The Psychology of Innovation

 

The Psychology of Innovation

Many of us have heard the story of Archimedes’s reaction when he thought of a way to determine the gold content of an object by measuring its specific gravity. It is said that he jumped out of the bath and ran naked through the streets shouting, “Eureka!”. It is this kind of sudden illuminating insight that distinguishes the innovative scientist from those that, while perhaps quite competent in their fields, rely entirely on “tried-and-true” ideas and procedures. I suspect that most of us (including scientists) believe that such moments of glorious inspiration are once in a lifetime events that bless the work of a few fortunate scientists. That belief is erroneous. The creative scientist experiences many of these moments throughout his career, and they are not the result of luck, but of the way that he approaches his research.

Once I came to a full realization of the power of this paradigm situation to paralyze the mind I began to take an interest in learning about the mind itself, especially the role that the subconscious plays in innovation, and how the subconscious interacts with the conscious mind.

There is, in fact, a specific technique for engendering these breakthrough insights. I doubt that many innovators actually formulate their methods. They have simply found a way that works, through their dedication to their research. Now, however, several books have been written on the subject. Two of the earliest are “Science and Method”, by Henri Poincare, and “Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field” by Jacques Hadamard. Hadamard made an extensive study of this innovative technique, by interviewing many creative scientists and recording their experiences. He describes the system in detail in his book.

The process works something like this. The scientist studies the problem intensively, focusing his mind first on learning all he can about it and potential means of solving, all the time searching for a solution. But when his mind becomes tired and difficult to focus, he breaks away from it completely and engages in some activity that he finds mentally restful. That activity might be listening to calming music, or playing at some sport or game, or even watching a sit-com on TV (however counter-intuitive it may seem that such an activity could be incorporated into the process of scientific innovation). But whenever a time occurs, after his mind becomes quiet for a while, that he brings the problem back into his mind and spends a little time thinking it over, an insight may occur.

If such an insight does not occur within a reasonable length of time, he returns to his books, papers, computer for more study. Eventually, after taking a break, when his mind is at rest, and he brings it back to his problem, the solution will immediately drop into his conscious mind. Both of those books by the French mathematicians cite many examples of innovative solutions that were obtained in this manner. And I relied on the method throughout my research career.

But I first discovered it in my first year of high school. That story is told in the next post.

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