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'{{Dablink|For the album by Skream, see [[Outside the Box (Skream album)]].}} [[Image:Ninedots-1.png|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 and without tracing the same line more than once. One solution appears below.]] '''Thinking outside the box''' (sometimes erroneously called "[[Out of the box|thinking out of the box]]" or "thinking outside the square") is to think differently, unconventionally or from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to novel or creative thinking. This is sometimes called a process of [[Lateral thinking|lateral thought]]. The [[catchphrase]], or [[cliché]], has become widely used in business environments, especially by [[management consultant]]s and executive coaches, and has spawned a number of [[advertising slogan]]s. To think outside the box is to look further and to try not thinking of the obvious things, but to try thinking beyond them. == Analogy== A simplified definition for ''[[paradigm]]'' is a habit of reasoning or a [[conceptual framework]]. A simplified analogy is "the box" in the commonly used phrase "thinking outside the box". What is encompassed by the words "inside the box" is analogous with the current, and often unnoticed, assumptions about a situation. Creative thinking encompasses a process which acknowledges and rejects the accepted paradigm. In other words, : We are taught to think inside the box. Then we are taught to think outside the box. What I want us to ask is, Who put the box there?<ref>Langer, Ellen J. (2006). {{Google books|EAgwZl6bHmsC|''On becoming an artist: reinventing yourself through mindful creativity,'' p. 101.|page=101}}</ref> == Nine dots puzzle == [[Image:Ninedots.svg|thumb|right|One of many solutions to the puzzle at the beginning of this article is to go beyond the boundaries to link all dots in 4 straight lines.]] The notion of something outside a perceived "box" is related to a traditional [[topography|topographical]] [[puzzle]] called the ''nine dots puzzle''.<ref>Kihn, Martin. [http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/debunk.html "'Outside the Box': the Inside Story,"] ''FastCompany'' 1995; Random House: [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000204 "Outside the Box Thinking"].</ref> The origins of the phrase "thinking outside the box" are obscure; but it was popularized in part because of a nine-dot puzzle, which [[John Adair]] claims to have introduced in 1969.<ref>The Art of Creative Thinking: How to Be Innovative and Develop Great Ideas</ref> [[Management consultant]] [[Mike Vance]] has 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> 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 [[conundrum]] is easily resolved, but only if you draw 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 we imagine 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 which is typically perceived. [[Image:Eggpuzzle.jpg|thumb|right|''Christopher Columbus's Egg Puzzle'' as it appeared in [[Sam Loyd]]'s ''Cyclopedia of Puzzles''.]] The nine dots puzzle is much older than the slogan. 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]]'s egg puzzle." This was an allusion to the story of [[Egg of Columbus]]. ==Metaphor== 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. [http://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">[http://www.premiumhollywood.com/2009/08/03/tca-tour-you-asked-for-it-ira-steven-behrs-opening-remarks TCA Tour – You Asked For It: Ira Steven Behr’s opening remarks]</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." This could result in a frank and insightful re-appraisal of a situation, oneself, the organization, etc.<ref name="bandrowski">Bandrowski, James F. ''et al.'' (2009). ''Discover Your Inner Strength'', p. __.</ref> On the other hand, 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.<ref name="bandrowski"/> 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: :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 == * [[Einstellung effect]] * [[Seven Bridges of Königsberg]] * [[Eureka effect]] * [[No-win situation]] * [[Kobayashi Maru]] * [[Gordian Knot]] * [[Endless knot]] * [[Workaround]] == Notes == {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} ==References== * [[James F. Bandrowski|Bandrowski, James F.]]; [[Stephen R. Covey]] and [[Ken Blanchard]]. (2009). ''Discover Your Inner Strength.'' Sevierville, Tennessee: Insight Publishing. 10-ISBN 9781600132971/13-ISBN 1600132979; [http://www.worldcat.org/title/discover-your-inner-strength/oclc/320196099 OCLC 320196099] ==Further reading== *J. L. Adams (1979). ''Conceptual blockbusting: A guide to better ideas''. New York: [[W. W. Norton]] ISBN 9780201100891; ISBN 0201100894 (more solutions to the nine dots problem - with less than 4 lines!) *M. Scheerer (1972). ''Problem-solving''. [[Scientific American]], 208(4), 118-128 ==External links == * Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (OALD), Word of the Month: [http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/wotm/wotm_archive/think_out_of_box?cc=global Think outside the box] * [http://sandbox.paulopoiati.com/9dotsproblem/ 9 Dots Problem Puzzle] [[Category:Problem solving]] [[Category:Creativity]] [[Category:Clichés]] [[Category:Puzzles]] [[Category:Anticipatory thinking]] [[ar:تفكير خارج الصندوق]] [[ca:Pensar fora de la caixa]] [[de:Neun-Punkte-Problem]] [[fr:Thinking outside the box]] [[nl:Outside the box-denken]] [[sv:Thinking outside the box]]'