Lateral thinking

A literal interpretation of the phrase "Think outside the box". A genuine illustration from Wikipedia. I kid you not.

A lateral thinker's approach to spreading brotherly love

An example of lateral thinking from Teh Arts - Darth Pigeon.

Lateral thinking is the term used for the process of changing the topic of conversation to something surreal to disguise one’s own ignorance of the subject under discussion.

The phrase "lateral thinking" was coined by Edward de Bono, a Malteser. Maltesers consist of a spherical malt honeycomb centre, surrounded by milk chocolate, and are designed to make fat people think that they are less fattening because they weigh less than a bar of lard [1].

Lateral thinking in politics

• Talking about violent video games instead of RL gun owership.
  
• Carrying out 9/11 whilst pretending it’s about the rights of Palestinians.
  
• Searching for WMDs when the real topic is oil.
  
• Pretending to be anti-semitic to disguise one’s liberal hippy nature.
  

Lateral thinking in popular culture

• Complaining about “not talking about our feelings” in a relationship in order to disguise your own infidelity. (See "bitter and twisted".)
  
• Becoming an hero to attract attention to oneself despite the fact one won't be in a position to enjoy it afterwards.
• Taco Bell
  
• Lists
• Encyclopedia Dramatica
  

Lateral thinking in the business world

• Willy Wonka’s Magic Hand-Fudge – “When you hold it in your hand, you taste it in your mouth.”
  
• Rebuilding the Death Star to an identical design to confuse the Rebel Alliance.
  
• Naming the first version of Microsoft Windows 1.01
  
• McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, a site devoted to lateral thinking.
  
  

For example;

Q. An airplane crashes exactly on the border between Arizona and California. The two pilots and seven passengers are not identifiable in any way. How do public officials decide where to bury the survivors?

A. When you reread the question and realize it talks about burying "survivors," the answer is obvious: Only the Mojave Desert is remote enough to prevent anyone from hearing the tormented screams as dirt is shovelled onto their faces.

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Lateral thinking is part of a series on Psychology