Transcript Conversation and the Mind - Tennessee Technological University

Matthew Kelley
&
Robert Looney
 The psychologist Kevin Dunbar’s studies of four science
labs measured a correlation between conversation and
innovation.
 Homogenous background = no analogies = no innovation
 When people from different backgrounds come together,
they are likely to have betters ideas due to different
interpretations of the problem.
 Analogies are essential to collaboration creativity, and
they’re more likely to emerge when participants bring
their various experience to the table.
 Conversation allows us to be more collaborative.
 Psychologist Art Markman’s LEGO study
 Integrative collaboration: a profound bonding
that creates a shared vision.
 Creativity emerges form collaborative conversation.
 By building on what someone says in a conversation,
we can come up with new ideas.
 “Yes, and” rule
 Coffeehouse
 Indexicality: context dependence in speech.
 Indexical words allow for opportunity for creativity.
 Companies have discovered that indirectness allows
for greater innovation.
 Equivocality: Ideas that open possibilities by making
it easier for ideas to be reused to solve a different
problem.
 In an improv group, no single person determines their
role. Each person’s role is decided collectively by the
group.
What is indexicality?