The Little Blue Reasoning Book - Brandon Royal [8]
Both divergence and convergence are necessary for effective problem solving. Divergence opens the mind to creative alternatives; convergence winnows out the weak alternatives, focusing on and choosing among the strong alternatives. Without divergence, we could not analyze a problem creatively or objectively; without convergence, we would just keep on analyzing, never coming to closure. It is therefore vital to effective problem solving that an individual be prepared to shift back and forth between divergent and convergent approaches easily and at will, using each mode to its best effect as the problem solving process dictates.
Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult for individuals to shift back and forth between these two ever-opposite, ever-warring approaches. Most of us are inherently better convergers than divergers. Divergence is not as instinctual as is convergence. Indeed, most of us habitually resist divergence — sometimes passionately, even angrily.
Discussion of divergent vs. convergent thinking dovetails with the following overview of right-brain vs. left-brain thinking.
In 1981, Roger Sperry was awarded the Nobel Prize for his proof of the split brain theory. Research confirmed that the brain has two hemispheres with different, but overlapping functions. The right and left hemispheres of the brain each specialize in distinct types of thinking processes. In the most basic sense, the left brain is the analytical side while the right brain is the creative side. In 95 percent of all right-handed people, the left side of the brain controls analytics while the right side controls creative endeavors. In most left-handed people, the hemisphere functions are reversed.
The passage below, relevant to the topic at hand, is excerpted from The Little Red Writing Book, where it is used to show how to structure written documents.
The left side of the brain is responsible for analytical, linear, verbal, and rational thought. Left-brain thinking is characterized as “spotlight” thinking. It is the left brain that a person relies on when balancing a checkbook, remembering names and dates, or setting goals or objectives.
The right side of the brain is holistic, imaginative, nonverbal, and artistic. Right-brain thinking is characterized as “floodlight” thinking. Whenever a person recalls another person’s face, becomes engrossed in a symphony, or simply daydreams, that person is engaged in right-brain functions.
Since most of the Western concepts of thinking are derived from Greek logic, which is a linear logic system, left-brained processes are most rewarded in the Western education system. Right-brain processes are, to the chagrin of many, less often rewarded in school.
The primary abilities of the left and right brain include:
Left Brain:
❧ Analysis
❧ Classification
❧ Language
❧ Logic
❧ Memory
❧ Numbers
❧ Sequence
❧ Seriation
❧ Writing
❧ Convergent thinking processes
Right Brain:
❧ Artistic ability
❧ Emotion
❧ Imagery
❧ Imagination
❧ Intuition
❧ Music
❧ Rhythm/Physical coordination
❧ Synthesis
❧ Theatrics
❧ Divergent thinking processes
Here is a snapshot summarizing right-brain versus left-brain thinking:
Left-Brain Thinking:
❧ Left-brain thinking is characterized as “spotlight” thinking.
❧ The functions of the left brain are characterized by sequence and order.
❧ The left brain can put the parts together into an organized whole.
❧ The left hemisphere controls our analytical, scientific, logical, mathematical, and verbal leanings.
Right-Brain Thinking:
❧ Right-brain thinking is characterized as “floodlight” thinking.
❧ The functions of the right brain are characterized as holistic and diffuse.
❧ The right brain instinctively sees the whole, then the parts.
❧ The right hemisphere of the brain governs our artistic, musical, innovative, imaginative, entrepreneurial, political, theatrical, and visual tendencies.
Although it would be difficult, perhaps