What is meant by receptivity, immersion, seeing questions, utilization of errors and detached devotion as being the conditions necessary for the gaining of creative insights? How would you reconcile the different theoretical perspectives – grace, accident, association, cognitive and personality – on creative problem solving? How is the index metaphor a re?ection of the cognitive approach to creative problem solving? Differentiate between divergent and convergent thinking. What role do both play in the creative problem solving process? Part II: Case Study: Where did they get their ideas from? While searching for a way to hear the sounds of the heart, Laennec found his answer when he noticed two boys playing in an unusual way with a see-saw. One was hitting one end of the wooden see-saw with a stone while the other listened with his ear pressed close to the other end. The idea of the stethoscope leaped to Laennec’s mind. Westinghouse discovered the idea of the air-brake when he casually read in a journal that compressed air power was being used by Swiss engineers in tunnel building. Kekule gained his clue to the nature of the benzene ring from his dream of a snake swallowing its own tail. Rutherford used the solar system to understand the structure of the atom. He viewed the electrons as revolving around the nucleus in the same way that the planets revolve around the sun. Einstein’s theories came from thinking about about riding on light beams and travelling in lifts. Question: How might one or more of the theories we have discussed in the chapter explain how the above insights were obtained?
