不落窠臼地思考

不落窠臼地思考thinking outside the boxthinking beyond the boxthinking outside the square)是一個英語熟語,意思是以不同的方式、非常規的方式或從新的角度進行思考。該短語也常指新穎或創造性思維。[1][2][3]

歷史

這句話的起源並不清楚。「Think beyond the boundary」隱喻以不同方式或較少限制進行思考,似乎由來已久。例如,1888年,《年度記錄》記錄了「think outside the lines」這一短語。[4][5]

九點謎題(左)的目標是在不提筆的情況下,用四條或更少的直線將所有九個點連接起來。解題方法(右圖)是在「框外」畫出這些直線。

最晚自1954年以來,九點謎題就被用來比喻「超越邊界的思考」(think beyond the boundary)。早期的說法包括「跳出九點範圍」(go outside the dots,1954年)[6][7]、「跳出九點範圍的突破性思維」(breakthrough thinking that gets outside the nine-dot square,1959年)[8][9]以及「問題的實際邊界是什麼?」(what are the actual boundaries of the problem?,1963)[10][7]諾曼·文森特·皮爾(Norman Vincent Peale)在1969年為《芝加哥論壇報》撰寫的一篇文章中提到了這個難題,引述如下:[11][12]

There is one particular puzzle you may have seen. It's a drawing of a box with some dots in it, and the idea is to connect all the dots by using only four lines. You can work on that puzzle, but the only way to solve it is to draw the lines so they connect outside the box. It's so simple once you realize the principle behind it. But if you keep trying to solve it inside the box, you'll never be able to master that particular puzzle.

That puzzle represents the way a lot of people think. They get caught up inside the box of their own lives. You've got to approach any problem objectively. Stand back and see it for exactly what it is. From a little distance, you can see it a lot more clearly. Try and get a different perspective, a fresh point of view. Step outside the box your problem has created within you and come at it from a different direction.

All of a sudden, just like the puzzle, you'll see how to handle your problem. And just like the four lines that connect all the dots, you'll discover the course of action that's just right in order to set your life straight.

1970 年,短語「不落窠臼地思考」(think outside the dots)出現,但並未提及九點謎題。[13][7]

1971年,「不落窠臼地思考」這一特定短語被證實,並再次與九點謎題一起出現。[14][15]1976年,該短語在英國使用,[16]1978年在美國使用,[17]但都沒有提到九點謎題。

除了上述證明之外,關於這個短語是如何出現的,還有幾種未經證實的說法。根據馬丁·基恩(Martin Kihn)的說法,這句話可以追溯到20世紀70年代和80年代的管理諮詢師挑戰客戶解決 「九點 」難題。[18]根據約翰·阿代爾(John Adair)的說法,他於1969年提出了「九點 」謎題,這句話也由此而來。[19]據稱,九點謎題在諮詢界的使用源於華特迪士尼公司組織文化,該公司在內部使用九點謎題。[來源請求]

相關

參考

  1. ^ box - definition of box in English - Oxford Dictionaries. [21 November 2016]. (原始內容存檔於November 21, 2016). 
  2. ^ think outside the box - Definition, meaning & more - Collins Dictionary. [21 November 2016]. 
  3. ^ Thinking Outside The Square. [21 November 2016]. 
  4. ^ The Annual Register: a review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1887.. London: Rivingtons, Waterloo Place. 1888: 168. [Lord Hartington] said that [...] the Liberal party became a one-man party, which scarcely ventured to think outside the lines prescribed by its dictator. 
  5. ^ O'Toole, Garson. Antedating of "Outside the Box". 2010-05-03. 
  6. ^ Anderson, John F. Down to Earth. Dallas Morning News. 1954-10-30: 1. An instructor at M.I.T. began his course with a group of graduate students one day by walking to the blackboard and drawing nine dots in this fashion [...] We are not here to go through old routines. Don't let your thinking be contained in a small square of knowledge. Learn to go outside the dots and you may be the one to solve man's most puzzling problems. 
  7. ^ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Wilton, David. think outside the box. Wordorigins.org. 2021-07-19. 
  8. ^ Humphrey, Hal. 'Breakthrough thinking' gets outside 9-dot square . Detroit Free Press. 1959-11-13: 41. One of our biggest advertising agencies [writes] 「Breakthrough thinking is the fresh approach, the new concept, that gets outside the nine-dot square.」 
  9. ^ Tréguer, Pascal. 'to think outside the box': meaning and origin. word histories. 2021-04-28. 
  10. ^ Platzer, Norbert A. J. Incentiveness, Motivation, Training Needs of a Scientist. The Springfield Union. 1963-04-18: 52. [...] the next aplitude for creative thinking [is] defining the problem. We must ask ourselves: 「What are the actual boundaries of the problem?」 Perhaps some of you have seen this little problem before. Here are nine dots [...]. This teaches us, we should avoid imposing limitations that are not in our problem, as I told you before in the cases of Kettering and Reppe. 
  11. ^ Peale, Norman Vincent. Blackmail Is the Problem . Chicago Tribune. 1969-10-25: 13. 
  12. ^ Liberman, Mark. Language Log: X-ing outside the Y. 2005-06-02. 
  13. ^ Westell, Anthony. Canada Entering Big League In Research . Ottawa Journal. 1970-05-23: 7. The problem, says William Dav[i]d Hopper, is to think 「outside the dots" about the questions of how to feed a hungry world. He means that the need is to think imaginatively, creatively, about the development of less-developed countries, and not merely to keep pouring more money and technology into patterns of foreign aid established, not very successfully, over the past 20 years. 
  14. ^ Notaro, Michael R. Management of Personnel: Organization Patterns and Techniques. Data Management. Vol. 9/#9 (Data Processing Management Organization). 1971: 77. 
  15. ^ box, n.2. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 
  16. ^ Hall, David. Ex officer's strategy for business success . Sunday Telegraph. 1976-07-18: 24. [...] it is abundantly clear that Service people can turn their hand to many jobs provided they can think 「outside the box.」 
  17. ^ Robert S., Mendelsohn. People's Doctor . The Newark Advocate. 1978-03-31: 10. Some of my best teachers have been those who utilize the techniques of shock and surprise to rouse me out of conventional habits of thought, forcing me to question accepted teaching and stimulating me to think 「outside the box.」 
  18. ^ Kihn, Martin. "'Outside the Box': the Inside Story," FastCompany 1995
  19. ^ Adair, John. The art of creative thinking how to be innovative and develop great ideas . London Philadelphia: Kogan Page. 2007: 127. ISBN 9780749452186.