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Productive Thinking

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By means of thought experiments and case studies (Gauss, Einstein etc) Wertheimer puts forward a view of creativity that preceded, but is strikingly similar to, Thomas Kuhn's model of scientific revolutions. For Kuhn, a scientific revolution starts with an anomaly, a problem: some fact or part of the theory that does not fit and needs further explanation or work. Working on this problem area can necessitate a rethink of the whole theoretical body of knowledge, and the generation of a new 'paradigm'. This new meaning of the word paradigm is entirely due to Kuhn: previously, a paradigm was an 'exemplar', almost a template for how something could be done well.

In Wertheimer, productive thinking typically started with a problem situation (S1) which, like anomolies in Kuhn's model, generated thought and action to restructure and reconsider the problem, eventually ending up at reworked and satisfactory situation (S2). This could involve a 'gestalt switch' as fundamental assumptions are overturned in an effort to solve the problem, and the whole situation is seen in a new and more satisfactory light.

Wertheimers model can therefore be sybolically represented as

S1 --> S2

Or more generally, located in a wider context,

. . . S1 --> S2 . . .

This book is one of the classics of the creative process literature, which classically consists of Wertheimer's Productive Thinking (this book) and Wallas's Stage Model (Art of Thought)