The Power of Q

Have you ever noticed that some teams can collaborate and work better than others? These teams don't usually consist of total strangers but they also aren't made up of best friends. Strangers struggle to exchange ideas and work together while best friends tend to think similarly, stifling original and creative ideas. Imagine explains that this kind of "social intimacy" is measured by what Brian Uzzi, a sociologist at Northwestern, calls Q. Q is a measures the closeness of people working together on a project. Teams with a low Q are made up of people who barely know each other while teams with a high Q are made up of people who are all close friends. Neither of these types of teams work well. There must be a balance; a happy medium so to speak where a team can be close enough so that they are comfortable sharing ideas with each other but also think differently from each other. This is an ideal Q. A team like this can consist of a mix of old friends and new acquaintances. Teams with an ideal Q have been proven to come up with more successful work and original ideas.

While reading about this measure of social intimacy, I couldn't help but try to think about my own experiences where this ideal Q proved to work best for me. I thought of how, just recently, I was at work and it was a slow day. I was talking with my coworker Sydney whom I have known for a few years now and is friends with my sister. We aren't best friends but I am comfortable talking and sharing ideas with her. We had a box of broken ice cream cones and we didn't want to throw them out. I crushed them up and put them in a jar and figured we would just sell them as a topping. Then I started to think, "Who would want a crushed up ice cream cone on their ice cream? This is stupid." So I told Sydney we should make up a sundae with the cone pieces in it and other toppings that don't sell well, like butterscotch. She agreed it was a good idea. We got it approved by the manager, made a sign, and put it on the menu. I even sold a few the next day. This was a perfect example of how a team of only relatively close individuals work best. If I had been working with another coworker who I am practically strangers with, I would have never shared my idea. If I had been working with my best friend, I probably would've just messed around with her and never even thought of the sundae. Sydney and I were a perfect middle Q. This type of team was best for creativity and proves that Q is an extremely logical measure of successful groups.

Hail Divinest Melancholy

          "Why is severe sadness so closely associated with creativity? Andreasen argues the depression is intertwined with a 'cognitive style' that makes people more likely to produce successful works of art. Her explanation is straightforward: It's not easy to write a good novel or compose a piece of music. The process often requires years of careful attention as the artist fixes mistakes and corrects errors. As a result, the ability to stick with the process- to endure to unconcealing- is extremely important. 'successful writers are like prizefighters who keep on getting hit but won't go down,' Andreason says. 'They'll stick with it until it's right. And that seems to be what the mood disorders help with.' While Andreason acknowledges the terrible burden of mental illness- she quotes Robert Lowell on depression not being a 'gift of the Muse' and describes his reliance on lithium to escape the pain- she argues that, at least in its milder forms, the disorder benefits many artists due to the perseverance it makes possible. 'Unfortunately, this type of thinking is often inseparable from the suffering,' Andreason says. "if you're at the cutting edge, then you're going to bleed.'"
          This passage from Imagine is an obvious template for introducing quotes and summarizing someone's point. Firstly, the use of the verb "argues" implies that a claim is being made. It is used to introduce a summary of Andreason's explanation on why sadness is associated with creativity. Next, the quote is placed in the passage after a brief summary of her thoughts. This is the main point that is being made and what the author really wants the reader to understand. Lastly, the author makes a counter-claim on Andreason's behalf while also explaining what the quote means. The word "while" is used to acknowledge that there may be objections and skeptics of Andreason's claim, but there is an answer to it. Basically, a naysayer has been planted to address an objection and overcome it.
          Imagine requires arguments like this in order for anything in the book to be credible. The author could easily make claims about what he thinks inspires people and what makes them creative, but it would mean just about nothing. Anyone can hypothesize and propose theories about the mind, but if there is nothing to back them up, how credible are they? A book like this requires a variety of quotes sandwiches because they provide validity. The author's claims go from statements that have no authenticity or persuasiveness to well-researched and legitimate theories. Quotes and templates are the rock of this book.

The Residue of Time Wasted

"Mark Beeman has a tense smile, a receding hairline, and the wiry build of a long-distance runner. He qualified for the Olympic trials in 1988 and 1992 with a time of 3:41 in the fifteen-hundred-meter race, although he gave up competitive running after, as he puts it, 'everything below the hips started to fall apart.' He now subsists on long walks and the manic tapping of feet. When Beeman gets excited about something- whether it's the cellular properties of pyramidal neurons or his new treadmill- the pace of his speech accelerates and then he starts to draw pictures on whatever scratch paper is nearby."
In my reading, this passage in particular stuck out. It is loaded with rhetorical appeals and devices that would catch the attention of almost any reader. To begin, the very first sentence creates such a vivid visual of Mark Beeman, the man who is being describe. This image of the man is targeting the emotional appeals of the reader. In other words, pathos is being used. Not much farther into the passage, the author adds another rhetorical device by inserting the quote, "everything below the hips started to fall apart." Obviously, this man's legs were not literally falling apart. This is a hyperbole exaggerating his problem as a result of his competitive running. Additonally, in the very next sentence, the author changes the tone for a moment to emphasize the dramatic change in Beeman's life after giving up on competitive running. Finally, in the last sentence,  the author once again attracts the reader with rhetoric appeals. The way he used two examples which may excite Beeman that were on two completely opposite sides of a spectrum accentuates the final point he is trying to make.
Imagine uses passages loaded with rhetorical appeals such as this one often and to help make an argument. Using rhetorical appeals helps persuade the reader and go along with what the author is claiming. The author argues for creative minds and the science behind them. He uses research and other people's experience to affirm his claims along with rhetorical devices to convince his audience of the legitimacy of his work.

Always Carry a Light Bulb

To be creative. It sounds like a simple concept, but the second a little bit of imagination is required, it proves to really freaking hard. Trying to come up with new and innovative ideas takes time and patience, but how and why do we finally get them? Imagine explains just how important your brain is during the creative process and how it differs from trying to solve problems analytically.
Formerly, inspiration was only associated with external forces. Our best ideas must come from somewhere else. Now, as we understand creativity more, there is a clear connection between the right hemisphere of the brain and insight.

The right hemisphere: the illogical, unimportant, and almost useless side of the brain. At least that’s what we used to think. Scientific studies have shown that those with damage on the right side of the brain (the “lucky” ones) have difficulty understanding jokes, metaphors, and sarcasm. All which require some sense of creative thinking. This is because this half of the brain is responsible for insight; that “Ah-ha” moment when you suddenly solve a problem after being frustrated by it for a long period of time. The reason it happens so suddenly is because it requires a different kind of thinking than we would usually use to solve a straight-forward and logical problem. We need to look for the solution from a different angle, and the second we do, it hits us like a ton of bricks.

An example given in the book is from the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. A salesman, Dick Drew, wanted to design a tape that mechanics could use to paint cars without ripping the paint straight off. After months of trying to think of a solution, one night it came to him. A weak adhesive strip rolled up like a spool of ribbon. This was the birth or masking tape. Drew doesn’t know exactly where this insight came from, but it was revolutionary. His company, now know as 3M, went on to invent a variety of products that have nothing in common with each other.

3M has a very unique work environment and technique. If you’re stuck on a problem for a while, take a walk. Can’t seem to harbor any new insights, play some ping pong. Breaks are greatly encouraged, but why does this method work? Although concentration is important while trying to get a task done, it doesn’t give you any time to just let your mind wander and the ideas come to you. Daydreaming is actually a pivotal part of insight. Having a little time with you and your own thoughts turns out to be incredibly important for a creative mind.

So far what I have read has been extremely fascinating and has provided me with an abundance of new knowledge about myself. For example, I hate riddles. I’m impatient and can never get the answer on my own. I consider myself capable of being creative/imaginative and coming up with good new ideas, but riddles frustrate me. In the book, it discussed how certain puzzles or riddles were given to research subjects that required insight. They were solved suddenly or not at all. Many subjects become frustrated almost immediately and complain of the difficulty. I am almost positive I would have the same reaction. This anger implies that a different problem-solving strategy is required. We must try something new. I usually just give up and ask to be told the answer almost immediately before I even give myself a chance for an “Ah-ha” moment to occur.

The frustration that the subjects and I experience is actually a key part to coming to that insight where we find the answer. It makes us think differently. I found this incredibly interesting because I related it to myself so easily. Creativity, while it is in our own individual minds, works almost the same way for everyone.
            

Imagine That

Open up Google and search Jonah Lehrer. Nearly half of the results on the first page are articles which describe his wrongdoings while writing his book Imagine: How Creativity Works. In bold you see the words "sick," cynical," and "misdeeds" all next to his name; but what sort of misconduct occurred to justify all of these negative search results? In Imagine, Lehrer's most recent and third best-selling book, he was accused of fabricating quotes, self-plagiarism, and factual inaccuracies. As a result, his best-seller was recalled and pulled from the shelves by his publisher.
Despite all of the bad publicity Lehrer's book had received, many critics still praise his work, daring to call it "worth reading." It has been described as engaging and an easy explanation for a complex scientific subject.
Initially, I was going to read a different book about a family who lived off of only natural, homegrown food, but something about the size and the way it was written didn't appeal to me. I decided to look for one more book and see if it sounded any better. For some reason, Imagine stuck out to me on the list of books I had to choose from. The length seemed more reasonable, the text more readable, and the content more compelling; and when I read the first section, I was very pleased with my choice. After only a few pages, I found myself forgetting all that I had read earlier about the scandals behind the book and was completely entranced in the material.
Imagine describes what exactly is happening in the brain when a person has to be creative. It explains the significance of the right side of the brain in the creative process and all the science behind imagination. While creativity was formerly understood as an external force and the right side of the brain was considered almost useless, Imagine helps anyone comprehend just how important the brain is in order to think creatively.