Logic Bubblegum and Mental Inertia

One of the most powerful concepts to explain creativity is that “Logic Bubble”.

The term was coined in Edward de Bono’s book Future Positive (1979).  All thinking takes place within a perception space,  within that space everything looks logic from the perspective of the thinker. The logic bubble is formed by values about how the world should be assumptions about how the world is as is, his education, her experiences and cultural luggage.

A new idea lies outside the logic bubble. It cannot be finding within the current boundaries of perception. It is not “logic”; however, it should be in hindsight.

The “logic” of a new idea has to be reconstructed in another “Logic Bubble”

Searching for new ideas requires not thinking harder or more logical or even smarter, but thinking outside the Logic Bubble. A perception shift is needed. The standard pattern of thinking has to be broken.

The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving do have a  likewise concept – Mental Inertia. Valeri Souchkov: “ says that mental inertia is a synonym of psychological inertia. In physics, “inertia” means that the heavier a physical body is the more difficult is to stop it or to change direction of movement of the body. Like any physical body have mass, and, respectively, inertia, our memories and mental associations expand and grow during our lifetimes, and create their own “inertia” (in other words, “thinking inertia” or “mental inertia“). In psychology, it also means a habit of standard reaction in any situation, which resembles standard, even if a situation is non-standard. The same happens with our mind: the more someone’s mind is “loaded” with memories and associations, the more difficult someone can think different and build up new creative images.
I first met this term in  Altshuller‘s work  written in the 1960-1970s. And I also met it in some papers on cognitive psychology dated approximately within the same time frame.”

Photo: “Creative Definition Magnifier” by Stuart Miles