Soft Skills II

Unit-V
Creativity and Critical Thinking

Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities

that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves
and others.

If you have ideas but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.

Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative:

1. need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation

2. need to communicate ideas and values
3. need to solve problems

In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective.
Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of
creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of
those alternatives. the ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by
change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of
ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown.

• Creativity is any act, idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an
existing domain into a new one.

Creativity and innovation

Creativity is the ability to think and act in ways that are new and novel. In our minds, there
are two kinds of creativity, innovation, and invention. Innovation is thinking creatively about
something that already exists (e.g., the tape recorder, Walkman, and CD player are all
innovations on the phonograph).

Characteristics of the creative personality:

1. Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.
3. Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility
and irresponsibility.
4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy ant one end, and rooted
sense of reality at the other.
5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between
extroversion and introversion.
6. Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time.
7. Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping and have a
tendency toward androgyny.
8. Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent.
9. Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely
objective about it as well.
10. The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering
pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.
 Fostering Creativity at Work

Follow these simple rules and you will foster a culture of creativity and innovation.

1 Believe you can change the world.

2 Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever.
3 Know when to work alone and when to work together.
4 Share – tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.
5 No politics. No bureaucracy. (These are ridiculous in a garage.)
6 The customer defines a job well done.
7 Radical ideas are not bad ideas.
8 Invent different ways of working.
9 Make a contribution every day. If it doesn’t contribute, it doesn’t leave the garage.
10 Believe that together we can do anything.
11 Invent.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking, the word critical, derives from the word critic and implies a critique; it identifies
the intellectual capacity and the means "of judging", "of judgement", "for judging", and of being
"able to discern".

Critical thinking seeks to identify reliable information and make reliable judgements. It
encompasses mindset and skills, both of which can be developed through an understanding of key
concepts, practice and application.

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 skillfullyanalyzing, assessing, and
reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-
corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command
of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a
commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

Examples of Critical Thinking

The circumstances that demand critical thinking vary from industry to industry. Some examples
include:

• A triage nurse analyzes the cases at hand and decides the order by which the patients should be
treated.
• A plumber evaluates the materials that would best suit a particular job.
• An attorney reviews evidence and devises a strategy to win a case or to decide whether to settle
out of court.
• A manager analyzes customer feedback forms and uses this information to develop a customer
service training session for employees.

Steps of Critical Thinking

1. Identify the problem or question: Be as precise as possible: the narrower the issue, the easier
it is to find solutions or answers.

2. Gather data, opinions, and arguments: Try to find several sources that present different ideas
and points of view.
 3. Analyze and evaluate the data: Are the sources reliable? Are their conclusions data-backed or
just argumentative? Is there enough information or data to support given hypotheses?

4. Identify assumptions: Are you sure the sources you found are unbiased? Are you sure you
weren’t biased in your search for answers?

5. Establish significance: What piece of information is most important? Is the sample size
sufficient? Are all opinions and arguments even relevant to the problem you’re trying to
solve?

6. Make a decision/reach a conclusion: Identify various conclusions that are possible and
decide which (if any) of them are sufficiently supported. Weigh strengths and limitations of
all possible options.

Basic Critical Thinking Skills

• Analysis
• Interpretation
• Inference
• Evaluation
• Explanation
• Self Regulation
• Communication
• Creativity
• Open-Mindedness
• Problem Solving

Critical Thinking Abilities

Discerning facts and claims

Critical thinking is general term given to a wide range of cognitive and intellectual skills
needed to:
➢ Effectively identify, analyze and evaluate arguments.
➢ Discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases.
➢ Formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions.
➢ Make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.
Ability
Definition: An innate characteristic that lays the foundation of skill.
Ability and Skill The terms skill and ability are sometimes confused in sport. Abilities are
the building blocks of skill. A group of abilities are usually associated to a specific skill.
e.g. a sprint start in athletics requires a combination of the following abilities: Power
,Coordination and Speed.

Fact
 Facts are gathered by human beings guided by mundane , earthly, often
compromised beliefs and motives. To choose ‘This’ fact over ‘That’ fact is
already to express an opinion. To highlight ‘this’ fact over ‘that’ fact is to
comment. Edwards D & D. Cromwell .,2009,pg-3.
A fact is something, which can be verified with evidence, for example, the river
which flows through Delhi is called the Yamuna.

Ability and Skill The terms skill and ability are sometimes confused in sport.
Abilities are the building blocks of skill. A group of abilities are usually
associated to a specific skill. e.g. a sprint start in athletics requires a
combination of the following abilities: Power, Coordination and Speed.
A fact is something, which can be verified with evidence, for example,the river
which flows through Delhi is called the Yamuna.

Fact: Something actually done or something said in a meaningful way. Fact is

something that could be verifiable in time and space. Facts are the bases of
evidence and scientific theories. Example: The wall was painted blue in 2016

THE 3CLAIMS
1. Claim of Fact
2. Claim of Value
3. Claim of Policy

Claim: : An assertion of belief about what is true or what should be.

A claim can express a point of view. A claim can be supported by research, expert
sources, evidence, reasoning, testimony, and academic reasoning.

Both the words have similar meaning but, A CriticalThinker should know the
difference between fact and claim for an effective argument in both speaking and in
writing.

Credibility Analysis : Credibility is an estimation of how much trust to place in a

source of information. Example: A person, an organization, or a book.

Most of the information we actually encounter that is used to support arguments has
to be taken on trust, because we are not in a position to check it ourselves.

Identifying Valid Reasons Validity is a most important concept in critical thinking. A

valid reason is one where the conclusion follows logically from the premises.
 Whenever we have a valid reason, if the premises are all true, then the conclusion
must also be true.

So, A critical thinker should have ability to identify the given reason is valid or not.

Distinguishing Relevant from Irrelevant Fact/Claims Irrelevant means not related, not
applicable, unimportant, not connected, whereas relevant means directly related,
connected, or pertinent to a topic.

Lot of Facts/Claims may be irrelevant but a critical thinker should have able to
distinguish relevant fact/claims from irrelevant fact/claims.

Detecting Bias Bias: Favor one side or issue over another, Or having a preference
for one thing over another.

A Critical Thinker should have ability to detect the that the information or source is
biased or not.

If you notice the following, the source may be biased: 1. Heavily opinionated or one-
sided

2. Relies on unsupported or unsubstantiated claims

3. Presents highly selected facts that lean to a certain outcome

4. Pretends to present facts, but offers only opinion

5. Uses extreme or inappropriate language

6. The author is unidentifiable, lacks expertise, or writes on unrelated topics

7. Tries to sell you something in disguise.

Knowing the Hidden Motives

To understand human behaviors or any information, it is crucial to understand the

motives behind it. So far, there was no direct way to identify motives. Simply
observing behavior or eliciting explanations from individuals for their actions will not
give reliable results as motives are considered to be private and people can be
unwilling to unveil.

A Critical Thinker should have ability to know the hidden motive.

Benefits of Critical Thinking

An employee's ability to think critically doesn't benefit only the employer; it benefits the
employee as well. Critical thinking is a lifetime skill that an individual can use in every
area of life, including interpersonal relationships, financial planning, personal goal-setting
and career decisions.
 For employers, the benefits of employees' critical thinking include:

• Finding multiple solutions to problems

• Effective communication between teams and individual employees
• Developing unique perspectives on situations and challenges at work

Specific applications of critical thinking in business management include:

• Anticipating problems and preventing them before they arise

• Finding ways to cut expenses
• Planning and implementing business strategies
• Delegating tasks to qualified team members
• Effectively interviewing job applicants and selecting those who are the best fit for the
company

Benefits of critical thinking in business management include:

• Building a well-qualified team with low turnover

• Having a solution plan for each potential challenge
• Streamlined, efficient work processes
• Effective communication between the manager and team members