How do the thinking geniuses differ from ordinary people? (Part 1)

What is the common point between these thinking styles that have produced "Mona Lisa" and the theory of relativity? What characterizes the thinking strategy of Einstein, Edison, da Vinci, Darwin, Picasso, Michelangelo, Galileo, Freud and Mozart in history? What can we learn from them?

Please read to the first part of a two-part series of thinking strategies that have created geniuses that contribute to the world in all areas from science to art. The translation series from the Creativity Post.

Part 1: Intelligence of geniuses, multi-dimensional thinking and use of images

For many years, scholars and researchers have tried to learn about genius through important statistics, as if the data had illuminated geniuses in some way. In a genius study in 1904, Dr. Havelock Ellis noted that most geniuses have fathers over 30 years old; having a mother under 25 years old and often sick when she was young Reports of other scholars indicate that many celestial geniuses (Descartes), others have no father (Dickens) or no mother (Darwin). In the end, a lot of data didn't reveal anything new.

Creativity is not like intelligence.(Photo: Hacker Noon).

Academics have also tried to measure the connection between intelligence and genius. But intelligence is not enough. Strictly speaking, Marilyn vos Savant, who had the highest IQ ever recorded as 228, did not contribute much to science or art. In fact, she is a Parade columnist. Physicists of the caliber have much higher IQs than Richard Feynman (1918-1988) - one of the most famous physicists of the 20th century, the maker of the atomic bomb and the Nobel Prize in 1965. Feyman is widely acknowledged as the last great genius of America. Feyman's IQ is 122, only above average compared to genius IQs of 145-160, according to Wilderdom.

Genius is not a SAT 1600, proficient in 14 languages ​​at 7, completing Mensa (the world's highest IQ club) in record time, having another high IQ often, or smart. After a notable debate initiated by JP Guilford, the leading psychologist called for a scientific focus on creativity in the 1960s, psychologists came to the conclusion that creativity Not like intelligence . An individual can be much more creative, or more intelligent, of his / her creativity.

When given data or some problems, most people with average intelligence can imagine the traditional feedback expected. For example, when asked "What is half of 13" , most of us will immediately answer 6 and ½, can draw the answer in seconds and turn your attention back to the sentence ask.

Usually, we think in the direction of copying the same problems that have been encountered in the past. When confronted with problems, we are caught up in what we have done in the past. We wonder, "What have I been taught about how to solve this problem in life, education or work?" . Then we choose the most promising solution by analyzing past experiences, eliminating all other methods and moving towards the solution of the problem in a clearly defined direction. Due to the solidity of the process based on past experience, we become sure about the accuracy of our conclusions in a arrogant way.

Conversely, geniuses think creatively rather than reproducing . When faced with a problem, instead of asking "What have I been taught in life, education or work on how to solve this problem? " They ask questions like "How many different ways?" Can I look at it? " , "Can I rethink how I look at it?" , and "How many different ways can I solve it?" . They tend to think of different feedbacks, some of which are unusual and may be unique. A creative thinker will say that there are different ways to represent "thirteen" and different ways to divide something. Here are some examples.

6.5

13 = 1 and 3

ONE BA = 4

XIII = 11 and 2

XIII = 8

(aside from the traditional answer of 6 and 1/2, by performing 13 and splitting it in different ways, someone could say half of 13 is 6.5 or 1 and 3, or 4, or 11 and 2, or 8 .).

With creative thinking, a person will create as many approaches as possible. You will consider the most vague and feasible solutions. The important thing is willingness to explore every solution, even after you've found a promising solution.

When asked what the difference between himself and a normal person was, Einstein answered: if you ask an ordinary person to find a needle in a haystack, that person will stop when he / she finds out a needle. And he is different, he will tear up all the hay to find all the needles that can be found.

How do creative geniuses come up with so many solutions and predictions? Why do they have countless rich and different ideas? How do they produce "blind" variations that lead to new and unique variations? More and more scholars provide evidence that, anyone can imitate the thinking of geniuses. By studying books, correspondence, conversations and ideas of the greatest thinkers in the world, they can use distinctive thinking styles and strategies especially in genius. allowing them to think of many new and unusual ideas in an extraordinary way.

Strategies

Below are descriptions of the common thinking strategies of creative geniuses in science, art and industry in history.

Multi-dimensional thinking for problems

Genius often goes from recognizing a perspective that no one recognizes.(Photo: Medium).

Genius often goes from recognizing a perspective that no one recognizes. Leonardo da Vinci said that, in order to gain knowledge of the form of problems, you start by refactoring it in different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too much about his usual way of looking at things. He will refactor his problem by looking at it from another angle, moving to another angle and another angle. With each shift of perspective, his understanding will be deeper and he will begin to understand the nature of the problem. Basically, Einstein's theory of relativity is a description of the interaction between different perspectives. And Freud's analytical methods have been designed to recognize details that are inconsistent with traditional views, thus finding entirely new perspectives.

To solve the problem creatively, a thinker must abandon the first approach often derived from past experience and generalize the problem. By not fixing themselves to a certain point, geniuses not only solve current problems like creating an environmentally friendly fuel but they also identify new problems. A genius like Freud does not analyze dreams, but first, he will ask his customers: what do the dreams in their minds mean to them?

Sketching visual thoughts

The explosion of creativity during the Renaissance is closely related to the retention and transmission of a vast amount of knowledge in the second language besides the verbal language: the language of paintings, graphs, diagrams , such as the famous diagrams of Leonardo daVinci and Galileo astronomer. When his time also used traditional methods of mathematics and speech, Galileo created the scientific revolution by clearly expressing his thoughts diagrams, maps, and paintings.

Painting set of famous Galileo moon phases.(Photo: Museo Galileo).

It seems that when geniuses are gifted with the use of certain minimum words, they will develop spatial and visual abilities that will give them the flexibility to present information in a variety of ways. When Einstein thought about a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his topic in as many different ways as possible, including with diagrams. Einstein has a very intuitive mind. He thought more about spatial and visual forms than thinking in purely verbal or mathematical arguments. In fact, Einstein argues that words and numbers when spoken or written are not important in his thinking process.

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