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白日梦和电子游戏为何令我们更自信

发布时间:2013-12-30 16:15:55 Tags:,,,

作者:Tom Kelley & David Kellley

白日梦通常没有什么好口碑。在任何一部好莱坞电影中看到的教室场景,你几乎都能看到一个小孩因为在课堂上做白日梦(盯着窗外,或者在老师提问他时心不在焉)而被开除。

这是艺术模拟生活的一个例子,因为我们的大脑经常处于神游状态。但神游却有可能是一件好事。

加州大学研究人员Jonathan Schooler相信,我们在做白日梦时大脑经常会产生一些“与任务无关”的念头和解决方案。这也许可以解释一些研究所显示的经常神游的大脑在创意测试中得分更高的原因。有项关于大脑默认网络的新研究也发现了相似的结果,我们的大脑会在我们休息以及并不专注于特定任务或项目时,令想法、记忆和经历产生不太可能的联系。

daydreaming(from wired.com)

daydreaming(from wired.com)

将停闹按钮切换成“沉思”按钮以及其他方式来凝聚放松的注意力

白日梦具有解决问题的能力。有时候它有助于令人们从一个问题中暂时解脱出来,进入IDEO创始人David Kelley的导师Bob McKim所谓的“放松注意力”状态。在这种精神状态下,问题或挑战占据着你的大脑,但却并非处于次要地位。

放松注意力介于你的大脑一片空白的冥想状态,以及你解决一道复杂的数学或工程问题时的高度专注之间。当我们并未完成沉浸于某项挑战时,我们的大脑可以创造认知性的跳跃,这正是我们在洗澡中,或者散步或者驱车过程中有时会灵感突现的原因。(David Kelley经常在浴室放置一个白板标记,以便即时写下那些可能转瞬即逝的想法)

所以,如果你发现自己卡在一个问题上,不妨花20分钟短暂转移一下注意力。也许你就会发现解决方法就像一道闪光一样突然降临。事实上,当你受某个问题所困时,可以试试用一些方法重置你的大脑,进入放松注意力的状态。

可以去远离交通区域或干扰的地方散步。诗人、作家、科学家以及史上各类善于思考的人都是在散步中找到灵感。

哲学家-诗人尼采曾说道:“一切真正伟大的想法均来自散步。”也许这是因为这项运动促进了血液流通,或者散步让人们摆脱了那种整日占据你脑海的问题所致的精神紧张状态。总之,无论是白天还是黑夜,你都可以进行一次“散步思考”。

另一个挖掘放松注意力的潜力的最佳时机是每天早上——你甚至都不需要起床。当你从一个深度睡眠中醒来时,例如当你的闹钟响起时,你可能会发现自己处于半梦半醒的状态,这正是放松注意力的好时机。(游戏邦注:我们可以利用这种半梦状态想出新的解决方法和新鲜主意)

重置你闹钟上的止闹按钮,将其视为“沉思按钮”,这样你就可以好好利用一天当中这个宝贵的时间。

多试几次:当你的闹钟铃响时,按下“沉思按钮”,在接下来的5分钟内,让你的大脑在放松注意力的状态下神游,试着以不那么注意的方式解决你之前所处理的挑战或问题。只需要一点点训练,你就能够在一天开始之前发现一些新点子了。

以电子游戏的“急迫乐观主义”来克服失败的恐惧

在电子游戏中,挑战和奖励等级会随着玩家技能增长而等比例上升:继续前行通常需要玩家集中注意力,但却完全够不着下一个目标。这就是作家、未来主义者、游戏设计师Jane McGonigal所谓的“急迫乐观主义”——立即采取行动解决障碍的欲望,其产生动机是相信自己拥有“相当的成功希望”。

游戏玩家总是认为“大获全胜”是有可能的,是值得一试的做法,并且反复不断地尝试。在这种追求过程中,玩家也为自己能力所能到达的境界所震憾。随着玩家成功从一个关卡进入下一个关卡,其心态也会进入一个创意自信的状态。

我们在孩子身上常看到了这种持久和逐渐精通技能的情况——从刚学走路的婴幼儿,到学习投篮的孩子莫不如此。Tom Kelley在某个圣诞早上见证了这种急迫乐观主义行为,当时他正处于青春期的儿子Sean打开了一款Tony Hawk滑雪板电子游戏,并开始尝试。除了屏幕上的常规操作之外,该游戏还有一个看起来与真正的滑雪板极为相似(只是少了轮子)的控制器。Sean就在三代人的注视下,在家中玩起了全尺寸的滑雪板。

全家人看着Sean的角色在屏幕上一次又一次的失败,猛撞在砖墙上,滑出栅栏,撞到其他滑雪者。更令人尴尬的是,Sean自己也数次滑掉了滑雪板控制器,几乎打碎了身旁桌上的咖啡杯。但屏幕上的糟糕表现以及现实世界中偶尔丧失的平衡感却并没有令Sean受挫。

在游戏世界的社交情境中——尽管他在屏上坠落时的噪音不时出现,但Sean还是觉得自己学到了什么。实际上,阅读电子游戏的教程并没有什么帮助,他采用的是实践这种唯一可以掌握技能的途径。

通过改变游戏文化的最佳属性,我们也许能够改变人们对失败的看法,并逐渐提升他们坚持下去的意愿和决心。我们只需要保持一种“相当的成功希望”,以及相信大获全胜的可能即可。

例如,在与同事或团队合作过程中,我们发现如果团队成员认为每个想法都得到了公平的考虑,精英教育允许他们的主张得到分区和分级的判断,那么他们就会投入自己所有的精力和创意才能提出改变世界的想法和主张。当他们相信成功在即时,他们工作就会更卖力,更持久,并保持急迫的乐观主义。

所有的创新者都需要跳跃性的创意:你应该关注什么?你采用哪个创意?你应该制作什么原型?这正是经验和直觉的来源。

Diego Rodriguez在自己的博客Metacool中指出,设计思考者通常使用“已知的直觉”来判断出色的想法,关键需求或核心功能。换句话说,不间断的练习创造了一个经历数据库,以便你从中做出明智的选择。

在涉及为世界带来新事物的技能方面,Diego认为你所经历的产品周期的数量要胜于以年来计算的经验。一名从业20年,每隔几年就推出一款新车的汽车行业元老所经历的产品周期,远少于每隔两月都发布产品,从业仅两年的手机应用软件开发者。

足够的快速创新循环会创造过程的熟悉度,以及掌握新理念和新功能的自信。而这种自信又会降低面对新问题时的焦虑感。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

How Daydreams and Videogames Can Make Us Confident In Real Life (Yes)

By Tom Kelley and David Kelley

Editors’ Note: The following excerpts are from the book Creative Confidence, coming out this week from Tom Kelley (author of The Art of Innovation) and IDEO founder David Kelley (who also led the creation of Stanford’s d.school).

Daydreaming gets a bad rap. Watch a classroom scene in nearly any Hollywood movie, and you’re likely to see a kid getting busted for daydreaming in class — gazing out the window or staring off into space when the teacher calls on him.

It’s a case of art imitating life because our minds do tend to wander. But a wandering mind can be a good thing.

Researcher Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara believes that our brains are often working on “task-unrelated” ideas and solutions when we daydream. That could explain studies showing that prolific mind wanderers score higher on tests of creativity. And new research on the default network of the brain similarly found that our minds make unlikely connections between ideas, memories, and experiences when we are at rest and not focused on a specific task or project.

Turning the Snooze Button Into a ‘Muse’ Button and Other Ways to Engage Relaxed Attention

Daydreaming has problem-solving power. Sometimes it helps to stop focusing so intently on an issue, and aim for what IDEO founder David Kelley’s mentor Bob McKim used to call “relaxed attention.” In that mental state, the problem or challenge occupies space in your brain, but not on the front burner.

Relaxed attention lies between meditation, where you completely clear your mind, and the laser-like focus you apply when tackling a tough math or engineering problem. Our brains can make cognitive leaps when we are not completely obsessed with a challenge, which is why good ideas sometimes come to us while we are in the shower, or taking a walk or a long drive. (David Kelley often places a whiteboard marker in his shower, so he can write a passing idea on the glass wall before it slips away.)

Relaxed attention lies between meditation and laser-like focus.

So if you find yourself stuck on a problem, take 20 minutes or so off the grid; let your mind disengage temporarily. You may find a solution arriving like a flash or stroke of insight. In fact, when you are stuck on a problem, here are a couple of ways to defocus your mind and to get into relaxed attention.

Try taking a walk, away from traffic or intrusions. Poets, writers, scientists, and thinking people of all sorts throughout history have found inspiration while walking.

Philosopher-poet Friedrich Nietzsche said “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” Perhaps it is because of the increased blood flow from the exercise, or the emotional distance gained by walking away from a semi-urgent issue that has been occupying your mind all day. A “thought walk” can take place any time of day or night.
‘All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.’ — Nietzschze

Another opportunity to tap the power of relaxed attention occurs each morning — and you don’t even have to get out of bed. When you are awakened from a deep sleep, such as when your alarm goes off, you may find yourself in a half-conscious state between waking and dreaming, which is a perfect moment for relaxed attention. (We’ve used this half-dreaming state to come up with any number of new solutions and fresh ideas.)

Re-purpose that snooze button on your alarm. Start thinking of it as a “muse button,” so that you leverage those first precious moments of the day.

Try it a few times: when your alarm goes off, just press the “muse button,” and for the next five minutes, let your brain wander in a state of relaxed attention, working in an unfocused way on some challenge or problem that you have been wrestling with. With a little practice, you’ll be able to discover some fresh insights before your day even begins.

Taking the ‘Urgent Optimism’ of Video Games to Overcome Fear of Failure IRL

In the realm of video games, the level of challenge and reward rises proportionately with a gamer’s skills; moving forward always requires concentrated effort, but the next goal is never completely out of reach. This contributes to what author, futurist, and game designer Jane McGonigal calls “urgent optimism”: the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, motivated by the belief that you have a “reasonable hope of success.”

Gamers always believe that an “epic win” is possible; that it is worth trying, and trying now, over and over again. In the euphoria of an epic win, gamers are shocked to discover the extent of their capabilities. As you move from level to level, success can flip your mindset to a state of creative confidence.

In the social context of the gaming world, failing is a path to learning.

We’ve all seen this kind of persistence and gradual mastery of skills in children — from toddlers learning to walk to kids learning how to shoot a basketball. Tom Kelley witnessed urgent optimism in action one Christmas morning when his teenage son Sean opened up a Tony Hawk skateboard video game and started trying it out. In addition to the usual on-screen action, the game comes with a controller that looks exactly like a real skateboard, minus the wheels. So there was Sean, balancing on a full-sized skateboard in the family room, surrounded by three generations of Kelleys.

The family watched failure after failure as Sean’s character on screen smashed into brick walls, skidded off of railings, and collided with other skaters. Potentially more embarrassing, Sean himself fell off the skateboard controller several times, nearly crashing through the glass coffee table beside him on the floor. But neither the on-screen calamities nor the occasional loss of balance in the physical world phased Sean one bit.

In the social context of the gaming world, he wasn’t really failing — despite the noisy on-screen sound effects of his spectacular falls. Sean knew that he was on a path to learning. In fact, since reading about a video game is not much help, he was on essentially the only path available to gaining expertise.

By adapting the best attributes of gaming culture, maybe we can shift people’s view of failure, and ratchet up their willingness and determination to persevere. We just need to hold out a “reasonable hope of success,” as well as the possibility of a truly epic win.

What need should you focus on? Which idea do you go with?

For example, in working with colleagues or in a team, we’ve found that if team members believe that every idea gets fair consideration, and that a meritocracy allows their proposals to be judged across divisional and hierarchical lines, they tend to put all of their energy and their creative talents to work on ideas and proposals for change. They work harder, persist longer, and maintain their urgent optimism when they believe victory is just around the corner.

All innovators need to make creative leaps: What need should you focus on? Which idea do you go with? What should you prototype? That is where experience and intuition come in.

In his blog Metacool, Diego Rodriguez says that design thinkers often use “informed intuition” to identify a great insight, a key need, or a core feature. In other words, relentless practice creates a database of experience that you can draw upon to make more enlightened choices.

When it comes to expertise in bringing new stuff into the world, Diego argues that the number of product cycles you’ve gone through (what he calls “mileage”) trumps the number of years of experience. A 20-year veteran of the auto industry who works several years on each new vehicle before it goes to market might have experienced far fewer cycles than a software developer working just two years on mobile apps that ship every couple of months.

Going through enough rapid innovation cycles brings familiarity with the process and confidence in the ability to assess new ideas and features. And that confidence results in reduced anxiety in the face of ambiguity when bringing new ideas into the world.(source:wired


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