Lateral Thinking (De Bono, 1970)
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Lateral thinking is concerned with changing patterns. A pattern is a repeatable sequence of neural activity. In practice, a pattern is any repeatable concept, idea, thought, image. Lateral thinking tries to restructure the pattern by putting things together in a different way.
Lateral thinking is both an attitude and a method of using information. The lateral thinking attitude regards any particular way of looking at things as useful but not unique or absolute. This attitude challenges the assumption that what is a convenient pattern at the moment is the only possible pattern. It involves firstly a refusal to accept rigid patterns and secondly an attempt to put things together in a different ways.
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Uses of literal thinking:
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New ideas
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Problem solving
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Processing perceptual choice
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Periodic reassessment
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Prevention of sharp divisions and polarizations
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Difference between lateral and vertical thinking
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Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking, richness is what matters in lateral thinking
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With vertical thinking one is trying to select the best approach but with lateral thinking one is generating different approaches for the sake of generating them.
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The vertical thinking says: "I know what I'm looking for." The lateral thinker says: "I'm looking but I won't know what I'm looking for until I've found it."
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With vertical thinking one has to be correct at every step, with lateral thinking one doesn't have to be at each step provided the conclusion is right.
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With vertical thinking one concentrates and excludes what is not relevant, with lateral thinking one welcomes chance intrusions.
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With vertical thinking categories, classifications and labels are fixed, with lateral thinking they are not.
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Vertical thinking follows the most likely path, lateral thinking explores the least likely.
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Vertical thinking is a finite process, lateral thinking is a probabilistic one.
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With vertical thinking one expects to come up with an answer. With lateral thinking there may not be any answer at all.
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With vertical thinking one uses information for its own sake in order to move forward to a solution. With lateral thinking one uses information not for its own sake but provocatively in order to bring about repatterning.
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