Productivity Bit: View a Problem from a Distance to be More Creative

From the Scientific American:

It’s also possible to induce a state of “psychological distance” simply by changing the way we think about a particular problem, such as attempting to take another person's perspective, or by thinking of the question as if it were unreal and unlikely. In this new paper, by Lile Jia and colleagues at Indiana University at Bloomington, scientists have demonstrated that increasing psychological distance so that a problem feels farther away can actually increase creativity.

Makes sense (and also not particularly earth shattering): increasing objectivity makes it easier to formulate solutions. Read on.