Discussion:
Respond to the following at least 200 words for EACH response post.
Respond in one or more of the following ways:
Ask a probing question and provide your additional insights as it relates to your question
Share an insight from having read your fellow learners' postings
Offer and support an opinion
Expand on your fellow learners' postings
You can respond by providing a summary and an APA reference to research in the literature
Following are the TWO peer post.
Peer Post 1
How do we think? How do we create? Some would say that these two questions are very easy to answer, when in fact, how people think and create can be so much more of a complex definition. There are many levels associated with critical and creative thinking. Thinking styles, attitudes, and personalities can all play a part in the critical and creative thinking process. Research conducted by Yang and Wen (2004) suggests that critical and creative thinking can be beneficial for both students and society. In order to be develop creative and critical thinking skills, a few different processes should be examined.
Creative thinking requires a process which includes techniques and applications. Tanner (1992) suggests that by learning and applying five applications known as lateral thinking, metaphoric thinking, positive thinking, association trigger, and capturing and interpreting dreams, people will be better equipped to apply creative thinking in everyday situations. There are a lot of people who many not view themselves as creative. However, by taking a particular problem or concern, and applying a specific method listed above, creative ideas can be created.
Let us take a closer look at a couple of these applications to better understand the methodology behind them. Take for example lateral thinking. Tanner (1992) states the technique of lateral thinking shifts normal problem solving to entirely different points, therefore creating alternative approaches to the problem in which someone is having. Additionally, metaphoric thinking can create new ideas to a problem by connecting to something totally unrelated, sometimes that may involve nature (Tanner, 1992). For example, if a person was trying to invent a new product for consumers, they may need to look at natural ingredients to find a solution.
On the other hand, some may say that how people behave directly correlates to how creatively they think. According to an experiment conducted with undergraduate students, people who have "different forms of attention relate to different measures of creativity" (Zabelina, Saporta & Beeman, 2016). For instance, if employees are only putting in the minimum efforts for a specific task, the level of creativity would be reduced. On the other hand, the topic in which is being discussed can play an even bigger part in the creative thinking process.
One of the many problems that organizations face on a daily basis, pertains to hiring qualified staff for positions within an organization. The amount of time and money organizations spend on recruiting, interviewing and hiring potential candidates can be daunting. According to Muller and Baum (2011) the best incentive to hire right the first time, is to consider that hiring the wrong employee can cost an organization up to five times the employees annual salary. There is the need for human resource managers and organizations to incorporate creative thinking techniques into everyday activities for organizational success. It is the belief that the behaviors of hiring managers or hiring panels could directly affect the hiring process as well.
Peer Post 2
Decided to compare and contrast creative thinking and critical thinking. After reviewing a few different sources, I settled on one article for each.
To begin with critical thinking, I found the summary with list of characteristics in What is Critical Thinking by Dan Kurland (© 2000) very helpful. The summary discusses how our human nature (motives, experiences, etc.) can influence the way we think. Critical thinking requires us to think outside of ourselves, and employ a certain set of skills. Kurland lists some of the main characteristics of critical think as: Rationality, Self-awareness, Honesty, Open-mindedness, Discipline, and Judgment. I found Kurland's list of characteristics and examples more insightful than other text book explanations. It highlighted that critical thinking involves setting aside biases and assumptions. We should actively "test" the validity of each piece of information we receive, and not just believe that everything we see in print, or on a screen, is true.
In regards to creative thinking, I will reference in The Creative Pathfinder by Mark McGuinness (© 2010-2012) titled The Four Most Powerful Types of Creative Thinking. Here McGuinness outlines the four types of creative thinking he has recommends. These four types of creative thinking are: Reframing, Mind Mapping, Insight, and Creative Flow. With creative thinking, we try to look at things from a different perspective, organize our thoughts differently, and give ourselves the best opportunity to have those "ah ha" moments.
Critical thinking is more of a process to test if something is true or fact, and not necessarily accepting things at face value. Creative thinking is a process to create or generate new ideas. Intentional effort must be put in to both in order to be effective, though creative thinking may still happen more by chance. Understanding our own human nature, setting aside our preconceived notions, and being motived to solve the problem are important in both critical and creative thinking. I tend to view critical thinking as much more of a methodical approach to problem solving. Whereas, creative thinking seems more free form, and open to anything, in order to come up with new ideas.
Coming from a technical background, critical and creative thinking could both be used in designing new automotive products. There are many time constraints in the automotive industry. When presented a new product design challenge by our customers, the easy thing is to start with the things we already know from experience to come up with a solution. Though experience is a great teacher, we never start by asking how we can make this product different or better than what we have done in the past. Engineers, by nature, are typically very data driven. The creative thinking process could be beneficial to help generate new/more ideas to solve problems. Critical thinking is a good reminder that just because something didn't work before, it doesn't mean we can't get it to work in a new application.