Family Feud by Ashley

Family Feud by Ashley - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

To think outside of the box, one first must realize what the box is. The box is what Family Feud would call the “Top 4 Answers on the Board.” It is what the majority of people think about a certain topic. Now sticking with the example of Family Feud, it would be the most common things people think of when they hear “Name a vegetable that grows underground.” The first one that probably comes to most people’s minds would be carrots or potatoes, which makes sense since those were the top two answers. To think outside of the box, one would have to come up with a vegetable that people don’t usually think about or even know about. Like rutabaga for example; people usually would just think of turnips, and even then, that is quite unusual. Family Feud is the epitome of thinking inside the box. To fail at Family Feud is to think outside the box (more than likely).

Thinking outside the box is to find solutions and answers that are unique and creative, but still fit within the problem or question. In other words, someone cannot just give a random solution to a problem and claim to be thinking outside the box if the solution does not work or fit. For example, to stay with the theme of the day, if one was asked by Steve Harvey, “Name an animal with three letters in its name” and they responded with frog or alligator, they would not be thinking outside of the box. However, if someone decided to answer with fox or even bee, they would be thinking outside of the box. Those are not the first three letter animals people think of - cat and dog would be.

Solutions and answers thought outside of the box are often ones in which are thought out in depth. Creativity and originality don’t usually come immediately when a question is asked. The first answers that come to mind aren’t outside the box thinking, so one must reevaluate the question and think more about unusual and unique answers to it. This at times will take greater research, slower thinking, more planning, talking to others to define the box, but outside the box thinking brings better results and shows individual character. This is why Family Feud is based on inside the box thinking. Contestants have a time limit and often say the first answer that comes to mind. However, it is the people towards the end of the line that usually struggle because they have had time to think outside of the box, but their answer still has to be inside the box. Going back to the question of vegetables that grow underground, someone might guess rutabaga once three other people in front of them went. They will switch to thinking outside of the box because they have been given time to really think on the question and the box has been defined for them. Consequently most people never succeed in getting all of the answers on the board, they start to think outside of the box.

Thinking outside of the box is to find the answers and solutions that most people don’t think of. Find the answer to the question that is not on the board, but still is accurate in answering the question. Take time to really evaluate and think about the question or problem to find the box - most common answers and solutions - and then from there find one outside of that group.