Quotes from James L. Adams

Thinking is not yet fully understood.

The mind generally does not compulsively continue to unearth additional options. It sacrifices concepts in order to reach a speedy decision.

Creativity implies deviance from past procedure. Habits are consistent with it. Habits often destroy creative ideas before they see the light of day. Habits include conceptual blocks, which not only occur because of the mechanisms of our limited brains but also are imparted by socialization, education, and professional specialization. Creativity requires System 2 thinking and more work for your mind.

This hit-and-run approach to problem-solving begets all sorts of oddities—including, often, a chain of solutions causing problems requiring solutions, ad infinitum.

Once a label (professor, housewife, chair, butterfly, automobile, laxative) has been applied, people are less likely to notice the actual qualities or attributes of what is being labeled.

Lawrence S. Kubie's book Neurotic Distortion of the Creative Process.

In brief, through clever tests, the application of their backgrounds in decision theory and psychology, and the use of statistics, the two of them proved that our reasoning is imperfect, that we make errors in judgment, and that small differences in how information is presented can have a substantial effect on our reactions.