertSternberg.
•Sternberghas proposeda triarchic (three-
part) theory of intelligencethat proposes
that peoplemaydisplaymoreorlessanalytical
intelligence,creativeintelligence,andpractical
intelligence. (here)

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Can be measured and evaluated …
•Read (here)

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Intelligence as a General Ability
•Accordingto Peter Taylor in TheBirthofProjectIntelligence,this
generalabilitycan be broken down into6 separateabilities:
1. Adaptability to a new environment orto changes in the current
environment
2. Capacity for knowledgeand the ability to acquire it
3. Capacity for reason and abstract thought
4. Abilityto comprehend relationships
5. Abilityto evaluate andjudge
6. Capacity for originaland productive thought

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Measures of (human) intelligence
• Intelligence quotients, or IQ tests, compare your performance with other
people your age who take the same test.
• These tests don’t measure all kinds of intelligence, however.
• For example, such tests can’t identify differences in social intelligence,
the expertise people bring to their interactions with others.
• There are also generational differences in the population as awhole.
• Better nutrition, more education and other factors have resulted in IQ
improvements for each generation.
• https://www.apa.org/topics/intelligence/

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Intelligence abilities and IQ
•Intelligenceis not quite the same as IQ,
althoughpeople use theterms interchangeably.
•IQ, which stands for "Intelligence Quotient," is a
score determined by an IQtest.
•IQtests are designedto measure a person's
intelligence, a general ability.

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Rationale (for studying intelligence)
•Disregardinghealth and nutrition issues,there
aretwo main ideasthat encourage us to think
about improvingour (or others’) intelligence:
•1- “Brain cells” grow as they are “solicited”and“used”
“correctly” (just like hypertrophy inbones*).
•2- In orderto receive and treat information and
knowledge, the brain have to be prepared « formatted»
(justlike plowingthe land before cultivating it.)
• * See «How does exercise make your muscles stronger?» (here)
Important!

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Yes, our brain can be “formatted”!
•Our brain can (needto) be
“formatted”to accept certain
types ofthinking …
•A big and interestingtopic…
•Have to do with many concepts in
human (and others) phycology and
neuroscience: perception, propaganda,
learning, experience, influence, …

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How our brains work? (just have a look)
The brain processes
information received
from the senses and
body, and sends
messages back to the
body. Brain tissue is
made up of about 100
billion nerve cells
(neurons) and one
trillion supporting cells
which stabilize the
tissue.
Each neuron is connected to
more than 1,000 other
neurons, making the total
number of connections in
the brain around 60 trillion!
For more details (here)
Neurons: the brain tissue is made up of 80-100 billion
nerve cells (neurons).

31
Thinking and behavior …
•Thinking styles have an important impact on
personality and behavior.
•Weuse different types of thinking skills
every second of the day, especially when
trying to solve problems.

32
Many types of thinking …
•Types of thinking can be divided into several
opposing categories, for example:
•ConcreteThinking vs. AbstractThinking.
•ConvergentThinkingvs. DivergentThinking.
•Creative Thinking vs. AnalyticalThinking.
•Sequential(linear)Thinking vs. HolisticThinking.

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Abstract vs. Concrete thinking
• Abstract thinkers are ableto relateseemingly randomthings with
each other.
• theycanseethebiggerpicture.
• theymaketheconnectionsthatothersfinddifficulttosee.
• theyhavetheabilityto look beyondwhatisobviousandsearchfor hiddenmeanings.
• theycanreadbetweenthelinesandenjoysolvingcryptic puzzles.
• theydon’t likeroutineandgetboredeasily.
•Concretethinkerswill lookat whatis visibleand reliable.
• will onlyconsider the literal meaning while abstract thinking goes deeperthan the
facts to consider multiple or hidden meanings.
• concretethinkers are unlikely to get distracted by“what ifs” or other minor
details.

34
Analytical and critical thinking
• Analytical thinkers like to separate a whole into its basic parts in order
to examine these parts and their relationships.
• theyare great problem-solversand have astructured and methodical way of
approaching tasks.
• will seekanswersand use logic rather than emotional thinking in life.
• However,they have a tendency to overthink things and can ruminate on the same
subject for months.
• Critical thinking takes analytical thinking up a level.
• they exercise careful evaluation or judgment in orderto determine the
authenticity, accuracy, worth,validity, or value of something.
• ratherthan strictly breaking downthe information, critical thinking explores other
elements that could have an influence on conclusions.

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Critical thinking in Islam (tafakkur)
•See article (here) and give your opinion …

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Creative thinking vs. Concrete thinking
• Creativethinkersthinkoutsidethebox and willcome up withingenious
solutionstosolve their dilemmas inlife.
• theylike to break away fromthe traditions and norms ofsociety whenit comes tonew ideas and
ways of thinking.
• theycansometimes be ridiculed as society prefersto keep the status quo.
• canalso court jealously if theymanage tofollow their dreams and work in a creative field.
• Concrete thinkingfocuseson the physicalworld, rather thanthe abstractone.
• it is all about thinking ofobjects or ideas as specific items, ratherthan as a theoretical
representationofa more general idea.
• they like hardfacts, figuresand statistics.
• For example, you will not get any philosophers who think in concreteterms.
• Children think in concretetermsas it is a very basic and literal form ofunderstanding.

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•Many
experts
argue that
creative
thinking
uses our
right brain…
Place of creative thinking in our brain…
But, the reality is far more complex…
Creative intelligence needs special
types of connections that
neuroscience is still trying to find!

38
Convergent vs. divergent thinking
• Convergent thinkingis aprocess of combininga finite numberof perspectives or
ideas tofind a single solution.
• theywill targetthese possibilities, or convergethem inwards, to comeup with a solution.
• Ifyou are a convergentthinker, you are more likely to be an analytical orconcretethinker.
• Youare generally able to logically processthoughts so you canuseyour ability toremain cool
and calm in times of turmoil.
• Youare also more likely to be a natural problem solver.
• Bygatheringvariousbitsof information,convergent thinkersare able to putthe
pieces of a puzzle together and come up withalogical answerto thequestion of
“Who hasdone it?” Sherlock Holmes!!!
• Convergent thinking includesanalyticaland concretetypes of
thinking.
Convergent thinking includes analytical
and concrete types of thinking.

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Divergent thinking
• Bycontrast, divergent thinkingistheoppositeofconvergentthinking.
• It isa wayofexploringaninfinitenumberofsolutionstofindone thatiseffective.
• Insteadof startingoffwithasetnumberofpossibilitiesandconvergingonan answer,it goes
asfar andwideasnecessaryandmovesoutwardsinsearchofthesolution.
• Includesabstractandcreativetypesofthinking.
• Itisall aboutlookingat atopicor problemfrommanydifferentangles.Insteadoffocusing
inwardsitbranchesoutwards.Itisanimaginativewayoflookingattheworld. Assuch,ituses
abstractthinkingto comeupwithnewideasanduniquesolutionstoproblems.
• They’lltakethemeanderingroute,ratherthanthetriedandtrustedstraightandnarrow
approach. Ifyou area divergentthinker,you aremorelikelyto beagood storyteller
or creativewriter.
Divergent thinking: Includes abstract
and creative types of thinking.

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Intersection among types of thinking …

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Important thinking types for innovation
•Howcan we takeadvantageof thedifferent types of thinking?
•Thinking andthinking techniquesarerelated to creativity(see
here).
•Thinking is always useful for creativity andinnovation, but we
can notice thatsome types are used more than othersin
creativity:
• Critical thinking
• Parallel thinking
• Creative thinking
• …

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Creativity Techniques (TAN, 2009: 329)
•Scientistsay hat there are hundreds of creativity techniques.
•Usingthe vocabulary of the cognitiveprocess developed by J.
P. Guilford, the techniques can be divided into two categories:
•divergent thinkingtechniques:thinking for generating ideas and
data.
•convergent thinkingtechniques:thinkingthat organizes and
synthesizes ideas and data.
•The author adds two other techniques.

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Four categories of creativity techniques (1/2)
•1. Divergent Thinking Technique
•FreeAssociation (e.g., Brainstorming)
•Force-fit Association (e.g., Check List)
•Analogical Association (e.g., NM Technique)
•2. Convergent Thinking Technique
•Similarity-oriented Inductivetype(e.g.,Libraryclassification)Deductivetype(e.g.,
KJ method)
•Flow-oriented: Cause andeffect (e.g., Fish-bonetechnique) and Time-flow(e.g., Program
Evaluation& ReviewTechnique, PERT)

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Four categories of creativity techniques (2/2)
•3.Combined Technique
•4. Attitudinal Technique (organize the process of thinking):
•Meditative(e.g. Zen, Yoga),
•Communicative (e.g.TransactionalAnalysis),
•Dramatic (e.g.Role Playing)
Some of these
techniques are
going to be
detailed separately
…

45
De Bono’s Lateral thinking (1/2)
•Lateral thinking is a manner of solvingproblems using anindirect
and creativeapproach via reasoningthat is not immediately
obvious.
•Itinvolvesideasthat may not beobtainableusing only traditional
step-by-steplogic.
•The term was promulgated in1967 by Edwardde Bono.
• He cites the Judgment of Solomon as an example, where King Solomon
resolves a dispute over the parentage of a child by calling for the child to
be cut in half, and making his judgment according to the reactions that
this order receives.

46
De Bono’s Lateral thinking (2/2)
•Edward de Bono also links lateral thinking with humour,
arguing there's a switch-over from a familiar pattern to
a new, unexpected one.
•It is this moment of surprise, generating laughter and
new insight, which facilitates the ability to see a
different thought pattern which initially was not
obvious.
According to de Bono, lateral thinking deliberately distances itself from
the standard perception of creativity as "vertical" logic, the classic
method for problem solving.

47
Lateral thinking or Thinking out of the box …
•Without letting
your pencil leave
the paper,can
you draw four
straight lines
through the
following nine
dots?
• For more, see “TheOriginal "Thinking
Outside theBox" Puzzle!”, here)

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Psychological Inertia
•Why did we imagineda box around the 9 points?
•Psychological Inertia signifies the reluctance of doing
something in a different way as you have an indisposition to
change.
•You are drawn to behaving or acting in a certain way as this
is howyour mind has been programmedto think and act.
• For moredetails, see “Overcome psychological inertia” (here).

49
Summary …
• Lateral-thinking is the number one skill in a creative’stoolkit,
• Often, creativityinvolveslateralthinking,
• We saw before: Innovative people have something calledcreative
intelligence,which enables discoveryyet differs from other types
of intelligence(as suggested byHoward Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences).
• Lateral-thinkingcan be learnt,
• Puzzles can be used as a brainboosting warm-up…

50
Final thoughts
•Don’t believe experts!
•Discuss the idea:
•Can machines be creative?
•Is creativitya good thing? Always?
•….

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Don’t believe experts!
• The 7 Worst Tech Predictions of All Time
• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.“
• Thomas Watson,presidentofIBM, 1943
• "Televisionwon't be able to hold onto any marketit captures after the first six months. People will soon get
tired of staring at a plywood box every night.“
• DarrylZanuck, executive at20thCenturyFox,1946
• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
• KenOlsen, founderofDigital EquipmentCorporation, 1977
• "Almost all of the manypredictions now beingmade about 1996 hingeon the Internet's continuing
exponentialgrowth. ButI predict the Internet will soongo spectacularly supernova and in 1996
catastrophically collapse."
• RobertMetcalfe, founderof 3Com,1995
• Seethearticle (here)

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•Reportage TF1 Le JT :Les ambitions
démesurées du géant Huawei

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References:
• AI - GirlTAN, “Creativity, a handbookfor teachers”, World Scientific,
New Jersey, 2007.
•https://www.psychologytoday.com
•https://www.forbes.com
•Other specialized Websites.

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