CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING

Critical Thinking
● Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.
● the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment
● Greek word kritikos, meaning "able to judge or discern", and involves observation, reflection, reasoning,
and communication
● Careful thinking directed to a goal
● Use of the term ‘critical thinking’ to describe an educational goal goes back to the American philosopher
John Dewey (1910), who more commonly called it ‘reflective thinking’. He defined it as “active, persistent
and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that
support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends”
● In the 1930s, critical thinking became famous in America as an educational reform and was adopted to
experiments conducting a standardized test (Evaluation Staff developed tests) to prove that high school
students can improve their critical thinking.

Examples of critical thinking

Dewey’s Example

Disorder: A man finds his rooms on his return to them in disorder with his belongings thrown about, thinks at first
of burglary as an explanation, then thinks of mischievous children as being an alternative explanation, then looks to
see whether valuables are missing, and discovers that they are.

The man’s, in the story, goal was to think of possible occurrences that caused disorder of his belongings. One is
burglary and two are mischievous children. To know what really happened he analyzed the current situation out of
the original (organized and belongings are present). If it were just mischievous children, things were re-arrange
because children unintentionally touched his belongings while trying to get away from being tagged while playing.
He analyzed again and realized that there were some belongings lost and then concluded it was burglary.

Lady’s boyfriend didn’t receive a text back from his boyfriend 2 hours later after she texted. She remembered that
his boyfriend told her he is very tired from practice and maybe just fell asleep but minutes later she saw a friend of
his boyfriend’s story on Facebook that they were out drinking. Lady overthinks and suspects that his partner is
cheating on her. She thought of going to the location seen in the story, if he is actually cheating then the effort
wouldn’t be worth it. So, she thought of another way by opening google maps and searching for his boyfriend’s
location. As she was about to press search, her partner called and told her he fell asleep.

Critical thinking is used in many aspects like in school subjects (especially in science and engineering, as well as
arts and humanities), politics, investigations, in work, daily life and even in romantic relationships.
What careers is critical thinking used the most?

● lawyers
● doctors
● reporters
● engineers
● accountants
● detectives/police officers

How to improve critical thinking?

Expand your industry-specific or technical skills to help you more easily identify problems. Being focused on one
aspect in your life will indeed make you an expert on that field but having no experience in other aspects, you will
not learn how to deal with other problems because you only know how to solve a conflict one way. Difference
situations need diverse approaches, not all resolutions to one problem will reciprocate it the best way.

Seek professional advice or try leading a group. Have professionals or grown ups as reference to challenges you
might face in the future. You can use, for example, your leaders in a call center setting on how they cover an agent’s
sudden absence as reference on quick decision making or watch Judge Judy on how she analyzes guilty people in
court. Try also leading a group because this will help you vision out the process in accomplishing a certain task and
how/where to get resources for the said task.

Try to play solo. Don’t ask for help or any sort of guidance from anyone and try to think of solutions and your own
and process them on your own. For example, on your way to school and suddenly the tire of your car went flat. You
check your time and you have 10 minutes left before class starts. You have a friend nearby that might help you, but
again you should try solo, so you kindly ask people passing by to help you push your car and park it appropriately
and even if it’s your first time riding a tricycle you still took on the challenge.

Question your assumptions. Ask questions like “is the person beside me my classmate in high school? But she has a
twin sister, do you think it’s her twin?”, “a rottweiler is coming towards me, is this dog dangerous?”. After
questioning your assumptions, it will lead you to an answer yourself.

Reason through logic. The most important ingredient in critical thinking. According to Bouygues (2019), reasoning
through generalization or drawing a sweeping conclusion based on limited or insufficient evidence often turns into a
mistake. For example, a clothing company thought that all the countries that sell a certain type of lingerie have the
same interest in terms of design/style because according to their data it is the best selling overall, so they continued
exporting to diverse countries. Not paying attention to detail of a situation resulted in income lost.

Why is critical thinking important?

Critical Thinking Sparks Curiosity - Curiosity drives us to expand our knowledge of the world and everything that
lies within. It surrounds every aspect – from school to our daily routine.

Critical thinkers are always curious, they want to know more about the world around them. They try to find answers
themselves rather than taking everything at face value.

Critical thinking encourages you to be inquisitive and ask questions. It makes you open to new possibilities and
ideas. It helps you recognize uncharted paths and opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed, so it is a crucial
part of innovation.

Critical Thinking Builds Perspective - Critical thinking changes the way you view things, it boosts your perspective
and makes you expand your knowledge. It helps you understand how things work.

Critical thinkers are not bound by the rules and regulations, they suggest new approaches to known problems. They
can look at things from fresh perspectives and unique angles because it helps them prioritize the value, importance,
and usefulness of every concept.

Critical Thinking Evolves the Thought Process - Critical thinking is an intellectual approach that sharpens your
mind and makes it work faster, so your thought process becomes clearer and more efficient.

Critical thinkers have a better understanding of the information they have and can use it to explore different
possibilities. It helps you discover new opportunities and enhances your problem-solving skills. It evolves your
thought process because it requires you to constantly analyze and re-evaluate what you know.

Critical Thinking Reinforces Problem-Solving Skills - Critical thinking is an effective way to solve problems
because it requires you to think through the situation and determine what actions or decisions will be effective and
beneficial for everyone involved.

It not only helps you find a solution but also allows you to come up with multiple solutions that might work better
depending on the situation. Hence it further reinforces your problem-solving skills.

Critical Thinking Aids in Decision Making - Critical thinking enhances our decision-making skills. It allows us to
make responsible decisions because it makes us aware of the potential consequences of every action.

Critical thinkers are aware of what they are capable of and minimize the chances of failure by identifying challenges
before they act.

It helps you understand how things work which gives you an upper hand, helping you make informed choices based
on your current knowledge.

Critical Thinking Can Increase Confidence - By developing a deeper understanding of how things work, critical
thinking can increase your self-confidence.

It makes you more confident in yourself because you understand all the aspects rather than blindly following
something. It also improves your chances of success when facing new situations.
Critical Thinking Enhances Learning - Critical thinking enables us to learn faster because it encourages flexibility
in our thought processes. With critical thinking, you can see new ideas as they arise rather than sticking to the
traditional ones, which makes learning more fun!

It enhances your memory too, because it engages your brain and helps you focus on a particular idea. Critical
thinking also cultivates a deeper imagination, which allows you to explore every possible solution to a problem.

Critical Thinking Helps Separate Decisions and Emotions - Critical thinking enables you to detach your emotions
from decisions and take a more objective point of view. It enhances self-awareness, the ability to recognize and
distinguish between rationality based on reasoning and that based on feelings or personal preconceptions, which is
the essence of any thought process.

Critical thinking helps you better understand others and comprehend the ideas in your daily life. Critical thinking
also helps minimize the negative effects of emotional reasoning. It further allows us to acknowledge and analyze our
actions and emotions. It is, therefore, crucial for making informed decisions without any influence of emotions.

“The ability to think critically is a gift that not every person is blessed with. It’s an indispensable life skill that helps
you make better decisions, communicate effectively with others, and understand the world around you.” - Nimra
Basit 2021

Creative Thinking
Creative thinking is all about developing innovative solutions to problems. Creative thinkers brainstorm not only a
large number of ideas but also a variety and range of them.

Once they’ve brainstormed their ideas, creative thinkers will experiment with them. They look at ideas from
multiple perspectives and examine how their solutions fit into the scope of what they’re working on. Creative
thinkers aren’t afraid to take risks and try new ideas. In fact, this ability to develop, test, and implement original
solutions makes them a valuable asset to just about any workplace.

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Examples of Creative Thinking:

1. Innovation

Innovation is the ability to come up with something new; however, you don’t need to develop the first
flying car to be an innovative thinker. “Something new” at work might mean a method you haven’t tried
before or experimenting with an unfamiliar process. Innovators in the workplace aren’t afraid to step away
from tradition and explore something original, even if it might fail.

Innovation skills include:

➔ Risk-taking
➔ Brainstorming
➔ Imagining
 ➔ Ambition
➔ Resilience

2. Collaboration

Creative thinking doesn’t have to happen alone; you might have your most creative ideas when bouncing
your work off others. Collaboration skills ensure you consider multiple perspectives and ways of thinking
when you develop and refine ideas.

Collaboration skills include:

➔ Written and verbal communication

➔ Active listening
➔ Empathy
➔ Feedback
➔ Inclusivity

How to improve creative thinking?

Create your own “Three Ifs”

1. What would happen if I changed it (the object/ system/ social relationship, etc)?
2. What would I change or improve about this object if I wanted to use it in 10 years?
3. What would I do if I had a one-million-dollar investment to improve it?

It is important to exercise these skills by repeatedly using the “three ifs” formula (or designing your own set of
questions) about all sorts of things. And many new ideas will pop up.

Practice dreaming

The greatest paradox is that creative thinking is not necessarily the product of IQ or enlightenment via the proverbial
apple falling on your head. It is a matter of regularly training your imagination, practicing your powers of
observation and dreaming, big or small. It sounds so simple, and yet in this era of information overload and highly
charged urban life, this important element is often missing from our everyday lives.

Whatever you’re doing – whether it’s work or leisure – practice spending time applying the “three ifs” formula to
anything you see or imagine. This will help you get into the habit of making space in your mind for dreaming –
essential for creative thinking and innovation.

Make time for cohesive creative thinking

Allocate time. Allocate time for creative thinking, it may be an hour per day or per week. Making time in doing this
will practice your creativity.
Artists(such as painters and choreographers) experience ‘artist block/creative block’ because they are endlessly
thinking about what new concept they are going to do next for their art. They are overly focused on one thing,
hence hindering them to create new ideas via the outside world. So, do not overdo it. If you experience such mental
block try doing these:

● go outside and spend time with nature or with your peers

● do something new (other than art or from anything to what you are attached to) that is out of your comfort
zone
● talk to other creatives, artist with dissimilar works from yours is a better move
● get into the flow - “The ego falls away. Time flies.” just go with the flow of other activities that you're
doing in your life. Playing board games, participating in sports, and doing journals will help.
● allow yourself to fail

Why is Creative Thinking Important?

Creative thinking helps us come up with new ideas and to make some better. For example, in a political setting, a
way to foster poverty causing ill health is by establishing a program that will provide families with free sacks of rice
as well as feeding programs. But with creative thinking this process can be modified, achieve interactions that will
make people happy not only that they receive something for free but they would also be motivated to participate.
With the use of creative thinking, from just receiving the goods and after registering it now involves raffles for
additional prizes.