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Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box^[1]^[2] or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australia, thinking outside the square^[3]) is an idiom that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase also often refers to novel or creative thinking.

History

The origin of the phrase is unclear. "Think beyond the boundary"-metaphors, that is, metaphors that allude to think differently or with less constraints, seem to have an old history. For example, in 1888, The Annual Register records the phrase think outside the lines.^[4]^[5]

The "nine dots" puzzle (left) has the goal of linking all 9 dots using four straight lines or less, without lifting the pen. Its solution (right) is to draw those lines "outside the box".

Since at least 1954, the nine dots puzzle has been used as a metaphor of the type "think beyond the boundary". Early phrasings include go outside the dots (1954),^[6]^[7] breakthrough thinking that gets outside the nine-dot square (1959),^[8]^[9] and what are the actual boundaries of the problem? (1963).^[10]^[7] Norman Vincent Peale writes about this puzzle in a 1969 article for the Chicago Tribune, quote:^[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.

In 1970, the phrase think outside the dots appears without mentioning the nine dots puzzle.^[13]^[7]

Finally, in 1971, the specific phrase think outside the box is attested, again appearing together with the nine dots puzzle.^[14]^[15] In 1976, the phrase is used in England^[16] and 1978 in the USA,^[17] both without mentioning the nine dots puzzle.

Beyond the above attestations, there are several unconfirmed accounts of how the phrase got introduced. According to Martin Kihn, it goes back to management consultants in the 1970s and 1980s challenging their clients to solve the "nine dots" puzzle.^[18] According to John Adair, he introduced the nine dots puzzle in 1969, from which the saying comes.^[19] It is claimed that the use of the nine-dot puzzle in consultancy circles stems from the corporate culture of the Walt Disney Company, where the puzzle was used in-house.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "box - definition of box in English - Oxford Dictionaries". Archived from the original on November 21, 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
^ "think outside the box - Definition, meaning & more - Collins Dictionary". Retrieved 21 November 2016.
^ "Thinking Outside The Square". Retrieved 21 November 2016.
^ The Annual Register: a review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1887. London: Rivingtons, Waterloo Place. 1888. p. 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.
^ O'Toole, Garson (2010-05-03). "Antedating of "Outside the Box"".
^ Anderson, John F. (1954-10-30). "Down to Earth". Dallas Morning News. p. 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c Wilton, David (2021-07-19). "think outside the box". Wordorigins.org.
^ Humphrey, Hal (1959-11-13). "'Breakthrough thinking' gets outside 9-dot square". Detroit Free Press. p. 41. One of our biggest advertising agencies [writes] "Breakthrough thinking is the fresh approach, the new concept, that gets outside the nine-dot square."
^ Tréguer, Pascal (2021-04-28). "'to think outside the box': meaning and origin". word histories.
^ Platzer, Norbert A. J. (1963-04-18). "Incentiveness, Motivation, Training Needs of a Scientist". The Springfield Union. p. 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.
^ Peale, Norman Vincent (1969-10-25). "Blackmail Is the Problem". Chicago Tribune. p. 13.
^ Liberman, Mark (2005-06-02). "Language Log: X-ing outside the Y".
^ Westell, Anthony (1970-05-23). "Canada Entering Big League In Research". Ottawa Journal. p. 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.
^ Notaro, Michael R. (1971). "Management of Personnel: Organization Patterns and Techniques". Data Management. Vol. 9/#9. Data Processing Management Organization. p. 77.
^ "box, n.2". OED Online. Oxford University Press.
^ Hall, David (1976-07-18). "Ex officer's strategy for business success". Sunday Telegraph. p. 24. [...] it is abundantly clear that Service people can turn their hand to many jobs provided they can think "outside the box."
^ Robert S., Mendelsohn (1978-03-31). "People's Doctor". The Newark Advocate. p. 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."
^ Kihn, Martin. "'Outside the Box': the Inside Story," FastCompany 1995
^ Adair, John (2007). The art of creative thinking how to be innovative and develop great ideas. London Philadelphia: Kogan Page. p. 127. ISBN 9780749452186.

External links

Out-of-the-box vs. outside the box citing Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (OALD), Word of the Month

[1] "box - definition of box in English - Oxford Dictionaries". Archived from the original on November 21, 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.

[2] "think outside the box - Definition, meaning & more - Collins Dictionary". Retrieved 21 November 2016.

[aussi_example-3] "Thinking Outside The Square". Retrieved 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. p. 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 (2010-05-03). "Antedating of "Outside the Box"".

[6] Anderson, John F. (1954-10-30). "Down to Earth". Dallas Morning News. p. 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.

[wordorigins-7] Wilton, David (2021-07-19). "think outside the box". Wordorigins.org.

[8] Humphrey, Hal (1959-11-13). "'Breakthrough thinking' gets outside 9-dot square". Detroit Free Press. p. 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 (2021-04-28). "'to think outside the box': meaning and origin". word histories.

[10] Platzer, Norbert A. J. (1963-04-18). "Incentiveness, Motivation, Training Needs of a Scientist". The Springfield Union. p. 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 (1969-10-25). "Blackmail Is the Problem". Chicago Tribune. p. 13.

[12] Liberman, Mark (2005-06-02). "Language Log: X-ing outside the Y".

[13] Westell, Anthony (1970-05-23). "Canada Entering Big League In Research". Ottawa Journal. p. 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. (1971). "Management of Personnel: Organization Patterns and Techniques". Data Management. Vol. 9/#9. Data Processing Management Organization. p. 77.

[15] "box, n.2". OED Online. Oxford University Press.

[16] Hall, David (1976-07-18). "Ex officer's strategy for business success". Sunday Telegraph. p. 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 (1978-03-31). "People's Doctor". The Newark Advocate. p. 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."

[:0-18] Kihn, Martin. "'Outside the Box': the Inside Story," FastCompany 1995

[19] Adair, John (2007). The art of creative thinking how to be innovative and develop great ideas. London Philadelphia: Kogan Page. p. 127. ISBN 9780749452186.

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 {{distinguish|Out-of-the-box functionality}}
 }}
+'''Thinking outside the box''' (also '''thinking out of the box'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/box|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121234309/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/box|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 21, 2016|title=box - definition of box in English - Oxford Dictionaries|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/think-outside-the-box?showCookiePolicy=true|title=think outside the box - Definition, meaning & more - Collins Dictionary|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref> or '''thinking beyond the box''' and, especially in [[Australian English|Australia]],<!-- some examples of the use of this phrase in australia can be found at:http://cottonaustralia.com.au/news/article/photographers-encouraged-to-think-outside-the-square-in-cotton-photo-comp and http://www.companydirectors.com.au/director-resource-centre/publications/company-director-magazine/2012-back-editions/october/feature-thinking-outside-the-square in addition to the aussi_example ref--> '''thinking outside the square'''<ref name="aussi_example">{{cite web|url=http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/thinking-outside-square|title=Thinking Outside The Square|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref>) is an [[idiom]] that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase also often refers to novel or creative thinking.
-{{split|Nine dots puzzle|date=September 2020}}
-{{Puzzles|topics}}
-'''Thinking outside the box''' (also '''thinking out of the box'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/box|title=box - definition of box in English - Oxford Dictionaries|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/think-outside-the-box?showCookiePolicy=true|title=think outside the box - Definition, meaning & more - Collins Dictionary|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref> or '''thinking beyond the box''' and, especially in [[Australian English|Australia]],<!-- some examples of the use of this phrase in australia can be found at:http://cottonaustralia.com.au/news/article/photographers-encouraged-to-think-outside-the-square-in-cotton-photo-comp and http://www.companydirectors.com.au/director-resource-centre/publications/company-director-magazine/2012-back-editions/october/feature-thinking-outside-the-square in addition to the aussi_example ref--> '''thinking outside the square'''<ref name="aussi_example">{{cite web|url=http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/thinking-outside-square|title=Thinking Outside The Square|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref>) is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase also often refers to novel or creative thinking.
 ==History==
+The origin of the phrase is unclear. "Think beyond the boundary"-metaphors, that is, metaphors that allude to think differently or with less constraints, seem to have an old history. For example, in 1888, [[The Annual Register]] records the phrase ''think outside the lines''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Annual Register: a review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1887. |date=1888  |location=London |publisher=Rivingtons, Waterloo Place |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3tdAAAAIAAJ&q=%22think+outside+the+lines%22&pg=PP9 |quote=[Lord Hartington] said that [...] the Liberal party became a one-man party, which scarcely ventured to '''think outside the lines''' prescribed by its dictator.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Toole |first1=Garson |title=Antedating of "Outside the Box" |url=https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-May/098893.html |date=2010-05-03}}</ref>
-The origin of the phrase is unclear. An early allusion is a 1969 newspaper article by [[Norman Vincent Peale]], quote:<ref>{{cite news |last=Peale |first=Norman Vincent |date=1969-10-25 |title=Blackmail Is the Problem |publisher=Chicago Tribune |page=[https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-tribune-oct-25-1969-p-13-335162371-fullpage.jpg 13] |author-link=Norman Vincent Peale| url=https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-tribune-oct-25-1969-p-13-335162371-fullpage.jpg|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
-[[File:9dots.svg|thumb|right|The "nine dots" puzzle. The goal of the puzzle is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines or less, without lifting the pen.  The solution is at the end of this article.]]
-: 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 con 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.
-The specific phrase "think outside the box" has been attested since at least 1984 in a [[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] magazine article.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=1984-02-06 |magazine=Fortune |title=Unknown |page=114}}</ref><ref>{{cite OED|box}}</ref>
-Beyond the above attestations, there are several unconfirmed accounts of how the phrase got introduced. According to [[Martin Kihn]], it goes back to management consultants in the 1970s and 1980s challenging their clients to solve the "nine dots" puzzle.<ref name=":0">Kihn, Martin. [http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/debunk.html "'Outside the Box': the Inside Story,"] ''FastCompany'' 1995</ref> According to [[John Adair (author)|John Adair]], he introduced the nine dots puzzle in 1969, from which the saying comes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Adair | first = John | title = The art of creative thinking how to be innovative and develop great ideas | url = https://archive.org/details/artcreativethink00adai | url-access = limited | publisher = Kogan Page | location = London Philadelphia | year = 2007 | isbn = 9780749452186 | page = [https://archive.org/details/artcreativethink00adai/page/n137 127] }}</ref> [[Management consultant]] Mike Vance claimed that the use of the nine-dot puzzle in consultancy circles stems from the [[corporate culture]] of the [[Walt Disney Company]], where the puzzle was used in-house.<ref>[http://www.creativethinkingassoc.com/mikevance.html Biography of Mike Vance] at Creative Thinking Association of America.</ref>{{failed verification|date=September 2020}}
-== Nine dots puzzle ==
 {{multiple image
- | width = 125
+ | width = 100
  | image1 = 9dots.svg
- | alt1 = The puzzle
+ | alt1 = Nine dots puzzle
  | image2 = Ninedots.svg
- | alt2 = The solution
+ | alt2 = Puzzle solution
- | footer = The goal of the puzzle (left) is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines or fewer, without lifting the pen. All such answers (one example shown right) require the solver to draw a line that extends outside of the "box" formed by the grid.
+ | footer = The "nine dots" puzzle (left) has the goal of linking all 9 dots using four straight lines or less, without lifting the pen. Its solution (right) is to draw those lines "outside the box".
 }}
+Since at least 1954, the [[nine dots puzzle]] has been used as a metaphor of the type "think beyond the boundary". Early phrasings include ''go outside the dots'' (1954),<ref>{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=John F. |title=Down to Earth |url=https://archives.dallasnews.com/uncategorized/IO_968f2bc4-5474-46df-ac8f-1b6b8a166d6b/ |work=Dallas Morning News |date=1954-10-30 |page=1 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref name=wordorigins>{{cite web |last1=Wilton |first1=David |title=think outside the box |url=https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/think-outside-the-box |website=Wordorigins.org |date=2021-07-19}}</ref> ''breakthrough thinking that gets outside the nine-dot square'' (1959),<ref>{{cite news |last1=Humphrey |first1=Hal |work=Detroit Free Press |page=41 |title='Breakthrough thinking' gets outside 9-dot square |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/98259134/ |url-access=subscription |date=1959-11-13 |quote=One of our biggest advertising agencies [writes] “Breakthrough thinking is the fresh approach, the new concept, that gets outside the nine-dot square.”}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tréguer |first1=Pascal |title='to think outside the box': meaning and origin |url=https://wordhistories.net/2021/04/28/think-outside-box/ |website=word histories |date=2021-04-28}}</ref> and ''what are the actual boundaries of the problem?'' (1963).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Platzer |first1=Norbert A. J. |work=The Springfield Union |page=52 |title=Incentiveness, Motivation, Training Needs of a Scientist |date=1963-04-18 |quote=[...] 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 [[Charles F. Kettering|Kettering]] and [[Walter Reppe|Reppe]].}}</ref>{{R|wordorigins}} [[Norman Vincent Peale]] writes about this puzzle in a 1969 article for the [[Chicago Tribune]], quote:<ref>{{cite news |last=Peale |first=Norman Vincent |author-link=Norman Vincent Peale |date=1969-10-25 |title=Blackmail Is the Problem |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-tribune-oct-25-1969-p-13-335162371-fullpage.jpg |url-access=subscription |publisher=Chicago Tribune |page=[https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-tribune-oct-25-1969-p-13-335162371-fullpage.jpg 13]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Liberman |first1=Mark |author-link=Mark Liberman |date=2005-06-02 |title=Language Log: X-ing outside the Y |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002220.html}}</ref>{{quote|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.
-[[File:Eggpuzzle.jpg|thumb|''Christopher Columbus' Egg Puzzle'' as it appeared in [[Sam Loyd]]'s ''Cyclopedia of Puzzles'']]
-The nine dots puzzle is much older than the slogan "think outside the box". It appears in [[Sam Loyd]]'s 1914 ''Cyclopedia of Puzzles''.<ref>Sam Loyd, ''Cyclopedia of Puzzles''. (The Lamb Publishing Company, 1914)</ref> In the 1951 compilation ''The Puzzle-Mine: Puzzles Collected from the Works of the Late [[Henry Ernest Dudeney]]'', the puzzle is attributed to Dudeney himself.<ref>J. Travers, ''The Puzzle-Mine: Puzzles Collected from the Works of the Late Henry Ernest Dudeney''. (Thos. Nelson, 1951)</ref>  Sam Loyd's original formulation of the puzzle<ref>[http://www.mathpuzzle.com/loyd/cop300-301.html Facsimile from ''Cyclopedia of Puzzles'' - Columbus's Egg Puzzle is on right-hand page]</ref> entitled it as "[[Christopher Columbus]]' egg puzzle."  This was an allusion to the story of [[Egg of Columbus]].
+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.}}
-The puzzle proposed an intellectual challenge&mdash;to connect the dots by drawing four straight, continuous lines that pass through each of the nine dots, and never lifting the pencil from the paper.  The [[:wikt:conundrum|conundrum]] is easily resolved, but only by drawing the lines outside the confines of the square area defined by the nine dots themselves.  The phrase "thinking outside the box" is a restatement of the solution strategy.  The puzzle only seems difficult because people commonly imagine [[Convex hull|a boundary around the edge]] of the dot array.<ref>Daniel Kies, [http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp2/9dots.htm  "English Composition 2: Assumptions: Puzzle of the Nine Dots"], retr. Jun. 28, 2009.</ref> The heart of the matter is the unspecified barrier that people typically perceive.
+In 1970, the phrase ''think outside the dots'' appears without mentioning the nine dots puzzle.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Westell |first1=Anthony |title=Canada Entering Big League In Research |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/43253372/ |url-access=subscription |work=Ottawa Journal |date=1970-05-23 |page=7 |quote=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.}}</ref>{{R|wordorigins}}
-Telling people to "think outside the box" does not help them think outside the box, at least not with the 9-dot problem.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Maier|first1=Norman R. F.|last2=Casselman|first2=Gertrude G. |title=Locating the Difficulty in Insight Problems: Individual and Sex Differences|journal=Psychological Reports|date=1 February 1970|volume=26|issue=1|pages=103–117|doi=10.2466/pr0.1970.26.1.103|pmid=5452584|s2cid=43334975}}</ref> This is due to the distinction between [[procedural knowledge]] (implicit or [[tacit knowledge]]) and [[declarative knowledge]] (book knowledge). For example, a non-verbal cue such as drawing a square outside the 9 dots does allow people to solve the 9-dot problem better than average.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lung|first=Ching-tung|author2=Dominowski, Roger L. |title=Effects of strategy instructions and practice on nine-dot problem solving.|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition|date=1 January 1985|volume=11|issue=4|pages=804–811|doi=10.1037/0278-7393.11.1-4.804}}</ref>
+Finally, in 1971, the specific phrase ''think outside the box'' is attested, again appearing together with the nine dots puzzle.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Notaro |first1=Michael R. |title=Management of Personnel: Organization Patterns and Techniques |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_information-executive_1971-09_9_9/page/76 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sim_information-executive_1971-09_9_9/page/77 77] |magazine=Data Management |volume=9/#9 |publisher=Data Processing Management Organization |date=1971}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=box, n.2 |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/22297?redirectedFrom=think+outside+the+box#eid1294628220 |website=OED Online |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> In 1976, the phrase is used in England<ref>{{cite news |last=Hall |first=David |date=1976-07-18 |title=Ex officer's strategy for business success |publisher=Sunday Telegraph |page=[https://www.newspapers.com/image/750596070/?terms=%22think%20outside%20the%20box%22&match=1 24] | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/750596070/?terms=%22think%20outside%20the%20box%22&match=1|url-access=subscription|quote=[...] it is abundantly clear that Service people can turn their hand to many jobs provided they can think “outside the box.”}}</ref> and 1978 in the USA,<ref><!-- Note: the original print might be found in the San Francisco Chronicle, but I can't locate it. The following appears to be a syndicated version. -->{{cite news |last=Robert S. |first=Mendelsohn |date=1978-03-31 |title=People's Doctor |publisher=The Newark Advocate |page=[https://www.newspapers.com/image/288820411/?terms=%22think%20outside%20the%20box%22&match=1 10] | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/288820411/?terms=%22think%20outside%20the%20box%22&match=1 |url-access=subscription|author-link=Robert S. Mendelsohn |quote=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.”}}</ref> both without mentioning the nine dots puzzle.
-===The single straight line solution===
-[[File:nine_dots_puzzle_roll.svg|thumb|upright|Solution by rolling the paper]]
-Another well-defined problem for the nine dots starting point is to connect the dots with a single straight line. The solution involves looking outside the two-dimensional sheet of paper on which the nine dots are drawn and coning the paper three-dimensionally aligning the dots along a spiral, thus a single line can be drawn connecting all nine dots - which would appear as three lines in parallel on the paper, when flattened out.<ref>W. Neville Holmes, [http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2000 Fashioning a Foundation for the Computing Profession], July 2000</ref>
+Beyond the above attestations, there are several unconfirmed accounts of how the phrase got introduced. According to [[Martin Kihn]], it goes back to management consultants in the 1970s and 1980s challenging their clients to solve the "nine dots" puzzle.<ref name=":0">Kihn, Martin. [http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/debunk.html "'Outside the Box': the Inside Story,"] ''FastCompany'' 1995</ref> According to [[John Adair (author)|John Adair]], he introduced the nine dots puzzle in 1969, from which the saying comes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Adair | first = John | title = The art of creative thinking how to be innovative and develop great ideas | url = https://archive.org/details/artcreativethink00adai | url-access = limited | publisher = Kogan Page | location = London Philadelphia | year = 2007 | isbn = 9780749452186 | page = [https://archive.org/details/artcreativethink00adai/page/n137 127] }}</ref> It is claimed that the use of the nine-dot puzzle in consultancy circles stems from the [[corporate culture]] of the [[Walt Disney Company]], where the puzzle was used in-house.{{cn|date=August 2022}}<!-- See Wikipedia edit by Dfh88k from 2007, who may be an insider: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thinking_outside_the_box&diff=prev&oldid=152839652 -->
-If solving the four line solution is called ''lateral thinking'', then solving the one line solution could well be called ''orthogonal thinking'',<ref>Curtis Ogden, [http://interactioninstitute.org/orthogonal-thinking-and-doing/ Orthogonal Thinking & Doing], 25 September 2015</ref> as it requires two distinct phases: drawing the line and assembling the line.
-===The Nine Dots Prize===
-The Nine Dots Prize is a competition-based prize for "creative thinking that tackles contemporary societal issues."<ref>{{cite web |title=Home |url=https://ninedotsprize.org/ |website=The Nine Dots Prize |publisher=Kadas Prize Foundation |access-date=19 November 2018}}</ref> It is sponsored by the Kadas Prize Foundation and supported by the [[Cambridge University Press]] and the [[Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities]] at the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Nine Dots Prize |url=http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/programmes/nine-dots-prize |website=CRASSH |publisher=The University of Cambridge |access-date=19 November 2018}}</ref> It was named in reference to the nine-dot problem.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nine Dots Prize Identity |url=https://ruddstudio.com/project/the-nine-dots-prize-identity/ |website=Rudd Studio |access-date=19 November 2018}}</ref> Annie Zaidi, an Indian writer won this $100,000 prize on May 29, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/indian-writer-wins-usd-100-000-global-book-prize-119052900287_1.html|title=Indian writer Annie Zaidi is 2019 winner of the $100,000 Nine Dots Prize|agency=Press Trust of India|date=2019-05-29|work=Business Standard India|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref>
-== Metaphor ==
-[[File:Sixteen_dots_puzzle_solution.svg|thumb|Four distinct closed paths with six line segments solving an extended problem with 16 dots &ndash; as the graphs are cyclic, one can start from any vertex]]
-This flexible English phrase is a [[rhetorical]] [[trope (literature)|trope]] with a range of variant applications.
-The metaphorical "box" in the phrase "outside the box" may be married with something real and measurable &mdash; for example, perceived budgetary<ref name="lupick">Lupick, Travis. [https://www.straight.com/article-158377/clone-wars-galactic-task "Clone Wars proved a galactic task for production team."] ''[[The Georgia Straight]]'', August 21, 2008; "...  budgetary constraints forced the production team to <u>think outside the box in a positive way</u>.</ref> or organizational<ref name="behr">{{cite web|url=http://www.premiumhollywood.com/2009/08/03/tca-tour-you-asked-for-it-ira-steven-behrs-opening-remarks|title=TCA Tour – You Asked For It: Ira Steven Behr's opening remarks|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref> constraints in a Hollywood development project. Speculating beyond its restrictive confines the box can be both:
-* (a) positive&mdash; fostering creative leaps as in generating wild ideas (the conventional use of the term);<ref name="lupick"/> and
-* (b) negative&mdash; penetrating through to the "bottom of the box." [[James F. Bandrowski|James Bandrowski]] states that this could result in a frank and insightful re-appraisal of a situation, oneself, the organization, etc.
-On the other hand, [[James F. Bandrowski|Bandrowski]] argues that the process of thinking "inside the box" need not be construed in a pejorative sense. It is crucial for accurately parsing and executing a variety of tasks &mdash; making decisions, analyzing data, and managing the progress of standard operating procedures, etc.
-Hollywood screenwriter [[Ira Steven Behr]] appropriated this concept to inform plot and character in the context of a television series.  Behr imagined a core character:
-{{quote|He is going to be "thinking outside the box," you know, and usually when we use that cliche, we think outside the box means a new thought. So we can situate ourselves back in the box, but in a somewhat better position.<ref name="behr"/>}}
-The phrase can be used as a shorthand way to describe speculation about what happens next in a multi-stage [[design thinking]] process.<ref name="behr"/>
 ==See also==
@@ Line 72: / Line 36: @@
 * [[Functional fixedness]]
 * [[Gordian Knot]]
-* ''[[Kobayashi Maru]]''
+* [[Kobayashi Maru]]
 * [[Lateral thinking]]
@@ Line 93: / Line 57: @@
 |first1=M.
 |last1=Scheerer
-|year=1972
+|year=1963
 |title=Problem-solving
 |journal=[[Scientific American]]
@@ Line 101: / Line 65: @@
 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0463-118
 |pmid=13986996
+|bibcode=1963SciAm.208d.118S
 }}
 *{{cite journal
@@ Line 121: / Line 86: @@
 * [http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/29/messages/1149.html Out-of-the-box vs. outside the box] citing Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (OALD), Word of the Month
-[[Category:Problem solving skills]]
 [[Category:Creativity]]
+[[Category:Problem solving skills]]
 [[Category:Systems thinking]]

Latest revision as of 09:34, 11 October 2024

History

See also

References

Further reading

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