Evaluate Creative Thinking

Evaluate Creative Thinking

Team B member, Randy Pitts metaphorically describes five different aspects of his life. Randy created metaphors to describe his wife, home, camping, and his computer in the follow ways. Wife is described as a supporter, confidant, half of myself, light I look to in the storms of life, partner, best friend, and completing piece of my puzzle. Home is described as a refuge from the world, castle, three-ring circus, warehouse of life's accumulations, and daily sought-after destination. Camping is described as an escape from the rat race, simplicity of living, conduit for experiencing nature, and rugged adventure. A computer is described as a marvelous tool, gateway to information and efficiency, thorn in my side, paperweight, and a deliverer of wonders. Book is described as a doorway to adventure, trove of knowledge and a companion on a rainy day. An evaluation of Randy's metaphors was completed by testing them against the thinking bases of personal barriers, perception and memory, language, feelings, and creativity.

Personal barriers that may exist when evaluating Randy's metaphors are enculturation, self-concept, and self-serving biases. Enculturation may play a part in Randy's view of his role as husband and his wife's role as a wife. Although Randy's metaphors for his wife include supporter, confidant, partner and best friend, he also indicates that his wife is a half of himself and completes a piece of his puzzle which may signal a distortion in his self-concept. Self-serving biases may inhibit the ability to see one 'self "...without cognitive distortions that always put us in a favorable position." (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007, Ch. 2). Randy described his computer as a thorn in his side which may indicate a self-serving bias that enables him to look at his computer as the cause for his computer challenges which frustrate him.

It is not uncommon to metaphorically describe wife, home, camping, computer, and book in the ways that Randy did, this helps make Randy believable. Randy describes camping as simplicity of living. This is exactly the way I experience the camping experience. Randy describes a book as a companion on a rainy day; I remember how much I loved to read my mystery books on rainy days when bike riding was impossible to do. Although Randy's perceptions are his to believe, my view of Randy's perceptions are that they are common or not out of the ordinary.

Randy uses clear language to metaphorically describe his wife, home, camping, computer, and a book. He uses words that convey a meaning that is appropriate to each of the five aspects of his life. I believe that the words Randy uses enabled me to develop a good understanding of the five aspects of his life and what they mean to him.

Randy's uses words that express his innermost feelings. For example, Randy describes his home