Arthur Koestler is one of the cross-curricular genius of last century. He had a very curious personnality, studying various fields. His main statement is that human creativity has a common basis, applicable to every field. This is called bisociation.
What is bisociation ?
Creativity lies at the intersection of two frames of reference, frames which usually seem incompatible at first glance. A frame of reference means a coherent set of activities, where activities are responding to a “code of conduct”. This is an established way to behave, such as rules of a game. These rules, formal or informal, help one to anticipate current and future behaviors.
The creative acts happen when two frames collide. This intersection creates something new, which is not linked with a specific frame anymore but “bisociated” with 2 frames of references.
Pursuant to Koestler, there are 3 main creative acts one can learn from :
Artistic creation
Being a great artist is hard. Nevertheless, it seems every great piece of art comes from the same process, through a “clash” of two classical themes, of two different way of thinking.
The artist succeeds in its creation when participation emotion arises. Koestler underlines one famous example : Romeo anf Juliet where Montaigu and Capulet’s frames of references collision takes place through the love between these two protagonists. Shakespeare still creates such participation emotion amongst readers.
Comic creation
Being a good humorist is not simple. However, laughing logic always come from the surprise effect at the end of the story. A good humoristic will set up a narrative scenario (one frame of reference). At the end of the story, the other frame of reference will collide with the narrative scenario, creating laughter explosion, because the latter frame was not expected.
Scientific creation
Bisociation describes the discovery moment of every invention. To make bisocation happen, one has to use its konwledge and expertise. Bisociation is a combination of different part of our knowledge by intuition. It seems to be a cognitive mechanisms. Without knowledge about different frames of reference, bisociation may not be possible.
Bisociation is the essence of creative act. Art of thought by Graham Wallas (1926) described the whole creativity process, where the fundamental act is the insight. Previous steps are about preparation : knowledge accumulation, problem appropriation and intimation (feeling close to problem resolution). After the insight or creative act, verification of this scientific discovery is mandatory.
How to use Koestler theory in business innovation ?
Koestler analysis shows that all creative acts share a common pattern. His major input is to help us think in term of frame of references.
Koestler allows us to pay attention to the kind of emotions involved in the creation act : comic creation is usually aggressive; scientific creation has to be neutral; and artistic creation often plays on empathy.
Depending on the business segment and activity, emotions will differ. For instance, depending on the product you are selling, you will have to use different frames, based on the targeted emotions.
Bisocation is difficult because it requires a combination of frames that would not make sense at first glance. In business, minds are constrained by “lock-ins”, conscious (organizational identity, culture and ideology) and unconscious (cognitive schemas mostly). Usually, we can only make creative analogies, but within the same frame (within the organization rules for instance).
This combination is common with physical products such as kitesurf, snowmobile or Sony’s walkman. It is about combination through contradiction of frames.
Bisociation is the fusion of two frames of references which would have seen impossible before. It is a disturbance for our emotions and our knowledge. Afterwards, it is either a fusion, a comparison or a furtive impact of both frames.
Bisociation does not stop at the impact of frames. A new frame has to be created, with its own rules, its routines and its whole identity. This vision meets Schumpeter theory of destructive creation, an ambitious definition of the creative act.
As a conclusion, Koestler helps us to be more creative by thinking in terms of frames, frames that ruled by certain behavior, knowledge and emotions. Pursuant to him, creativity happens when unlikely frames collide, giving birth to an entirely new frame.
References :
- Burger-Helmchen, T., Hussler, C., Cohendet P. (2016), “Les grands auteurs en management de l’innovation et de la créativité”, Editions CMS, p. 615–625.
