Sunday, March 11, 2012

generic parts technique


Stumped by a problem? The ‘generic parts technique’ technique unsticks you

March 8, 2012
[+]CocaCola
"Instant sunlight" invention (credit: Coca Cola)
University of Massachusetts psychologist Dr. Tony McCaffrey has developed a systematic way of overcoming “functional fixedness” (the tendency to fixate on the common use of an object or its parts, hindering people from solving problems). He calls it the “generic parts technique” (GPT).
He found that people trained in GPT solved eight problems 67 percent more often than those who weren’t trained, and the trained group solved them more than 8 times out of 10.
How GPT works
“For each object in your problem, you break it into parts and ask two questions,” explains McCaffrey.
1. Can it be broken down further?
2.Does my description of the part imply a use?”
For example, say you’re given two steel rings and told to make a figure-8 out of them. Your tools? A candle and a match. Melted wax is sticky, but the wax isn’t strong enough to hold the rings together./.../

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