Read the Obits
a year ago
- #innovation
- #obituaries
- #creativity
- Reading obituaries can be a surprising source of creativity by exposing you to diverse life stories.
- Creativity thrives on making connections between very different concepts, as shown by research from Yoed Kenett and Sarnoff Mednick.
- The associative theory of creativity suggests that creative people have memory structures that forge unexpected connections between distant ideas.
- Examples like Velcro and Post-It notes illustrate how distant associations lead to innovative inventions.
- Dedre Gentner's research highlights property mapping and structure mapping as key processes in creative thinking.
- Exposing yourself to a wide variety of information, especially from different domains, strengthens remote associations.
- Obituaries of non-famous individuals provide rich, diverse material that can fuel creative thinking.
- Reading obituaries slowly and asking questions about the lives described can enhance creative cognition.
- Seeking deeper principles and making distant connections with your own life can boost creativity.
- Creativity is a daily practice that benefits from curiosity and the exploration of unfamiliar information.