Forced Relationships

Origin. Whiting (1958); the general operation behind Random Stimulation and Synectics.

Mechanism. Compels a connection between the problem and an unrelated object. The mind will construct a relation between any two given terms; forcing the pair guarantees the constructed relation lies outside the paths habit would have taken.

Procedure. Select an object with no relation to the problem. List its attributes exhaustively. Force each attribute into a relation with the problem, accepting the relation before evaluating it.

Applies to. Late-stage divergence when the obvious space is exhausted.

Limitations. Yields per attempt are low; the technique is only worth its cost in volume. Practitioners stop after two objects and conclude it does not work.