2.

1 Overview

In this section we recognise the difference between 'thought' and 'thinking'.

We also look at what is not considered as 'thinking' and why it is so critical
to be able to think. This section will help us understand what creative and
critical thinking involves. Also, we will drawing on the literature on right and
left-brain thinking. We will examine the concept of divergent thinking and
convergent thinking and link this with creativity and the critical/analytic
mindset.

Thinking about thinking

Understanding the difference between thought and thinking is important when we start developing
our creative and critical thinking abilities. We all engage in the thinking process, however how
much is actually considered thinking can sometimes be debatable.

What is the difference between “Thought” and “Thinking”? Hover your mouse cursor over the +
icons to learn the difference.

A thought can come about as a result of an instinct (a built-in natural human characteristic) or due
to conditioning (which comes through the experience of learning and accepting various
knowledge). However, our instinct or our conditioning may not always lead us to conclusions that
are reflective of reality. Therefore, we must think and critique our thoughts. Is my thought logical?
Is it consistent? Is it well-reasoned? Is it coherent? Is it fallacious?
Bloom's taxonomy (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35700902?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35700902/download?download_frd=1) is a
classification system that distinguishes between lower-order-thinking and higher-order-thinking.
We MUST develop and be able to exercise the higher-order-thinking skills.

What does not qualify as thinking?

Repeating verbatim what you have learned, or following a pre-programmed response, e.g.
learning a response word-for-word, is NOT considered 'thinking'. Many students learn this method
- and many tend to be quite good at being able to repeat what they have read, or what they have
heard, but this is not considered 'thinking'. What else is not considered 'thinking'?

Table 1: What does not qualify as thinking?

Is this
"Thought" considered
thinking?

Not establishing a point by argument and No

counter-argument
Establishing points by relying on anecdotes No

Establishing points by cherry-picking information No

that conforms with what you want to say

Simply going forward with what you think or what No

you heard or read (because it has been repeated
and stressed, and because it has always been
accepted that way)

Engaging with what we have heard or read ‘on

No
its own terms’, without commenting, challenging
or drawing comparisons with other sources

Simply describing, explaining or restating what

No
we have heard or read, and treating these as
non-contestable

Not putting any efforts into rational persuasion

No

Why is this important?

Thinking is a process of questioning anything and everything. This thinking often leads
onto a process of finding, analysing and communicating information. You will learn more
about this in Weeks 8 - 12.

You can learn many things and you can forget them just as easily. But once you understand
something, you never lose that understanding. You can demonstrate to yourself and to others that
you understand something when you can express it in your own words. Being able to think is
critical because:

1. Being able to think (i.e., avoiding all that is not considered thinking) is absolutely critical
to your career success and progress. In the vast majority of professions it is an absolute
must.
 2. It helps in making better decisions by making us independent and by strengthening our
ability to detect ‘non-sense’.

3. It ensures that our opinions are well-informed. It helps us to make sense of the
overabundance of data and information that is available, making us less prone to falling
for hypes, peer pressure and deceit/exploitation.

4. It is the only way we can invent things, make discoveries and find better ways of doing
things.

5. Also read: Stephens. M. (2020). The end of Thinking (Chapter 5- The Character of a
Thinker pp29- 32). Acron Press

Check your understanding

Check your understanding below by answering the true or false questions. Use the blue button in
the bottom right hand corner to move to the next question.
Right and left brain

(Shmerling, 2017)

No doubt that you would have seen an image similar to the one here. You may have also heard or
read articles that implied that you are either a left-brained or a right-brained person. For clarity,
here is what we often read:

Right-brained people are more likely to be intuitive and creative free-thinkers. Adjectives
such as “qualitative” and "big-picture thinkers" are often to used to describe right-brained
 people. The world as they see it is more likely to be descriptive or subjective. For example,
according to Harvard Health, right-brained people's view of the weather is more likely to be:
“The skies are gray and menacing; I wonder if it’s going to rain?”

Left-brained people tend to be more quantitative and analytic. Left-brained people are also
seen to be ones that pay attention to details and who are ruled by logic. For example,
according to Harvard Health, left-brained people's view of the weather is more likely to be:
“The forecast said there was only a 30% chance of rain, but those cumulonimbus clouds will
probably bring the thunder as well as rain.”

Are you right brained or left brained?

I am left brained
46%
I am right brained
54%

Shmerling (2017) says that there is truth to the idea that some brain functions reside more on one
side of the brain than the other. He cites a study where it was found that a stroke affects a
particular part of the brain. He describes that:

"...it has long been thought that, in most people,

control of language resides in the left side of the
brain. And there are areas of the right half of the brain
that control movement of the left arm and leg (and
vice versa). Damage to the front part of the brain is
linked with reduced motivation, difficulty planning, and
impaired creativity. Meanwhile, the back of the brain
(the occipital cortex) integrates visual information
from the eye. Damage to this area can cause partial
or complete blindness".
Shmerling (2017)
So while there seems to be some evidence that certain parts of the brain are responsible for
specific functions, does this mean that we are either right-brained or left-brained? The answer is
no. In fact, Shermling (2017) notes that for individual personality traits, such as creativity or a
tendency towards the rational rather than the intuitive, there has been little or no evidence
supporting a residence in one area of the brain. Evidence discounting the left/right brain concept is
mounting. A study (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0071275) has
found that activity is similar on both sides of the brain regardless of one’s personality.

For critical thinking perspective, make sure you read Shin, D.D., Lee, M., & Bong, M. (2022)-
listed in the Required readings.

Convergent thinking versus divergent thinking

Convergent Thinking Versus Divergent Thinking

Differences between convergent and divergent thinking
Here is a recap of the key differences between convergent thinking and divergent thinking.

Table 2: Differences between convergent and divergent thinking

Convergent Thinking Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking is the process of

The process of figuring out a
thinking that explores multiple possible
concrete solution to any problem
solutions in order to generate creative
is called Convergent Thinking.
ideas.

It is a straight forward process Divergent thinking refers to opening

that focuses on figuring out the the mind in various directions and
most effective answer to a trying out multiple solutions for a
problem. problem.

Characteristics of this thinking Characteristics of this thinking

involve: involve:

Speed Spontaneity

Accuracy Free-flow

Logic Non-linearity

Methods in convergent thinking Divergent thinking involves figuring out

also involve recognising the new procedures to solve a problem
previously tried-out techniques despite existing solutions.
and reapplying them along with
the readily stored information.

Examples:
Examples:
1. Variety of tests, such as
multiple choice tests, 1. Divergent thinking would not be
standardised tests, quizzes, applicable in multiple choice tests
spelling tests and similar other or standardised tests, which
 spelling tests and similar other or standardised tests, which
tests require convergent require a single absolute answer.
thinking because only one
2. A person can be both sick and
answer can be 100% correct.
healthy. For instance, a man can
2. A person can either be sick or be under great stress mentally but
healthy. perfectly fit physically.

3. A medical student can be 3. A medical student does not always

either a doctor or nothing. have to be either a
doctor or nothing. She could very
well make a career switch in the
future and be a writer, or a painter,
and pursue a variety of other
possibilities.

Convergent thinking helps to find

Although Divergent thinking keeps the
out the best possible answer to
options open, a completely accurate
any problem, which are accurate
answer is not identified.
most of the time, and no room for
ambiguity is left.

Similarities between convergent and divergent thinking

Both these thinking processes are implemented in order to explore creativity and to find
solutions to different problems.

Divergent thinking takes place in a free-flowing, spontaneous manner and creates varieties of
possible resolutions to a problem.

If convergent thinking is applied afterwards then the very best answer/point can be picked out
from the multiple solutions that resulted from divergent thinking. In this manner, the two types
of thinking are correlated (Source: Praveen, 2017 ).

In the next section, we will look at what exactly is a creative mindset, followed by the critical and
analytic mindset.

Check your understanding

Check your understanding
Before moving on, let's test our comprehension of convergent and divergent thinking in the
following quiz.

To recap:

Convergent thinking is the process of figuring out a concrete solution to any problem.

Divergent thinking is the process of thinking that explores multiple possible solutions in order
to generate creative ideas.

For critical thinking purpose, read Fahad J.S., Pandarakalam, J.P. (2021). the association of
creativity with divergent and convergent thinking. Psychiatria Danubina, 33 (2), pp. 133-139.
https://doi.org/10.24869/psyd.2021.133

So how do we then marry creativity and data analytics? This is what this course is all about.

Convergent thinking has an emphasis on?

Emotion

Logic

Understanding The Head-Heart-Body Connection

The head-heart-body connection is the link between our cognitive, emotional and physical selves.
It is how our thoughts, feelings and actions influence and are influenced by each other and how
our mind, heart and body work together as a whole system. When engaging in creative process',
our mind, heart and body work together as a whole system. When engaging in creative process',
ask yourself four powerful questions:

1. What is my rational brain telling me?

2. What is my emotional brain telling me?

3. What is my intuition telling me?

4. How can I improve my decision based on my three-brain data?

2.2 Creative thinking

Creative thinking is a very valuable skill that employers want in their

employees. In this section we see that creative thinking is a skill that we
are all capable of developing. This section also looks at some ways in
which creative thinking can be encouraged, and the benefits of having
creativity in the workplace.

Creative thinking
Creative thinking is a thought process which uses your imagination to generate new ideas.
Typically creative thinking occurs in a free-flowing manner allowing for many possible solutions to
an issue/question/challenge (brainstorming is one way of doing this). Creative thinking is
sometimes called divergent thinking (recall Module 1.1) because it starts with an inspiration or a
thought that stimulates the generation of ideas. Often, creativity involves lateral thinking, which is
the ability to perceive patterns that are not obvious.

Creative thinking uses the playful part of your brain to imagine new things. Creative thinking taps
into our past experiences, our emotions, our dreams and our hopes to think of things in a different
way and create new ideas.

An example of creative thinking

The only way to travel is by road.
 Image source (https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/ancient/death-glory-and-chariot-racing/)
But why can't we travel by air?

Image source (http://www.leonardo-da-vinci.net/flying-machine/)

What we are seeing here is a novel way to approach the problem of how humans can travel, and
this is an example of creative thinking.

Creativity starts with a creative thought and then

transforms that thought to create something new
To continue with the example of how humans can travel, we started with thinking creatively about
an alternative mode of transportation like the first flying machine (which was a radical change).
an alternative mode of transportation like the first flying machine (which was a radical change).

Image source (https://www.bresslergroup.com/blog/leonardo-davinci-ux-interview/)

We then built on that thought progressively and incrementally, over time, to modify and enhance
the original idea to a fixed wing bi-plane. From there we then went on to the jet plane that we are
all familiar with today.

Image source (https://hartzellprop.com/wright-brothers-propellers/)

Going from the first flying machine to the fixed-wing bi-plane and then to a jet plane, whilst not
new ideas, are products of creative thinking.

How we can encourage creative thinking

Old patterns of thinking may be comfortable, but they hold us back from creating anything new as
we usually never question those patters. In fact, research shows that one of the biggest obstacles
to creativity involves thinking or working within ideas that we are already familiar with. To be
creative, we need to break away from established patterns of thought and try to discover new
pathways. We can do this in several ways.

Click on each tile below to expand each of the 9 ways. Information from each popup is
summarised here [pdf, 100KB (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35705690?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35705690/download?download_frd=1) ].

Practicing creative thinking

We will be practicing several of the techniques above in the weekly workshops.

To improve your understanding of creativity a bit further, please also read pages 2-5 of this report
by the Australian Council for Educational Research:
by the Australian Council for Educational Research:

CREATIVE THINKING: Definition and Structure (https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1038&context=ar_misc)

Creative Thinking: How to Increase the Dots to Connect

Deconstructing elements of objects to encourage

creativity
Smith, Inoue, Spencer & Tennant, (2017) undertook a study that investigated how deconstructing
the elements of an existing object prompted the imagination of students of industrial design. Two
groups of design students were respectively given two different types of images of the same
French classical clock. They were then asked to explore new design concepts by
reducing/deconstructing its elements.
By providing the students a photographic image of objects, and asking them to deconstruct it,
students immersed in an in-depth conversation with the prompt (i.e., image of the French classical
clock).

This approach provided the students an opportunity to discover/rediscover the aspects of existing
objects that they have not considered before, and use their awareness for exploring new design
concepts.

Additionally, giving the design students limited visual representations and encouraging them to
deconstruct the image, encouraged conceptual-driven and self-reflective thinking processes
during their idea exploration. In other words, the act of deconstructing elements of an existing
object impacted the students' imagination in a variety of ways. The study also found that if the
object (as prompt) is carefully selected, this approach potentially prompts students’ design
imagination effectively. The authors concluded that the prompts as described in the paper have
generated a high level of concept ideation within the students and that this process appeared to
add value to the students’ creative thought process in the concept development phase.

Benefits of creativity in the workplace

As you would already expect, there are numerous benefits of creativity in the workplace. Here are
a few examples of the benefits organisations experience from fostering creative teams:

Table 1: Benefits of creativity in the workplace

BENEFIT EXPLANATION

Fewer mistakes in Creative teams help generate alternative ideas and solutions. As
decision-making to be susceptible to confirmation bias and making broad judgmen
erroneous decision-making.

More innovative changes within Creative workers tend to seek more information from their fellow
the organisation multiplier effect of generating overall organisational improvement

Due to natural curiosity, members of a creative team tend to take

Reduced group conflict
 Reduced group conflict
opposed to being fixated on their own perspectives. This can ma
smoother and more effective.

Encouraging workers to be creative in their roles can give them a

Increases employee motivation
This can serve as a powerful way of motivating employees.

Creativity involves exploration, improvisation and experimentation

Increases employee
employees after the repetition of daily routine tasks and the toils
engagement

Encouraging teams to engage in group brainstorming and feedba

Increase employee
bounce ideas off each other, and this can create a shared sense
collaboration and teamwork

Check your understanding

Check your understanding of creative thinking by answering the true or false questions below. Use
the blue arrow in the bottom right hand corner to move to the next question.

Freely generating novel ideas is driven by imagination, intuition, experience

! True ! False

! Check "

" !Reuse

Want to explore this topic further?

Want to explore this topic further?
Below are some resources to explore this topic further. This is not compulsory, these
resources are here to supplement your learning in this topic.

Inspiring creativity

John Ling holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts from the prestigious Shanghai
Conservatory of Music. He is also currently a research student at the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music (Master in Music Performance). He is a performer that aims to
disseminate the Chinese Pipa and its music to Australian and International students
through ancient and contemporary repertoires.

John is the Bronze award winner of “Qing Yue” Cup Pipa competition Hongkong (2016)
and the Bronze award winner for “Jiangnan Sizu” competition, Hangzhou (2016). John is
also currently an assistant teacher in the conservatorium’s Chinese Music Ensemble
where he worked with Pipa extraordinaire, Lulu Liu. John will be sharing with us the
notion of 'Why Not?' which has inspired his creativity and has allowed him to excel as a
performer of his chosen instrument.
 09:04

Copyright © The University of Sydney. Unless otherwise indicated, 3rd party material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on
behalf of the University of Sydney in accordance with section 113P of the Copyright Act 1968 (Act). The material in this communication may be
subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection
under the Act. Do not remove this notice.
Live streamed classes in this unit may be recorded to enable students to review the content. If you have concerns about this, please visit our
student guide (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4901/pages/zoom) and contact the unit coordinator.
Privacy Statement (https://www.sydney.edu.au/privacy-statement.html)
2.3 Critical thinking

In this section we will develop an understanding of what is meant by critical

thinking. We will also learn about how to think critically and why critical
thinking is so important.

Critical thinking
As we noted in Module 1, a critical mindset results when you integrate the creative and analytic
mindsets. These two mindsets contain sets of useful processes such as critical thinking. Critical
thinking is in fact a key activity in both domains. ‘Critical thinking is the art of analysing and
evaluating thinking with a view to improving it (Stephens, 2020, 19). Critical thinking has been
described as an ability to question; to acknowledge and test previously held assumptions; to
recognize ambiguity; to examine, interpret, evaluate, reason, and reflect; to make informed
judgments and decisions; and to clarify, articulate, and justify positions (Scriven and Paul, 2003).

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem — in which the
thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures
inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them (Paul and Elder, 2010).

In this module, we will explore the link between creative and critical mindsets. In Module 7, we will
explore the link between analytic and critical mindsets.

It is in our nature to think. However, without critical thinking, much of what we think is often biased,
distorted, partial and/or uninformed.

Critical thinking involves a way of thinking about any problem or subject matter in which we
deliberately and skilfully analyse, assess and reconstruct the subject or problem. The term critical
deliberately and skilfully analyse, assess and reconstruct the subject or problem. The term critical
comes from the Greek word kritikos, which means discerning. This type of thinking is considered
discerning in the sense that it involves a deeper kind of thinking in which we do not take things for
granted but question, analyse and evaluate what we hear, read, say or write.

Employing critical thinking techniques allows us to unpack, analyse and interrogate arguments,
theories and texts. The techniques include observation from various perspectives, interpretation,
inference, evaluation, explanation, questioning assumptions, considering implications and
consequences - all in an objective manner. In this manner we delve deeply into the subject matter
and uncover meanings and understandings from a reasoned approach.

In the video below, Elisa Choy provides an inspiring talk on why developing critical thinking skill is
so important now than ever before!

"Elisa is a powerhouse speaker that predicts the future. She uses big data and
artificial intelligence to translate human behaviour and brings to life an expert lens
on the world and business'.
https://keynoteworthy.com.au/ (https://keynoteworthy.com.au/)
 0:00 / 0:00

Characterisitics of critical thinkers

To learn more about critical thinkers, click on each of the descriptions in the tool below for
characteristics. Information from each term is summarised here for you [PDF; 70kb
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35705691?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35705691/download?download_frd=1) ]

Balanced Inquisitive

Sceptical
Reasons

CRITICAL
Systematic THINKERS
ARE:
Perceptive

Examines Reflective

Open-minded

Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework

According to the Paul-Elder framework, critical thinking is the:

Analysis of thinking by focusing on the parts or structures of thinking ("the Elements of

Thought")

Evaluation of thinking by focusing on the quality ("the Universal Intellectual Standards")

Improvement of thinking by using what you have learned ("the Intellectual Traits")
Hence, the Paul-Elder framework has three components:

1. The elements of thought

(https://louisville.edu/ideastoaction/about/criticalthinking/framework/#elements) (reasoning)

2. The intellectual standards

(https://louisville.edu/ideastoaction/about/criticalthinking/framework/#intellectual-standards) that
should be applied to the elements of reasoning

3. The intellectual traits

(https://louisville.edu/ideastoaction/about/criticalthinking/framework/#intellectual-traits) associated
with a cultivated critical thinker that result from the consistent and disciplined application of the
intellectual standards to the elements of thought

The intellectual standards that are to these elements are used to determine the quality of
The intellectual standards that are to these elements are used to determine the quality of

reasoning. Good critical thinking requires having a command of these standards. According to

Paul and Elder (1997 ,2006), the ultimate goal is for the standards of reasoning to become infused

in all thinking so as to become the guide to better and better reasoning.

Models of Critical Thinking Process

The 8 Elements of Thought. See the details here
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35705875?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35705875/download?download_frd=1)

Nosich, G. M. (2009). Learning to think things through: a guide to critical thinking across the
curriculum (3rd ed.) Pearson Education.

Moore (2014) -The reading

How can we encourage critical thinking?
The importance of critical thinking has resulted in much being written about it. However, rather
than giving you a lot of readings we suggest that watch the two (2) videos below. The first video
gives us a brief overview of what is involved in critical thinking, and the second video gives us
some tips on how to improve our critical thinking skills. Though we would encourage you to
examine how you view the world and to see if it matches critical thinking.

Critical Thinking
 5 tips to improve your critical thinking - Samantha Agoos

We would also suggest that you read through this Harvard Business Review article on how we
improve our critical thinking - 3 Simple Habits to Improve Your Critical Thinking
(https://hbr.org/2019/05/3-simple-habits-to-improve-your-critical-thinking) (Bouygues, 2019)

How can we come up with critical and creative

questions?
Remember, critical thinking is like a muscle - the more we exercise that muscle, the stronger that
muscle gets. As such we strongly urge you to develop and continuously exercise this muscle.

To get you started, the three (3) following infographics provides you with a list of questions to ask
whenever you discuss a new matter, issue or question (Michaelsen, 2018). Open and view them
here. Infographic 1 (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35701877?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35701877/download?download_frd=1) , Infographic
2 (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35700938?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35700938/download?download_frd=1) , Infographic
3 (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35700939?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/57911/files/35700939/download?download_frd=1) .

Why do we need to think critically?

A large majority of courses at university require you to use critical thinking in writing reports and
essays.

Critical thinking allows us to:

Examine information to decide whether it is useful, truthful, valid. For example, how valid
is the information we read in newspapers, company profiles, social media posts etc.?

Solve problems in business and personal decisions

Evaluate the costs versus benefits of any proposed action

Understand and prioritise our choices based on the potential outcomes that come from
questions such as "so-what" and "what-if"

Examine various limitations by considering resources available and any constraints

Critique a piece of work, that is to say, to examine what is working, what is not working,
why either/both of those outcomes are occurring and promote the development of
alternative options

Understand issues, rather than simply learning facts (remember that understanding can
not be un-understood, whereas something learned can be unlearned) .

Why is it important for a student to use critical thinking?

A student who does not use critical thinking when asked to analyse text, or write a report, is limited
to writing a descriptive summary of the information or data; this is never adequate and will make it
very difficult to do well in university studies.

Why do we focus so much on critical thinking at university? It is because the skill of critical
Why do we focus so much on critical thinking at university? It is because the skill of critical
thinking is absolutely essential to your career development and progression.

What inhibits critical thinking?

Barriers to critical thinking include;

Misunderstanding - This can arise due to a lack of awareness of or due to having a superficial
understanding of the ‘processes’ involved in critical thinking.

Confusing "critique" with "criticism". To critique something is to value it and want to understand
it, therefore it is a constructive action; a criticism is a negative action that seeks to find fault
with things.

Reluctance to critique the ‘norm’ and consider alternative views due to feeling out of your
‘comfort zone’ or due to being fearful of being wrong.

Over-relying on feelings or emotions to derive reasons.

Conformity to societal/cultural-centred thinking, dogma and social conditioning – thereby

refraining from thinking outside of our spectrum.

Confirmation bias - seeking only evidence that supports ones own views and disregard
contrary points.

Not being receptive to an idea or point of view that differs from your own.

Making unwarranted assumptions based on insufficient information.

Trying to short-cut to answers without doing the work/asking questions.

Check your understanding

Check your understanding of creative thinking by answering the true or false questions below. Use
the blue arrow in the bottom right hand corner to move to the next question.

Critical thinking helps us to examine validity and usefulness of information

! True ! False
 ! Check "

" !Reuse

Copyright © The University of Sydney. Unless otherwise indicated, 3rd party material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on
behalf of the University of Sydney in accordance with section 113P of the Copyright Act 1968 (Act). The material in this communication may be
subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection
under the Act. Do not remove this notice.
Live streamed classes in this unit may be recorded to enable students to review the content. If you have concerns about this, please visit our
student guide (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4901/pages/zoom) and contact the unit coordinator.
Privacy Statement (https://www.sydney.edu.au/privacy-statement.html)
2.4 Integrated thinking

In this section we will explore the connections between creative thinking

and critical thinking.

Integrating creative and critical thinking

In business, so many decisions have to be made every day. For example, how do we stand apart
from our competitors? How do we improve our products? What new products should we develop?
What kind of workers should we hire? How can we improve our supply and distribution chains?

Therefore, to be successful in business it requires both creative and critical thinking in business.
This is because both types of thinking complement each other when it comes to solving problems
in business and making decisions. When integrated, both types of thinking lead to greater
innovation and helps to make sure that a business remains agile.

In practice, these two types of thinking are not easy to separate, and we all naturally tend to use
both thinking skills at the same time.

Creative Critical
thinking thinking
Using technology and art to solve problems
Daan Roosegaarde, is an artist who develops projects that use both technology and art to solve
problems in both urban and countryside environments. In this video he discusses how he has
linked critical and creativity thinking to make world-class innovations that are making a positive
difference to people's lives.

Try to pay particular attention to his note on what the The World Economic Forum Thinktank
4IR (https://www.weforum.org/projects/creating-a-multistakeholder-think-tank) considers to be the
Top 10 skills that people need in order to become successful.

A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | Daan Roosegaarde
How creative and critical thinking aid in decision
making/problem solving
Creative and critical thinking are complementary skills that can be integrated to examine some of
the real issues that are at play.

When coming up with a solution to a problem, it involves not only generating a lot of new and
creative ideas. We also have to make sure that the new ideas being generated are useful and
relevant to the business’s current concerns and constraints. Critical thinking comes into plays here
– it is through this thinking that we can view the new ideas from different perspectives, evaluate
these ideas for their worth and validity, analyse the nature and value of all the facets of those
ideas, finally select the best ideas and then modify them if necessary.

For example, by moving back and forth between creative thinking (generating ideas) and critical
thinking (refining ideas), we are able focus our understanding of the problem and delve into the
key issues e.g. examining changes within the customer base, changing laws governing the
import/export of particular products, changes in regulations relating to employment and human
resources etc., and to then be able to propose options. Those options can be further evaluated
until a satisfactory final solution is settled upon. To summarise:

Table 1: How creative and critical thinking aid in decision making

CREATIVE THINKING CRITICA

Helps to assess the advantages

Helps to come up with new ideas

Is focused on viewing possibil

Is focused on possibilities
assessing the probability

Uses logic, reasoning and ev

Uses imagination, intuition and speculation
consider altern

Tests
Forms hypothesis
 Helps to predict the e
Helps to improvise

Helps to avoid making assum

Helps to speculate ideas

Is focused on questioning,
Is focused on exploring and conceptualising ideas

The Warp and the Weft

You might recall the ‘Golden Thread’ (Module 1.3). Our creative ideas are the Weft, and it is
through critical thinking that we are able to analyse data and information relating to those ideas
(the Warp) and then draw conclusions in order to solve problems and make better decisions. In
other words, the Weft and Warp supplement each other, i.e., one would not work without the other.
Only after the Weft and the Warp have been weaved together do we understand the complexity of
the fabric (the problem or the story).

The following diagram will also help you visualise the connection between the two types of
thinking:
Check your understanding
Time to check your understanding now with a multiple choice question.

Why is it helpful to integrate creative and critical thinking in solving business problems?

There are different aspects of a business that need both creative and critical thinking.

Creative and critical thinking overlap to help provide solutions.

 Creative thinking can be used for marketing and product invention; critical thinking can be used in human
resources and recruitment.

All of the above

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