This exercise based on the forming of associative elements into new combinations. The more mutually remote the new combinations, the more creative the process or solution.
Instructions: You are presented with three words and asked to find a fourth word that is related to all three. For instance, what word do you think is related to these three words?
paint doll cat
The answer in this case is house. House paint, doll house, and house cat. How about the next three words?
stool powder ball
The answer is foot. Foot stool, foot powder, and football.
1. call pay line
2. end burning blue
3. man hot sure
4. stick hair ball
5. blue cake cottage
6. man wheel high
7. motion poke down
8. line birthday surprise
9. wood liquor luck
10. house village golf
11 plan show walker
12 key wall precious
13 bell iron tender
14 water pen soda
ANSWERS:
1. phone
2. book
3. fire
4. pin
5. cheese
6. chair
7. slow
8. party
9. hard
10. green
11. floor
12. stone
13. bar
14. fountain.
If you were able to answer all of the above in a reasonable amount of time, you’ve demonstrated creative thinking abilities. Now, let’s see how you do with the following problem, which is very difficult to solve. To solve it, you have to think in totally different, even bizarre ways.
How are the following objects related:
• cannons
• footballs
• gears
• potatoes
• shoes
Some problems are formless like the above.. For instance:
Do the words share any features in spelling or pronunciation in common?
What do you associate the objects with?
What do they have in common?
Where do you find them?
Do they have any parts in common? Parts of the human body?
Answer: Parts in common. Parts of the human face.. Parts in common:
• Cannons have mouth
• Footballs have noses
• Gears have teeth
• Potatoes have eyes
• Shoes have tongues
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