Elastic Thinking is parallel and integrative

Most patterns of thinking (especially as typically taught in higher education) are linear, singular and sequential. By contrast, the kind of thinking that leads to paradigm shifts is parallel (pursuing multiple—and sometimes contradictory —lines of reasoning in parallel) and integrative (seeing the systemic connections and processes).

The process of elastic thought cannot be traced in an A to B to C fashion. Instead, proceeding largely in the unconscious, elastic thinking is a nonlinear mode of processing in which multiple threads of thought may be pursued in parallel. Conclusions are reached from the bottom up through the minute interactions of billions of networked neurons in a process too complex to be detailed step by step. Lacking the strict top-down direction of analytical thought, and being more emotiondriven, elastic thinking is tailored to integrating diverse information, solving riddles, and finding new approaches to challenging problems. It also allows the consideration of ideas that are unusual or even bizarre, fueling our creativity (which also requires analytical thinking so that we may understand and explore those new ideas).^[1]

#cognition #systems-thinking #paradigms