The Titanic, creative thinking and idea generation
On 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and started sinking. How do you save the people? I invented a game called “Titanic.” The object of the game is to come up with as many words as possible that might help answer the question. This game isn’t based in reality other than the situation. It is meant to do is to bring out the creativity that lies latent in each of us.
Creative thinking takes originality, fluency, elaboration and flexibility. Too often we dismiss something out of hand because it doesn’t seem reasonable, or it doesn’t fit in with our understanding of the situation.
As the game starts, people are given a letter and told that they need to come up with an answer to the question; no repeats are allowed. Because this is a speed game, people will start with the letter “A” and come up with things like airplane, airbags, armlets, army, air force… sooner or later someone will say “apples.” The very literal in the group will say that “apples” is not an appropriate solution because it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not realistic.
That is when the person has to come up with an explanation for the apples – for example, they are buoyant and the people could use them to float, or so many could be dumped into the surrounding ocean that the people could stand on them and walk to rescue, or apples have pectin which could firm up the surrounding water enough for people to be able to stay afloat. It doesn’t really matter what the explanation is – just that it is quick and has some sort of sense.
The person who has objected may continue to object on the basis that it is not realistic, but in this case, neither is the army, airplanes or anything else. The event has already passed, and that isn’t the point of the exercise. By going around the circle quickly, like the old time forfeits game “The Minister’s Cat,” the players are loosening up their thinking processes and allowing their imaginations to get warmed up. They are also having fun; there is something about the speed of it and the random solutions being shouted out that increases the laughter and helps people to be even more creative.
The speed increases fluency, the explanation increases elaboration, and the two combined increase flexibility of thought as people try to figure out how giraffes could help the people on the Titanic. The longer the game goes, the more original the ideas will become. Oftentimes, people will settle for the first seemingly good idea that comes to mind. This first idea might be good; it might work, but it might not be the best idea. By generating more ideas after the first plausible one, people will have to dig deeper into their minds to come up with something that hasn’t been suggested before.
Creative thinking takes originality, fluency, elaboration and flexibility. Too often we dismiss something out of hand because it doesn’t seem reasonable, or it doesn’t fit in with our understanding of the situation.
As the game starts, people are given a letter and told that they need to come up with an answer to the question; no repeats are allowed. Because this is a speed game, people will start with the letter “A” and come up with things like airplane, airbags, armlets, army, air force… sooner or later someone will say “apples.” The very literal in the group will say that “apples” is not an appropriate solution because it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not realistic.
That is when the person has to come up with an explanation for the apples – for example, they are buoyant and the people could use them to float, or so many could be dumped into the surrounding ocean that the people could stand on them and walk to rescue, or apples have pectin which could firm up the surrounding water enough for people to be able to stay afloat. It doesn’t really matter what the explanation is – just that it is quick and has some sort of sense.
The person who has objected may continue to object on the basis that it is not realistic, but in this case, neither is the army, airplanes or anything else. The event has already passed, and that isn’t the point of the exercise. By going around the circle quickly, like the old time forfeits game “The Minister’s Cat,” the players are loosening up their thinking processes and allowing their imaginations to get warmed up. They are also having fun; there is something about the speed of it and the random solutions being shouted out that increases the laughter and helps people to be even more creative.
The speed increases fluency, the explanation increases elaboration, and the two combined increase flexibility of thought as people try to figure out how giraffes could help the people on the Titanic. The longer the game goes, the more original the ideas will become. Oftentimes, people will settle for the first seemingly good idea that comes to mind. This first idea might be good; it might work, but it might not be the best idea. By generating more ideas after the first plausible one, people will have to dig deeper into their minds to come up with something that hasn’t been suggested before.