Creative thinking process
Creative problem solving has a more complicated psychological activity process than general problem solving, so it has unique thinking activity procedures and laws in its operation. Wallace, a British psychologist, put forward a four-stage theory of creative thinking through the analysis of the creative process, which divided the creative thinking process associated with creative activities into preparation stage, brewing stage, open-minded stage and verification stage.
1. Preparation stage. This is a process of collecting past materials, accumulating knowledge materials and other people's research materials to solve similar problems around the problems to be solved before creative activities. The more thorough the preparation work at this stage, the richer the information collected, and the more conducive it is to broaden our thinking, so as to be inspired, discover and speculate the key to the problem, quickly sort out our thinking, clarify our direction and solve the problem.
Therefore, at this stage, we should strive to create conditions, collect information extensively, and make full preparations for the planned project purposefully and in a planned way. In order to make creative thinking develop smoothly, we should not confine our preparation work to a narrow professional field, but should have extensive knowledge and technical preparation. Then, as Du Fu, a great poet in China, said, "Reading is like breaking thousands of books, and writing is like God's help".
2. The brewing stage. This is a process of in-depth analysis, exploration and thinking of the problems and materials in the mind on the basis of accumulating certain knowledge and experience, and trying to find ways and methods to solve the problems. On the surface, there is no obvious thinking activity at this stage, and the creator's concept seems to be in a state of "hibernation", but in fact, thinking and thinking are still going on intermittently. At this point, in the creator's consciousness, he may stop thinking about this problem and turn to engage in or think about other irrelevant problems, but in the unconscious subconscious, the problem still exists, and when stimulated to a certain extent, it will turn into the field of consciousness.
For example, inexplicable problems during the day suddenly appear in dreams when sleeping at night. It can be seen that the gestation stage of creative thinking is mostly a subconscious process, and this subconscious thinking activity is likely to breed new ideas and ideas for solving problems. Once mature, it will stand out and solve problems.
3. Open stage. This is a fully brewed process, and new ideas, new concepts and new images suddenly flash in your mind, making it possible to solve the problem smoothly. At this stage, puzzling problems are solved unexpectedly like lightning, and the mind seems to get rid of the dilemma of "stepping on iron shoes and finding no place", and has a feeling of "getting everything as easy as blowing off dust", showing great creativity.
This is the result of scientific sensitivity after studying the problem with all one's strength. This phenomenon is called "inspiration" or "epiphany" Many scientists have had this amazing phenomenon in the process of creating inventions.
4. Verification stage. This is a process of repeatedly testing, supplementing and revising in theory and practice after obtaining ideas or assumptions to solve problems in the open stage, so that it tends to be perfect. At this stage, or from a logical point of view, it needs to be thorough and correct in theory; Or put it into action and get the correct result through observation and experiment. In the verification period, the creator needs countless times of survival of the fittest to make the creative results perfect.