Creative Thinking Vs Critical Thinking

I’m sure many of you have heard of the terms “creative thinking” and “critical thinking” a lot. You probably think “creative thinking” just means being creative, and “critical thinking” just means being a judgemental asshole. That’s actually partially true, but not the full picture. Let’s take a look into both of these things and see how they compare.

Creative Thinking

Creativity can come about in one of two ways: accidental and deliberate. Some of the most important inventions of the world actually came about purely by accident. Examples include penicillin, the x-ray machine, the pacemaker, and viagra.

Deliberate creativity is the use of thinking techniques to come up with new ideas. These thinking techniques include Dr Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”, blue-sky thinking a.k.a. limitless brainstorming, and lateral thinking, or thinking outside the box.

You can be creative without having creative thinking if you’re able to find opportunity in everything, but you can’t have creative thinking without creativity, because only with a creative mind can you be creative in your thinking, to come up with new ideas that no one else ever had before.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think critically. It involves the observation and analysis of facts, evaluation by applying logic and reasoning skills, and ultimately making sound judgements.

A particularly prominent example of critical thinking was during World War II when a Hungarian mathematician named Abraham Wald was helping the American military analyse the armouring of fighter planes. The military had data from returning planes and thought it would be best to have armour plating over the fuselage where it has the most bullet holes since armouring the whole plane would make it too heavy to fly. Wald informed them that they should instead concentrate the armour plating more on the part of the plane that returned with the least bullet holes, the engine. The reason for this is simple: planes can survive the trip home when the fuselage is hit, but planes that are hit in the engine have the lowest chance of returning.

Why Not Both?

The title is a bit misleading. There is actually a significant overlap between the two; thinking outside the box requires both creative and critical thinking: only with critical thinking can you identify the box, and only with creative thinking can you think outside it. Both are required at the same time in order for a proper check and balance on things like feasibility and adaptability.

Being creative without critical thinking leads to chaotic ideas that are unworkable, literally just being creative for creativity’s sake. This is good for when you want to work out your creative juices, but when it comes to practicality, it’s a different matter altogether, since aesthetics does not guarantee functionality. This is the difference between art and design.

Being critical without creative thinking leads to a conservative viewpoint that could last perhaps a while, but not long enough, as society is constantly evolving along with technology. This was why Kodak, one of the biggest giants in the photography industry of the 20th century, had to file for bankruptcy in 2012, because of their very late transition to digital photography.

Of course, both creative thinking and critical thinking are constrained by the innate limitations of each individual, which is why we need to work together with others in recognition of their strengths, in order to lift each other up. Not everyone is as creative, and not everyone is as critical, so a good partnership between a creative thinker and a critical thinker is always best.

Do you consider yourself to be more of a creative thinker or a critical thinker?

As mentioned before, some people limit their wardrobe choices in order to not have to think too much about what to wear: Obama only wore grey or blue suits throughout his eight years as POTUS, and Steve Jobs wore nothing but black turtlenecks and blue jeans. Setting a meal plan takes out the questions of “what/where to eat?” and “how much do I have left?” or “can I afford this?”