Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition isn't something the mind does, but rather something it responds well to. If you present your mind with just about any two different things—put them next to each other—it will naturally compare them and try to find parallels between them.

The principle Don't Fight Your Mind can applied to juxtaposition. For example, if you're stuck thinking about some particular problem, you can get new ideas by exposing your mind to lots of unrelated things. I remember that back in high-school English class we were often directed to compare and contrast a pair of works; perhaps the juxtaposition was supposed to make it easier for us to come up with ideas?

There's also some connection between juxtaposition and humor. A couple of years ago I saw an article (in the New York Times?) about a computer program that generated ideas for ad campaigns by juxtaposition, taking a familiar situation and putting in an unfamiliar element; the results were moderately funny, and so were successful at getting people's attention. Or consider the following story, from The Onion.

Lanthanum Quits Periodic Table Of Elements

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—The world of chemistry was shaken Monday by lanthanum's announcement that the popular 57th element will quit Transition Group IIIb of the periodic table at the end of the summer. “I have nothing but good things to say about my time with the periodic table,” said the ductile, silvery-white metal, speaking from the site of its discovery by Carl Gustav Mosander in 1839. “Nevertheless, I will be stepping down after Labor Day to focus on my own earth-metal solo projects.” Rumors of a longtime feud with molybdenum and the constant demands of lens manufacturing are believed to be behind the departure.