Quantum Storytelling

I’m wading through the academic prose so that you don’t have to… enjoy.

• Primary Process Cognition

“Primary process thought is found in normal states such as dreaming, and reverie, as well as in abnormal states such as psychosis and hypnosis. It is autistic, free-associative, analogical, and characterized by concrete images as opposed to abstract concepts.

Because primary process cognition is associative, it facilitates the discovery of new combinations of mental elements.”

• Secondary Process Cognition

“Secondary process cognition is abstract, logical, reality-oriented thought of waking consciousness.

…creative elaboration involves a return to a secondary process.”

The book goes onto note that in many creativity studies, the highly creative people are the ones who are more flexible and fluid at bouncing back and forth between primary process and secondary process thinking. People who are uncreative are usually stuck in a single track along either the primary or secondary, and can’t easily switch between them. From my own experiences, engaging primary process thought isn’t always easy. But there may be a way to fix that…

The following was also mentioned in the Handbook of Creativity but I’ll give you the simpler Wikipedia explanation:

“Convergent production is the deductive generation of the best single answer to a set problem, usually where there is a compelling inference. For example, find answers to the question What is the sum of the internal angles of a triangle?

Divergent production is the creative generation of multiple answers to a set problem. For example, find uses for 1 metre lengths of black cotton.”

Notice anything familiar? While they aren’t necessarily the same thing, if I had to pair one for one I’d say Convergent thinking is much more along the lines of Secondary Process thinking, and Divergent thinking is more of a Primary Process type of thought.

Is it possible that one technique for inducing primary process thought would be to force divergent thinking by attempting to create ‘multiple answers’ instead of just one? Perhaps this is why some people get mileage out of stream of consciousness writing, and other similar techniques? It’s worth pointing out though that you need not engage these principles at the actual writing phase. You can generate large lists of ideas before you ever sit down to a first draft.

This is just a small sampling of the delicious nuggets I’m getting out of the Handbook of Creativity. It’s not always an easy read, but so far worth the slog for a few new concepts regarding creativity. Stay tuned.