Sensation_The New Science of Physical Intelligence

by Thalma Lobel

  Just embodying the metaphor by putting their writing in an envelope was enough to make the participants feel better. This result suggests that when we are upset about something, writing down what happened, sealing it, and putting it in a drawer, or even throwing it away, might ease our feelings, at least temporarily. Evidence suggests that keeping a secret is burdensome, but writing about it in a diary, for example, could ease that burden. This study suggests that sealing what we write might ease negative feelings associated with the secret.

  On New Year’s Eve, our tradition is to make personal resolutions. People will promise, for example, to lose weight, to behave better, or to make more of an effort to achieve a goal. I have friends who put a twist on that tradition. Every year, they throw a New Year’s Eve party at their country house and build a big bonfire. They pass out paper and pens and ask their guests to write down any negative things about the past year—regrets, frustrations, disappointments. The guests then throw their papers into the fire and watch them burn away. This is cathartic. Expressing yourself, getting your deepest feelings out of your head and watching them disappear, will help you move on. My friends believe that doing this is infinitely more helpful than simply making promises—or talking about making promises—which may never be kept.

  Many of us have done things we have come to regret or lamented not getting things we wanted. More often than not, the regret is not debilitating and life goes on. If you’re unable to get over something, however, try to write about it and then put your writing in an envelope in a drawer, or simply throw it away. It might help, and it is definitely cheaper than a therapist.

  Embodying Creative Metaphors

  I am a great believer in the value of creative thinking, and I admire and respect creative people. For elementary and middle school, my two sons were educated at a school for the arts, where they had many hours of painting and sculpture instruction and were exposed to music, drama, and dancing more than the average child. My son Dani was a great painter and wrote beautiful poems. My son Dory is a professional musician, a performer, and a writer. My daughter, Orly, who is a law professor, has already written several books and channels her creative thinking into her research on intellectual property and innovation. My husband, David, is a medical doctor as well as a painter, a sculptor, and the inventor of several medical gadgets. My brother, Raffi, was a successful fashion designer in Israel and the United States and is now well known for his glass designs. I am happy to be surrounded by creative people.

  Creative people influence and shape our lives. So many inventions—like the telephone, electrical power, the Internet, the smartphone, and Facebook—are now taken for granted. They changed our lives so radically that we can’t imagine living without them. Although some people are more naturally creative than others, there is a lot we can do to enhance our creativity. Most of us will not write great music like Mozart or a classic book like The Catcher in the Rye, or invent the next Velcro, paper clip, or breakfast cereal and change many lives, but we can still be creative in our daily lives and in our jobs. Several studies have demonstrated that relatively simple actions and gestures can enhance our creative thinking.

  My father used to tell an old joke about a man who showed up at the Ministry of Defense saying he had an original idea to build an airplane that would fly from one country to the other without a pilot, and the passengers would be served by a robot. “That is a great idea,” he was told, “but how are you going to do it?” “Sorry,” he said, “I only have the idea.” How often does that happen? A person will come up with a novel idea but be unable to devise the subsequent creative ideas to develop it.

  We describe creative thinking with metaphors such as thinking outside the box, putting two and two together, and on the one hand and on the other hand, which suggest that we have to think about a problem from various angles and perspectives, and be flexible and unconventional, in order to avoid stagnant thinking and behavior. These are all characteristics of creative thinking. In order to be creative and arrive at new ideas, we have to think differently, see several sides of the issue, and be flexible enough to combine ideas that seem only tangentially related. Sometimes we have all the information but still can’t see the solution.

  I’m going to show you that just by embodying certain metaphors, by working with your body or imagining certain body movements, you can become more creative. In fact, even exposure to creative cues in the environment is enough to enhance your creativity.

  On the One Hand and On the Other Hand

  There is often more than one side to a problem and more than one perspective from which to view a situation. Indeed, creative ideas often come when we think of a problem from another point of view. A group of researchers conducted several studies that examined whether embodying various metaphors related to creativity will increase creativity.2 In the first study they examined the metaphor on the one hand and on the other hand. Specifically, they wanted to investigate if just asking participants to raise one hand and then the other would increase their creativity.

  The researchers asked forty students to participate in two ostensibly unrelated studies that were conducted simultaneously. Participants were asked to think about new ideas for a university building complex and, while doing so, to take part in a public speaking study in which they were to raise one arm and stretch it up, approximating a gesture typically made by public speakers.

  The study was conducted in two parts. In the first part, all students were holding their right hands up toward the wall and their left hands behind their backs while giving various ideas for uses for the university building. In the second part of the study, all students were asked to think about more ideas for the building’s use and say them loudly. Half of the students were asked again to raise their right hands, but the other half were asked to switch hands and hold their left hands toward the wall and their right hands behind their backs.

  The students’ answers were audio-recorded, and two raters—who had no idea what hand each participant raised—coded their creativity according to two criteria: the number of ideas participants had and the number of unique answers they gave.

  The results are amazing. Participants who switched hands in the second part of the study offered more ideas, and their ideas were coded as more original and flexible. In short, they were more creative. These differences were not found in the first part of the study, in which all participants raised their right hands.

  Don’t Box Yourself In

  Thinking outside the box is generally understood to mean being creative and flexible, not sticking to conventions but looking at a problem from a new perspective in order to come up with novel ideas.

  The same researchers wanted to examine whether the embodiment of the metaphor thinking outside the box would influence creativity. They presented 102 students with items from a test called the Remote Associates Test, which is designed to measure creativity.3 In it, the test taker reads groups of three words and has to find a word that relates to each of the three. For example: falling, actor, dust—the answer is star. Another example: opera, hands, dishes—the answer is soap. One needs to think creatively to find such remote relationships. In short, one needs to think outside the box.

  For the study, the researchers constructed a box five feet square and divided participants into three groups. One group took the test sitting inside the box, the second group took the test sitting outside the box, and the third group completed the test with no box in the room. Those who completed the test outside the box correctly solved more problems than those who sat inside the box or those who sat in a room with no box. Embodying the metaphor thinking outside the box influenced how creative they were. The researchers ruled out the possibility that sitting inside the box was not comfortable or that it aroused anxiety in claustrophobic individuals. They found that the differences between the groups were not due to differences in the feelings related to sitting inside and outside the box.

  The researchers conducted another study,
in which all participants were shown pictures of objects made of Lego blocks and asked to think of various objects that these pictures could represent. This time, however, instead of putting participants inside or outside a box, the researchers manipulated their freedom to move about. Participants in one group were asked to consider the task while walking along a fixed rectangular path indicated by a trail of duct tape on the floor, whereas those in the other group were told to walk freely around the room. The results showed clearly that participants who walked freely generated more original ideas.

  In a third study the researchers investigated whether simple mental representations of body movement would be sufficient to enhance creative thinking. In other words, could just imagining walking along a fixed path or moving freely influence creativity? Participants were asked to move an avatar and to imagine that they were the avatar in another life. As participants walked their avatars, they were to think of as many ideas as possible for creative gifts they would give to an acquaintance. One group walked the avatar along a fixed path, and the other group walked the avatar freely. Those who walked the avatar freely generated more original ideas (for example, a magazine subscription) than did those who walked the avatar along a fixed path (for example, a CD).

  These striking results suggest that embodying the metaphor outside the box enhances creativity. They further suggest that you do not have to sit outside a box; you can walk freely in the room rather than along a fixed path or even imagine that you are walking freely in the room to think more creatively.

  Putting Two and Two Together: It Does Add Up!

  Sometimes, in order to solve a problem, we only need to look at what we have and use the information in front of us: in other words, “put two and two together.” In order to use the information at our disposal, however, we sometimes have to think unconventionally.

  To examine whether embodiment of the metaphor putting two and two together would increase creativity, the researchers cut paper coasters into halves and divided participants into two groups. For one group, the coaster halves were put in two piles: one on the left side of the table and the other on the right. Participants were asked to simultaneously remove one half from the left and another half from the right and combine the two halves in the middle of the table. Participants in the other group were given only one pile of coaster halves and asked to transfer them into the middle. In this way, one group really put two things together while the other just moved things from one place to the other.

  Participants were then given the Remote Associates Test. Those who moved the two halves simultaneously and combined them to make a whole solved more questions than those who moved only one pile. Simply embodying the idea of putting two and two together increased their creativity.

  Walking freely around the room or outside helps to free you from conventions and barriers and allows you to think in a different, creative way. When you alternate gestures with your hands, you help yourself think of new ideas, and when you physically combine things, you help yourself see remote associations. Sometimes, even imagining yourself walking freely—not only physical embodiment but also mental embodiment—is sufficient to increase creativity. In all these studies the researchers did not explicitly refer to a metaphor. Participants embodied the meaning of the metaphor but did not hear it or speak of it.

  These results have significant implications. Creative thinking is crucial in many disciplines, and all professionals can be better served by creative thinking. Painters, musicians, writers, animators, designers, architects, inventors, scientists, high-tech programmers, and doctors need to think creatively. Teachers must constantly think creatively about how to make their classes interesting. Politicians and policy makers need to find creative solutions to our complicated social problems. Many tasks in our everyday lives have no straightforward answers. We parents have to be creative when we try to juggle child-care duties with career responsibilities. We want to educate our children in a positive way, to be understanding and yet to draw boundaries. Creativity is important in cooking, not only to concoct tasty, healthy dishes that will appeal to our families but also to use up foods that would otherwise spoil.

  New ideas will also help improve our relationships with our spouses when neither arguing nor polite requests work. How can I stop my spouse from putting his papers, bag, and everything else on the dining room table? Perhaps I could offer him a tangible reward for stowing them in another designated area, or I could arrange the table in such a way that it will be impossible to put anything on it, or I could find another small table near the door that would be for his stuff alone.

  With practice, you can learn to be creative and use creativity to enhance your work and home environments. Try alternating the hand you work with; use simple gestures and movements like those the psychologists asked the participants in their studies to make. See if you can find solutions to everyday problems and challenges. How can we arrange our clothes in such a way that they don’t wrinkle and we can find them easily? How do we keep our desks tidy and our e-mail orderly? I myself am still looking for this particular creative idea.

  People in creative occupations like advertising, animation, high tech, and media should think carefully about the work environment. Boring, constrained environments stifle creativity. Encourage freedom of movement in your workplace; open up work spaces so they don’t resemble boxes or cubicles.

  The structured environment of many schools may be limiting children’s capacity for creative thinking by placing a higher premium on logic, facts, and conformity. “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education,” said Mark Twain. Indeed, many schools still subscribe to the traditional model of learning while sitting at a desk. Although there is value in teaching children to sit down, focus, and work, this model as an overall approach to learning is outdated. Some schools make the learning experience fun and provide “alternative” areas of learning. For example, at the Ein Hayam Experimental School in Israel, I was particularly struck by how much time students spend outdoors, in the school yard, in the small grove adjacent to the school, or at the beach. Children learn by playing games, and teachers believe that their students learn more when they are enjoying themselves. Yet most Western cultures immediately suspect any connection between enjoyment and learning.

  The more children enjoy studying, the more they will learn. However, I believe that there is another factor involved: the fact that the children are constantly moving and exposed to so many stimuli and cues in the environment enhances their creative thinking. Learning through play is enjoyable, and the children move around rather than sit in their chairs. They gesture more and expand their physical space.

  The importance of physical exercises for learning and creativity has been documented by Harvard professor John Ratey in his book Spark!4 According to Ratey, moving and learning go together. The body and the mind are connected, and physical exercises make the brain function at its best. Children who move and exercise do better on many cognitive tests. In addition, while playing outside, the children are exposed to many stimuli and physical experiences, such as sand between their toes, water on their faces, the smell of flowers, the sounds of birds, trees, and a variety of textures and colors. I suggest that these bodily and sensory motor experiences also enhance creativity and help children grasp abstract concepts.

  By that I do not mean to say that we should abolish classrooms and teach school only in the great outdoors. I do suggest, however, that more movement is needed—more field trips, and more time outside the classroom. Beethoven, after finishing his Sixth Symphony, also known as the “Pastoral,” wrote: “How happy I am to be able to walk among the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass, and the rocks! For the woods, the trees, and the rocks give man the resonance he needs.” His walks through Vienna’s countryside are said to have inspired that great masterpiece.

  If children can learn to trigger their creativity, they are likely to be able to solve problems more readily throughout their lives. This is also
true for adults. Get up from time to time and walk around the room. Or better yet, take a walk outside. You won’t solve every problem, but you’ll increase your chances of reaching more creative solutions.

  In the beginning of this book, I told you about my days in the Israeli army, where I served in a bunker with fluorescent lights, not knowing if it was day or night and always breathing the same recycled air. That environment was in sharp contrast to creative schools and workplaces of today. I recently had the opportunity to see photos of the Google offices, which are the opposite of a traditional office, a room furnished with desks and chairs. On the Google “campus,” many workers ride between offices on scooters. The offices themselves have many rooms in which people can relax: rooms that look like comfortable living rooms with televisions and beautiful views where workers can sit and drink cappuccino; game rooms with Ping-Pong tables, plants, and chaise longues; and of course the famous playground slides, where the workers can take a “recess” break and feel like kids for a few seconds.

  These facilities were not put in place just to please the workers. Google knows that the environment has an impact on the human mind, on creativity, and on productivity. It is great, of course, to work in such a beautiful place, but the fact that the employees are moving around and occupying such an interesting space has no doubt contributed to many of the groundbreaking innovations that have made Google so successful.

  Shedding Light on a Problem

  Have you ever struggled to think of a word in a crossword puzzle? Then suddenly you have an insight and the answer appears. This instance of sudden discovery and realization is called the aha experience or the eureka effect, and is attributed to Archimedes, the great Greek mathematician. Archimedes was asked by the king to determine whether his crown was pure gold or whether a dishonest worker had put some silver in it. While Archimedes was pondering the problem in the bath, he realized that the level of the water had risen when he got into the water. He then understood that he could measure the volume of the crown in a similar way, which would help him determine its purity. So excited was Archimedes by his discovery that he ran naked in the streets, shouting “Eureka!”—Greek for “I’ve found it!”