Lateral Thinking

by Edward de Bono

  noose – loop – adjustable loop – what about adjustable round houses which could be expanded as required – just uncoil the walls – no point in having houses too large to begin with because of heating problems, extra attention to walls and ceilings, furniture etc. – but facility for slow stepwise expansion as need arises, noose – snare – capture – capture a share of the labour market – capture – people captured by home ownership due to difficulty in selling and complications – lack of mobility – houses as exchangeable units – classified into types – direct exchange of one type for similar type – or put one type into the pool and take out a similar type elsewhere.

  Some of the above ideas may be useful, others may not. All of them could have been arrived at by straightforward vertical thinking but that does not mean that they would have been arrived at this way. As discussed before if an idea is tenable at all then it must be possible in hindsight to see how it could have been arrived at by logical means but this does not mean that it would have been arrived at in this way. Sometimes the link to the random word may be effected after the idea has come to mind rather than the random word stimulating the idea. Nevertheless the use of the random word has stimulated a large number of different ideas in a short period of time.

  From this example may be seen the way the random word is used. Often the random word is used to generate further words which themselves link up with the problem being considered. Examples of this include: noose — execution — bottleneck; noose — rope — suspension; noose — snare — capture. A chain of ideas stretches out from the random word in order to effect a link with the problem. At times the functional properties of a noose were transferred to the problem: tightening noose, adjustable, round. The random word can be used in these and in many other ways. There is no one correct way to use it. In some cases a pun on the word may be used, or its opposite, or the word spelled slightly differently. The word is used in order to get things going — not to prove anything. Not even to prove that random word stimulation is useful.

  Time allowed

  In the above example the time allowed was three minutes. This is quite long enough to stimulate ideas. If one sits around with a word long enough then it can become boring. With practice and confidence three minutes should be enough or at most five minutes. What one must not do is to immediately look for another random word at the end of the period because this tends to set up a search routine in which one goes through word after word until one finds a suitable one. Suitable would only mean one that fits in with the established views of the situation. If one wants to try another word it should be on another occasion. Knowing that one is going to move directly to another word (and hopefully a better one) reduces the effectiveness of the first word. Even after the end of the fixed period further ideas will occur. One can note them down. But there is no question of going through the rest of the day desperately trying to extract the maximum from the random word. One can get into the habit of using a random word on a problem for three minutes every day.

  Confidence

  The most important factor in the successful use of random stimulation is confidence. There is no sense of urgency or effort but a quiet confidence that something will emerge. It is difficult to build such confidence because at first ideas will be slow to come. But as one learns to handle random stimulation in the knowledge that nothing can be irrelevant it becomes easier and easier.

  Practice

  1. Relating a random word.

  A problem is stated and written out on the blackboard. The students are then asked for suggestions of a number up to the number of pages in a dictionary (e.g. a number from 1 to 460) and then for another number to give the position of the word on that page (e.g. 1 to 20). Using a dictionary the corresponding word is located. The word is written down together with its meaning (unless the word is a very familiar one). The students are then asked for suggestions as to how the word could be related to the problem. To begin with the teacher may have to make most of the suggestions himself until the students get used to the process. Each suggestion is elaborated briefly but no attempt is made to note down the suggestions. The session goes on for 5 to 10 minutes.

  Possible problems:

  How to deal with the problem of shoplifting.

  Increasing car safety.

  A new design for windows to make them easier to open and close without the danger of people falling out or draughts.

  New design for a lampshade.

  Unless the teacher is fairly confident about his ability to use any random words it might be better to use the list given below rather than a dictionary. In this case the class would be asked for a number from 1 to 20.

  1. weed

  2. rust

  3. poor

  4. magnify

  5. foam

  6. gold

  7. frame

  8. hole

  9. diagonal

  10. vacuum

  11. tribe

  12. puppet

  13. nose

  14. link

  15. drift

  16. duty

  17. portrait

  18. cheese

  19. chocolate

  20. coal

  2. Same problem, different words

  Here a problem is set but different random words are used. Each student works on his own and makes notes of how the word generates ideas about the problem. At the end the results are collected. If there is time these are analysed to see whether there is any consistency of approach which depends on the random word used. The same idea may have been reached in different ways depending on the random word. If there is not much time then some of the results are selected at random and read out One can also take the end idea in each chain of thought and then ask the class to imagine what the random word was in this particular case and the line of thought that led to it (e.g.) if the problem was ‘holidays’ and the random word was ‘turkey’ a chain of thought might run: turkey — special food — Christmas — special holiday — more holidays with a special purpose. One would just take the ‘more holidays with a special purpose’ and ask what the random word might have been.

  Two or three random words distributed among the class would be enough. More would just be confusing. The words can be taken from a dictionary or from the list above.

  Possible problems might include:

  Clearing oil off a beach.

  Weeding the garden.

  Design of apparatus for rescuing people from a burning building. Making plastic sheet suitable for clothing (how would one treat it to make it hang properly).

  3. Same word, different problems.

  This may be done either as an individual practice session or as an open class session. A random word is selected and then each student is given one out of two or three chosen problems. The student works to relate that random word to the problem he has been assigned. At the end the results are compared to show the different uses of the same word.

  At an open class session three problems are listed. The random word is then related to each of the three problems in turn. Five minutes are spent on each problem. Suggestions are volunteered by the students and the teacher adds his own whenever there is a pause. It is better if the three problems are not written up together for then some students might be thinking ahead to the next problem.

  Possible random words:

  drain

  engine

  cooking

  leaf

  Possible problems:

  How to store information so that it is easily available.

  How to spend less time learning a subject.

  A device to help you climb trees.

  Design for a better cinema.

  4. Your own problems

  The students each write down any problem they would like to tackle They write it down in duplicate, put a name or number on each sheet, and give one copy to the teacher. This is to prevent a sudden change in the problem when the random word is given. A random word is then found (by page number etc
suggested by the students to locate a word in the dictionary or just chosen by the teacher).

  Before they hand in their results some of the students are asked by the teacher to describe to the rest of the class how they related the word to their own problem. In this type of session one can get an idea of how the same random word can be of use in many different situations. If some students find that they cannot make any progress at all then the teacher goes through the problem with them showing how the random word might be used in each case.

  Possible random words:

  scrambled eggs

  screwdriver

  bomb

  doorhandle

  5. Random objects

  The objects are not random to the teacher who selects them but to the students to whom they are presented. The advantage of an object over a word is that an actual object can be looked at in many more ways than the word describing that object One should be able to imagine an object in just as much detail but in practice one does not and the function of the object tends to swamp the other features. A problem is given to the students and then the random object is presented. This can either be run as an open class session with the students making suggestions as to how the object may be related to the problem or it can be done on an individual basis with comment on the results or individual students describing their own results.

  Possible objects include:

  a shoe

  a tube of toothpaste

  a newspaper

  an apple

  a sponge

  a glass of water

  Possible problems might include:

  Learning how to swim.

  A new design for clocks.

  A device for getting handicapped people in and out of bed.

  Unblocking a drain.

  Summary

  If one only works from within an established pattern then one tends to follow its natural line of development and is unlikely to restructure the pattern. Usually one waits patiently for chance circumstances to provide information that will trigger off an insight restructuring. With random stimulation one deliberately mixes in an unconnected piece of information in order to disturb the original pattern. From this disturbance may come a restructuring of the pattern or at least a new line of development For the random input to be effective there must be no selection about it for as soon as there is selection there is relevance and the disturbing effect of the random input is reduced. Random stimulation is a provocation. Because of the way the mind works any stimulus whatsoever can. be found to develop a connection with any other.

  Concepts/divisions/polarization 19

  Division

  A limited and coherent attention span arises directly from the mechanics of the self-maximizing memory surface that is mind. This limited attention span means that one only reacts to a bit of- the total environment. Over a period of time one bit may be attended to after another until the total environment is covered.

  In effect the total, continuous and overwhelming environment is divided up into separate attention areas. The process may involve picking out a single attention area or it may involve dividing up the environment into a number of attention areas. This is shown in the diagram below. There is no basic difference between the two processes except that one covers the whole field and the other does not.

  Although this process arises directly from the mechanics of the system it has several very useful advantages.

  1. It means that some part of the environment can be reacted to specifically. Thus if the total environment contained something useful and something dangerous one could react differently to each part.

  2. It means that new and unfamiliar environments can be dealt with by picking out features that are familiar. Eventually the situation is explained in terms of such familiar parts.

  3. It means that the separate parts can be moved around and combined in different ways to produce effects that are not available in the environment.

  4. It makes communication possible because a situation can be described bit by bit instead of as a whole.

  Separation into units, selection of units, and combination of units in different ways together provide a very powerful information processing system. All these functions follow directly from the mechanism of mind.

  Reassembly

  The previous diagram shows how units can be created by dividing up a total situation. Units can however also be created by putting together other units to form a new one that is then treated as a complete unit.

  Words, names, labels

  When a unit is obtained by dividing up a total situation or by putting together other units it is convenient to ‘fix’ that unit by giving it a separate name. The name is separate and unique to itself. The name establishes it as a pattern in its own right instead of just being part of another pattern. Having a name gives a unit much greater mobility since it now becomes more sharply divided off from its neighbours and comes to exist on its own. A name is especially useful for combining different units together to give a new one. The new unit only exists in so far as it is given a name. Without that name it would dissolve back into its separate parts.

  sThe use of names for units is essential for communication. Names make it possible to transfer a complex situation a piece at a time.

  To be of any use in communication the names must be fixed and permanent. Once a name is assigned to a unit then the shape of that unit is ‘frozen’ because the name itself does not change. This fixity of name is vital for communication and it is also useful for understanding a situation. In understanding however one does not actually have to use names though most people find it convenient to do so.

  Myths

  Myths are patterns which first arise in the mind. Once these patterns have formed something may be found in the environment which justifies them or else they dictate the way the environment is looked at and so achieve a pseudo-justification. Once one has names then one can do things to the names themselves and so produce more names. Thus if one has a word one can produce a word with an opposite meaning merely by adding ‘un’. One can then look around to see what this new word fits or use it anyway whether it represents anything or not. Similarly once one has two words one can put them together to give a third word which is a combination of the other two. Both these processes are shown overleaf. These new units are created on the word level rather than derived from the environment Yet these myth words are treated in exactly the same way as ordinary words which do refer to actual things in the environment Instead of the myth word following something in the environment the myth word comes first and actually ‘produces’ something in the environment (by dictating the way one looks at something). Both sorts of words have the same degree of permanence and reality. Both are treated in exactly the same way.

  Limitations of the naming system

  The great practical advantage of the named unit system is its permanence and the great practical disadvantage of the named unit system is its permanence.

  Names, labels, words, are themselves fixed and permanent. Hence the units which have been token over by these names have also to be fixed and permanent. Hence the patterns which are arrangements of such units tend also to be fixed and permanent.

  The major disadvantage is that a named unit which might have been very convenient, at one time may no longer be convenient, indeed it may be restricting. The named assemblies of units (which are called concepts) are even more restricting because they impose a rigid way of looking at a situation. When there is a famine in a rice eating country and maize is sent in by other countries the starving people prefer to starve. Such is the rigidity of the concept, ‘maize is food for animals’.

  Even without a name a concept would be fixed by repeated use and growing familiarity. Putting a label on it accelerates the process.

  Some of the limitations that arise from this named unit process are outlined below.

  1. A division at a point of convenience produces two units which then become established and
named. Subsequently it may be more convenient to divide the original situation into three unite. This is shown in the top figure opposite. The establishment of the new unite is very difficult as it means carving bits out of the previous units and putting them together so that they form a new unit rather than revert back to the old units.

  2. The lower figure shows how an assembly of units becomes established as a new unit. If it becomes more convenient to change this assembly so that it includes some new units but excludes some old ones this is very difficult.

  3. When a unit is separated out and named it is difficult to realize that it is part of a whole.

  4. When an assembly of units is given an overall name it may be difficult to realize that it is made up of parts.

  5. When a division has been made it is difficult to bridge across that division. If a process has been cut at some point and what goes before that point is called ‘cause’ and what comes after is called ‘effect’ then it is difficult to bridge across the point and call the whole thing ‘change’.

  This is not a comprehensive list by any means. What is implied is that if units have been cut out and assembled in various ways which are then fixed by labels it becomes very difficult to use different units or different ways of putting them together.

  Polarization

  It is easier to establish two completely different patterns than to change an established pattern. If a new pattern is only slightly different then it will shift towards the established pattern. There is a tendency for established patterns to ‘mop up’ similar patterns which are treated as a repetition of the standard pattern. This results in a distortion of the information that is actually presented. The pattern that would have been established by the information is shifted towards an established pattern. If there are two established patterns then the shift may be towards one or other. If the two established patterns are opposite ‘poles’ in any sense then this shifting moves the new pattern towards one or other pole.