The term- 'lateral thinking’ was invented in 1967 by Edward De Bono. He identified four critical factors associated with lateral thinking:
1) Recognize dominant ideas that polarize perception of a problem.
2) Searching for different ways of looking at things.
3) Relaxation of rigid control of thinking, and
4) Use of chance to encourage other ideas.
Lateral thinking recognizes that our brains are pattern recognition systems. Most of the time, we get stuck in the patterns. We tend to think within them. The assumptions we bring into a situation necessarily colour our interpretation and understanding of what we are seeing. If we change the assumptions on which our interpretation rests, it is possible we will see a different outcome—we will view it differently. Lateral Thinking, therefore, means to think in a way that is different to the way you would normally think about a problem.
Lateral Thinking approach helps in breaking out of this patterned way of thinking. It helps in generating completely new concepts and ideas. It creates new solution to the problem. Test yourself with some thinking exercises given below. The solutions are also given below:
Problem.1. A man walked into a bar, and before he could say a word, he was knocked unconscious. Why?
Problem.2. Jason is lying dead; he has an iron bar across his back and some food in front of him. Why did he die?
Problem.3. A policeman was walking past a house. He heard someone cry, "Don't shoot me, John! Don't shoot!" There was one gunshot. The policeman entered the house and saw a lawyer, priest, and an engineer, gathered around a dead body. The priest was immediately arrested. How did the policeman know?
Problem.4. A man went outside without an umbrella or a raincoat yet did not get wet. How?
Problem.5. Two identical twin brothers go into a bar. They order the exact same drink. The only difference is one-brother drinks quickly, which the other drinks his much more slowly. The one who drinks slowly dies afterwards. Why?
Problem.6. A man is found having committed suicide. He is hanging by a rope in a completely empty room. The floor is wet. How did he manage to hang himself with nothing to stand on?
Problem.7. A man is lying face down in the middle of a desert. On his back is something that could have saved his life. Explain.
Problem.8. A father and his son are involved in a car accident, as a result of which the father is very badly injured and his son is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. However, the surgeon takes one look at the boy and says, "I cannot operate on him". When asked why, the surgeon replies, "Because he's my son...". How could this be the case?
Problem.9. A man is kneeling on the pavement, replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car. Unfortunately, they fall into a deep drain, to be lost forever. A passing motorist offers him a solution, which enables him to drive home. What is it?
Problem.10. A man lives on the thirteenth floor of an apartment building. Every weekday morning he takes the lift down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening when he returns he gets into the lift and, if there is someone else in it - or if it had been raining that morning - he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment. Why?
Problem.11. Bobby lives with his parents in London
Problem.12. A man is dressed in black- Black shoes, socks, trousers, jumper, gloves and a balaclava covering his face. He is walking down a street with all the street lamps off. A black car turns the corner and speeds towards him with its lights off, but it somehow manages to brake in time. How did the driver see the man in time?
Problem.13. A man marries twenty women in his village but isn't charged with polygamy. How?
Problem.14. A woman goes into a convenience store to buy a can of Coke. She pays for it with a $20 bill and receives $20.05 in change. No mistake was made. How?
Problem.15. Two children born in the same hospital, in the same hour, day, and year, have the same mother and father, but are not twins. How?
Problem.16. You are walking along in a field and find two lumps of coal and a carrot. How did they get there?
Problem.17. Bruce wins the race, but he gets no trophy. How?
Problem.18. One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin brother, Terry, celebrated his birthday. How?
Problem.19. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?
Problem.20. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? (or day names in any other language).
----------------------------------------------------------------- Solutions:
1. The bar in question was an iron bar.
2. Jason is a mouse, in a mousetrap.
3. Both the engineer and lawyer were female, the priest was male, so the policeman was fairly sure that he was the one referred to as "John"
4. It wasn't raining.
5. The ice-cubes are poisoned, and the person who drinks quickly survives because he doesn't give them time to melt.
6. He stood on top of a large block of ice, which has now melted.
7. He is a parachutist, and his parachute on his back failed to open.
8. The surgeon is the boy's mother...
9. The solution is to use one nut from each of the other three wheels...
10. The man is only 3 feet tall. Therefore, he cannot reach the upper lift buttons. However, if there is someone in the lift he can ask them to push the button for him. When it rains he always carries an umbrella, which he can use to push the buttons...
11. Because Bobby was only 9 months old...
12. It was the middle of the day, so he could see the man easily...
13. He's a priest; he is marrying them to other people, not to himself.
14. It's in Canada
15. The children are two of a set of triplets.
16. Some children built a snowman there. it is now warm and the snow has melted leaving only the coal and the carrot that had been the snowman's eyes and nose..
17. Bruce is a horse.
18. At the time she went into labor, the mother of the twins was traveling by boat. The older twin, Terry, was born first early on March 1st. The boat then crossed a time zone and Kerry, the younger twin, was born on February the 28th. Therefore, the younger twin celebrates her birthday two days before her older brother.
19. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry.
20. Sure you can: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow!
-Compiled from the Internet sites on Lateral Thinking)
By
No comments:
Post a Comment