Growing up insensitive

July 14, 2008 at 12:03 am · Filed under Interpersonal ·Tagged ,

Humans are normally born with empathy. fMRI scans in a study published in Neuropsychologia revealed that children who watched an intentional act of pain infliction on video registered a response similar to the victim. The brain lit up in a manner that revealed, in addition to pain response, that moral reasoning was activated.

As I gain experience and get saturated in violent media, I notice that my tolerance for watching another person suffer has increased. That is not a positive thing to write, but it is real. I do not flinch at the sight of blood as I used to, and I occasionally enjoy watching two boxers flailing on another. I am totally aware of the pain that they are experiencing, but I accept it as their job. As a kid, I only once got into a fight. I understood later the harm the other person feels and have never been in a similar situation. Ironically, military experience trained me numbness by having me shoot at a plastic green human silhouette on a firing range. Though in a war time situation, that silhouette bent to kill me has a life story like I do and shares the same emotion.

For hosts and facilitators that deal with intense interpersonal issues, it is important to keep in mind that the individual is trained by society to be insensitive and unempathetic. I can imagine that some people might never realize that they might have grown numb. Empathy is gained or lost over time and even offered in college as course called interpersonal communication. Creativity processes such as excursions and socio-dramas are party methods to help tap break through this barrier and prepare individuals for understanding the depth of interpersonal tensions. In this way social intelligence and emotional intelligence can be taught and learned, expanding the variety of purposes for a problem solving party.

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A Classic Injection: humor and its styles

July 9, 2008 at 9:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,


Behind the scenes at Harris’ Idle Hour Moving Picture House, Sean and Adrianna work to repair an important piece of machinery for the night’s show.

“Ah ha… got it,” Sean says.

“You found the problem?” Adrianna responds.

“It is a snortblatern that was not twisted tightly enough around the galdemesh, resulting in the tortenumbers to vibrate out of sync with the floffenploffs.”

“What about the gotenhutentags?”

Sean becomes irritable. He knew that Adrianna just compounded the problem after he thought he had it figured out.

“No, it is a snortblatern.”

“The gotenhutentags are connected to the galdenmesh,” she sings in a childlike tune. “The galdenmesh is connected to the snortblatern, oh those skeleton bones. Oh mercy how they scare!”

Needless to say, this was a poor injection of humor and ended up pissing Sean off.

For the party host, humor can help to smooth a rough patch that might happen between people or to establish a setting and develop rapport with another person. In this story, Adrianna used an aggressive style of humor that belittled Sean. The aggressive style is one of four identified by research, but only two are conducive to building a positive party environment.

The two important styles are the affiliative and the self enhancing.

The affiliative style focuses on others and aims to build relationships. When joking with another person in this manner, it is easy just keep in mind that we are all human and have commonalities. The trick to using this style is to build upon similarities, which cuts down the psychological distance that is normal when two people are strangers and meeting for the first time or are friends going through moments of life’s tensions.

Affiliative jokes appear something like this.

One day, a fairy visits a lonely widow and says that she is there to give her three wishes.

”I wish I was 21 and beautiful!”

The wish is instantly granted.

”I wish I had a million dollars!”

The wish is granted.

”I wish that my cat here were the most handsome guy in the world and was madly in love with me.” The wish is granted. The now young lady and her man go inside. They start to cuddle, and the man looks at her.

”Aren’t you upset that you had me fixed?”

Joke destroyer ALERT- the geeky explanation: This joke is affiliative because it reminds the reader that he/she is human. The topic of this joke is universal to the human experience, sex. As the relationship starts heading to the height of intimacy, the punchline shatters expectation because the reader expects something else to happen. Not the fact the woman had overlooked the fact she had neutered her cat, and the fairy provides service equivolent to a used car salesman. It comes as-is.

On the flip side, it is important to keep in mind that this style has a way of alienating those who are not a part of the group. If the joke has a shared point of reference, it would leave people without a shared sense of history, which would result in a person being easily confused or lost. Try telling a blonde joke in a village in Mongolia; chances are that a villager has never seen a ditsy blonde. (A side note: the author of this blog is blonde and I do occasionally resemble the blonde in the jokes. But brunettes are much more numerous and have oh so many more ditsy moments.)

The second style of humor is self enhancing, which highlights ironies and how they work. It is a distraction technique that might be needed to diffuse tensions and remind people of the role that they play or proper etiquette. This style of humor appears when a person gets what they want finally, and decides that they don’t really like it. For example, Dave Berry shares the joke of a young boy who goes out fishing with his father, catches a fish, gets excited about the catch, and cannot draw up the will to hold his prize. When told from the son’s perspective, it is absolutely refreshing even 35 years after the event happened.

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Creating the killer party theme: Paradox

July 8, 2008 at 4:37 pm · Filed under Practical Tools, Principles ·Tagged

The toga, 1980s, the costume… the I am so bored of the same old party themes. Aren’t you? Creativity is enhanced when a person needs to stretch their thinking. Whenever creativity is required to solve a problem, adding an unrelated paradox is a sure fire way to identify gaps, create novelty, and establish a killer theme.

Paradox

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The paradox process is at the heart of a problem solving approach called Synectics. Using metaphor, it takes a person along an excursion to take a break from a problem and then jump into how that metaphor relates to the problem. The paradox is an example of a metaphor on steriods. These are just example of paradoxical themes: cool fire, relaxed tension, repulsive beauty, tamed wildness, sweet Sara (Sara isn’t so sweet). Notice how these phrases catch you for a split second? It is that feeling that attempts to make sense of two unlike concepts that leaves a lasting impression. The metaphor is also the source of themes like toga or the 1980s; it refers to another moment in time.

When making a paradox for a themed problem solving party, it will have the most impact if the theme is short and slightly ambiguous. It will resonate more with participants if they can understand it in their own way. Set the stage, turn on the music, and make the themed party of year fruitful. :-)

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Myth: Sugar rush

July 3, 2008 at 11:16 pm · Filed under Nutrition ·Tagged

Glucose is the only form of energy that the brain can use to remain alert and active. With this in mind, I remember that test prep courses for the ACT and SAT in high school prescribed that students should take an oral shot of M&Ms to boost brain power during the test. I did that and had a soda afterwards. My brain shut down after 30 minutes. The sugar rushed and wore me out!

Anyhow, the sugar rush according to studies appears to be a myth. The body has many processes in place to control the amount of blood sugar that there is in the body. When my processes kicked in as a response to that sugar, according to the book Your Brain: The Missing Manual, my body expended more energy than it would have normally and resulted in the crash of 1994: the incomplete ACT exam.

When planning that party with a purpose, food selection is indeed important. If the party is intended to be short, pass out the candy and hotwire your crowd. Pray that the party ends before you short circuit the crowd’s brain. For events that have the potential to last a few hours, stick to delivering to your crowd complex carbohydrates so that the sugars are processed smoothly over the event or test.

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Data Scavenger Hunt

June 23, 2008 at 9:21 pm · Filed under Games

This game helps to create an understanding of one’s physical environment and identifying areas for improvement.

Give each party goer a digital camera, and ask that person to take 5 photos of things that represent what they like best about their work environment, 5 photos of things that represent they like least about the work environment, and 5 photos of things that they have ideas for changing/improving.

Collect all of the photos and make a slide show, to help in sharing information that will bring a new perspective to clarifying the problem.

This scavenger hunt can be adapted to fit the situation – e.g. if you already know the problem to be solved, then adjust the questions to become 5 photos of potential solutions, 5 photos of potential assisters, etc.

Idea submitted by Michele Lenhart.

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How this site works

June 23, 2008 at 4:35 pm · Filed under About ·Tagged

Have an idea? Have an improvement? This blog is currently at a stage of development where your input is invaluable and will have an impact.

People with ideas for new problem solving games and improvement to old games on this site will receive credit for their work and a link to their web site. Credit will be given where credit is due. There is potential for residual opportunities through links to inventory items.

To be accepted and to be added to this site, the improvements and games need to be:

  • easily understood to the general public
  • combine a problem solving tool with an interactive game
  • be rated “G” since teachers might use this site as a resource
  • and have the potential to be effective.

Submissions do not necessarily be tested in areal world setting as that I have plans to test these games out more fully.

Please email ideas to agcreativity at gmail.com and suggestions for improvement in the comments underneath the games.

Thanks.

–A

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Inventory Items

June 22, 2008 at 5:03 pm · Filed under Supplies ·Tagged ,

Stumble It!ProblemSolving Party description

Every party has its essential props for success, whether it is a huge speaker system or snacks. For the problem solving party, the inventory list is much more eclectic and unusual. Throughout this site, links to the items found in each game have been provided so that you can easily gather the essentials to hold the party. You can use the links below to make a purchase or to develop a budget.

Letter Draw

  • letters (can be paper, plastic, from scrabble, etc.)

Pointed Hits

SCAMPER Craps

Beach Ball Datum

The World’s Most Practical Flip Chart

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Guidelines for convergence

June 22, 2008 at 12:29 am · Filed under Principles ·Tagged

Audrey's Explosion

Southern Explosion

Walking into a designers’ studios, the fashionista Audrey stands in shock. The studios share a space called “Collective”, where 7 designers with divergent backgrounds display and share their latest designs. Influences from South America to the country south and China, India and the Outback welcome the normally surprised guest into the Collective.

Not Audrey. She was on a mission to create the perfect outfit, ideallic and most of all, make it stand out only as Audrey could. Her criteria for this outfit, it had to look like Audrey. (Yes, it is a disappointing reality, but people do exist who think that they are their own style. What the heck does this mean????!!!)

She first walked into Devante’s Southern Spice. The hottest trends imported from Brazil decorated his walls. Bright, vivid colors dyed the lightest fabrics cut with the most exquisite of tastes. It was said that the most dull of people would end up smiling from the energy exuding from his style. Not Audrey, she walked in and immediately felt overwhelmed by the color. It was too much for her too handle and she exploded.

The guidelines for converging on ideas, options, and solutions are essential when using this games. A closed attitude will make you explode, like Audrey, if there is too rigid of a selection process. These guidelines have been developed to help develop the best ideas, options, and solutions when addressing a problem. Practicing these guidelines will help keep the party going and develop the best possible outcome in relation to a problem that is being addressed.

  1. Keep in mind the goal and objectives of the party.
  2. Be deliberate.
  3. Be affirmative.
  4. Consider novelty.
  5. Build and combine on ideas.

If all else fails, just rely on a game of darts to make your decision, check out the Pointed Hits game.

For more information on these guidelines, read Roger Firestien’s book, Leading the Creative Edge.

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The Party Host: The Role of Facilitator

June 21, 2008 at 4:22 pm · Filed under Principles ·Tagged

Party Hostesses

Just as a great party has a great host, the problem solving party needs to someone guide the party itself: a facilitator. The facilitator plans how the party will flow, who shows up, how the environment of the party is set up, and helps everyone to have fun.

The responsibility of the facilitator in these processes is to ensure that everyone keeps to the objectives set for the party (remember this party has a purpose), tries to help everyone get involved, and stays out of the content of the problem. (A BIG SECRET)

At the end, the facilitator debriefs the process and figures out where to go next with the owner of the problem. Sounds easy? Depends on your personality, your preferences, and other factors. It could be. In any case, it is a process of being the great party host.

The best place to learn how to be a great facilitator is at the Creative Studies program at Buffalo State College where they offer a certificate for Creativity and Change Leadership.

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The importance of deferring judgment

June 20, 2008 at 8:00 pm · Filed under Principles ·Tagged ,

Dropping Ducks

Two hunters watching flocks of geese and ducks at lake loading their rifles. The first hunter, John, loads his gun, cocks it, and points it in the air.

“This won’t work!” exclaims Burnie, the second hunter. A round shoots prematurely in the air.

“What won’t work?”

“This chair. It won’t work.”

With every word that Burnie said, a duck in flight fell to the ground.

“It can’t support my weight when i fire my rifle. It is just too small and flimsy.”

Trying to ignore the comments made by his friend, John loads up a new round, steadies his aim…

“I am telling you it won’t work!”

The gun fires prematurely, and in frustration John tells Burnie to shut up and then loads a new round. This time, he sees the ducks dropping out of the air at alarming rates. At first, the phenomena was too small to notice behind the sights of a rifle, but now entire flocks don’t make it beyond 10 feet from the ground when they drop.

“Hey, Burnie… look.”

Burnie was fixated on he seat, when John made his statement.

“Look, look, the ducks are hitting the ground from mid-flight…”

Burnie turns his eyes towards the ducks and sees the ducks taking flight. John, though confused, loaded a new round and started to steady his aim.

“The ducks are taking flight. They were on the ground the entire time. They never hit the ground…”

When Burnie spoke his last sentence, all the ducks and geese plummeted to the ground. John missed his shot, again.

The ducks drop from the ground due to wrong judgment

Deferring judgment is the first step to using this games. Many times in groups, individuals find a reason to pass a judgment and starts a process that unravels any problem solving session. Rather than focusing their energy on the real issue, they choose to judge themselves, their teammates, the process, or the idea.

Research has indicated that practicing an approach that defers all forms of judgment when seeking opportunities, seeking ideas, or generating solutions produces better results when addressing a problem that requires some creativity. It sacrifices a potentially great solution for a mediocre one and destroys a positive and conducive problem solving climate. Like the inevitable dynamic between hunters in the narrative, the introduction of ill timed judgment creates tension and reason to not enjoy hunting.

Be patient when trying these games and feel free to experiment. Change the game up and try different combinations. They are, after all, a part of a problem solving party.

For more information on the principle of deferred judgment, check out the work of Alex Osborn in Applied Creativity published by the Creative Education Foundation.

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