Creative and Critical Thinking - Essay Example

Brainstorming has become part of every management problem-solving issue and lateral thinking is now part of any well-rounded planning process.

Human beings seem to be born with the capacity to think creatively.  Children, in the guise of play, begin to form their personalities and their mindsets very early on in life.  They creatively experiment with their limbs as well as with the world around them.  It is believed that this creative process in children is one, among many, reasons they can develop skills more quickly than adults.  Their capacity for language acquisition is never greater than before the age of eight.

Creative thinking often gives us a shortcut to problem-solving, by offering a more indirect way to a solution:

A flash of insight, a clever way to do something, a realization of some truth about ourselves--all signal the activation of the creative mind. We deploy its enormous potential for creating new solutions in our lives when we free ourselves from many of our automatic reactions, reeducate ourselves to speak in original ideas not slogans, suspend judgment, avoid arguments and ego battles, listen more attentively, and think in terms of options instead of one right way. (Albrecht, 2002, p. 39)

As illustrated by Einstein’s example, our brains tend to think in imagery.  Words and language are the process by which we communicate and we are often forgetful about using imagery and our imaginations.  Thinking in words, according to most researchers, comes after the brain has associated imagery with those words.  Pattern recognition, which our brains are expert at, kick in but often concepts can become so concrete in words that we leave ourselves no other way of looking at it.  Deconstructing that process with techniques like brainstorming, random input, or provocation, derails our usually linear thought processes into more creative avenues.

In the present study, imaging ability had a significant influence on creativity. Good imagers scored significantly better than poor imagers on Torrance tests of fluency, originality, elaboration, and resistance to premature closure. (GonzÁlez, Campos & PÉrez, 1997, p. 361)

This is also an insight into scientific thinking as well.  Many scientists use thought experiments to help them visualize and conceptualize what they are trying to discover or convey. For example, Schrödinger's Cat in the Box is his attempt to explain a very complicated concept in quantum mechanics with a visual image rather than equations (Michalko, 2003) and no one can doubt that Leonardo Da Vinci’s genius was also inspired more by imagination and imagery, than logical thinking. 

Creative thinking is part of the process of critical thinking, often without one even being aware of it.  But now, more emphasis is being placed on this more lateral form of evaluation and problem-solving. With a more direct and appreciable connection to our creative side, human beings in any discipline now have a more holistic and thorough process by which to approach any critical thinking concept. Read More