t happens in schools, cubicles, and boardrooms everywhere: someone working on a project hits a mental block. A boss or teacher might resort to a cliché like "think outside the box" or "put two and two together," encouraging a creative solution to the problem. As it turns out, this isn’t just abstract advice. According to an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, literally working outside of a box or putting two halves of something together just might help those creative juices start flowing again.
Since physical metaphors regarding creativity are so common and appear in several different languages, a group of researchers hypothesized that they may extend beyond mere clichés. But can acting out metaphors really affect how our minds work?
In the first part of the study, the researchers asked 102 undergraduates to perform a Remote Associates Test (RAT), in which the subject is given three seemingly unrelated words and asked to come up with a word that relates to each one. For example, the subject might be given "measure," "worm," and "video," and the correct response would be "tape."
Before being given this task, however, the participants were divided into three groups; members of one group were asked to perform this task while sitting inside a 5' by 5' cardboard box, those in another group had to perform this task while sitting outside the same box, and those in the third group performed the task without a box in the room at all. None of the participants knew the hypothesis behind the study; they were merely told it was an experiment on different work environments.
There was no difference in performance between those inside the box and those with no box at all. However, the participants that were seated outside the box did much better on the RAT than the other two groups. Apparently, something about literally "thinking outside the box" encourages creativity. This effect held up even after controlling for feelings of privacy and claustrophobia due to the box.
A second experiment looked at another well-known piece of advice: to "put two and two together" to come up with an answer. In this part of the study, 64 subjects were divided into two groups. The first group had to perform a RAT while joining halves of cut paper coasters from piles on each side of a desk. The second group performed a similar task, but only had to move coaster halves from one side of a desk to the other side. Those "putting two and two together" by uniting the two halves of the coasters did far better on the RAT than those that were merely moving the coasters from one pile to another.
The RAT is a test of "convergent thinking," since the subject has to recognize a single connection between three very different words. The researchers hypothesized that those joining coaster halves did so well on the RAT because they were embodying a metaphor about uniting different things.
As a follow up, they used the two coaster conditions again, but this time asked the participants to perform a test of "divergent thinking" called the Lego test. In this test, a subject is shown a picture of something built with just two or three Lego blocks, and they must think of as many things as they can that could be represented by the picture. This task measures the ability to come up with many alternatives rather than bringing several concepts together. On this task, the two groups performed about the same; "putting two and two together" by joining coasters didn’t give the participants any advantage in a divergent thinking test.
The researchers also found that considering a problem "on one hand" and then "the other hand" worked, as well—subjects who sequentially held up both hands came up with more novel solutions then those who just held up a single hand. Additionally, they found that simply "thinking outside the box" in your head—by walking different paths with a computerized avatar—increased creativity. In some cases, it might be enough to embody these metaphors internally rather than physically.
So, acting out metaphors linked to creativity really can help us think creatively. In fact, it does more than let us access the knowledge we presently have; it encourages us to come up with new, unique, and creative ideas. Next time you’re stuck on a problem, take a minute to ponder—or even act out—your favorite metaphor, and you might happen upon a great solution.
Psychological Science, 2012. DOI: not yet available (About DOIs).
